Wireless hard blocked - bcm43142 <SOLVED>

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smintzo

Wireless hard blocked - bcm43142 <SOLVED>

Post by smintzo »

Hi all.

I bought a new laptop (a Lenono Yoga 2 11) with the intention of putting Linux on it and eschewing Windows for good! Unfortunately I'm having a huge problem getting wireless working. It works fine on Windows 8 (which is awful, but I've kept for dual-booting just in case!).

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steve@smintzlen ~ $  inxi -Fxz
System:    Host: smintzlen Kernel: 3.11.0-12-generic x86_64 (64 bit, gcc: 4.8.1) Desktop: Gnome Distro: Linux Mint 16 Petra
Machine:   System: LENOVO product: 20332 version: Lenovo Yoga 2 11
           Mobo: LENOVO model: AIUU1 version: 31900042STD Bios: LENOVO version: 92CN23WW(V1.03) date: 11/26/2013
CPU:       Quad core Intel Pentium CPU N3520 (-MCP-) cache: 1024 KB flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 17334 
           Clock Speeds: 1: 498.00 MHz 2: 498.00 MHz 3: 498.00 MHz 4: 2159.00 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel ValleyView Gen7 bus-ID: 00:02.0 
           X.Org: 1.14.3 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1366x768@60.0hz, 1024x768@60.0hz 
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Bay Trail GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 9.2.1 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card: Intel ValleyView High Definition Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture ver: k3.11.0-12-generic
Network:   Card-1: Broadcom BCM43142 802.11b/g/n bus-ID: 01:00.0
           IF: N/A state: N/A mac: N/A
           Card-2: Atmel usb-ID: 03eb:8858
           IF: N/A state: N/A speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: N/A
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 500.1GB (1.0% used) 1: id: /dev/sda model: ST500LT032 size: 500.1GB temp: 38C 
Partition: ID: / size: 9.1G used: 4.1G (48%) fs: ext4 ID: /home size: 266G used: 394M (1%) fs: ext4 
           ID: swap-1 size: 8.00GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap 
RAID:      No RAID devices detected - /proc/mdstat and md_mod kernel raid module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 45.0C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A 
Info:      Processes: 169 Uptime: 18 min Memory: 796.9/3837.1MB Runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.8.1 Client: Shell inxi: 1.8.4 

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steve@smintzlen ~ $ rfkill list all
0: ideapad_wlan: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: yes
1: ideapad_bluetooth: Bluetooth
	Soft blocked: yes
	Hard blocked: yes
2: hci0: Bluetooth
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
I've found this sort of problem referenced a lot online but everything I've tried so far has not been successful. Most recently, trying to download a bespoke driver and install it but that isn't working:

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steve@smintzlen ~/Downloads $ sudo dpkg -i wireless-bcm43142-dkms_6.20.55.19-1_amd64.deb 

(Reading database ... 171359 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace wireless-bcm43142-dkms 6.20.55.19-1 (using wireless-bcm43142-dkms_6.20.55.19-1_amd64.deb) ...

