Bug 665341 - NetworkManager fails to enable wireless
Summary: NetworkManager fails to enable wireless
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED CURRENTRELEASE
Alias: None
Product: Fedora
Classification: Fedora
Component: NetworkManager
Version: 14
Hardware: x86_64
OS: Linux
low
medium
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Dan Williams
QA Contact: Fedora Extras Quality Assurance
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2010-12-23 11:00 UTC by Abhishek Singh
Modified: 2011-04-22 20:04 UTC (History)
3 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2011-04-22 20:04:27 UTC
Type: ---
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)
Related lines in /var/log/message regarding this problem. (1.11 KB, application/octet-stream)
2010-12-23 11:00 UTC, Abhishek Singh
no flags Details

Description Abhishek Singh 2010-12-23 11:00:26 UTC
Created attachment 470406 [details]
Related lines in /var/log/message regarding this problem.

Description of problem:

On a Lenovo B450 laptop with Atheros AR5001 wireless adapter, a fresh installed Fedora 14 x86_64 system works well at enabling and disabling wireless and connecting to a SSID. But, even though the wireless was enabled at the hardware level, NetworkManager always had it at the disabled state.
After a full system update, when I try to click on the "Enable Wireless" menu item (with a check box) in the NetworkManager applet, nothing happens. Though I'm allowed to use the commandline tools to configure the interface.
After full system update, the kernel version is 2.6.35.10-72.fc14.x86_64 and the NetworkManager version is 0.8.1-10.git20100831.fc14.x86_64. The wireless driver is ath5k.


Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):

NetworkManager-0.8.1-10.git20100831.fc14.x86_64


How reproducible:


Steps to Reproduce:

1. yum -y update
2. Right click on the NetworkManager applet.
3. Click on "Enable Wireless" menu item.
  
Actual results:
Wireless does not gets enabled.

Expected results:
Wireless should get enabled, and clicking on the applet should display a list of available broadcasted SSIDs.

Additional info:

Comment 1 Abhishek Singh 2010-12-26 04:05:09 UTC
I did a new series of tests to verify the bug. I freshly installed Fedora 14 (x86_64) on the Lenovo B450 machine. The fresh installed state had kernel-2.6.35.6-45.fc14.x86_64 and NetworkManager-0.8.1-9.git20100831.fc14.x86_64. Enabling/Disabling wireless and connecting to SSIDs worked at the state. Then I fully updated the system as of Dec 25 which contained kernel-2.6.35.10-72.fc14.x86_64 and NetworkManager-0.8.1-10.git20100831.fc14.x86_64. After update, the wireless functionality was broken. Assuming it to be a bug with NetworkManager's latest version, I downgraded it (yum - y downgrade NetworkManager NetworkManager-gnome) to version 0.8.1-9.git20100831.fc14.x86_64 (same as the fresh installed state). Then after a reboot, the wireless functionality was working. Hence, this confirms the bug with NetworkManager-0.8.1-10.git20100831.fc14.x86_64.

Comment 2 Jirka Klimes 2011-01-10 12:58:45 UTC
Yeah, there is a change the NetworkManager-0.8.1-10.git20100831.fc14, that introduces a new Wifi state to decouple rfkill state and user preference of 'Wireless Enable state'.

This is the commit:
http://cgit.freedesktop.org/NetworkManager/NetworkManager/commit/?id=e86ef05d84749c5a15d7bcf30f78056ca205489c

BTW, 'Enable Wireless' of nm-applet in the latest NM works okay for me.

Please check and report this:
1. rfkill list
2. cat /var/lib/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.state
3. in /var/log/messages, you should see
<info> WiFi enabled by radio killswitch; enabled by state file
<info> WWAN enabled by radio killswitch; enabled by state file
<info> WiMAX enabled by radio killswitch; enabled by state file
<info> Networking is enabled by state file
after NM starts

Comment 3 srh 2011-01-25 00:19:44 UTC
Similar problem on a Sony Vaio VPCYA15FG with Atheros AR9285 wifi, loading default ath9k driver. Worked fine with fresh F14 install, but after full update, cannot "Enable wireless" via NetworkManager icon, even tho ath9k module is loaded.

Running NetworkManager 0.8.1-10.git20100831.fc14

Possible solution - acer_wmi module is broken and interfering with wireless.
modprobe -r acer_wmi
Success!!, instantly wifi starts working again, even without reboot.

See:

http://www.mail-archive.com/networkm.../msg16494.html

https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=16570

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=655371

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=658003

Comment 4 srh 2011-01-25 00:27:23 UTC
Oops, first link is:
http://www.mail-archive.com/networkmanager-list@gnome.org/msg16494.html

Also:

Physical wireless switch is on at all times.

rfkill list
0: acer-wireless: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: yes
	Hard blocked: no
1: sony-wifi: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
2: sony-bluetooth: Bluetooth
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
3: hci0: Bluetooth
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
5: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no

Jan 24 17:05:37 kokatahi NetworkManager[1252]: <info> found WiFi radio killswitch rfkill1 (at /sys/devices/LNXSYSTM:00/LNXSYBUS:00/PNP0A08:00/device:0b/SNY5001:00/rfkill/rfkill1) (driver Sony Notebook Control Driver)
Jan 24 17:05:37 kokatahi NetworkManager[1252]: <info> found WiFi radio killswitch rfkill4 (at /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1c.0/0000:02:00.0/ieee80211/phy0/rfkill4) (driver <unknown>)
Jan 24 17:05:37 kokatahi NetworkManager[1252]: <info> found WiFi radio killswitch rfkill0 (at /sys/devices/platform/acer-wmi/rfkill/rfkill0) (driver acer-wmi)
Jan 24 17:05:37 kokatahi NetworkManager[1252]: <info> WiFi disabled by radio killswitch; enabled by state file
Jan 24 17:05:37 kokatahi NetworkManager[1252]: <info> WWAN enabled by radio killswitch; enabled by state file
Jan 24 17:05:37 kokatahi NetworkManager[1252]: <info> WiMAX enabled by radio killswitch; enabled by state file
Jan 24 17:05:37 kokatahi NetworkManager[1252]: <info> Networking is enabled by state file

Comment 5 Dan Williams 2011-04-22 20:04:27 UTC
There are some fixes for wifi enable/disable in NetworkManager 0.8.4 which is in updates-testing.  Give that a shot for the original reporter's problem and re-open if there are still issues.

For your problem Stewart, it's best to file a kernel bug so the acer-wmi driver can be updated for your laptop.


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