Wireless Does Not Work Mint 17.2 Dual Boot Windows XP

[JPPJr]

I first loaded Linus Mint MATE 17.2 standalone on this computer (Dell Precision M2300) The wireless worked just fine. However, I needed Windows XP to run a Nikon Cool Pix slide scanner. So, I loaded Windows XP stand-alone, then loaded Linux Mint MATE 17.2 in dual boot with Windows XP. The wireless works just fine in Windows but, it does not work in Linux. I tried the driver manager and all it shows is the Nvidia drivers, no Broadcom. The wireless card is Intel 4965AGN. Here is the output from sudo /usr/lib/linuxmint/mintWifi/mintWifi.py. Hopefully, someone will have the solution to my problem.

sudo /usr/lib/linuxmint/mintWifi/mintWifi.py
[sudo] password for jpplattpe:
-------------------------
* I. scanning WIFI PCI devices...
-- Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 4965 AG or AGN [Kedron] Network Connection (rev 61)
==> PCI ID = 8086:4229 (rev 61)
-------------------------
* II. querying ndiswrapper...
-------------------------
* III. querying iwconfig...
eth0 no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11abgn ESSID:off/any
Mode:Managed Access Point: Not-Associated Tx-Power=off
Retry short limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
Power Management:off

lo no wireless extensions.

-------------------------
* IV. querying ifconfig...
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1c:23:3e:d9:35
inet addr:192.168.1.121 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::21c:23ff:fe3e:d935/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:27301 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:23103 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:28663343 (28.6 MB) TX bytes:3240124 (3.2 MB)
Interrupt:17

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:65536 Metric:1
RX packets:1114 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:1114 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:201151 (201.1 KB) TX bytes:201151 (201.1 KB)

-------------------------
* V. querying DHCP...
RTNETLINK answers: Operation not possible due to RF-kill
-------------------------
* VI. querying nslookup google.com...
Server: 66.63.226.2
Address: 66.63.226.2#53

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.227.160
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.227.161
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.227.162
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.227.163
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.227.164
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.227.165
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.227.166
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.227.167
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.227.168
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.227.169
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.227.174

[Pjotr]

What does this command give:

Code: Select all

sudo rfkill list all

[JPPJr]

0: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: yes
1: dell-wifi: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: no

[Pjotr]

Soft blocked.... Try this:

Code: Select all

sudo rfkill unblock all

Afterwards, you may have to reboot in order to make the change take place.

[JPPJr]

After I issued the "unblock' command, I again issued the "list" command. That showed that all 4 blocked were "No". I was could then enable the WiFi and, the WiFi led came on. However, I could not connect to the WiFi connection so, I rebooted the system. After reboot, I issued the "list" command and, once again, the "dell-wifi: wireless LAN" was blocked.

[Pjotr]

Try the Fn key combination for enabling/disabling wireless on your laptop.

[JPPJr]

I tried all the unlabelled Fn keys. None of them made any difference. The switch (yes, my laptop has a physical switch) turns the WiFi LED on and off. Even when the LED is on, I cannot connect to the WiFi network.

[Pjotr]

Try this:

Code: Select all

sudo rfkill unblock dell-wifi

If no success:

Code: Select all

sudo rfkill unblock wlan0

[JPPJr]

Response to both commands was that they were a bogus unblock argument

[Pjotr]

I checked: the argument should have been "1" instead of "dell-wifi" or even "wlan0".

But it's a dead alley.... The solution should somehow encompass "sudo rfkill unblock all", because both "0" and "1" have to be unblocked. It's strange that you weren't able to connect after "sudo rfkill unblock all"....

My bag off tricks is getting rather empty. You might try if it helps when you force Windows XP to release the IP address:
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinux ... t-computer
(item 3, right column)

[JPPJr]

OK. Forcing Windows to release the IP address did the trick. Thanks alot. This has been a hard slog for a noob like me.