# IBM T42 - Wireless device powered off [SOLVED]

## JaquesStrap

I know this topic is dicussed a lot, but I have not managed to find reference to my exact problem. I have an IBM T42 and it appears that the wireless device is powered off. In windows, the key combo to turn it on is Fn-F5, but this isn't working in Gentoo despite having kernel support enabled for "IBM ThinkPad Laptop Extras". The reason I think it's off is the LED on the case is not lit. Bios support is enabled. At this point it's all I can think of to get wireless working. Any suggestions on how I can turn this device on are appreciated.

Regards,

Jaques 

```

dmesg | grep ipw

ipw2200: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200/2915 Network Driver, git-1.0.8

ipw2200: Copyright(c) 2003-2005 Intel Corporation

```

```

lspci  | grep 802.11

02:02.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5212 802.11abg NIC (rev 01)

```

```

 lsmod

Module                  Size  Used by

vmnet                  32164  3 

vmmon                  99180  0 

intel_agp              18012  1 

snd_seq                43344  0 

snd_seq_device          6604  1 snd_seq

snd_pcm_oss            41952  0 

snd_mixer_oss          14272  1 snd_pcm_oss

snd_intel8x0           25756  0 

snd_ac97_codec         80032  1 snd_intel8x0

snd_ac97_bus            1920  1 snd_ac97_codec

snd_pcm                69704  3 snd_pcm_oss,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec

snd_timer              18884  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm

snd_page_alloc          7944  2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm

ipw2200                90732  0 

ieee80211              26568  1 ipw2200

ieee80211_crypt         4736  1 ieee80211

fglrx                 440588  7 

agpgart                26632  2 intel_agp,fglrx

e1000                  91828  0 

```

```

net-wireless/ipw2200 1.0.8-r1

net-wireless/ipw2200-firmware 2.4

```

Last edited by JaquesStrap on Mon Feb 13, 2006 7:36 pm; edited 1 time in total

----------

## czo

just so you know...

```
acerhk will mostly solve killswitch problems
```

greets czo

----------

## Monkeh

 *czo wrote:*   

> just so you know...
> 
> ```
> acerhk will mostly solve killswitch problems
> ```
> ...

 

And that's for Acer laptops. Not Thinkpad's.

I'm not sure exactly what you need, but there are a few thinkpad related programs in portage. 

There's app-laptop/tpctl, app-laptop/ibm-acpi, app-laptop/thinkpad and app-laptop/tpb. I don't know which you need, but take a look at their homepages and see if they have support for what you need.

----------

## daff

Thinkpads don't have a kill switch. The Fn-F5 combo just sends an ACPI event (provided you have the ibm-acpi modules loaded or compiled into the kernel, like you said) your acpid can interpret according to the actions you define. Look into ACPI configuration

Have you tried just loading the ipw2200 module? After you followed one of the many HOWTOs on the subject of course? I'd start with this one.