------------------------------
Deleting module version: 6.20.55.19
completely from the DKMS tree.
------------------------------
Done.
Unpacking replacement wireless-bcm43142-dkms ...
Setting up wireless-bcm43142-dkms (6.20.55.19-1) ...
Loading new wireless-bcm43142-6.20.55.19 DKMS files...
Building only for 3.11.0-12-generic
Building initial module for 3.11.0-12-generic
Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel: 3.11.0-12-generic (x86_64)
Consult /var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build/make.log for more information.
steve@smintzlen ~/Downloads $ 
steve@smintzlen ~/Downloads $ more /var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build/make.log 
DKMS make.log for wireless-bcm43142-6.20.55.19 for kernel 3.11.0-12-
generic (x86_64)
Sat Mar 22 17:10:13 GMT 2014
make: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-3.11.0-12-generic'
CFG80211 API is prefered for this kernel version
Using CFG80211 API
  LD      /var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build/built-in.
o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build/src/share
d/linux_osl.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build/src/wl/sy
s/wl_linux.o
/var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux
.c: In function ‘wl_tkip_printstats’:
/var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux
.c:2696:7: warning: passing argument 1 of ‘wl->tkipmodops->print_sta
ts’ from incompatible pointer type [enabled by default]
       wl->tkip_bcast_data[idx]);
       ^
/var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux
.c:2696:7: note: expected ‘struct seq_file *’ but argument is of typ
e ‘char *’
/var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux
.c:2699:4: warning: passing argument 1 of ‘wl->tkipmodops->print_sta
ts’ from incompatible pointer type [enabled by default]
    wl->tkipmodops->print_stats(debug_buf, wl->tkip_ucast_data);
    ^
/var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux
.c:2699:4: note: expected ‘struct seq_file *’ but argument is of typ
e ‘char *’
/var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux
.c: In function ‘wl_reg_proc_entry’:
/var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux
.c:2909:2: error: implicit declaration of function ‘create_proc_entr
y’ [-Werror=implicit-function-declaration]
  if ((wl->proc_entry = create_proc_entry(tmp, 0644, NULL)) == NULL)
 {
  ^
/var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux
.c:2909:22: warning: assignment makes pointer from integer without a
 cast [enabled by default]
  if ((wl->proc_entry = create_proc_entry(tmp, 0644, NULL)) == NULL)
 {
                      ^
/var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux
.c:2914:16: error: dereferencing pointer to incomplete type
  wl->proc_entry->read_proc = wl_proc_read;
                ^
/var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux
.c:2915:16: error: dereferencing pointer to incomplete type
  wl->proc_entry->write_proc = wl_proc_write;
                ^
/var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux
.c:2916:16: error: dereferencing pointer to incomplete type
  wl->proc_entry->data = wl;
                ^
cc1: some warnings being treated as errors
make[1]: *** [/var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build/src/w
l/sys/wl_linux.o] Error 1
make: *** [_module_/var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build]
 Error 2
make: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-3.11.0-12-generic'
Anyone got any ideas? Was I a fool to buy this particular laptop and expect to be able to put Linux on it??
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
viking777

Re: Wireless hard blocked - bcm43142

Post by viking777 »

There is a very similar topic here:
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... ck#p834572

Sadly the OP did not get it solved, so maybe there is something about Lenovo hardware that Linux doesn't like :(
viking777

Re: Wireless hard blocked - bcm43142

Post by viking777 »

Maybe this is the answer, it is pretty long winded though:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... omments/31

BTW it is for the S10 so I don't know if it is good for your machine.

Edit2. But I found this as well and that is about your machine:
The next gotcha I ran into was that the wireless didn’t want to come up. I found that I could manually bring it up with a ‘ifconfig wlp1s0 up’ and on further investigation it seems the ideapad_laptop kernel module was causing some kind of issue with rfkill, making NetworkManager not see the interface. For now I have simply blacklisted the ideapad_laptop module, but I suspect that we should get this fixed as that module might be needed to run some of the special keys on the laptop.
There is also this thread:

http://askubuntu.com/questions/367963/u ... yoga-2-pro

It has several ideas about how to fix the wireless problem from replacing network manager with wicd to blacklisting the kernel module as stated above.

I am sure one of those techniques will work.
smintzo

Re: Wireless hard blocked - bcm43142

Post by smintzo »

Thanks guys for such prompt replies. I've tried lots of things from these sources and others, with no luck. Some details:

- The rfkill on the first on the threads you reference suggests "ideapad_wlan" is not hard blocked - whereas it is on my laptop. I don't have a "phy0" entry.

- I've previously tried rfkill unblock all, but it doesn't impact hard blocks (as per the man pages)

- Pressing the "airplane mode" button on the laptop switches the "Soft blocked" value for the ideapad_wlan. I don't believe I have any other buttons that turn wifi on/off.

- I looked into the BIOS and the wifi was turned on there.

- sudo rmmod ath9k returns:
Error: Module ath9k is not currently loaded
Then running sudo modprobe ath9k seems to run ok, but doesn't do anything to the wireless. I'm not going to get my screwdriver out yet as this doesn't seem to be the same issue that I have!

- I blacklisted the ideapad_laptop module, but this simply removed two of the rfkill entries entirely!

- I installed wicd - hasn't made any difference (other than to hang the desktop until I pressed the menu dropdown button!)

