Wireless works only after reboot after disabling it via hardware keys

Question

I have an Asus Eee 1005 HA-H which can disable the wireless on some hardware level with FN+F2. If I reenable it, the Gnome network manager tells me that this device is not ready to use. Once I reboot, it is back online.

How could I reenable it while the computer is still on? I'd like to disable it on the fly to save battery power.

Answer 1

Couple of suggestions:

Suggestion 1 - stop and start the network manager service

sudo initctl restart network-manager

Suggestion 2 - unload and reload the wireless kernel module

Find the wireless module via

sudo lshw -class network

Look for driver= in the configuration line - the kernel name is after that

for example for my wireless:

configuration: broadcast=yes driver=wl0 driverversion=5.100.82.38

sudo modprobe -r wl0
sudo modprobe wl0

N.B. you could use Suggestion 1 after this to force network manager to recognise the change in the kernel.