wlan0 is down, can't connect to internet even on live session

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wlan0 is down, can't connect to internet even on live session

Post by difficulties »

Hello,
I've been running Mint for a while now but am still generally illiterate so please treat me as a noob. Never had anything like this happen before - as of last night my laptop seemingly randomly ceased to connect to the internet. Restarting the computer has not helped. I ran a live session from the USB I used to install Linux and tried to connect from there, but surprisingly to no avail. My Windows PC and iPod Touch are both able to connect as usual, with no issues. I did not install or remove any packages, manually disconnect, change any settings, or do anything in the terminal that I could suspect to be the cause of this. My network panel tells me that "wlan0 is down," and eth0 and lo also appear to be down. Trying to up wlan0 with ifconfig produces no results. I don't think I have an ethernet cable lying around that I could use. Based on the fact that a live session still fails to connect and other computers are able to connect, am I correct in assuming this is a hardware or firmware issue?

I apologize if this issue has already been addressed on the forum, I spent the morning looking at similar solved topics but did not find a solution that worked for me. I do have some information that hopefully will be useful:

Here is my inxi -Fxz output:

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System:    Host: chantal-ThinkPad-W550s Kernel: 3.19.0-32-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 4.8.2)
           Desktop: MATE 1.12.0 (Gtk 3.10.8~8+qiana)
           Distro: Linux Mint 17.3 Rosa
Machine:   System: LENOVO product: 20E2CTO1WW v: ThinkPad W550s
           Mobo: LENOVO model: 20E2CTO1WW v: SDK0J40705 WIN
           Bios: LENOVO v: N11ET33W (1.09 ) date: 06/23/2015
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core i7-5600U (-HT-MCP-) cache: 4096 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 10376
           clock speeds: max: 3200 MHz 1: 1974 MHz 2: 2639 MHz 3: 2634 MHz
           4: 2674 MHz
Graphics:  Card-1: Intel Broadwell-U Integrated Graphics bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Card-2: NVIDIA GM108GLM [Quadro K620M] bus-ID: 08:00.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.17.1 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1440x900@59.9hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 5500 (Broadwell GT2)
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 10.5.9 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card-1 Intel Wildcat Point-LP High Definition Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Card-2 Intel Broadwell-U Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:03.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k3.19.0-32-generic
Network:   Card-1: Intel Ethernet Connection (3) I218-LM
           driver: e1000e v: 2.3.2-k port: 4080 bus-ID: 00:19.0
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Intel Wireless 7265
           driver: iwlwifi v: in-tree: bus-ID: 03:00.0
           IF: wlan0 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 516.1GB (74.7% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: ST500LM021 size: 500.1GB
           ID-2: /dev/sdb model: SanDisk_SSD_U110 size: 16.0GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 11G used: 7.0G (68%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sdb1
           ID-2: /home size: 459G used: 349G (81%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
           ID-3: swap-1 size: 4.01GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sdb5
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 37.0C mobo: N/A
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: 0
Info:      Processes: 187 Uptime: 1 min Memory: 449.8/11716.3MB
           Init: Upstart runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.8.4
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.111) inxi: 2.2.28 
Here is my ifconfig output:

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eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 54:ee:75:67:58:ce  
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
          Interrupt:20 Memory:f2200000-f2220000 

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:178 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:178 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:13690 (13.6 KB)  TX bytes:13690 (13.6 KB)

wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 94:65:9c:73:d3:b3  
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
(output from the live session was nearly the same, but with fewer bytes on lo)

And here is my rfkill list output:

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1: tpacpi_bluetooth_sw: 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
Thank you for your attention.
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
tovian
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Re: wlan0 is down, can't connect to internet even on live session

Post by tovian »

I suppose you have already done this, but just in case...

I restart ALL of my network-related hardware.
- First, I (gracefully) power down computers, routers, DSL/Cable modem (gateway), even ethernet switches
- Then restart one device at a time
* Important... start with the device closest to the wall - generally the DSL/Cable modem (gateway),
then, power up the device connected to it
- Keep working your way from the wall to the computer(s)

* Don't do all this too quickly... give each device a bit of time to boot/initialize
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