- iwlist wlan0 scan returns:
wlan0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

Any further thoughts please??
pdc_2
Level 10
Level 10
Posts: 3019
Joined: Mon May 11, 2009 1:21 am

Re: Wireless hard blocked - bcm43142 blacklist acer-wmi

Post by pdc_2 »

on the ubuntu forums, chili suggested

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php? ... st10748476

in post #2 here as a temporary test copying and pasting 3 commands in sequence into your terminal ............
sudo rmmod -f acer-wmi
sudo rfkill unblock all
rfkill list all
and if successful in post #5 suggests
sudo su
echo "blacklist acer-wmi" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
gedit /etc/rc.local
......... this last command opens the text editor gedit; as you already logged in as sudo to su, you have superuser status, so you can edit files in gedit, the text editor ...........

use the search at the top of gedit to find Exit 0

and Chili says to add one line above Exit 0

and that line should be ..
rfkill unblock all
He then says "Proofread, save and close gedit." Exit
Last edited by pdc_2 on Mon Mar 24, 2014 2:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
smintzo

Re: Wireless hard blocked - bcm43142

Post by smintzo »

Thanks all for your rapid responses! I've tried various things without much success - here's a summary (not yet covering pdc_2's suggestions):

The rfkill on one of the threads referenced suggests "ideapad_wlan" is not hard blocked - whereas it is on my laptop. I don't have a "phy0" entry.

I've previously tried rfkill unblock all, but it doesn't impact hard blocks (as per the man pages)

Pressing the "airplane mode" button on the laptop switches the "Soft blocked" value for the ideapad_wlan. I don't believe I have any other buttons that turn wifi on/off.

I looked into the BIOS and the wifi was turned on there.

sudo rmmod ath9k returns:
Error: Module ath9k is not currently loaded
Then running sudo modprobe ath9k seems to run ok, but doesn't do anything to the wireless. I'm not going to get my screwdriver out yet as this doesn't seem to be the same issue that I have.

I blacklisted the ideapad_laptop module, but this simply removed two of the rfkill entries entirely!

I installed wicd - hasn't made any difference (other than to hang the desktop until I pressed the menu dropdown button!)

iwlist wlan0 scan returns:
wlan0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

...

So no luck so far :(
smintzo

Re: Wireless hard blocked - bcm43142

Post by smintzo »

pdc_2 wrote:sudo rmmod -f acer-wmi
returns:

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steve@smintzlen ~ $ sudo rmmod -f acer-wmi
[sudo] password for steve: 
libkmod: ERROR ../libkmod/libkmod-module.c:753 kmod_module_remove_module: could not remove 'acer_wmi': No such file or directory
Error: could not remove module acer-wmi: No such file or directory
Carrying on regardless, I get:

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steve@smintzlen ~ $ sudo rfkill unblock all
steve@smintzlen ~ $ rfkill list all
0: ideapad_wlan: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: yes
1: ideapad_bluetooth: Bluetooth
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: yes
2: hci0: Bluetooth
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
So nothing's changed. I've also tried blacklisting acer-wmi but to no avail ...
smintzo

Re: Wireless hard blocked - bcm43142

Post by smintzo »

... and now I don't know what I've done, but my keyboard doesn't work once I'm in the windowed environment. I'm now posting from Windows 8, and pretty miserable about it! I must have blacklisted a service I shouldn't have, or something. Any ideas on that ...?
pdc_2
Level 10
Level 10
Posts: 3019
Joined: Mon May 11, 2009 1:21 am

ubuntu hard block wireless Lenovo Yoga 2 ideapad_laptop modu

Post by pdc_2 »

I am sorry to hear you are having such issues;

this thread

http://askubuntu.com/questions/367963/u ... yoga-2-pro

has a suggested solution in the answers; but a further correspondent disagrees;

a link is suggested to this thread

http://www.scrye.com/wordpress/nirik/20 ... ra-review/

the poster said the wireless did not work initially
but I found that I could manually bring it up with aifconfig wlp1s0 up
and
and on further investigation it seems the ideapad_laptop kernel module was causing some kind of issue with rfkill, making NetworkManager not see the interface. For now I have simply blacklisted the ideapad_laptop module,
so an area for you to look at?

