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Topic: [SOLVED] ThinkPad T450 Boots with phy0 (my only wifi card) softblocked.  (Read 757 times) previous topic - next topic
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[SOLVED] ThinkPad T450 Boots with phy0 (my only wifi card) softblocked.

Hey all,

Sorry for the lack of information in this post in advance, but there isn't much I can do to diagnose the problem because no error is being shown.

When I boot my ThinkPad t450, it seems my wifi card is soft blocked every time. Once I've actually booted, I'm able to press the f8 (the WiFi activation button) and it unblocks phy0.
The main issue I'm having though, is every time I boot my laptop I have to close any wpa_supplicant processes running, point wpa_supplicant to config and enable it and finally use dhcpcd. I've tried pressing f8 at various times during boot to no effect, I looked for any settings in the bios and was unsuccessful.
NetworkManager is also being started at boot, but remains inactive, even after I've connected to the internet...

What I'm inputting into terminal to turn on wifi:

ps ax | grep -e wpa (to find any processes running)
kill ####  (process ID)
wpa_supplicant -B -i wlan0 -c  /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant-wlan0.conf
dhcpcd

Re: ThinkPad T450 Boots with phy0 (my only wifi card) softblocked.

Reply #1 –
Have you tried
Code: [Select]
rfkill unblock all
?

Re: ThinkPad T450 Boots with phy0 (my only wifi card) softblocked.

Reply #2 –
Yeah, I have to do it every boot. I just realized I may be able to make a service that rfkill unblock all at boot lol.

Re: ThinkPad T450 Boots with phy0 (my only wifi card) softblocked.

Reply #3 –
Quote from: phimo – on
Sorry for the lack of information in this post in advance, but there isn't much I can do to diagnose the problem because no error is being shown.
What is lacking is some basic information about your system, including at least init system and DE.
Quote from: phimo – on
The main issue I'm having though, is every time I boot my laptop I have to close any wpa_supplicant processes running, point wpa_supplicant to config and enable it and finally use dhcpcd.
What is starting wpa_supplicant? Artix service scripts for wpa_supplicant are by default configured with the correct parameters.
Quote from: phimo – on
NetworkManager is also being started at boot, but remains inactive, even after I've connected to the internet...
Define "inactive".
Quote from: phimo – on
Code: [Select]
ps ax | grep -e wpa (to find any processes running)
kill ####  (process ID)
wpa_supplicant -B -i wlan0 -c  /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant-wlan0.conf 
dhcpcd
  • Please use code tags for program output in the future.
  • If wpa_supplicant is managed by a service, this will only kill the existing instance of wpa_supplicant and then the process supervisor will start another. You can confirm this by trying the ps command from the first line again after the kill command.
  • Why are you not specifying the driver with -D?

Re: ThinkPad T450 Boots with phy0 (my only wifi card) softblocked.

Reply #4 –


I may have missed the section in the
Quote from: strajder – on
What is lacking is some basic information about your system, including at least init system and DE.What is starting wpa_supplicant?
Artix service scripts for wpa_supplicant are by default configured with the correct parameters.Define "inactive".
  • Please use code tags for program output in the future.
  • If wpa_supplicant is managed by a service, this will only kill the existing instance of wpa_supplicant and then the process supervisor will start another. You can confirm this by trying the ps command from the first line again after the kill command.
  • Why are you not specifying the driver with -D?

Sorry, my init system is openrc and DE is DWM.

The service is inactive through OpenRC, it starts at default run level then just goes inactive. Doesn't seem to pick up a connection, as phy0 is softblocked by rfkill on boot (phy0 is my only network card). 

I'll give >You can confirm this by trying the ps command from the first line again after the kill command
and specifying the driver with -D a go now. Cheers

Re: ThinkPad T450 Boots with phy0 (my only wifi card) softblocked.

Reply #5 –
What is the output of:
Code: [Select]
systool -vm rfkill

According to
https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/driver-api/rfkill.html
https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.html
the kernel module rfkill has two options:
Code: [Select]
        rfkill.default_state=
                0       "airplane mode".  All wifi, bluetooth, wimax, gps, fm,
                        etc. communication is blocked by default.
                1       Unblocked.

        rfkill.master_switch_mode=
                0       The "airplane mode" button does nothing.
                1       The "airplane mode" button toggles between everything
                        blocked and the previous configuration.
                2       The "airplane mode" button toggles between everything
                        blocked and everything unblocked.
which you might set from the kernel command line.

Re: ThinkPad T450 Boots with phy0 (my only wifi card) softblocked.

Reply #6 –
If all else fails, create a small initscript to unblock your card(s) and put it in /etc/init.d/default (or boot). Perhaps there's a more elegant solution with a udev rule or a kernel command line as @strajder suggested.
Code: [Select]
#!/sbin/openrc-run

description="Enable wireless"
command="/usr/bin/rfkill"
command_args="unblock all"

depend() {
    after udev
    before net
}

Re: ThinkPad T450 Boots with phy0 (my only wifi card) softblocked.

Reply #7 –
G'day, sorry I just got a chance to jump on and post.

I figured out the issue, I removed NetworkManager,  Connman and installed dhcpcd-openrc. It seems the reason for wpa_supplicant not running was because of the other network management programs I had installed.

Cheers for your help though :)