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[Bug 1264863] [NEW] WiFi disabled in BIOS upon installation of Ubuntu 13.10

 

Public bug reported:

I successively upgraded from 12.04 LTS to 12.10 to 13.04 to 13.10 on my
Asus EEE PC 1015PED, and upon booting, I saw "wifi disabled via hardware
switch" in the network-manager toolbar menu. rfkill list returned

4: brcmwl-0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: yes

and I wasn't able to use the hardware switch (Fn-F2 or the custom
button) or sudo rfkill unblock all to enable it. I struggled for a long
time with drivers, but eventually found that it was simply disabled in
BIOS, and by enabling it there at boot time, it worked again!

I'm not sure if this is a bug in an installer, or if there should just
be an advisory in network-manager or in the Network system prefs
indicating ways to enable wifi, but I didn't want anyone else to have to
struggle as much as I did.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.10
Package: linux-image-3.11.0-14-generic 3.11.0-14.21
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.11.0-14.21-generic 3.11.7
Uname: Linux 3.11.0-14-generic i686
NonfreeKernelModules: wl
ApportVersion: 2.12.5-0ubuntu2.2
Architecture: i386
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER        PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0:  warren     2306 F.... pulseaudio
CurrentDmesg:
 [   24.161461] init: anacron main process (1036) killed by TERM signal
 [   51.494938] atl1c 0000:01:00.0: irq 46 for MSI/MSI-X
 [   51.509895] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth1: link is not ready
 [   51.515677] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth1: link is not ready
 [   64.223104] perf samples too long (2525 > 2500), lowering kernel.perf_event_max_sample_rate to 50000
Date: Sun Dec 29 11:40:56 2013
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=f83d49e0-b9d7-4bb9-8a7c-eca9b7eb48c5
InstallationDate: Installed on 2012-01-18 (711 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Release i386 (20111012)
MachineType: ASUSTeK Computer INC. 1015PE
MarkForUpload: True
ProcFB:
 0 inteldrmfb
 1 VESA VGA
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.11.0-14-generic root=UUID=224d803b-2f44-4541-8acb-508041eb63f7 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.11.0-14-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.11.0-14-generic  N/A
 linux-firmware                             1.116
SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to saucy on 2013-12-28 (1 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 06/12/2010
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 0502
dmi.board.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: 1015PE
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
dmi.board.version: x.xx
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: 0x00000000
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
dmi.chassis.version: x.x
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr0502:bd06/12/2010:svnASUSTeKComputerINC.:pn1015PE:pvrx.x:rvnASUSTeKComputerINC.:rn1015PE:rvrx.xx:cvnASUSTeKComputerINC.:ct10:cvrx.x:
dmi.product.name: 1015PE
dmi.product.version: x.x
dmi.sys.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.

** Affects: linux (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: Confirmed


** Tags: apport-bug i386 saucy

-- 
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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1264863

Title:
  WiFi disabled in BIOS upon installation of Ubuntu 13.10

Status in “linux” package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  I successively upgraded from 12.04 LTS to 12.10 to 13.04 to 13.10 on
  my Asus EEE PC 1015PED, and upon booting, I saw "wifi disabled via
  hardware switch" in the network-manager toolbar menu. rfkill list
  returned

  4: brcmwl-0: Wireless LAN
  	Soft blocked: no
  	Hard blocked: yes

  and I wasn't able to use the hardware switch (Fn-F2 or the custom
  button) or sudo rfkill unblock all to enable it. I struggled for a
  long time with drivers, but eventually found that it was simply
  disabled in BIOS, and by enabling it there at boot time, it worked
  again!

  I'm not sure if this is a bug in an installer, or if there should just
  be an advisory in network-manager or in the Network system prefs
  indicating ways to enable wifi, but I didn't want anyone else to have
  to struggle as much as I did.

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.10
  Package: linux-image-3.11.0-14-generic 3.11.0-14.21
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.11.0-14.21-generic 3.11.7
  Uname: Linux 3.11.0-14-generic i686
  NonfreeKernelModules: wl
  ApportVersion: 2.12.5-0ubuntu2.2
  Architecture: i386
  AudioDevicesInUse:
   USER        PID ACCESS COMMAND
   /dev/snd/controlC0:  warren     2306 F.... pulseaudio
  CurrentDmesg:
   [   24.161461] init: anacron main process (1036) killed by TERM signal
   [   51.494938] atl1c 0000:01:00.0: irq 46 for MSI/MSI-X
   [   51.509895] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth1: link is not ready
   [   51.515677] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth1: link is not ready
   [   64.223104] perf samples too long (2525 > 2500), lowering kernel.perf_event_max_sample_rate to 50000
  Date: Sun Dec 29 11:40:56 2013
  HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=f83d49e0-b9d7-4bb9-8a7c-eca9b7eb48c5
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2012-01-18 (711 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Release i386 (20111012)
  MachineType: ASUSTeK Computer INC. 1015PE
  MarkForUpload: True
  ProcFB:
   0 inteldrmfb
   1 VESA VGA
  ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.11.0-14-generic root=UUID=224d803b-2f44-4541-8acb-508041eb63f7 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
  RelatedPackageVersions:
   linux-restricted-modules-3.11.0-14-generic N/A
   linux-backports-modules-3.11.0-14-generic  N/A
   linux-firmware                             1.116
  SourcePackage: linux
  UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to saucy on 2013-12-28 (1 days ago)
  dmi.bios.date: 06/12/2010
  dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
  dmi.bios.version: 0502
  dmi.board.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
  dmi.board.name: 1015PE
  dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
  dmi.board.version: x.xx
  dmi.chassis.asset.tag: 0x00000000
  dmi.chassis.type: 10
  dmi.chassis.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
  dmi.chassis.version: x.x
  dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr0502:bd06/12/2010:svnASUSTeKComputerINC.:pn1015PE:pvrx.x:rvnASUSTeKComputerINC.:rn1015PE:rvrx.xx:cvnASUSTeKComputerINC.:ct10:cvrx.x:
  dmi.product.name: 1015PE
  dmi.product.version: x.x
  dmi.sys.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.

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