# [Solved] Wireless ! working HP EliteBook 8540w Kernel 3.0.6

## lyallp

My laptop has Gentoo amd64 installed and the wireless used to work, quite some time ago.

It generally sits on a desk in a dock, hard wired.

Today, I decided to test it and found it didn't work.

Basically, I have a HP EliteBook 8540w, using kernel 3.0.6

```
Linux pearcely2 3.0.6-gentoo #2 SMP Tue Nov 29 13:52:19 CST 2011 x86_64 Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU M 620 @ 2.67GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux
```

When I press the 'wifi button', the light changes from orange to blue, as expected.

Whilst blue or orange, the following happens.

```
# /etc/init.d/net.wlan0 start

net.wlan0                 | * Bringing up interface wlan0

net.wlan0                 | *   Starting wpa_supplicant on wlan0 ...

net.wlan0                 |Could not set interface wlan0 flags: Operation not possible due to RF-kill

net.wlan0                 |Failed to initialize driver interface

net.wlan0                 | *   start-stop-daemon: failed to start `/usr/sbin/wpa_supplicant'                  [ !! ]

net.wlan0                 | * ERROR: net.wlan0 failed to start

```

With the light blue

```

# rfkill list

0: hp-wifi: Wireless LAN

        Soft blocked: no

        Hard blocked: no

1: hp-bluetooth: Bluetooth

        Soft blocked: no

        Hard blocked: no

2: phy0: Wireless LAN

        Soft blocked: no

        Hard blocked: yes

```

Press the button so it goes orange....

```

# rfkill list

0: hp-wifi: Wireless LAN

        Soft blocked: no

        Hard blocked: yes

1: hp-bluetooth: Bluetooth

        Soft blocked: no

        Hard blocked: yes

2: phy0: Wireless LAN

        Soft blocked: no

        Hard blocked: yes

```

Press the button so it goes blue....

```

# rfkill list

0: hp-wifi: Wireless LAN

        Soft blocked: no

        Hard blocked: no

1: hp-bluetooth: Bluetooth

        Soft blocked: no

        Hard blocked: no

2: phy0: Wireless LAN

        Soft blocked: no

        Hard blocked: yes

# 
```

I tried rfkill unblock all to no avail.

The output of ifconfig -a does not change between 'orange' and 'blue' mode.

```
# ifconfig -a

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 68:b5:99:f1:ce:b1  

          inet addr:16.145.133.44  Bcast:16.145.135.255  Mask:255.255.252.0

          inet6 addr: fe80::6ab5:99ff:fef1:ceb1/64 Scope:Link

          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1

          RX packets:525133 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0

          TX packets:300869 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 

          RX bytes:285573605 (272.3 MiB)  TX bytes:38219324 (36.4 MiB)

          Interrupt:20 Memory:d7500000-d7520000 

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:16436  Metric:1

          RX packets:838 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0

          TX packets:838 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 

          RX bytes:2677581 (2.5 MiB)  TX bytes:2677581 (2.5 MiB)

sit0      Link encap:IPv6-in-IPv4  

          NOARP  MTU:1480  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:0 

          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

tunl0     Link encap:IPIP Tunnel  HWaddr   

          NOARP  MTU:1480  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:0 

          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:24:d7:75:37:a8  

          BROADCAST PROMISC 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)

```

The USB device list does change, as the wireless device comes on-line

```
Dec  1 13:30:45 localhost kernel: [19019.965063] usb 3-1.1: new full speed USB device number 19 using ehci_hcd

Dec  1 13:30:45 localhost kernel: [19020.049850] usb 3-1.1: New USB device found, idVendor=03f0, idProduct=231d

Dec  1 13:30:45 localhost kernel: [19020.049856] usb 3-1.1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0

Dec  1 13:30:45 localhost kernel: [19020.049861] usb 3-1.1: Product: HP Integrated Module

Dec  1 13:30:45 localhost kernel: [19020.049864] usb 3-1.1: Manufacturer: Broadcom Corp

```

My kernel modules are 

```
# lsmod

Module                  Size  Used by

acpi_cpufreq            5007  1 

mperf                   1019  1 acpi_cpufreq

fan                     2234  0 

sbs                     5703  0 

sbshc                   3275  1 sbs

vboxnetflt             12781  0 

vboxnetadp              4662  0 

vboxdrv              1752662  3 vboxnetflt,vboxnetadp

usbhid                 29453  0 

nvidia              12031545  32 

snd_hda_codec_idt      44064  1 

snd_hda_intel          17930  7 

snd_hda_codec          51978  2 snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_hda_intel

ehci_hcd               30900  0 

xhci_hcd               56758  0 

usbcore               113391  4 usbhid,ehci_hcd,xhci_hcd

r852                    8359  0 

sm_common               7290  1 r852

nand                   37703  2 r852,sm_common

nand_ids                5521  1 nand

nand_ecc                3188  1 nand

mtd                    20730  2 sm_common,nand

iwlagn                155215  0 

hp_accel               13480  0 

snd_hwdep               5218  1 snd_hda_codec

hp_wmi                  6961  0 

joydev                  8775  0 

video                  11611  0 

lis3lv02d               8991  1 hp_accel

wmi                     7243  1 hp_wmi

ac                      2280  0 

battery                 6029  0 

button                  4322  0 

thermal                 8546  0 

processor              28090  1 acpi_cpufreq

# 
```

This exact same setup was working sometime during the 2.6 kernel timeframe. It has been quite some time since I tested wireless.

Any suggestions would be welcomed.

----------

## lyallp

I was wondering if the problem lies in the fact that there are 2 wireless devices, as I see it.

One is rfkill locked, the other isn't.

The one that should be used is the unlocked one, but I suspect that maybe the /etc/init.d/net.wlan0 is choosing the wrong one.

How do I determine what device /etc/init.d/net.wlan0 is going to use? (/etc/init.d/net.wlan0 is a symlink to /etc/init.d/net.lo)

----------

## lyallp

Problem solved. 

I re-built the kernel, enabling 

Device Drivers -> Wireless LAN -> Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG/BG Network Connection (iwl3945) 

and re-installing net-wireless/iwl6000-ucode

and things seem to be working now.

I don't understand what made things work, but there you go.

----------

