WIFI ON/OFF feature disabled my Wireless adapter permanently

[rohanimb]

HI guys,

I m using Fedora 17 with Cinnamon, I have turned OFF the WIFI using ON/OFF buttons given in cinnamon GUI, it seems it disabled my wireless adapter permanently. I am not able to ON the wireless adapter again even physically with the laptop button also. The laptop button not functioning and WIFI light not blinking, When I checked in the Network settings, there it is showing Hardware disabled. I have even tried from Windows OS also, in the device manager it is showing WIreless enabled but laptop wireless light not blinking not detecteting any wireless networks.

Somebody please help me how to enable my Wireless adapter.. And i suggest all of you to not use that WIFI ON/OFF feature from GUI.

Thanks

[ElderSnake]

I'm surprised the WIFI on/off button is even put there at software level, i've heard of stories like this before.

Can you get into the BIOS (at startup, sometimes it's ALT+F2 or the DEL button to access it...it should say as you boot the machine) and perhaps theres a setting in there to turn it back on?

[george_toolan]

Does your notebook have a hardware switch for the wireless?

[rohanimb]

@George,

Yes, my laptop has physical switch to turn on/off the wireless. but now it is not working..(laptop model hp500). Usually when i click the wireless switch/button it will show the light that indicates wireless ON, now it is not even showing light. But when i am booting, it is just blinking once.

[bbfuller]

There's a little program called "rfkill" in the reopsitories:

yum install rfkill

it's a command line utility that may give some information at least as to what is happening with your wireless card.

man rfkill

should give you the options available but:

rfkill list

may provide some useful information.

[rohanimb]

Originally Posted by ElderSnake

I'm surprised the WIFI on/off button is even put there at software level, i've heard of stories like this before.

Can you get into the BIOS (at startup, sometimes it's ALT+F2 or the DEL button to access it...it should say as you boot the machine) and perhaps theres a setting in there to turn it back on?

HI @Eldersnake,

Thank you for your info.. I restored all options to default in BIOS..Now my Wifi adapter enabled. Thanks for the info...

---------- Post added at 06:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:21 PM ----------

Resolution is We can enable WIFI adapter from BIOS. I did so..now its working fine.. Thank you for help all..Cheers.

---------- Post added at 06:24 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:22 PM ----------

Resolution is We can enable WIFI adapter from BIOS. I did so..now its working fine.. Thank you all..Cheers.

[ElderSnake]

That's good to hear

And I agree with your first post. Probably best for most people to AVOID the wifi on/off function in the GUI unless you're prepared to take measures if it happens to go bad

[vk4tux]

I have a similar issue, however I use the Toshiba m100 internal wireless and sometimes
a rtl8191su usb wlan device for better range. OS: fedora 17
If I turn off the laptop hardware wlan physical switch, it turns of the usb wlan too
Any work around for this? Help appreciated. At the moment both wlan´s; int & usb will work together.

Adrian