_______________________________-

I thought this thread the most directly helpful; from the lenovo forums; detailing how to do the above

http://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Idea-Window ... -p/1307405

_______________________________________________________________________________

furthermore, now I google on ideapad_laptop kernel module, I get this hit

http://www.linlap.com/lenovo_ideapad_yoga_2_pro ................. the site says "Welcome to LinLap - The Linux Laptop Wiki"

and it too echoes the above: with
Wireless Yes May need kernel 3.12 or above. Needs blacklisting the ideapad_laptop kernel module.
____________________________

the guts are above, but as I read more googled threads

this one

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1021036 in comment 6 identifies this problem and what can be done about it:
smintzo

Re: Wireless hard blocked - bcm43142

Post by smintzo »

pdc_2 wrote:I am sorry to hear you are having such issues; this thread: http://askubuntu.com/questions/367963/u ... yoga-2-prohas a suggested solution in the answers; but a further correspondent disagrees;
I tried installing wicd - it didn't do any good unfortunately.
pdc_2 wrote:a link is suggested to this thread http://www.scrye.com/wordpress/nirik/20 ... ra-review/ the poster said the wireless did not work initially but I found that I could manually bring it up with a ‘ifconfig wlp1s0 up’ and and on further investigation it seems the ideapad_laptop kernel module was causing some kind of issue with rfkill, making NetworkManager not see the interface. For now I have simply blacklisted the ideapad_laptop module, so an area for you to look at?
'ifconfig wlp1s0 up' returns 'wlp1s0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device'
I tried blacklisting ideapad_laptop - it didn't help. Afterwards "rfkill list all" lists only "0: hci0: Bluetooth", which is not blocked (soft or hard) but then it wasn't in the first place.
pdc_2 wrote:I thought this thread the most directly helpful; from the lenovo forums; detailing how to do the abovehttp://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Idea-Window ... -p/1307405
As per the above, this didn't help :(
pdc_2 wrote:furthermore, now I google on ideapad_laptop kernel module, I get this hit http://www.linlap.com/lenovo_ideapad_yoga_2_pro ................. the site says "Welcome to LinLap - The Linux Laptop Wiki"and it too echoes the above: with Wireless Yes May need kernel 3.12 or above. Needs blacklisting the ideapad_laptop kernel module.
Aha!! This might get me somewhere - I believe I have kernel version 3.11.0-12-generic (if "uname -r" is the right command to determine this?). How to I upgrade this - It's a fairly recent install of Linux Mint Cinnamon Petra (I think). Do I need to run "sudo apt-get upgrade"? Or "sudo apt-get update"? Or something else? I can't try this now - have to wait until I get home and can plug into a wired network.
pdc_2 wrote:the guts are above, but as I read more googled threads this onehttps://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1021036 in comment 6 identifies this problem and what can be done about it:
Actually looking at that, the blacklisting _kinda_ works, in that it removes the "ideapad*" rfkill entries. However, in contrast to all the examples I've seen elsewhere on the net (including this one), I don't have a "phy" entry in rfkill, so I'm left without any wlan entry whatsoever. My best guess (without really knowing what I'm talking about) is that this is because I have no working driver for the bcm43142 wireless network adapter. As per my first post in the thread, I think I found one but it wouldn't compile.
viking777

Re: Wireless hard blocked - bcm43142

Post by viking777 »

Sadly the 3.11 kernel is that latest kernel that Mint uses. It is possible to go to kernel.org download the latest (3.13) kernel but you will have to compile it yourself and really you don't want to go there.

However, if your suspicion is correct that you don't have the 43142 driver then you can get that here in .deb form for 64bit only:

https://mega.co.nz/#!qIUySZYJ!PgfNRVCcX ... ouaQ97c0yM

You install the file and then run

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sudo modprobe wl
And all is sweetness and light apparently.

I haven't tried it of course as I don't have that wireless adaptor.

If it works you will need to make it start up every time as modprobe doesn't do that. Let us know if it is successful and we can deal with that minor issue later.
smintzo

Re: Wireless hard blocked - bcm43142

Post by smintzo »

Thanks viking777. It's taken me a couple of days to try this as I had to reinstall Linux Mint first and I had somehow managed to disable the keyboard and mouse clicks with all the things I had tried to that point. Thankfully it's back again now (albeit, still without wireless).

