[sf-lug] rfkill (was Meeting notes from Sunday 7 February 2016)

[maestro]

thanks for the info Akkana...
may i suggest submitting your problem you described to a 'NEWBIE' ARCH
linux wi-fi discussion list to see what they say on it? not saying you are
a newbie, just that the arch info pages are keen on going there first and
arch veterans DO watch those and jump in from time to time to help.

also daniel watches this list and may have some good insight(s) and
recommendations for you.

and YES, 'rfkill list' and 'unblock[all]' is *NOT* a fix-all, more like a
petroglyph in a cave helping show you the way out ;-)

love to hear back from you if you get a clear explanation and hopefully
resolve on your issues...


message ends.
_______________



On Thu, Feb 11, 2016 at 9:50 AM, Akkana Peck <akkana at shallowsky.com> wrote:

> maestro writes:
> > quoting bobbie s.:
> > >showing me about the 'rfkil"
> > >command I was able to get it working immediately
> > >on reboot.
> >
> > bobbie,
> > just for clarity the command i showed you IS part of 'rfkill' and was in
> > fact 'rfkill list'. this command gives output as to if your WLAN has soft
> > and/or hard blocks.
> >
> > e.g.
> > [code:]
> >
> > #rfkill list
> > Wireless LAN
> > Soft blocked: no
> > Hard blocked: no
> >
> > it can be used to troubleshoot network connection problems/issues...
>
> It can, but at least with my Asus netbook (Broadcom BCM4313 wi-fi,
> brcmsmac module) it never solves anything. Trying to associate with
> certain access points (I've hit this at a couple of hotels) puts
> this machine into a mode where it's both hard and soft blocked,
> and rfkill unblock all doesn't remove even the soft blocks.
>
> Once in this mode, unloading/reloading the module doesn't help
> either; even rebooting doesn't cure it. The only thing I've found
> that helps is to reboot into the Ubuntu that came on the machine
> when it shipped. That does something that magically clears the block
> (I wish I knew what it did!), and I can reboot again into Debian and
> now the wi-fi card works again, at least to connect to some other
> AP, like a mi-fi or my phone.
>
> There's some level of wi-fi block that rfkill can neither list nor
> clear; and the blocks that rfkill *does* list, it often can't clear.
>
> And maestro, I tend to agree with you about the state of wi-fi on
> Linux. I understand why support for proprietary cards like Broadcom,
> where the drivers have to be reverse engineered, isn't great; but
> even with Intel cards, the tools, like rfkill, ifup/ifdown, ip,
> ifconfig, iwconfig, wpasupplicant, are so poorly documented that
> using them to establish or debug a connection involves a lot of
> painful trial and error.
>
>         ...Akkana
>
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*~the quieter you become, the more you are able to hear...*
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