Re: Wi-Fi broken on Dell E6520, Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 AGN, Debian 11.7 Xfce

[David Christensen <dpchrist@holgerdanske.com>]

On 5/4/23 18:12, zithro wrote:
> On 05 May 2023 01:55, David Christensen wrote:
> > Try Enable Wi-Fi a couple three more  times -- nope
> >
> > Try Debian 9 -- nope.
> >
> > Try Windows 7 Pro -- nope.
> >
> > It looks like I have a dead Wi-Fi adapter.
>
> Or a dead Wifi killswitch (the physical radio button) ?


I tested the wireless switch and was seeing messages in /var/log/syslog. 
 Without a known good Wi-Fi adapter and a known good switch, I cannot 
determine if one or both are good or bad.


The "Dell Latitude E6520 Owner's Manual" includes instructions for 
replacing the Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Card.  It's 12 steps 
and I've done those before.


The "Dell Latitude E6520 Owner's Manual" includes instructions for 
removing and installing the Wireless Switch Board.  You have to dig deep 
-- 26 steps.

> Last thought, don't you have :
> - a mechanical ON/OFF button (I mean like on your walls for the lights)
> - AND a Fn+keyboard key combo to toggle Wifi (enable/disable) ?


The keyboard has a dedicated "Fn" key and a few other keys with extra 
symbols in the same color.  I looked hard for a Wi-Fi symbol, but never 
found one.  I seem to recall that the wireless switch on the side is the 
only hardware user interface on this laptop.


"Dell Latitude E6420/E6520 Setup and Features Information" documents the
"wireless switch" on the right side, but does not document the "Fn" and 
related keys on the keyboard.


"Dell Latitude E6520 Owner's Manual" only mentions using "Fn" key to 
enable/disable the keyboard embedded keyboard.

> On my old Thinkpad, I have both, whereas on a newer model I only have 
> the Fn+key combo.


My older Dell Inspiron E1505 has the the Fn+key combo.

> > Thank you for the help.  :-)
>
> Np, sorry for your loss ^^


I was going to surf eBay and find another Wi-Fi card, but then I had one 
last idea -- double-checking the the CMOS/NVRAM settings via Setup.  I 
cut the settings down to the bare minimum for Wi-Fi:

  Settings
  + Wireless
    + Wireless Switch
    |    WWAN           unchecked
    |    WLAN           checked
    |    Bluetooth      unchecked
    +  Wireless Device Enable
         WWAN           unchecked
         WLAN           checked
         Bluetooth      unchecked
  -> Apply
  -> Exit


Now Wi-Fi works with my AT&T residential gateway.


I know the machine has Wi-Fi and it does not have WWAN.  I don't know if 
the Wi-Fi card includes Bluetooth.  But, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it'.


That said, Wi-Fi does not work with my Ubuiquitti Networks UniFi setup 
-- it doesn't like the MAC address.


Damn infernal computers and networks...


David