Issue with wireless on Lenovo Z570

[cclauson]

Hi,

I have a Lenovo Z570 laptop, on which I've installed 64-bit CentOS 6.2. The wireless worked for a while, but then suddenly became disabled, and I don't know how to reenable it.

uname -r:

2.6.32-220.el6.x86_64

lspci:

00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family DRAM Controller [8086:0104] (rev 09)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:3975]
	Kernel driver in use: agpgart-intel
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0126] (rev 09)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:3975]
	Kernel driver in use: i915
	Kernel modules: i915
00:16.0 Communication controller [0780]: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 [8086:1c3a] (rev 04)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:3975]
00:1a.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 [8086:1c2d] (rev 05)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:3975]
	Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller [8086:1c20] (rev 05)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:3975]
	Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
	Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 [8086:1c10] (rev b5)
	Kernel modules: shpchp
00:1c.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 2 [8086:1c12] (rev b5)
	Kernel modules: shpchp
00:1c.3 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 4 [8086:1c16] (rev b5)
	Kernel modules: shpchp
00:1d.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 [8086:1c26] (rev 05)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:3975]
	Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation HM65 Express Chipset Family LPC Controller [8086:1c49] (rev 05)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:3975]
	Kernel modules: iTCO_wdt
00:1f.2 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family 6 port SATA AHCI Controller [8086:1c03] (rev 05)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:3975]
	Kernel driver in use: ahci
	Kernel modules: ahci
00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller [8086:1c22] (rev 05)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:3975]
	Kernel modules: i2c-i801
02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Centrino Wireless-N 1000 [8086:0084]
	Subsystem: Intel Corporation Centrino Wireless-N 1000 BGN [8086:1315]
	Kernel driver in use: iwlagn
	Kernel modules: iwlagn
03:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller [10ec:8136] (rev 05)
	Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:3975]
	Kernel driver in use: r8169
	Kernel modules: r8169

lsmod:

Module                  Size  Used by
fuse                   66285  0 
ebtable_nat             2009  0 
ebtables               18135  1 ebtable_nat
ipt_MASQUERADE          2466  3 
iptable_nat             6158  1 
nf_nat                 22726  2 ipt_MASQUERADE,iptable_nat
xt_CHECKSUM             1303  1 
iptable_mangle          3349  1 
bridge                 79790  0 
stp                     2173  1 bridge
llc                     5642  2 bridge,stp
autofs4                26888  3 
sunrpc                243758  1 
cpufreq_ondemand       10448  4 
acpi_cpufreq            7955  0 
freq_table              4881  2 cpufreq_ondemand,acpi_cpufreq
mperf                   1557  1 acpi_cpufreq
ipt_REJECT              2383  4 
nf_conntrack_ipv4       9506  6 iptable_nat,nf_nat
nf_defrag_ipv4          1483  1 nf_conntrack_ipv4
iptable_filter          2793  1 
ip_tables              17831  3 iptable_nat,iptable_mangle,iptable_filter
ip6t_REJECT             4628  2 
nf_conntrack_ipv6       8748  2 
nf_defrag_ipv6         12182  1 nf_conntrack_ipv6
xt_state                1492  5 
nf_conntrack           79453  6 ipt_MASQUERADE,iptable_nat,nf_nat,nf_conntrack_ipv4,nf_conntrack_ipv6,xt_state
ip6table_filter         2889  1 
ip6_tables             19458  1 ip6table_filter
ipv6                  322029  43 ip6t_REJECT,nf_conntrack_ipv6,nf_defrag_ipv6
vhost_net              31384  0 
macvtap                 9036  1 vhost_net
macvlan                10180  1 macvtap
tun                    17051  2 vhost_net
kvm                   305081  0 
uinput                  8216  0 
arc4                    1475  2 
ecb                     2209  2 
iwlagn                194930  0 
iwlcore                75905  1 iwlagn
mac80211              150271  2 iwlagn,iwlcore
cfg80211              140059  3 iwlagn,iwlcore,mac80211
rfkill                 19735  2 cfg80211
r8169                  39968  0 
mii                     5271  1 r8169
sg                     30124  0 
microcode             112594  0 
uvcvideo               63168  0 
videodev               76310  1 uvcvideo
v4l2_compat_ioctl32     7110  1 videodev
i2c_i801               11231  0 
iTCO_wdt               13662  0 
iTCO_vendor_support     3088  1 iTCO_wdt
shpchp                 33482  0 
snd_hda_codec_hdmi     24682  1 
snd_hda_codec_realtek   309541  1 
snd_hda_intel          25548  2 
snd_hda_codec          91845  3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep               6780  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_seq                56591  0 
snd_seq_device          6596  1 snd_seq
snd_pcm                84702  3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
snd_timer              23057  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd                    70023  13 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm,snd_timer
soundcore               8086  1 snd
snd_page_alloc          8630  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
ext4                  364410  3 
mbcache                 8144  1 ext4
jbd2                   88738  1 ext4
sr_mod                 16228  0 
cdrom                  39771  1 sr_mod
sd_mod                 39488  3 
crc_t10dif              1541  1 sd_mod
ahci                   40455  2 
wmi                     6287  0 
i915                  545870  2 
drm_kms_helper         33236  1 i915
drm                   230675  3 i915,drm_kms_helper
i2c_algo_bit            5762  1 i915
i2c_core               31276  6 videodev,i2c_i801,i915,drm_kms_helper,drm,i2c_algo_bit
video                  21032  1 i915
output                  2505  1 video
dm_mirror              14101  0 
dm_region_hash         12170  1 dm_mirror
dm_log                 10122  2 dm_mirror,dm_region_hash
dm_mod                 81500  11 dm_mirror,dm_log

If I try "ifconfig wlan0 up", I get:

SIOCSIFFLAGS: Operation not possible due to RF-kill

rfkill list:

0: phy0: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: yes

Also, "rfkill unblock all" doesn't do anything.

