1

I have a Dell Latitude 3340 which I bought from Dell with Ubuntu installed. I've since updated to 16.04. When I update I often get errors related to the package 'dell-wmi-dkms'. However, my WIFI seems to work fine. Is this something that I should worry about? If so, is there anything that I can do?

Here is the output of dkms status:

dell-wmi, 0.1, 3.13.0-92-generic, x86_64: installed
dell-wmi, 0.1, 3.5.0-36-generic, x86_64: installed
oem-audio-hda-daily-lts-quantal, 0.201311122153~ubuntu12.04.1, 3.5.0-36-generic, x86_64: installed
oem-sdcard-o2micro, 3.0, 3.5.0-36-generic, x86_64: installed
workaround-xhci-quirk-precise-roundrock, 0.3, 3.13.0-92-generic, x86_64: installed
workaround-xhci-quirk-precise-roundrock, 0.3, 3.5.0-36-generic, x86_64: installed
workaround-xhci-quirk-precise-roundrock, 0.3, 4.2.0-23-lowlatency, x86_64: installed
workaround-xhci-quirk-precise-roundrock, 0.3, 4.4.0-81-generic, x86_64: installed
workaround-xhci-quirk-precise-roundrock, 0.3, 4.4.0-83-generic, x86_64: installed
workaround-xhci-quirk-precise-roundrock, 0.3, 4.4.0-87-generic, x86_64: installed
Improve this question
10
  • FWIW It doesn't look like that package has been updated since 2009
    – Elder Geek
    Jul 25, 2017 at 13:03
  • Remove that package.
    – Pilot6
    Jul 25, 2017 at 13:05
  • @Pilot6 Do I have a good reason to think that that's a safe thing to do?
    – twsh
    Jul 25, 2017 at 13:20
  • What do you mean by "safe"? This package is not working anyway.
    – Pilot6
    Jul 25, 2017 at 13:21
  • 1
    Get your Dell service ID # from the bottom of your computer, and go to dell.com, support section, and see if they have an updated dell-wmi that works with 4.x kernels. If you don't see it, call them and ask. Ask what it does, and is it needed for 16.04. Two other dkms drivers need an update also. Ask about those.
    – heynnema
    Jul 25, 2017 at 18:32

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

Error messages

To address your immediate concerns you have nothing to worry about. The WMI hotkeys are not needed for WiFi to function.

Date of WMI updates

To address comments posted above; although your Dell-WMI compiled binaries haven't been updated for 9 years, the source code was updated 2 years ago:

/*
 * Dell WMI hotkeys
 *
 * Copyright (C) 2008 Red Hat <[email protected]>
 * Copyright (C) 2014-2015 Pali Rohár <[email protected]>

The full source code can be found here.

Additionally it is compatible with kernel versions 2.6.30–2.6.39, 3.0–3.19, 4.0–4.12, 4.13-rc+HEAD according to this link.

What are Dell-WMI hot keys?

This picture shows the Dell WMI hotkeys in the top right hand corner of the picture. Three keys immediately above the keyboard:

dell WMI hotkeys

How to tell if the driver is loaded?

Press each of the three keys in order and type in the terminal:

dmesg | tail

If the keys are undefined in Linux (as on my Dell 17R 7720 SE) you'll see this:

[22029.994271] dell_wmi: Unknown key e0f0 pressed
[22032.865727] dell_wmi: Unknown key e02a pressed
[22033.153981] dell_wmi: Unknown key e02b pressed
[22035.538910] atkbd serio0: Unknown key pressed (translated set 2, code 0x60 on isa0060/serio0).
[22035.538919] atkbd serio0: Use 'setkeycodes 60 <keycode>' to make it known.
[22459.638125] dell_wmi: Unknown key e0f0 pressed
[22460.857257] dell_wmi: Unknown key e02a pressed
[22461.174731] dell_wmi: Unknown key e02b pressed
[22461.958683] atkbd serio0: Unknown key pressed (translated set 2, code 0x60 on isa0060/serio0).
[22461.958689] atkbd serio0: Use 'setkeycodes 60 <keycode>' to make it known.

If the keys were working a pop-up menu according to that keys function would appear on your screen. If they aren't assigned, you can assign these keys as shortcuts to your everyday work functions. Personally I use a wireless backlit keyboard (Logitech K800) so never touch the laptop's backlit keyboard and haven't looked at these keys in years.

If you require further details don't hesitate to ask via comment below.

Improve this answer
1
  • Thank you! The Latitude 3340 doesn't have the keys as a separate row of buttons, but it has at least one wifi function key. And that is undefined in Linux according to the test you suggested.
    – twsh
    Jul 26, 2017 at 13:27

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .