[Solved] WiFi Radio Off on Atheros AR242x/AR542

[R_Head]

Used the search feature and went through a lot or rabbit holes.

Short version of the story....

The laptop has a Radio On / Off button, is lit (blue) cannot be turned off manually; just does nothing. Only time that goes amber is during reboot.
The MCC shows the wireless adapter and seems to be acting normal. However, not able to see any available networks.
The NIC (RJ45) works, no issues there.

Gives me the impression that is turned off and I have no idea on how to turn it on.

OS is Mageia 5 (updated to latest changes)
Kernel 4.1.15-desktop-2.mga5

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Using iwconfig command:
wls1 IEEE 802.11bg  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

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

rfkill list command:
0: hp-wifi: Wireless LAN
           Soft blocked:  yes
           Hard blocked: no

1: phy0: Wireless LAN
           Soft blocked:  no
           Hard blocked: yes

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

After using rfkill unblock 0:
0: hp-wifi: Wireless LAN
           Soft blocked:  no
           Hard blocked: no

1: phy0: Wireless LAN
           Soft blocked:  no
           Hard blocked: yes

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

After using rfkill unblock 1:
0: hp-wifi: Wireless LAN
           Soft blocked:  no
           Hard blocked: no

1: phy0: Wireless LAN
           Soft blocked:  no
           Hard blocked: yes


Thanks in advance.

[doktor5000]

See https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Setup_wirele ... ic_drivers - 8. bullet point.
You probably need to blacklist the dmi module that adds that pseudo hp-wifi rfkill interface.

Can you show the output as root of

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lsmod|grep -iE "dmi|hp"

[R_Head]

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lsmod|grep -iE "dmi|hp"
snd_hda_codec_hdmi     49152  1
snd_hda_codec         106496  5 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_conexant,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_controller
hp_wmi                 16384  0
sparse_keymap          16384  1 hp_wmi
snd_hda_core           32768  5 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_conexant,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_controller
snd_pcm               102400  4 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_controller
snd                    69632  16 snd_hwdep,snd_timer,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_conexant,snd_pcm,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
rfkill                 24576  3 cfg80211,hp_wmi
wmi                    20480  1 hp_wmi
shpchp                 32768  0


[doktor5000]

You would need to blacklist the hp_wmi module as explained in the above mentioned link. Then try again after a reboot, if it still doesn't work, please again "rfkill list all" output.

[R_Head]

Never done this before so took me a bit to understand.

Ran the command

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echo "blacklist-wmi" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-mga.conf


Rebooted the system

Run this command

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rfkill list all
0: hp-wifi: Wireless LAN
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: no


Using the control network configuration GUI all available networks shows up.

Thanks Doc, seems to be in order.

[doktor5000]

Ran the command

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echo "blacklist-wmi" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-mga.conf


Nope, it should be

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echo "blacklist hp_wmi" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-mga.conf


You should also remove the line you added to /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-mga.conf with your command, as it's not valid.

Or what you posted does not match what you typed on your box.

[R_Head]

Is working that way... so if is wrong, how that happen?