I found some things on the internet about my card and linux drivers (search "intel wifi drivers linux"), but to be honest, after reading everything, I'm still not sure if anything on this site can help me, or what I'm supposed to do. I found a site where I could download microcode, but, again, I'm not sure what to do with it. Also, there's a page that says to use "intree" drivers, which I'm guessing are those already distributed with my kernel, but I don't know how to do this.

The laptop has a key for enabling/disabling wireless (Fn-F5), but pressing this doesn't help. Also, when I first boot, I can go in to the BIOS, and there's a control to set wireless enabled/disabled. It's set to enabled, but still it looks disabled from a hardware level.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[rokytnji]

Hard blocked: yes

Look in the bios and make sure wireless is turned on.

[cclauson]

Look in the bios and make sure wireless is turned on.

I clearly stated in the original post that I had already done this.

[rokytnji]

I clearly stated in the original post that I had already done this.

Sorry. I'm tired and missed that.

Hard block is hardware not software related. Maybe a key is stuck in the on position.

Does a live cd session work in wireless to make sure a key is not stuck.

[cclauson]

Thanks for the reply.

That's a good idea, actually. I could even do a system restore to Windows 7 and confirm that it is indeed a linux kernel issue.

One update on the problem: I tried contacting Intel about the problem, and they told me to move a microcode file to the /lib/firmware directory on my computer. However, the microcode file is already there, so it didn't end up being helpful.

[rokytnji]

Just some off the wall info.

Back when I had Ubuntu Netbook distro on my Acer Aspire One zg5 atom Netbook.
I had a problem mounting external SD flash cards when plugged in while running.

I followed a erroneous tutorial, (from Ubuntus site I may add), on a fix for this which required me editing the kernel line in Grub menu. After that edit. I would lose internal wireless card after about a hour to a hour and a half.
After the netbook stayed off for a while. It would fix itself. I even ran a external wireless wireless USB stick and had no troubles with dropped wifi.

So digging into the problem. I figured out my kernel edit had some how snafued the wireless card or motherboard to the point the internal wireless card was getting hot and dropping out. So after I redited my kernel line and deleted the changes I made. No more dropped wireless. Weird huh?

Probably not your problem but I figured I would mention it.

[cclauson]

Thanks.

So here are some updates on the problem: I tried booting from Knoppix, the wireless card still appears disabled. I tried rebooting, disabling wireless in the BIOS, and allowing the boot. Then rebooting again, reenabling the wireless, and proceeding with the boot. This didn't fix the problem, but when the system came up with the wireless disabled in the BIOS, the result was different (instead of showing up as hard blocked by rfkill, it didn't show at all--meaning both in the icon in the upper right of my desktop, and when I do "service network restart" to bring up the network interfaces, the error message is different, like "no wireless found" instead off "card blocked by rfkill'>

Currently I can think of two more things to try:
1. Try reverting the system to Windows 7, see if wireless works
2. Do a BIOS upgrade (the BIOS seems to be from Oct 2011)

However, it might be a week or more before I'll have a chance to try these, so if anyone can suggest something else, I'd really appreciate it. It's very frustrating, there are a large number of Google results for "Lenovo Z570 linux wireless", but in all cases either it worked for that person, or they were able to fix the problem, but it's not the same as my problem

Thanks in advance for any additional comments

[vankleef]

Hallo. I am suffering from an Identical problem. I have an Lenovo Ideapad Z570. After Windows crashed I was using a Live installation of Ubuntu to save my data and try any repairs. The wifi was working perfectly, after saving my data and using the live edition for three days I decided that yes the time was right for getting rid of Windows on the machine. I went to install and the computer said it was not connected. I carried on regardless. When I got to the partitioning screen, I needed some further info, so I rebooted to the live installation. The Live installation said exactly the same thing. The hardware switch is disabled. I tried the switch in both postions and possibly a few that don't exist. Then I checked the Bios and it was enabled. I could not switch it on. Boredom and lack of Internet then took me over and I fresh installed Windows 7. With Windows 7 on the switch still did not change anything however the 'Fn' and 'F5' instruction bought up a little energy managment screen which switched it back on and everything worked fine.
Today I decided to make the machine a dual boot with Ubuntu. Again got to the installation screen and the wireless has disappered again, booted up the live installation and still no joy. Tried using the 'fn' and 'fn5' command but this seems to be a Windows only command (is this the correct terminology?). So here I am writing this back on Windows 7. It looks like to me that the 'Energy managment driver' controls the software disabling of the wifi and somehow when you go to installation this trips it out somehow!!( correct terminology) . Looking for a solution the first thing I've come across is an identical problem. Any solution guys?? Really looking forward to using Ubuntu. Thinking of installing through Ethernet and then trying to find a solution then. Thanks for any help

[cclauson]

Here's the status of my situation: once I reinstalled Windows 7, I got a message that my problem was that the hardware switch on the front of the machine was switched to "off" (doh!). So it would appear that this was a stupid oversight on my part, I noticed that you could switch on/off wireless using Fn-F5, I noticed that you could switch on/off wireless from the BIOS, but I did not notice the switch on the front. Once I switched it back, I got wireless again, although I have not tried going back to Linux, although at the moment my belief is that it would work fine (the reason that this is my belief is that our company bought 2 identical machines, and I put linux on both of them, only mine had wireless problems, and since then I've figured out that the issue was, to my knowledge, the switch on the front).

For the record, my Linux is Centos 6.2, maybe different results than with Ubuntu.