----------

## JaquesStrap

I spent a lot of time reading the various posts that cover the ThinkPad. I just noticed that I am missing app-laptop/thinkpad-5.8  & app-laptop/tpctl-4.16. However I am not able to emerge app-laptop/thinkpad-5.8. I don't know that I *NEED* these packages to get the wireless working? The battle continues.  :Smile: 

```

iles   ;-) thinkpad-4.1.ebuild

>>> md5 files   ;-) thinkpad-4.3.ebuild

>>> md5 files   ;-) thinkpad-4.8.ebuild

>>> md5 files   ;-) thinkpad-5.7.ebuild

>>> md5 files   ;-) thinkpad-5.8.ebuild

>>> md5 files   ;-) files/digest-thinkpad-4.3-r1

>>> md5 files   ;-) files/digest-thinkpad-3.2

>>> md5 files   ;-) files/digest-thinkpad-4.1

>>> md5 files   ;-) files/digest-thinkpad-4.3

>>> md5 files   ;-) files/thinkpad-5.8-cpu_ptr.patch

>>> md5 files   ;-) files/digest-thinkpad-4.8

>>> md5 files   ;-) files/digest-thinkpad-5.7

>>> md5 files   ;-) files/digest-thinkpad-5.8

>>> md5 files   ;-) files/thinkpad

>>> md5 src_uri ;-) thinkpad_5.8.tar.gz

 * Determining the location of the kernel source code

 * Found kernel source directory:

 *     /usr/src/linux

 * Found sources for kernel version:

 *     2.6.15-gentoo-r1

>>> Unpacking source...

>>> Unpacking thinkpad_5.8.tar.gz to /var/tmp/portage/thinkpad-5.8/work

 * Applying thinkpad-5.8-cpu_ptr.patch ...                                                                                                                                                     [ ok ]

>>> Source unpacked.

 * Preparing thinkpad module

make -C /usr/src/linux SUBDIRS=/var/tmp/portage/thinkpad-5.8/work/thinkpad-5.8/2.6/drivers modules

make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.15-gentoo-r1'

  CC [M]  /var/tmp/portage/thinkpad-5.8/work/thinkpad-5.8/2.6/drivers/thinkpad.o

  CC [M]  /var/tmp/portage/thinkpad-5.8/work/thinkpad-5.8/2.6/drivers/smapi_core.o

/var/tmp/portage/thinkpad-5.8/work/thinkpad-5.8/2.6/drivers/thinkpad.c: In function `thinkpad_ioctl':

/var/tmp/portage/thinkpad-5.8/work/thinkpad-5.8/2.6/drivers/thinkpad.c:245: warning: `inter_module_put' is deprecated (declared at include/linux/module.h:575)

/var/tmp/portage/thinkpad-5.8/work/thinkpad-5.8/2.6/drivers/thinkpad.c.c: In function `smapi_exit':

/var/tmp/portage/thinkpad-5.8/work/thinkpad-5.8/2.6/drivers/smapi_core.c:310: warning: `inter_module_unregister' is deprecated (declared at include/linux/module.h:572)

as --32   -o /var/tmp/portage/thinkpad-5.8/work/thinkpad-5.8/2.6/drivers/smapi_call.o /var/tmp/portage/thinkpad-5.8/work/thinkpad-5.8/2.6/drivers/smapi_call.s

  CC [M]  /var/tmp/portage/thinkpad-5.8/work/thinkpad-5.8/2.6/drivers/superio.o

/var/tmp/portage/thinkpad-5.8/work/thinkpad-5.8/2.6/drivers/smapi_call.s: Assembler messages:

/var/tmp/portage/thinkpad-5.8/work/thinkpad-5.8/2.6/drivers/smapi_call.s:50: Warning: indirect lcall without `*'

/var/tmp/portage/thinkpad-5.8/work/thinkpad-5.8/2.6/drivers/superio.c: In function `superio_init':

/var/tmp/portage/thinkpad-5.8/work/thinkpad-5.8/2.6/drivers/superio.c:890: warning: `inter_module_register' is deprecated (declared at include/linux/module.h:571)

/var/tmp/portage/thinkpad-5.8/work/thinkpad-5.8/2.6/drivers/superio.c: In function `superio_exit':

/var/tmp/portage/thinkpad-5.8/work/thinkpad-5.8/2.6/drivers/superio.c:899: warning: `inter_module_unregister' is deprecated (declared at include/linux/module.h:572)

  CC [M]  /var/tmp/portage/thinkpad-5.8/work/thinkpad-5.8/2.6/drivers/rtcmosram.o

  CC [M]  /var/tmp/portage/thinkpad-5.8/work/thinkpad-5.8/2.6/drivers/thinkpadpm.o

/var/tmp/portage/thinkpad-5.8/work/thinkpad-5.8/2.6/drivers/rtcmosram.c: In function `rtcmosram_init':

/var/tmp/portage/thinkpad-5.8/work/thinkpad-5.8/2.6/drivers/rtcmosram.c:229: warning: `inter_module_register' is deprecated (declared at include/linux/module.h:571)

/var/tmp/portage/thinkpad-5.8/work/thinkpad-5.8/2.6/drivers/rtcmosram.c: In function `rtcmosram_exit':

/var/tmp/portage/thinkpad-5.8/work/thinkpad-5.8/2.6/drivers/rtcmosram.c:238: warning: `inter_module_unregister' is deprecated (declared at include/linux/module.h:572)

/var/tmp/portage/thinkpad-5.8/work/thinkpad-5.8/2.6/drivers/thinkpadpm.c: In function `thinkpadpm_init':

/var/tmp/portage/thinkpad-5.8/work/thinkpad-5.8/2.6/drivers/thinkpadpm.c:475: error: `pm_active' undeclared (first use in this function)

/var/tmp/portage/thinkpad-5.8/work/thinkpad-5.8/2.6/drivers/thinkpadpm.c:475: error: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only once

/var/tmp/portage/thinkpad-5.8/work/thinkpad-5.8/2.6/drivers/thinkpadpm.c:475: error: for each function it appears in.)

/var/tmp/portage/thinkpad-5.8/work/thinkpad-5.8/2.6/drivers/thinkpadpm.c:513: warning: `inter_module_register' is deprecated (declared at include/linux/module.h:571)

/var/tmp/portage/thinkpad-5.8/work/thinkpad-5.8/2.6/drivers/thinkpadpm.c: In function `thinkpadpm_exit':

/var/tmp/portage/thinkpad-5.8/work/thinkpad-5.8/2.6/drivers/thinkpadpm.c:522: warning: `inter_module_unregister' is deprecated (declared at include/linux/module.h:572)

make[2]: *** [/var/tmp/portage/thinkpad-5.8/work/thinkpad-5.8/2.6/drivers/thinkpadpm.o] Error 1

make[2]: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....

make[2]: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....

make[1]: *** [_module_/var/tmp/portage/thinkpad-5.8/work/thinkpad-5.8/2.6/drivers] Error 2

make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.15-gentoo-r1'

make: *** [default] Error 2

!!! ERROR: app-laptop/thinkpad-5.8 failed.

!!! Function linux-mod_src_compile, Line 504, Exitcode 2

!!! Unable to make                                  KSRC=/usr/src/linux default.

!!! If you need support, post the topmost build error, NOT this status message.

