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I have a weird problem which I suspect due to a hardware failure, but I would like to make sure.

On a Panasonic Toughbook CF-T5, running Kubuntu 12.04. Dual boot with WIndows XP but I don't think that is the issue, I did not boot into windows in a very long time.

The laptop has a phisical switch to turn wifi on/off (and a led that is on/off accordingly).

A couple of months ago, the wifi started disconnecting/reconnecting (and the led going off/on), then at some point died forever. The led is also off, regardless of the position of the switch.

The "Enable wireless" tickbox in knetworkmanager is greyed out.

What makes the situation even weirder is that if I plug in a second wifi (usb stick), this also does not work! And it works on other machines.

The only difference is that rfkill list does not show the second wifi (wlan1) to be hardware blocked.

I did spend quite some time looking for similar issues and tried the proposed solution. I did rfkill unblock all, check the bios settings, the windows partition (XP, which I had not used in a very long time), and even booting from a usb stick, nothing makes the wifi work.

Attaching a bunch of potentially useful command outputs.

$ iwconfig

wlan1     IEEE 802.11bg  ESSID:off/any  
      Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=0 dBm   
      Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
      Power Management:on

wlan0     IEEE 802.11abg  ESSID:off/any  
          Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=off   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:on


$ rfkill list

0: phy0: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: yes
1: phy1: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no

$ lspci -k
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT  Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
    Subsystem: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Device 8338
    Kernel driver in use: agpgart-intel
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
    Subsystem: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Device 8338
    Kernel driver in use: i915
    Kernel modules: intelfb, i915
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
    Subsystem: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Device 8338
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
    Subsystem: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Panasonic CF-Y5 laptop
    Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
    Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
    Kernel driver in use: pcieport
    Kernel modules: shpchp
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family PCI Express Port 3 (rev 02)
    Kernel driver in use: pcieport
    Kernel modules: shpchp
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
    Subsystem: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Device 8338
    Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
00:1d.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
    Subsystem: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Device 8338
    Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
00:1d.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
    Subsystem: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Device 8338
    Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
00:1d.3 USB controller: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
    Subsystem: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Device 8338
    Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
00:1d.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
    Subsystem: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Device 8338
    Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
    Subsystem: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Panasonic CF-Y5 laptop
    Kernel modules: leds-ss4200, iTCO_wdt, intel-rng
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 02)
    Subsystem: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Panasonic CF-Y5 laptop
    Kernel driver in use: ata_piix
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family SMBus Controller (rev 02)
    Subsystem: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Panasonic CF-Y5 laptop
    Kernel modules: i2c-i801
03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] Network Connection (rev 02)
    Subsystem: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection
    Kernel driver in use: iwl3945
    Kernel modules: iwl3945
04:01.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
    Subsystem: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Panasonic CF-Y5 laptop
    Kernel driver in use: 8139too
    Kernel modules: 8139too, 8139cp
04:05.0 CardBus bridge: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c476 II (rev 8d)
    Subsystem: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Panasonic CF-Y5 laptop
    Kernel driver in use: yenta_cardbus
    Kernel modules: yenta_socket
04:05.1 SD Host controller: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter (rev 13)
    Subsystem: Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. Panasonic CF-Y5 laptop
    Kernel driver in use: sdhci-pci
    Kernel modules: sdhci-pci

$ lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
zd1211rw               57509  0 
bnep                   17830  2 
rfcomm                 38139  0 
bluetooth             158447  10 bnep,rfcomm
parport_pc             32114  0 
ppdev                  12849  0 
binfmt_misc            17292  1 
dm_crypt               22528  0 
snd_hda_codec_idt      60251  1 
snd_hda_intel          32719  3 
snd_hda_codec         109562  2 snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep              13276  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm                80916  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
snd_seq_midi           13132  0 
snd_rawmidi            25424  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event     14475  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq                51592  2 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_timer              28931  2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device         14172  3 snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
arc4                   12473  4 
snd                    62250  15 snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
pcmcia                 39826  0 
joydev                 17393  0 
iwl3945                73145  0 
iwl_legacy             71334  1 iwl3945
mac80211              436493  3 zd1211rw,iwl3945,iwl_legacy    
tpm_infineon           13200  0 
yenta_socket           27428  0 
pcmcia_rsrc            18367  1 yenta_socket
cfg80211              178877  4 zd1211rw,iwl3945,iwl_legacy,mac80211
pcmcia_core            21511  3 pcmcia,yenta_socket,pcmcia_rsrc
soundcore              14635  1 snd
psmouse                97218  0 
serio_raw              13027  0 
snd_page_alloc         14115  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
tpm_tis                18389  0 
panasonic_laptop       13194  0 
mac_hid                13077  0 
sparse_keymap          13658  1 panasonic_laptop
lp                     17455  0 
parport                40930  3 parport_pc,ppdev,lp
i915                  428458  2 
8139too                23283  0 
drm_kms_helper         45466  1 i915
drm                   197641  3 i915,drm_kms_helper
8139cp                 26688  0 
sdhci_pci              18324  0 
sdhci                  28241  1 sdhci_pci
usbhid                 41937  0 
hid                    81731  1 usbhid
i2c_algo_bit           13199  1 i915
video                  19115  1 i915

$ sudo lshw -class network
 *-network DISABLED
   description: Wireless interface
   product: PRO/Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] Network Connection
   vendor: Intel Corporation
   physical id: 0
   bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
   logical name: wlan0
   version: 02
   serial: 00:19:d2:0a:43:4b
   width: 32 bits
   clock: 33MHz
   capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
   configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwl3945 driverversion=3.2.0-72-generic firmware=N/A latency=0 link=no multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11abg
   resources: irq:42 memory:d0000000-d0000fff
 *-network
   description: Ethernet interface
   product: RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+
   vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
   physical id: 1
   bus info: pci@0000:04:01.0
   logical name: eth0
   version: 10
   serial: 00:0b:97:ba:fe:86
   size: 100Mbit/s
   capacity: 100Mbit/s
   width: 32 bits
   clock: 33MHz
   capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
   configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=8139too driverversion=0.9.28 duplex=full ip=192.168.1.5 latency=32 link=yes maxlatency=64 mingnt=32 multicast=yes port=MII speed=100Mbit/s
   resources: irq:19 ioport:2000(size=256) memory:d0100000-d01000ff
 *-network DISABLED
   description: Wireless interface
   physical id: 2
   bus info: usb@1:5
   logical name: wlan1
   serial: 00:1a:ff:01:dc:b9
   capabilities: ethernet physical wireless
   configuration: broadcast=yes driver=zd1211rw driverversion=3.2.0-72-generic firmware=N/A link=no multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bg
Improve this question
3
  • Does your BIOS allow you to ignore the end-user's position of the switch (I once had it on a Toshiba and the question is not intuitive (Japanese English) but you have to set it to the opposite of what you think it means (and the opposite of the default in the BIOS) Try that out first and if it works, I'll leave an answer ans research the exact wording a it better)
    – Fabby
    Dec 8, 2014 at 20:15
  • 1
    It was indeed a hardware issue. "Massaging" the switch a bit solved it. The led indicator still does not work but the wifi does. Thanks anyway!
    – ggll
    Jan 16, 2015 at 9:51
  • I'll convert it to an answer then! :-)
    – Fabby
    Jan 16, 2015 at 9:53

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
0

Does your BIOS allow you to ignore the position of the switch? If yes, use that!

If not, try a life-hack: massage the switch a bit until it does work. If that helps, be aware that you have a hardware fault and that in the end, you'll probably have to dismantle the machine to fix it on the "on" position!

To help you with that, google for the machine's "Service Manual" as that will show you in what order you need to take it apart (and even better: put it back together!!!).

Improve this answer
0

I suspect that the the little helper module that translates key presses into action; e.g. unlock the wireless, doesn't work correctly. Let's remove it and see if the wireless button works and/or if the wireless springs to life. Please unplug the USB wireless. Then open a terminal and do:

sudo modprobe -r panasonic_laptop

Now does the wireless button work as expected or does the wireless work with no button press at all? If so, we'll blacklist it.

rfkill list all
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