lost wireless - "Radio Frequency Kill Switch is On" [Solved]

[huchison]

hi,

I've been happily running Sabayon 3.3 for several months on a Samsung X11 laptop. However I've now lost wireless, due (I'm guessing) to a technician at work recklessly toggling Fn+function keys at random to try to get something else working; and I've been unable to restore a wireless network.

From dmesg | grep ipw, I get:

[ 14.022000] ipw3945: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945 Network Connection driver for Linux, 1.2.0mpr
[ 14.022000] ipw3945: Copyright(c) 2003-2006 Intel Corporation
[ 14.023000] ipw3945: Detected Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection
[ 31.142000] ipw3945: Radio Frequency Kill Switch is On:
[ 1122.185000] ipw3945: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945 Network Connection driver for Linux, 1.2.0mpr
[ 1122.185000] ipw3945: Copyright(c) 2003-2006 Intel Corporation
[ 1122.186000] ipw3945: Detected Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection
[ 1124.189000] ipw3945: Radio Frequency Kill Switch is On:

So I imagine that all I need to know is how to toggle the radio frequency kill switch OFF?

My technical knowledge is Linux is very limited, so I'd be very grateful if in any response you could assume that you're talking to a newbie.

Many thanks in anticipation.

[Fitzcarraldo]

Does that laptop model have a physical switch to enable/disable WiFi, or a function key to enable/disable WiFi? Anyway, those are obvious so I assume you've tried those. But have you looked in the BIOS at boot up to see if WiFi has been turned off there?

[huchison]

Does that laptop model have a physical switch to enable/disable WiFi, or a function key to enable/disable WiFi? Anyway, those are obvious so I assume you've tried those. But have you looked in the BIOS at boot up to see if WiFi has been turned off there?

Many thanks for the response. And yes (I'm embarrassed to admit) it was turned off in the BIOS. All is now working fine.