I think the package you're referring to is what I tried to install in the very first post, however given I now have a clean build I thought I'd double-check. Alas, it doesn't install successfully on this machine, I get:

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Selecting previously unselected package wireless-bcm43142-dkms.
(Reading database ... 147101 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking wireless-bcm43142-dkms (from .../wireless-bcm43142-dkms_6.20.55.19-1_amd64.deb) ...
Setting up wireless-bcm43142-dkms (6.20.55.19-1) ...
Loading new wireless-bcm43142-6.20.55.19 DKMS files...
First Installation: checking all kernels...
Building only for 3.11.0-12-generic
Building initial module for 3.11.0-12-generic
Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel: 3.11.0-12-generic (x86_64)
Consult /var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build/make.log for more information.
Duly consulting said file:

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steve@steveLenny ~ $ cat /var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build/make.log 
DKMS make.log for wireless-bcm43142-6.20.55.19 for kernel 3.11.0-12-generic (x86_64)
Wed Mar 26 21:43:01 GMT 2014
make: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-3.11.0-12-generic'
CFG80211 API is prefered for this kernel version
Using CFG80211 API
  LD      /var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build/built-in.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build/src/shared/linux_osl.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.o
/var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.c: In function ‘wl_tkip_printstats’:
/var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.c:2696:7: warning: passing argument 1 of ‘wl->tkipmodops->print_stats’ from incompatible pointer type [enabled by default]
       wl->tkip_bcast_data[idx]);
       ^
/var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.c:2696:7: note: expected ‘struct seq_file *’ but argument is of type ‘char *’
/var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.c:2699:4: warning: passing argument 1 of ‘wl->tkipmodops->print_stats’ from incompatible pointer type [enabled by default]
    wl->tkipmodops->print_stats(debug_buf, wl->tkip_ucast_data);
    ^
/var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.c:2699:4: note: expected ‘struct seq_file *’ but argument is of type ‘char *’
/var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.c: In function ‘wl_reg_proc_entry’:
/var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.c:2909:2: error: implicit declaration of function ‘create_proc_entry’ [-Werror=implicit-function-declaration]
  if ((wl->proc_entry = create_proc_entry(tmp, 0644, NULL)) == NULL) {
  ^
/var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.c:2909:22: warning: assignment makes pointer from integer without a cast [enabled by default]
  if ((wl->proc_entry = create_proc_entry(tmp, 0644, NULL)) == NULL) {
                      ^
/var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.c:2914:16: error: dereferencing pointer to incomplete type
  wl->proc_entry->read_proc = wl_proc_read;
                ^
/var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.c:2915:16: error: dereferencing pointer to incomplete type
  wl->proc_entry->write_proc = wl_proc_write;
                ^
/var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.c:2916:16: error: dereferencing pointer to incomplete type
  wl->proc_entry->data = wl;
                ^
cc1: some warnings being treated as errors
make[1]: *** [/var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build/src/wl/sys/wl_linux.o] Error 1
make: *** [_module_/var/lib/dkms/wireless-bcm43142/6.20.55.19/build] Error 2
make: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-3.11.0-12-generic'
I don't know whether the issue is that I have an Intel chipset and from the naming maybe this driver expects an AMD chipset ... either way, it hasn't worked unfortunately. :(
kyleFR

Re: Wireless hard blocked - bcm43142

Post by kyleFR »

Hi there,

I had the exact same problem as you did! Actually all wireless devices were soft AND hard blocked as the rfkill list shown.

By chance I ran into another topic from this forum that helped me to solve my problem!

Someone said to type this command:

Code: Select all

rfkill unblock wlan
That is to say to replace the number referring to the device but the "name" of the device itself! For me it worked as it removed the flight mode off my laptop, so the wifi works again yeah!

I hope this might help you :wink:

kyle
smintzo

Re: Wireless hard blocked - bcm43142

Post by smintzo »

Thanks kyle - unfortunately that's not working for me. I get the following from rfkill list all:

Code: Select all

0: ideapad_wlan: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: yes
1: ideapad_bluetooth: Bluetooth
    Soft blocked: yes
    Hard blocked: yes
2: hci0: Bluetooth
    Soft blocked: yes
    Hard blocked: no
If I try rfkill unblock hci0 (or ideapad_wlan, or ideapad_bluetooth) I get "Bogus unblock argument 'hci0'" (or whatever).

