[Bug 59505] rf_kill problem on thinkpad Z60m

[Mark Poolman]

Public bug reported:

Binary package hint: linux-image-2.6.15-26-386

Wireless internet worked "out of the box" (dapper pre-installed by
vendor) but abruptly stopped working after a couple of hours, and
nothing I can do will get it going again. It appears that the ipw2200
hardware rf_kill is stuck on. The following may be of use:


Typical from /var/log/kern.log:
Sep  8 12:06:34 localhost kernel: [17181802.404000] ipw2200: Radio Frequency Kill Switch is On:
Sep  8 12:06:34 localhost kernel: [17181802.404000] Kill switch must be turned off for wireless networking to work.


>From a freshly booted machine:


root at zeitgeist:~# iwconfig  eth1
eth1      radio off  ESSID:off/any
          Mode:Managed  Channel:0  Access Point: Not-Associated
          Bit Rate=0 kb/s   Tx-Power=off   Sensitivity=8/0
          Retry limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality:0  Signal level:0  Noise level:0
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0
		  
root at zeitgeist:~# cat /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw2200/0000\:14\:02.0/rf_kill
2
root at zeitgeist:~# echo -n 0 > /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw2200/0000\:14\:02.0/rf_kill
root at zeitgeist:~# cat /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw2200/0000\:14\:02.0/rf_kill
2
/********* now press Fn/F5 *********/
root at zeitgeist:~# iwconfig eth1
eth1      no wireless extensions.
root at zeitgeist:~# cat /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw2200/0000\:14\:02.0/rf_kill
0


What is strange is that according to http://ipw2200.sourceforge.net/README.ipw2200:
  rf_kill
	read - 
	0 = RF kill not enabled (radio on)
	1 = SW based RF kill active (radio off)
	2 = HW based RF kill active (radio off)


Many thanks for reading,

Mark

** Affects: linux-source-2.6.15 (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Untriaged
         Status: Unconfirmed

-- 
rf_kill problem on thinkpad Z60m
https://launchpad.net/bugs/59505