Wifi activation problem - HP 2000

[Christopher Browne]

I finally got around to properly struggling with the wifi issue with my
new-ish laptop, and it's looking likely that there's a tough-to-surmount
problem there.

Initially, there was some question as to whether the apropos drivers were
in place; I'm reasonably satisfied that I have all that I ought to need in
the form of Debian + Linux 3.8 kernel + firmware-ralink package.

The following thread on OpenSuSE describes the issues kind of relevant to
it, from an OpenSuSE perspective; what's notable is that it appears to
describe precisely my model, down to the exact model numbers and such in
lspci output.

http://forums.opensuse.org/english/get-technical-help-here/wireless/480447-ralink-wirless-driver-help.html

My kernel knows about the network adapter, and indicates it has a driver
prepped:

root at hpaq:~# lspci -v | grep -10 01:00.0 | tail -11
01:00.0 Network controller: Ralink corp. Device 539b
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 18ed
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
        Memory at c2500000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
        Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
        Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable- Count=1/32 Maskable- 64bit+
        Capabilities: [70] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
        Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
        Capabilities: [140] Device Serial Number 00-00-7b-66-63-31-17-a4
        Kernel driver in use: rt2800pci

In that discussion thread, it was observed that earlier versions of the
rt2800pci driver did not recognize this model of network adapter ("539b");
since the kernel driver is indicated to be in place, it sure seems like I'm
on an apropos version of kernel such that it is recognized.

Unfortunately, there's one more step, and I'm not seeing a resolution to
it.

I have added config to /etc/network/interfaces, but iwlist has a complaint:

root at hpaq:~# iwlist wlan0 scan
wlan0     Interface doesn't support scanning : Network is down

The most relevant link found in spelunking was this one:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/ubuntu-63/wireless-became-disabled-how-do-i-enable-858357/

Indications are that there is a "hardware lock" in place, deactivating the
adapter.  On many systems, such a "lock" exists as a visible, togglable
hardware switch.  I used to see similar on the Thinkpad X60s that I use at
work.

Sadly, on my machine, the lock is handled via a "soft-key", essentially via
running Windows, and pressing "Fn-F12", which would cause a little LED that
is presently orange to switch to blue, and allow a different output than
rfkill is showing:

root at hpaq:~# rfkill list 1
1: hp-wifi: Wireless LAN
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: yes
root at hpaq:~# rfkill unblock 1
root at hpaq:~# rfkill list 1
1: hp-wifi: Wireless LAN
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: yes

I don't have any Windows install around, so can't reboot there to do a
switcheroo.  I see some suggestions that one might muss around in BIOS and
find an option that would force wifi to stay on; that does not appear to be
the case with this particular system.

It is looking pretty likely, as consequence, that I'll need to grab a USB
wireless adapter for those times I want wireless, which is unfortunate, but
not too totally disastrous.

If there is some mechanism other than rfkill (in the rfkill package) to
switch that "hardware switch" (that isn't truly a hardware switch), 'twould
be nice.
-- 
When confronted by a difficult problem, solve it by reducing it to the
question, "How would the Lone Ranger handle this?"
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