[SOLVED] Lenovo S10-3 Wireless Problem

Jamwa · #1 27th June 2011, 09:20 AM

I have been searching and trying on how to get this wireless device working but to no avail.

From a lot of Googling around, this is what I have:

Code:

sh-4.2# iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

em1       no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:off/any  
          Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=off   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:on
          
ppp0      no wireless extensions.

sh-4.2#

Code:

sh-4.2# lspci | grep -i network
09:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)
sh-4.2#

Code:

sh-4.2# rfkill list
0: ideapad_wlan: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: yes
sh-4.2#

From the BIOS, Wireless is enabled

Help please

aks · #2 27th June 2011, 12:13 PM

Jamwa,
This might be due to the acer_wmi kernel module. Try this at the terminal (as a root user):

Code:

modprobe -r acer_wmi
rfkill unblock all

See if you can use the wirless now. If it helps, you can edit /etc/rc.local file and add the following lines to the end

Code:

modprobe -r acer_wmi

The above line in the /etc/rc.local file will fix the wireless automatically at the startup and you can enjoy wireless.

Jamwa · #3 27th June 2011, 01:53 PM

aks,

I get this after running the commands that you have suggested:

Code:

sh-4.2# rfkill list
0: ideapad_wlan: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: yes
sh-4.2#

And the wireless is still not working :-(

---------- Post added at 04:04 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:03 AM ----------

When I hover mouse over the network connection icon, it says that "Wireless disabled by hardware" Yet the switch is set to the ON position

---------- Post added at 04:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:04 AM ----------

I have an update. I have done this:

Code:

rmmod ath9k

and immediately the network icon came up with a message that wireless has been enabled. But clicking on it , the KDE network manager tab for wireless network is diabled

aks · #4 28th June 2011, 05:10 AM

Jamwa,
So ath9k seemed to be the culprit. Despite that the wireless hardware is enabled and the proper driver is loaded, wireless is sometimes disabled by NetworkManager. Try right-clicking on the NetworkManager applet icon in the notification area, and click on "Enable Networking". Might be this will solve your problem. Additionally in the /etc/rc.local file, you can add that line (replace acer_wmi with ath9k).

Jamwa · #5 28th June 2011, 10:18 AM

Does not work. When I check to enable, yes the tick appears but nothing works

---------- Post added 28th June 2011 at 01:18 AM ---------- Previous post was 27th June 2011 at 10:19 PM ----------

Update: This is how I have solved the problem on my part;

I reinstalled Windows (I had given up on Fedora on this tiny baby)
Next I installed all the drivers needed, including wireless software and an application called power tools, which Lenovo say that activates the keys that do something when the fn key is pressed in conjunction with the F* keys.
Then I pressed fn+F5 (which toggles wireless on/off for me) and chose to enable wireless.
I now booted with live usb stick into Fedora and am happy to report that the wireless device is up and running