2

Network applet lists wifi as "Hardware Disabled." If I go to Software & Updates > Additional Drivers it indicates

Broadcom Corporation: BCM4352 802.11ac Wireless Adapter. This device is using an alternative driver

The following option is checked "Using Broadcom 802.11 Linux STA wireless driver source from bcmwl-kernel-source (proprietary)."

If I run 

lspci -vvnn | grep -A 9 Network

I get: 

06:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4352 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [14e4:43b1] (rev 03)
Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0019]
Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 18
Region 0: Memory at eca00000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=32K]
Region 2: Memory at ec800000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2M]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: wl

  1. Fn+PrtScr has no effect. There are not wireless options in the BIOS I can't find it.

  2. I have purged and reinstalled bcmwl-kernel-source to no effect.

  3. When I run rfkill list I get:

    0: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
1: brcmwl-0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: yes
2: nfc0: NFC
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no

    So I run rfkill unblock 1 to no effect.

  4. I have tried this to no effect:

    cd /etc/modprobe.d/
mkdir tmp
mv iwlwifi.conf tmp

I have poked other around /etc/modprobe.d files to no effect. Another files I touched I changed back to their original state before trying something else.

Any help would be much appreciated.

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6
  • Hard-blocked typically means that your wireless is switched off. You likely have a hardware switch or keyboard combo that will turn it on. Check the manual for your system for more information.
    – Elder Geek
    Apr 7, 2015 at 15:23
  • You may find these helpful: google.com/… and ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2245434
    – Elder Geek
    Apr 7, 2015 at 15:28
  • Thanks for your quick response. You might notice the keyboard combo suggested in the manual and solution in that ubuntuforum are fixes I have already tried.
    – Librarian Bryan
    Apr 7, 2015 at 18:13
  • Do any of the other Fn key combinations function? Have you checked the antenna leads to the wifi card as shown on page19 of your manual? does the device status for wifi as mentioned on page 46 light up? I still haven't found the page with the wifi switch in your manual yet, so I'm afraid I didn't take Fn-PrtScrn as gospel. What page was that?
    – Elder Geek
    Apr 7, 2015 at 19:05
  • Is this your keyboard? dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/SLN288770/EN
    – Elder Geek
    Apr 7, 2015 at 19:09

2 Answers 2

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0

Had the same problem. Fortunately I planned to dual boot (just in case) for a while. When I boot into Windows and do fn+PrtScr (wifi button), the wifi turns on, then works in Linux too. Not sure why, but the hardware button on the keyboard doesn't seem to work.

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-2

I have the exact same problem on my computer (also Precision M3800). The above trick with dual booting to Windows does not work - perhaps it is specific to the version of Windows on dual boot, I have 8.1. But this may be a partial solution: there is now a driver for the Dell airplane mode switch as of kernel version 4.2.

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