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(update3 some of my very first original post was lost so I re-created my question , here it is:)

I finally got the 14e4:4312 (on lenovo x300) working after several days from the terminal, becuase NetworkManager was all grayed out. I wanted to confirm that I can get it working, with terminal.

However, NetworkManager applet in the systray still grayed out, it still says Wi-Fi is disabled by hardware switch (both for my two pci card), and also a grayed out Enable Wi-Fi.

Also tried big-ubuntu-menu-thingy > type "settings" > select "system settings" > select "network" and there is a switch, "Wifi" ON/OFF. I try to set it ON (would be big orange label) but it jumps back, it is a gray OFF.

How do I fix NetworManager so it lets me handle wifi, or what am I doing wrong?


appendix

index:

  • how did I manually connected to my wifi network from terminal
  • output of lspci -nnk
  • output of cat /lsb-release
  • output of sudo iw dev
  • output of sudo rfkill list (says "blocked", at same time, my connection works from terminal)
  • output of dmesg | grep -i -e b43 (after I got it working)
  • output of lsmod | grep -e acpi -e wmi suggested by chilli555
  • output of lsusb to show I only have pci wifi cards
  • output of uname -a

how did I manually connected to my wifi network from terminal (despite NetworkManager grayed out both before connection and after connection):

(if you have a better way for something please feel free to comment it also)

This is how I managed to connect to wifi manually:

Step 1 decide to use b43 driver. I wanted to use brcsmac but I didn't know how to switch, everything I tried remained with b43. I think this https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Driver/bcm43xx# also says to me to use the b43 with this "BCM4311 [14e4:4312]" (so is it 11 or 12??)

Step 2 install wpasupplicant and packages needed for manual wifi connect...

# I've learned I need this
# because I have a WPA network, WPA PSK 2 type, and from command line I use wpasupplicant 
sudo apt-get install wpasupplicant
# just in case, for iw, iwconfig, ...
sudo apt-get install wireless-tools

Step 3 install the firmware recommended at http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#devicefirmware and then reboot!

sudo apt-get purge bcmwl-kernel-source
sudo apt-get purge firmware-b43-installer
sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer
sudo rmmod b43
sudo rmmod ssb
sudo modprobe b43
sudo reboot

Step 4 manually connect to wifi

# to see which phy, phy0 or phy1 -- is there a better way????
dmesg | grep -i -e b43
# to see which interface, wlan0 or wlan1?
iw dev
# decided to go with wlan1
# to see if it's "Hard blocked: yes"? or "Soft blocked: yes"?
rfkill list
# to unblock
sudo rfkill unblock wifi

Note this is the point where I would expect NetworkManager to stop being "grayed out", however it is remains "grayed out" and that is :(. To go on with the story,

# to check the interface wlan1 exists...
iwconfig
# to see if interface wlan1 is up
ifconfig
# if not, to see if it sees it
ifconfig -a
# to bring interface wlan1 up
sudo ifconfig wlan1 up
# to re-check if wlan1 is up
ifconfig
# if yes, go on...
# to see which networks are available

Step 5 to connect to my network 'foonet'

sudo iw dev wlan0 scan | grep -i -e ssid
# I see it sees my network called foonet
# I know foonet is WPA protected, WPA 2 PSK ...
# creates a file that stores more than just my password for wifi network:
wpa_passphrase foonet >wifi_password_for_foonet.conf
I write here my password for foonet then press Enter (return) once

# to connect to the network using the file just created
wpa_supplicant -Dwext -iwlan1 -c wifi_password_for_foonet.conf
# it stoles my temrinal from me so I have to go to another terminal
# I go to another terminal
# I remember painfully, that I need to do this
sudo dhclient wlan1
# if it fails, then first: sudo dhclient -r wlan1       -- then retry without -r
# now it works for me and I post this! 

So now I have this manually working from terminal. My problem I would like this to work from the gui so my friends can handle the wifi networks from the gui on the go.

But in Networkmanager, all wifi is grayed out: grayed out BCM4311, says it is hardware blocked (rfkill says phy1 is not), grayed out RTL8188CE, says it is hardware blocked (rfkill says the same for phy0), grayed out "Enable Wi-Fi". Even if I got it working manually.

I found a hardware switch at the back of the computer I turned wifi ON. The switch is moved to be at the closest to an wifi icon that shows a computer sending broadcasts.

On the front panel, there are two glowing green wifi-like icons. A triangle broadcasting signals - to the left, it glows. The same icon inside a rectangle - to the right. If I press Fn+F5 the left icon stops glowing, goes off. And my manual wifi also stops. If I press Fn+F5 again it starts glowing again. My manual wifi comes back, but I also have to re-do dhclient -r wlan1 and dhclient wlan1 to make it work again. The other icon glows all the time.

I would like fix networkmanager or other more automatic and gui-discoverable way to enable my friends to use the computer with any network without me or rememberin the terminal stuff. But I don't know how. I don't know why it doesn't work or how should I further troubleshoot. So how can I fix NetworkManager or equivalent so wifi can be handled the way my friends can use it?

appendix

lspci -nnk

03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 802.11a/b/g [14e4:4312] (rev 01)
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Broadcom 802.11a/b/g WLAN [103c:1360]
    Kernel driver in use: b43-pci-bridge
04:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8188CE 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter [10ec:8176] (rev 01)
    Subsystem: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device [10ec:8195]
    Kernel driver in use: rtl8192ce

cat /etc/lsb-release

DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=14.10
DISTRIB_CODENAME=utopic
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 14.10"

sudo iw dev

phy#1
    Interface wlan1
        ifindex 4
        wdev 0x100000001
        addr 00:1a:73:18:e8:3b
        type managed
phy#0
    Interface wlan0
        ifindex 3
        wdev 0x1
        addr 74:de:2b:0d:73:c2
        type managed

sudo rfkill list

0: hci0: Bluetooth
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no
1: tpacpi_bluetooth_sw: Bluetooth
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no
2: phy0: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: yes
3: phy1: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no

even if I do sudo rfkill unblock all, one of the phy-s remains Hard blocked: yes always.

current dmesg | grep -i -e b43

[   12.366264] b43-phy1: Broadcom 4311 WLAN found (core revision 10)
[   12.466708] b43-phy1: Found PHY: Analog 4, Type 2 (G), Revision 8
[   12.466733] b43-phy1 warning: 5 GHz band is unsupported on this PHY
[  346.380120] b43-phy1: Loading firmware version 666.2 (2011-02-23 01:15:07)

earlier dmesg said that I should go to http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#devicefirmware and follow the instructions which I did. Those instructions told me to do sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer which I did then.

I have not tried to replace networkmanager with wicd yet.

update 1 as requested by chili555:

lsmod | grep -e acpi -e wmi

thinkpad_acpi          81069  0 
snd_rawmidi            30876  1 snd_seq_midi
nvram                  14423  1 thinkpad_acpi
snd_seq_device         14497  3 snd_seq,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_midi
snd                    87611  17 snd_hwdep,snd_timer,snd_pcm,snd_seq,snd_rawmidi,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,thinkpad_acpi,snd_seq_device,snd_hda_codec_analog
pata_acpi              13053  0

update 2 to avoid confusion I also post my lsusb stats

lsusb

Bus 002 Device 002: ID 17ef:4807 Lenovo UVC Camera
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 003: ID 0483:2016 STMicroelectronics Fingerprint Reader
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 0a5c:2110 Broadcom Corp. BCM2045B (BDC-2) [Bluetooth Controller]
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

from this what I see is that the rtl8188ce is not an usb card... what I suspected is probably this x300 has two wifi cards builtin in pci?

to make it clear, I have nothing manually plugged in to usb. what I've done "manually" is setting up the software side to connect to wifi, from terminal. I hope it is clear now!

update 4 oh I forgot uname

uname -a Linux foocomputer 3.16.0-23-generic #31-Ubuntu SMP Tue Oct 21 17:56:17 UTC 2014 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Resources I've used:

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  • Until you solve 'hard blocked: yes' no amount of fiddling with the drivers will change anything. Please edit your question to add the result of: lsmod | grep -e acpi -e wmi Does the wireless key combination Fn+F5 do anything? Thanks.
    – chili555
    Dec 10, 2014 at 16:51
  • @chili555 thanks chili555, I've updated it as requested! hardblocked bugs me too, for two reasons, 1. (major) I cannot troubleshoot whats wrong because I don't know how. I know it should be "blocked: no". 2. (minor) I don't know, why both card is grayed in networkmanager, if only 1 is "hard blocked: yes" in rfkill output. I am happy to see you around!
    – n611x007
    Dec 10, 2014 at 16:56
  • Does the wireless key combination Fn+F5 do anything?
    – chili555
    Dec 10, 2014 at 16:58
  • @chili555 yes, in start, I have a manual connection set up working, the green wifi led to the left (there are two similar ones) is glowing (the other is glowing too). Then I press Fn+F5. in the terminal which I have wpa_supplicant running in, it says 2 lines: rfkill: WLAN hard blocked and rfkill: WLAN soft blocked. the light goes off (only left one). I press Fn+F5 again, it says rfkill: WLAN hard blocked (??) and rfkill: WLAN unblocked. then it goes on and tries to connect, it does, the light (left) glows. I need to do sudo dhclient -r wlan1 && sudo dhclient wlan1 and then it works.
    – n611x007
    Dec 10, 2014 at 17:07
  • So, you are all set?
    – chili555
    Dec 10, 2014 at 17:08

1 Answer 1

0

This recipe (step 3 from above) fixed a few problems on my old Compaq Presario C500.

sudo apt-get purge bcmwl-kernel-source
sudo apt-get purge firmware-b43-installer
sudo apt-get install firmware-b43-installer
reboot

32 bit Ubuntu 14.10 with all the updates would not even show the wlan0 interface as available, and the blue light on the keypad bezel would never light up. Removing the listed packages and adding the firmware-b43-installer seems to have solved three problems. 1. the wifi, 2, rebooting, 3 power off. I can connect to all my wireless choices using the desktop network manager, and the laptop will reset itself properly upon a reboot and will power itself off when told to do so. Very nice. Thank you.

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