[solved] HP Pavilion Sleekbook Wifi Hardblocked

[Largaroth]

Hi guys, I've been looking around the internet (a lot of which actually came from this forum), but I can't seem to get the wifi working. so here's some output from running commands :

mintWifi:

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-------------------------
* I. scanning WIFI PCI devices...
  -- Ralink corp. Device 3290
      ==> PCI ID = 1814:3290
-------------------------
* II. querying ndiswrapper...
-------------------------
* III. querying iwconfig...
ra0       Ralink STA  
          Link Quality:0  Signal level:0  Noise level:0
          Rx invalid nwid:0  invalid crypt:0  invalid misc:0

eth0      no wireless extensions.

lo        no wireless extensions.

-------------------------
* IV. querying ifconfig...
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 84:34:97:7a:d2:33  
          inet addr:10.141.91.173  Bcast:10.141.255.255  Mask:255.255.0.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::8634:97ff:fe7a:d233/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:7762 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:5050 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:7203620 (7.2 MB)  TX bytes:673514 (673.5 KB)

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:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:300 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:300 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:31131 (31.1 KB)  TX bytes:31131 (31.1 KB)

-------------------------
* V. querying DHCP...
Rather than invoking init scripts through /etc/init.d, use the service(8)
utility, e.g. service smbd reload

Since the script you are attempting to invoke has been converted to an
Upstart job, you may also use the reload(8) utility, e.g. reload smbd
-------------------------
* VI. querying nslookup google.com...
Server:		10.141.0.1
Address:	10.141.0.1#53

Non-authoritative answer:
Name:	google.com
Address: 173.194.34.32
Name:	google.com
...

lspci output on the network controller :

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07:00.0 Network controller: Ralink corp. Device 3290

rfkill

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0: hp-wifi: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: yes
1: hp-bluetooth: Bluetooth
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: yes

EDIT :

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 sudo rfkill unblock all

had absolutely no effect :/

Also, I tried going to the ralink website (a link I rqbbed fro, one of the other posts) http://www.ralinktech.com/en/04_support ... hp?sn=5019 but they re merging with mediatech or something, and I was completely unable to obtain any drivers from their downloads pages.

Does anybody have any suggestions ?

[AlbertP]

Does the laptop have a wifi on/off switch somewhere?

Also, the driver downloads are now at http://www.mediatek.com/_en/07_download ... php?sn=501. To download a driver, you need to fill in your name and e-mail address at the bottom of the license (Ralink will not send you any e-mails, however). But installing a driver won't help if the wifi is still blocked so please wait with this untill we get the hard block removed.

[Largaroth]

Hi, thanks for the quick response.

yes the laptop does have an on/off button for the wifi, but in linux mint that button is always white (turns red in windows when the wifi is off), even after several toggle attemps. (and the rfkill list still lists it as hard blocked).

Also, it may be worth while mentionning that I haven't overwritten the hp boot area, so the computer will boot Windows by default and I then have to go through a menu to tell it to boot Linux. I don't really know if it would affect the wifi configuration at all, though.

[AlbertP]

Ok, we could try booting with the hp-wmi module blacklisted - it might ignore the switch then and at least the HP things will disappear from rfkill. Note that wifi switches in laptops can work in very different ways, ignoring the switch in software does not always mean that the wifi card (Ralink in your case) also ignores the switch. But since the light isn't red either, I think the block is just happening in software and the wifi card itself might just work.

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gksudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

(replace gedit with pluma when using Mate)

In that text editor please add this line:

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blacklist hp-wmi

Also, I now see the wifi card itself doesn't show up in your rfkill output. You likely need Ralink's driver anyway.

[Largaroth]

Okay, I will try these things as soon as the computer is available.

However, you said the block was probably software, but doesn't the rfkill output indicate otherwise ?

[AlbertP]

What I meant is that, because the HP driver reports to be blocked in hardware, but the wifi card itself doesn't feel being blocked (light is white), wifi usage is prohibited anyway by NetworkManager.

Anyway you haven't got a phy0 (the wifi card itself) in your rfkill output, so you need to install the wifi driver anyway. Maybe it's better to do that first.

[Largaroth]

pure awesomeness !!

Installed the drivers, and blacklisted the hp-wmi, worked perfectly after rebooting !
Thanks for your help, it was much appreciated !

[paola_]

Hello!

Could you help me with the installation of the drivers?

Thank you very much!