Created attachment 562212 [details]
boot.log Fujitsu ESPRIMO MOBILE 9400

Created attachment 562213 [details]
lspci -vv

Sounds like a platform driver issue to me...I Cc'ed the expert, Matthew.

There's no platform driver involved here. ath5k is misreporting state itself - how can it be soft blocked but still be working?

I didn't read it that way.  Martin, is the ath5k device actually working while rfkill is reporting it as either hard or soft blocked?

Also, please create a file named /etc/modprobe.d/ath5k.conf with a line like this in it:

options ath5k no_hw_rfkill_switch=1

Then either reboot or do 'modprobe -r ath5k ; modprobe ath5k' as root.  Does this change the situation you are experiencing?

(In reply to comment #5/#6)
> I didn't read it that way.  Martin, is the ath5k device actually working while
> rfkill is reporting it as either hard or soft blocked?

I'm not sure what you mean with "working". While it's "soft blocked", the wireless interface is not active, but my guess is is still "working" low level. When it's "hard blocked" it definitely doesn't work any more. As I tried to convey, nothing except AC off can bring the device back to working state once this happens.

> options ath5k no_hw_rfkill_switch=1

ath5k in F16 (3.1.9-1) doesn't support this parameter. Do I need to upgrade?

modinfo ath5k
...
vermagic:       3.1.9-1.fc16.x86_64 SMP mod_unload 
parm:           nohwcrypt:Disable hardware encryption. (bool)
parm:           all_channels:Expose all channels the device can use. (bool)
parm:           fastchanswitch:Enable fast channel switching for AR2413/AR5413 radios. (bool)


I might add that I observed this faulty behavior for some time already before I got down to opening a BZ. The behavior was the same in F15, for sure.

At the point where you get:

"- While Wireless is ON:

[root@cooper os3]# rfkill list
0: phy0: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: yes
 Hard blocked: no"

is your wireless working? You say "Connect to wireless" - does that mean you successfully associate, get an address and can send and receive packets? And while doing that, rfkill list says that you're soft blocked?

Also, could you try an updated kernel (e.g. kernel-3.2.5-3.fc16 or later)?

(In reply to comment #8)

> [root@cooper os3]# rfkill list
> 0: phy0: Wireless LAN
>  Soft blocked: yes
>  Hard blocked: no"
> 
> is your wireless working? You say "Connect to wireless" - does that mean you
> successfully associate, get an address and can send and receive packets?

No, that would require un-softblocking the device first, and when I try to do that, it gets hard blocked. What I need to do is try to unblock with rfkill rather than NetworkManager. I will do so at the next opportunity. I'll also try the update kernel ASAP.

Retest with kernel 3.2.9-2.fc16  and "options ath5k no_hw_rfkill_switch=1" was successful. 

This would be acceptable as a workaround for this bug. But I don't think it's a real solution. Somehow the driver seems to mess around with the GPIO pin when the user attempts to soft-block the device.

The comments for http://answerpot.com/showthread.php?3197032-ath5k%3A+Add+a+module+parameter+to+disable+hw+rf+kill+switch (the patch that introduces no_hw_rfkill_switch) doesn't give me a clue, either. The description doesn't fit my problem. in my case it's an on board device, so the "card" *did* come with the laptop.

[mass update]
kernel-3.3.0-4.fc16 has been pushed to the Fedora 16 stable repository.
Please retest with this update.

[mass update]
kernel-3.3.0-4.fc16 has been pushed to the Fedora 16 stable repository.
Please retest with this update.

[mass update]
kernel-3.3.0-4.fc16 has been pushed to the Fedora 16 stable repository.
Please retest with this update.

This was already fixed in the previous kernel.

I have a similar problem.
My notebook does not have a physical switch 
for enabling my wireless network. I have to use Fn+F3.
After a power down, it always OFF.

However, since I upgrade to F17 this does not work anymore,
and I have to boot in an old Fedora using a pen drive (e.g,F11)
to activate the wireless network and then reboot to F17.

I am also using ath5k, which works very well when the wireless network is active.

rfkill list 
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard: blocked yes


Is there anyway to activate my wireless? The Bios does not offer
any help, also...
Maybe acpid is mapping Fn+F3 to another action?

Thanks.

no_hw_rfkill_switch just tells the driver to ignore settings on EEPROM and don't use hw rf-kill (sw rf-kill still works). The fact that your card came with the laptop doesn't nesecary mean that it's being configured propertly, maybe your laptop vendor tweaked the windows (In reply to comment #11)
> Retest with kernel 3.2.9-2.fc16  and "options ath5k no_hw_rfkill_switch=1"
> was successful. 
> 
> This would be acceptable as a workaround for this bug. But I don't think
> it's a real solution. Somehow the driver seems to mess around with the GPIO
> pin when the user attempts to soft-block the device.
> 
> The comments for
> http://answerpot.com/showthread.php?3197032-
> ath5k%3A+Add+a+module+parameter+to+disable+hw+rf+kill+switch (the patch that
> introduces no_hw_rfkill_switch) doesn't give me a clue, either. The
> description doesn't fit my problem. in my case it's an on board device, so
> the "card" *did* come with the laptop.

Well maybe your laptop vendor didn't tweak EEPROM settings, left the defaults and instead tweaked the vendor-provided driver to do the same thing we do with no_hw_rfkill_switch, ignore the hw switch. We could do a mapping for gpio pins the same way we do for the LEDs and have a "database" of valid pin/polarity settings to override EEPROM defaults but that requires some effort from the users for testing etc and to introduce an easy way to debug (through debugfs, or a module parameter).

I think just using no_hw_rfkill is the easiest approach and after all we have the software rf-kill to work with, that triggers the same mechanism to disable rf. We don't miss any functionality like we did with LEDs not working.

(In reply to comment #16)
> I have a similar problem.
> My notebook does not have a physical switch 
> for enabling my wireless network. I have to use Fn+F3.
> After a power down, it always OFF.
> 
> However, since I upgrade to F17 this does not work anymore,
> and I have to boot in an old Fedora using a pen drive (e.g,F11)
> to activate the wireless network and then reboot to F17.
> 
> I am also using ath5k, which works very well when the wireless network is
> active.
> 
> rfkill list 
> 1: phy0: Wireless LAN
>         Soft blocked: no
>         Hard: blocked yes
> 
> 
> Is there anyway to activate my wireless? The Bios does not offer
> any help, also...
> Maybe acpid is mapping Fn+F3 to another action?
> 
> Thanks.

ath5k doesn't deal with acpi key combinations, it only manages the hw rf-kill switches available on some laptops, you should check acpi support/drivers for your laptop and report this problem there.

In fact, I just did:

/sbin/rmmod -f ath5k
/sbin/rfkill unblock all
/sbin/modprobe ath5k


and now my wireless network is enabled all of the time, even after shutdown.
This is exactly what I was looking for. 
Could it be a module option?

Thanks.

If you were able to unblock it with ath5k unloaded, it doesn't seem like ath5k is really involved at all.  In any case, perhaps you should open a new bug?

Just for the record, 3.6.1-1.fc17.x86_64 still requires "no_hw_rfkill_switch=1".