```

Reagrds,

Jaques

----------

## JaquesStrap

By the way...there is an section from this howto http://gentoo-wiki.com/HARDWARE_ipw2200 that leads me to believe it's the 'wireless radio' kill switch' causing my grief. 

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> Setup
> 
> The card should be set up at this point.
> ...

 

I have ibm-acpi installed, but the appropriate function key combo seems to do nothing. I believe all appropriate kernel support, packages are installed and I load the ipw2200 module with the led=1switch, but the LED remains unlit. So what's left, I suspect the device is simply not powered on.

Any suggestions are appreciated,

Jaques

----------

## daff

I too can't compile the thinkpad package, don't know what's wrong there. Someone should file a bug report. You don't really need tpctl and the various packages that come with it, but for some people they are nice. 

However, and that's a fact: The Thinkpad T42 doesn't have a radio kill switch. Neither does the T41, T41p, T42p, T43 or T43p. The IPW2200 is built into many kinds of Laptops, Acer for example, and they do have a kill switch. The Fn-F5 combo just sends an ACPI event which by itself does not trigger anything. Here is the ACPI setup for my T41p with madwifi drivers:

/etc/acpi/events/wlan.conf:

```

event=ibm[ /]hotkey HKEY 00000080 00001005

action=/etc/acpi/actions/wlan.sh

```

/etc/acpi/events/actions/wlan.sh:

```

#!/bin/sh

state=$( /usr/sbin/iwconfig | awk '/ath*/ { print $1 }' )

if [[ $state == "" ]] ; then

        cmd="enable"

        /sbin/modprobe ath_pci

        /sbin/ifconfig ath0 up

else

        cmd="disable"

        /etc/init.d/net.ath0 stop

        /sbin/rmmod ath_pci wlan ath_hal wlan_tkip wlan_ccmp 

fi

logger "[ACPI] $cmd wireless LAN adapter"

```

EDIT: I just saw that you posted two somehow contradictory bits of information in your first post. If lspci says something about "Atheros communications" then you don't have an IPW2200 chipset but an Atheros based one which means you need the madwifi drivers. The dmesg output about ipw2200 just seems to appear because you loaded the ipw2200 module. 

So what you need to do is unmerge anything ipw2200 and install the madwifi drivers: net-wireless/madwifi-driver, net-wireless/madwifi-tools.

Oh and the LED not being lit doesn't by itself mean that the device isn't powered on or not working. Could just mean that there is no connection established (although then it should light up occasionally).

----------

## JaquesStrap

Oh wow, I do have an Atheros interface.   :Embarassed:   The mad-wifi module worked. All this time I thought I had the ipw220.

Thanks for your help. 

Jaques

----------

## agrikk

Hah hah hah. Me too.

I came across this thread and immediately thought, "Wait. Does the T43p have the Atheros?"

Ten minutes later: Boom! Wireless.

Thanks for this thread.

----------

