Sony Vaio VGN-NS30E Broken WiFi swith

[hntr129]

Hello everybody!

I am new to Debian and thus question is I think far beyond my current knowledge.
I have a Sony Vaio VGN-NS30E and the hardware switch is broken in the OFF position
I have a Debian 8 and the operationg system says the hardware switch is on, so the WiFi can't be switched on.
I read countless forums how to override the hardware switch and come to the conclusion there is no way to do it.
Today I reinstalled the system and the installer itself use the WiFi and works.
So I think there must be an option somewhere to ignore the hardware switch position same as the installer does.
I hope I provided sufficient information and somebody could help me.

Thank you

[pylkko]

what are you actually even asking? do you have some kind of problem (not in the sense usually assocaited with this question)? Do you mean that you cannot form network connections over wifi? what does it mean that a "switch is broken"? Did the plastic switch come off? Pleaase post the message where "the system says..."

[hntr129]

So the laptop has a physical switch that is totally broken off the board. The time it broke off was in the OFF position.
When I install Debian I can use the WiFi within the installer (connect to home hub, download packages). But when the system is installed it says WiFi is off
because hardware switch is in Off.
My question is how can I tell the system to ignore the hardware switch and use the WiFi?

[v&n]

But when the system is installed it says WiFi is off
because hardware switch is in Off.

Nope, it is on. The switch position is simply misleading because it is broken. There is no way any OS can see the wifi card as 'On' at any stage (installation or running) if it is turned off by the hardware switch or from BIOS.

So... the problem you have is most likely a lack of proper driver or firmware. It is not uncommon to have a working driver/firmware in the live session but not in the installation. Please show us the output of the following commands run in a terminal -

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lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 net
lsusb

[hntr129]

lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 net
01:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8055 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller [11ab:4363] (rev 13)
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device [104d:9045]
Kernel driver in use: sky2
04:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Qualcomm Atheros AR928X Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) [168c:002a] (rev 01)
Subsystem: Foxconn International, Inc. Device [105b:e007]
Kernel driver in use: ath9k

lsusb
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

[Head_on_a_Stick]

Please post the output of:

Code: Select all

ip link
ip route
cat /etc/resolv.conf
/usr/sbin/rfkill list

You may have to install rfkill to gain access to the last command.

[emariz]

The first thing which I would try is to install a more recent kernel from Backports:
https://backports.debian.org/

Then check these threads:
http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?p=402925#p402925
http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=73331

[hntr129]

I get the following outputs:
iplink
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN mode DEFAULT group default
link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
link/ether 00:1d:ba:f1:b8:fd brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
3: wlan0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
link/ether 00:24:2b:f1:6c:d8 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

ip route
default via 192.168.1.254 dev eth0 proto static metric 1024
169.254.0.0/16 dev eth0 scope link metric 1000
192.168.1.0/24 dev eth0 proto kernel scope link src 192.168.1.97

cat /etc/resolv.conf
# Generated by NetworkManager
search home
nameserver 192.168.1.254

rfkill list
0: sony-wifi: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: yes
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no

[v&n]

Please post outputs of -

Code: Select all

dmesg | egrep -i 'ath9k|firmware'
egrep -i 'radio|switch' /var/log/syslog
lsmod

If you still have the live CD/USB which you installed from, or can recreate one, please also post the following outputs from the live session -

Code: Select all

rfkill list
lsmod

And yes -

The first thing which I would try is to install a more recent kernel from Backports:
https://backports.debian.org/

Then check these threads:
http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?p=402925#p402925
http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=73331

+1

[hntr129]

Code: Select all

dmesg | egrep -i 'ath9k|firmware'

