how to turn-on the wireless switch

English Network/Internet
#1

hi,

i am having problem with my wireless after a fresh install.

acer aspire one 722-0828
opensuse 11.4

running lspci, my wireless hardware is detected
07:00.0 Network Controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN Controller (rev 01)

running ifconfig, no wlan detected

so it downs to turning the wifi on but there is no switch to turn it on except for the (Fn + F3) which doesnt work.

dmesg for (Fn + F3) is unknown key pressed/released

i also tried rfkill but there is no list listed.

it may sound silly but how do i turn the wifi ON on this netbook?

thanks.

#2

You might want to post the result of

/sbin/lspci -nnk

As your device is generally poorly supported. So we just need to make sure exactly what we are dealing with.

#3

thanks for the reply.

here is the result of the lspci -nnk


07:00.0 Network Controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN Controller [14e4:4727] (rev 01)
  Subsystem: Foxconn International, Inc. Device [105b:e042]
  Kernel driver in use: brcm80211
#4

It looks like the firmware is loaded OK
You may have to wait for a reply from someone more experienced.
But I do know that where there is no physical switch and only Fn key toggling, it can be problematic.

#5

On 01/20/2012 11:16 PM, xeroblast wrote:
>
> thanks for the reply.
>
> here is the result of the lspci -nnk
>
>
> Code:
> --------------------
>
> 07:00.0 Network Controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN Controller [14e4:4727] (rev 01)
> Subsystem: Foxconn International, Inc. Device [105b:e042]
> Kernel driver in use: brcm80211

This is not the device that is failing.

Actually, what kind of laptop do you have? These rfkill buttons need a wmi
(Windows Management Interface) handler. I’m sure you can guess who created this
abomination. I suppose the key is a few cents cheaper than a real switch, but
I’m suspicious of Redmond’s motives.

It is entirely possible that a newer kernel might have fixed that particular
problem. You are using a 2.6.37 kernel; however, since then 2.6.38, 2.6.39, 3.0,
3.1, and 3.2 have been released.

#6

ayay… i hope there is a command to turn it on…

#7

ok… i’ll try to upgrade the kernel if it works… and post the results.

be back 2days after… need some work to be done.

#8

hello guys…

the kernel upgrade works but everytime i connect to the wireless network, it hangs-up. a solution would be nice right now…

while waiting for your response, i have to google this for now.

#9

hello again guys.

problem solved…

i just login to a root desktop and enable the wifi from there then logout. login to my default account can now connect without hanging-up.

i do not know what just happened and why but it works now.

#10

In /lib/firmware/brcm

Do you see: brcm/bcm43xx-0.fw brcm/bcm43xx_hdr-0.fw

I guess you could always try ‘wl’
But you’d have to compile that yourself, it’s proprietary

#11

OK
How strange is that!