From what I've been reading trying to solve this problem, the "ideapad_*" entries are effectively bogus and obstruct the true wlan interface (hence the suggestions to block the ideapad_laptop module). However, unlike most other people it seems, I do not have an alternative wlan interface listed. If I block the ideapad_laptop module, I end up with only the hci0 interface listed.

So still no joy, alas :cry:
kyleFR

Re: Wireless hard blocked - bcm43142

Post by kyleFR »

Omg you know what, once I had my laptop to reboot the flight mode and, so forth, all my soft/hard devices were blocked again!!

And the command I gave in my previous post did not work anymore (for any reasons).


By chance (I'm pretty lucky I reckon), by typing:

Code: Select all

rfkill unblock wifi
My wifi and all the other devices got unblocked and now run perfectly even though I have to type this command every time I open a new session...
(I'm looking forward to creating a macro/bind/shortcut that would type this line automatically, if anyone as any information about that I'm interested!)

This problem is pretty annoying as it occurred all of a sudden to me, probably because of some updates.
Moreover it is also blocking my bluetooth that I had to unlock with the command:

Code: Select all

rfkill unblock all
I guess these wouldn't help you much as they actually didn't work for me until recently (such a mystery) but I truly hope they'll do!!
Good luck to you lad :wink:

EDIT: I've noticed that the "unblock all" command does NOT work unless you previously type the "unblock wifi" one which, apparently, turns OFF the flight mode and therefore allows you to switch the bluetooth ON using the "rfkill unlock all". I don't understand why going through these changes through the setting menu instead of manually doesn't work anymore...
I'm really thinking about re-installing mint and turn the update manager off... as I did on windows basically.. such a pity =/
pdc_2
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Re: Wireless hard blocked - bcm43142

Post by pdc_2 »

in post #4 here

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1618113

chili, who is a stalwart of wireless advice, suggests
gksudo gedit /etc/rc.local
then above Exit 0

add
rfkill unblock wifi
check it over; save; close
smintzo

Re: Wireless hard blocked - bcm43142

Post by smintzo »

Thanks pdc_2 & kyleFR.

Unfortunately the "rfkill unblock wifi" command hasn't made any difference (nor did following it with "rfkill unblock all"). I tried adding it to rc.local too but to no avail.

I still think I'm supposed to have a "proper" wifi entry in the rfkill output (as opposed to the "ideapad_wlan" entry) before I can try to unblock anything - can anyone confirm this please? All the examples I've seen have a "phy0" one ... but I don't!
pdc_2
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Re: Wireless hard blocked - bcm43142

Post by pdc_2 »

as Mint is an ubuntu derivative, you can very reasonably post on the Ubuntu forums: chili555 is very good there on wireless; with others who watch regularly; you might get a "second opinion" from chili !! (His main interest is computers; a secondary job for him is as a doc I understand..)

http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=336
pdc_2
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can moderators move this post to networking?

Post by pdc_2 »

this might get a better response on the networking/wireless forum ......................
Last edited by xenopeek on Tue Apr 01, 2014 3:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Done :)
smintzo

Re: Wireless hard blocked - bcm43142

Post by smintzo »

SUCCESS!!!!

After being moved to the appropriate place (thanks pdc_2!) I was all set to cross-post on the Ubuntu forums, when I thought I'd glance at this similar post: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=163743. That took me to chili555's post on the Ubuntu forums: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2214110 (directly me toward chili555 was another good call pdc_2!). Thus:

Code: Select all

steve@steveLenny ~ $ lspci -nn -d 14e4:
01:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM43142 802.11b/g/n [14e4:4365] (rev 01)
... led me to install just the one driver: bcmwl-kernel-source. And lo & behold, rfkill list all suddenly started returning a couple of extra entries (including phy0!). Of course wireless still didn't work ... but running "sudo rmmod -f ideapad_laptop" (as per pdc_2 yet again!) got things going! I have now blacklisted ideapad_laptop and rebooted and all is well!!

Thanks all for your help on this - I am now very happy indeed. :D
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