Ubuntu 11 wireless disabled on Lenovo thinkpad z570

[David John]

I got a Lenovo Thinkpad z570 yesterday with Ubuntu 11 installed. One major issue is that wireless does not work.
"Wireless is disabled by the hardware switch" is the status in Network Manager. Wired ethernet works.

I googled this message and there are many posts specific to this issue. But none of the workarounds enabled wireless
The following are some details. Has anyone faced this issue or have a solution?

david@david-Ideapad-Z570:~$ uname -a
Linux david-Ideapad-Z570 2.6.38-8-generic #42-Ubuntu SMP Mon Apr 11 03:31:50 UTC 2011 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

david@david-Ideapad-Z570:~$ lspci |grep Atheros
02:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)

david@david-Ideapad-Z570:~$ rfkill list
0: ideapad_wlan: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: yes
    Hard blocked: no
1: ideapad_bluetooth: Bluetooth
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no
2: phy0: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: yes
    Hard blocked: yes
3: acer-wireless: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: yes
    Hard blocked: no
4: hci0: Bluetooth
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no

[David John]

This process enables wireless till the next reboot

sudo service network-manager stop
sudo rmmod acer_wmi
sudo modprobe acer_wmi
sudo rfkill unblock all
(Checked that everything was unblocked)
sudo service network-manager start

Now, instead of "Wireless is disabled by the hardware switch" status
in NM, the message will be "wireless is disabled"
Enable wireless from NM
sudo rmmod -f acer_wmi

Wireless networks will be detected and connected

To make this change permanent,
sudo su
echo "blacklist acer_wmi" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
exit

This is the discussion thread that helped most
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1745681

[Chris]

Greetings David,

I have just booted up ubuntu on a Lenovo ideapad v570 and am facing
the same situation. This is my first experience using Linux. Could
you explain how to get to where these commands are typed in? Thanks
for the post!

-Chris

On May 11, 10:35 pm, David John <davidjohn...@gmail.com> wrote:
> This process enableswirelesstill the next reboot

>
> sudo service network-manager stop
> sudo rmmod acer_wmi
> sudo modprobe acer_wmi
> sudo rfkill unblock all
> (Checked that everything was unblocked)
> sudo service network-manager start
>

> Now, instead of "Wirelessisdisabledby thehardwareswitch" status

> in NM, the message will be "wirelessisdisabled"

> Enablewirelessfrom NM
> sudo rmmod -f acer_wmi
>
> Wirelessnetworks will be detected and connected

[Subin Mathew]

Chris,

Please forgive me if you find the explanation too deep as i do not know your expertise in Linux

You got Ubuntu, good.

Now under applications you would find accessories, under that you would find terminal

type the commands in that  black box ( like the MSDOS window)

Or if you are using ubuntu 11.04 and the looks are killing you, well press <alt> F2 together ( like we do <ctrl><alt><del> to escape from windows) same thing. 

You would get a dialog box with a input field, you know to type in some thing 

Type in gnome-terminal and you will see the black box.

paste each line and you will work it through

FYI (sudo means superuser : you know the admin, so you will have to type your password)

But i have a question, are you doing this beacuse after installation the wireless is not working?

if that is the case see if your wireless driver is available in System -> Adminstration ->Hardware Drives .

Subin

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[Chris]

Right On,

Thank You for your help.
I actually have no experience with Linux, this is a new computer
purchased after my faithful Macbook recently died for good(bought new
in 2001!). So I have up to this point, after owning a Mac for 10
years, no deep computer experience, I went with Linux because Windows
is disheartening and Apple is cool but still corporate. I have read/
looked at a couple of books from the library(Just Say No to Microsoft,
Linux for Dummies, etc.)
This is a new lenovo v570 running ubuntu 11.04. The computer was
purchased yesterday and booted up with Windows using Google Chrome as
a browser to download Ubuntu. This was done wireless. After
rebooting with the new operating system the wireless is not
functioning. This sounds like the problem described.
So, here is what I learned:
-the terminal can be accessed from “ctrl-alt-T”, or through “the
dash” in the upper left of the desktop.
-passwords apparently don't appear, but are there when you hit
enter. Chuckle. Oh well ,that is a lesson I won't forget.
-that I can do stuff with this box to do other stuff(with a little
help from my friends)!
So Thanks to You All again.
So, back to the forums and tutorials to learn some more.
All the Best!
-Chris

