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I have Sony VAIO VPCEB26FG. I installed ubuntu 11.04. When i switch on my wireless button only bluetooth gets activated and it shows wireless is disabled by hardware switch. I tried using command $sudo rfkill list. The output of which is 

kiran@sytem:~$ rfkill list  
0: sony-wifi: Wireless LAN  
    Soft blocked: no  
    Hard blocked: no  
1: sony-bluetooth: Bluetooth  
    Soft blocked: no  
    Hard blocked: no  
2: phy0: Wireless LAN  
    Soft blocked: no  
    Hard blocked: no  
3: hci0: Bluetooth  
    Soft blocked: no  
    Hard blocked: no

How to solve this problem??

Jorge Castro
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Kiran Awate
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  • Try to look in the BIOS settings the internal devices that are controlled by the switch. Report back if you see anything. – Severo Raz Feb 01 '12 at 18:11
  • nothing in BIOS settings... – Kiran Awate Feb 02 '12 at 02:59
  • Instead of commenting back here, I posted an answer. Please read it and post any follow-up comments on it. – Severo Raz Feb 02 '12 at 07:17
  • I have same issue I had windows 7 but didn't work so I had to use portable ubuntu boot It worked fine for months...but now i have same issue and I have no idea anything about commands Someone give me a instructions for like a noob ( me ) –  May 30 '14 at 09:52

4 Answers4

5

This solved my problem on my Vaio vpceg:

sudo gedit /etc/rc.local

Place this above the exit 0 line:

rfkill unblock wifi
rfkill unblock all
sudo modprobe -r acer_wmi
Yi Jiang
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paco
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2

I will ask you to try this, which once consisted of a temporary fix to a problem I had:

  1. Turn the switch off
  2. Run rfkill block wifi
  3. Turn the switch on now
  4. Run rfkill unblock wifi

When I did this, my wifi started working. However, rebooting my computer would kill wifi again. My workaround consisted in blacklisting a module called dell_laptop, which was problematic and was blocking my wifi.

So, please run this command and comment what is output, lsmod | grep sony. If the module sony_laptop is loaded, you should proceed to blacklist it, and reboot your computer.

To blacklist a module, run the following command: 

sudo echo "blacklist sony_laptop" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

Which is just a way of appending the echoed line to the file referenced. You might as well do it with your text editor of choice.

If you wonder where am I getting all this voodoo from, check this bug report at Gnome Bugzilla.

Severo Raz
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  • I dont know what solved my problem, before i use the commands you mentioned, my wifi was working and i can see enable wireless option. However wireless networks option is still disabled. Also there is a module sony_laptop in my laptop. Can you tell me how to blacklist it or refer any link? – Kiran Awate Feb 02 '12 at 17:09
  • I think it is mentioned in the Gnome Bugzilla link, but I added some instructions there for you. – Severo Raz Feb 02 '12 at 17:28
  • Thanks alot Mr. Wolter Hellmund. I hope this will solve my problem permanently. – Kiran Awate Feb 02 '12 at 17:57
  • This is how it looks now yfrog.com/nh7xyp Now how can i search for available wireless networks with wireless networks option disabled. – Kiran Awate Feb 02 '12 at 18:03
  • There is no "search" function for wireless networks, if you are sure you are within a wireless network, I recommend you to either use the "Connect to a hidden wireless network" or attempt a connection from another computer. There may be a better method, but I am not very experienced with wifi debugging. Have you rebooted the computer to see if the blacklisting worked as a permanent solution? – Severo Raz Feb 02 '12 at 20:45
  • Blacklisting didn't work, after i rebooted again that "wireless is disabled by hardware switch" bug appeared again. Blocking and unblocking wifi with rfkill didn't work too. – Kiran Awate Feb 03 '12 at 02:55
  • Thats a great shame, you don't remember what you did before it started working? – Severo Raz Feb 03 '12 at 03:05
  • I have found that, if i keep wireless switch on at the time of boot there will not be above error and if i keep wireless switch off at time of boot it will show 'wireless is disabled by hardware switch'. – Kiran Awate Feb 03 '12 at 17:07
0

I haven't used a Sony Vaio, but other laptops I've used have a function key to disable/enable wireless. It's usually accessed with a "Fn" key in conjunction with some function that is the same color as the Fn key (often blue).

Also, the BIOS often has a setting you can change at boot time. There could be one that makes it default to disabled until enabled.

Marty Fried
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sudo echo "blacklist sony_laptop" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

seems to work for me. Also, the switch seemed to be tricky and the wi-fi would go out and the switch needs to be flipped occasionally.

amc
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user219861
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