0.124032] [Firmware Bug]: ACPI: BIOS _OSI(Linux) query ignored

Code: Select all

lsmod

Module                  Size  Used by
nfsd                  262938  2 
auth_rpcgss            51209  1 nfsd
oid_registry           12419  1 auth_rpcgss
nfs_acl                12511  1 nfsd
nfs                   192232  0 
lockd                  83389  2 nfs,nfsd
fscache                45542  1 nfs
sunrpc                237364  6 nfs,nfsd,auth_rpcgss,lockd,nfs_acl
arc4                   12536  2 
ath9k                  90245  0 
ath9k_common           21746  1 ath9k
ath9k_hw              391172  2 ath9k_common,ath9k
ath                    26067  3 ath9k_common,ath9k,ath9k_hw
mac80211              482315  1 ath9k
cfg80211              413730  4 ath,ath9k_common,ath9k,mac80211
iTCO_wdt               12831  0 
iTCO_vendor_support    12649  1 iTCO_wdt
snd_hda_codec_realtek    67168  1 
snd_hda_codec_generic    63181  2 snd_hda_codec_realtek
i2c_i801               16965  0 
coretemp               12820  0 
r592                   17327  0 
memstick               13696  1 r592
snd_hda_intel          26407  6 
snd_hda_controller     26646  1 snd_hda_intel
snd_hda_codec         104500  4 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_controller
pcspkr                 12595  0 
joydev                 17063  0 
serio_raw              12849  0 
lpc_ich                20768  0 
snd_hwdep              13148  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm                88662  3 snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_controller
snd_timer              26668  1 snd_pcm
snd                    65338  19 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hwdep,snd_timer,snd_pcm,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
mfd_core               12601  1 lpc_ich
evdev                  17445  13 
sony_laptop            53546  0 
shpchp                 31121  0 
rfkill                 18867  3 cfg80211,sony_laptop
battery                13356  0 
soundcore              13026  2 snd,snd_hda_codec
ac                     12715  0 
acpi_cpufreq           17218  1 
processor              28221  3 acpi_cpufreq
vmhgfs                 65266  0 
vmw_vmci               55383  1 vmhgfs
fuse                   83350  3 
parport_pc             26300  0 
ppdev                  16782  0 
lp                     17074  0 
parport                35749  3 lp,ppdev,parport_pc
autofs4                35529  2 
ext4                  477942  2 
crc16                  12343  1 ext4
mbcache                17171  1 ext4
jbd2                   82514  1 ext4
sd_mod                 44356  4 
crc_t10dif             12431  1 sd_mod
crct10dif_generic      12581  1 
sg                     29973  0 
sr_mod                 21903  0 
cdrom                  47424  1 sr_mod
crct10dif_common       12356  2 crct10dif_generic,crc_t10dif
hid_generic            12393  0 
usbhid                 44460  0 
hid                   102264  2 hid_generic,usbhid
psmouse                99249  0 
ahci                   33334  3 
libahci                27158  1 ahci
libata                177508  2 ahci,libahci
scsi_mod              191405  4 sg,libata,sd_mod,sr_mod
sdhci_pci              22097  0 
sdhci                  35161  1 sdhci_pci
mmc_core              102374  2 sdhci,sdhci_pci
firewire_ohci          39523  0 
firewire_core          56665  1 firewire_ohci
crc_itu_t              12347  1 firewire_core
thermal                17559  0 
i915                  841331  3 
i2c_algo_bit           12751  1 i915
drm_kms_helper         49210  1 i915
sky2                   56751  0 
button                 12944  1 i915
video                  18096  1 i915
ehci_pci               12512  0 
uhci_hcd               43499  0 
drm                   249998  5 i915,drm_kms_helper
ehci_hcd               69837  1 ehci_pci
i2c_core               46012  5 drm,i915,i2c_i801,drm_kms_helper,i2c_algo_bit
thermal_sys            27642  3 video,thermal,processor
usbcore               195468  4 uhci_hcd,ehci_hcd,ehci_pci,usbhid
usb_common             12440  1 usbcore

[hntr129]

I tried to install packages from backport but I have lack of experience and can't install the new kernel.
I added the line to the end of sources.list: deb http://backports.debian.org/debian-backports jessie-backports main contrib non-free
I not sure how to install the package correctly.
I type: apt-get -t jessie-backports install firmware-atheros
I get the following message:
Reading package lists... Done
E: The value 'jessie-backports' is invalid for APT::Default-Release as such a release is not available in the sources

[GarryRicketson]

Take a look at this:
https://backports.debian.org/Instructions/

You will notice ( I think ):
For jessie add this line

Code: Select all

deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian jessie-backports main 

What you show:

Code: Select all

 deb http://backports.debian.org/debian-backports jessie-backports main contrib non-free  

is wrong ,
so you get the error:

Code: Select all

E: The value 'jessie-backports' is invalid for APT::Default-Release as such a release is not available in the sources  

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