[biju]

Dear subin sir im also having same problem with COMPAQ PRESARIO CQ 60




PCI ID Works? Vendor Device Driver Kernel
80862a40 Yes Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Memory
Controller Hub intel-agp
80862a41 Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset PCI Express
Graphics Port
80862937 Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller
#4
80862938 Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller
#5
80862939 Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller
#6
8086293c Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI
Controller #2
8086293e Yes Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio
Controller snd-hda-intel
80862940 Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port
1
80862942 Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port
2
80862934 Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller
#1
80862935 Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller
#2
80862936 Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller
#3
8086293a Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI
Controller #1
80862448 Yes Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge i810_rng
80862919 Yes Intel Corporation ICH9M LPC Interface Controller
iTCO_wdt v2.6.28-
80862929 Yes Intel Corporation ICH9M/M-E SATA AHCI Controller
ahci v2.6.25-
80862930 Yes Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) SMBus
Controller i2c-i801 v2.6.25-
80862932 Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) Thermal Subsystem
10de06e8 nVidia Corporation G98 [GeForce 9200M GS]
10ec8136 Yes Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI
Express Fast Ethernet controller r8169 v2.6.25-
168c001c Yes Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x / AR542x Wireless
Network Adapter (PCI-Express) ath5k v2.6.25-
You can help us!




സസ്നേഹം
ബിജു/بيجو

[Matt]

I got a v570 two days ago and have had the same/similar problems. At
first I thought it was just a driver issue with Ubuntu; however,think
it's more than that. After 6 hours of fighting with Ubuntu, searching
google, and having no luck, I gave up and re-installed Windows 7.
Luckily, I had backed up all of the drivers and got everything back up
and working until I installed VMware to run Ubuntu and Backtrack 5 and
lost my internet connection. I uninstalled VMware incase there was an
issue with the Adapter configurations and double checked the drivers.
The hardware radio switch is turned on, FN + F5 isn't working and the
computer is still saying that the switch is turned off....I have
rebooted several times to be sure that everything worked itself out,
hard-wired into the router to check for hardware changes (none), and
still nothing. I might just return it to bestbuy and upgrade to
something better....

[Subin Mathew]

Matt,

As far as i know if the wireless works in win7, it will work in ubuntu. Check in System -> Admin -> hardware drivers in Ubuntu. Some drivers esp brodcomm are not enabled default in ubuntu.

====================

Biju,

Please check this post online. Try the steps i asked matt to do, or the steps pasted below. I am not sure with the laptop, so i cannot give a definite answer.

check this post.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1049530

---- BIJU -- 

Steps sent by david 

1. press <alt> F2 together in main desktop

2. type  " gnome-terminal " with out the quotation marks

3. type  " sudo su " --this will make you get all administrator privelages.

4. type the following ---

( David chetan wrote this for an acer laptop so need to verify with him )

On May 12, 9:35 am, David John <davidjohn...@gmail.com> wrote:
> This process enables wireless till the next reboot

>
> sudo service network-manager stop
> sudo rmmod acer_wmi
> sudo modprobe acer_wmi
> sudo rfkill unblock all
> (Checked that everything was unblocked)
> sudo service network-manager start
>

> Now, instead of "Wireless is disabled by the hardware switch" status

> in NM, the message will be "wireless is disabled"

> Enable wireless from NM

> sudo rmmod -f acer_wmi
>

> Wireless networks will be detected and connected