Disabling Wireless Switch on Lenovos

I have an X200s.
I want to disable the wireless switch on the side of the laptop (I don't want it to function).

The slightest touch to the wireless switch turns it off - very frustrating.
Anyone know how to disable it? From the BIOS?

 

Subscribing! I have the same issue. Put it in for warranty repair and they just replaced the NIC instead. Don't want to wait days for it again so I'm living with it now...

 

I don't think there a control for it. Take it to a friend that knows how to solder and have her or him solder the two wires together.

Or or the creative side, find another switch.

Renee

 

After doing a Google search I found this link: http://www.experts-exchange.com/Hardware/Laptops_Notebooks/PC_Laptops/Q_23463925.html

But I don't have an Expert-Exchange account...

 

Expert-exchange is terrible don't bother with it.

 

Is soldering the only option?
Anyone know of a BIOS/driver/software solution to disabling the wireless switch on lenovo laptops?

 

I believe these wireless kill switches are hard-wired, so there is no software method disable their function. A BIOS fix may be possible, but I have not seen one and have not found one by searching.

 

Can you not just put a piece of blue tack or something to stop it moving?

 

I have been battling with a super "touchy" wifi switch on my X200 for a while now also. I wonder if there is some design flaw in the X200 in this regard? The lightest brush against the wifi switch seems to turn it off - usually for just a moment. To be clear, the switch is still in the "ON" position. It seems like there is a very poor connection or something.

Has anyone successfully solved this problem either by themselves or with their warranty?

 

While playing with an OS other than Windows on a 15" widescreen R61 I was surprised to find that wireless operated regardless of the position of the kill switch. So yes, it's a physical switch hard-wired to some sensor, but apparently the driver can ignore that sensor if it chooses. You're probably right that a BIOS fix may be possible, but the R61 was using a standard BIOS, so I think a custom BIOS isn't necessary (though a hacked wireless driver would be).

 

Are you sure about that? Maybe that switch was somehow broken, too?
Because that should _really_ not happen as there are places where you have to be 100% sure that all wireless is OFF, and that can only mean a physical switch. I thought that's the reason why they still install hardware 'kill' switches in the first place.

 

the switch only works with supported cards under windows.   if you install a non-whitelisted card or use it under a non-windows OS, the switch does not work.

the switch works on an OS level, not a BIOS level.

 

Thanks for confirming, erik.
(I'm pretty sure what I observed before but am not able to repeat the experiment at the moment.)

I was thinking along the same lines, which is why I was surprised to discover differently. Practically, all ThinkPads these days are sold with a Windows OS pre-installed, so as a HW+SW unit the kill switch operates as you'd expect.

But if you change the OS (or hardware, as erik points out), the kill switch may not function as designed. So in this case, it's better to think of the switch as a convenience feature instead of a failsafe, and to verify that it's working as you expect.

Or -- to get back to this thread's topic -- to look for ways to make the wireless driver ignore the kill switch entirely.

 

That's nonsense, of course it works.
But it's true that apparently it is the job of the OS to honour that switch (and then there is still the Fn+F5 switch, too, maybe that's more hardwired/BIOS-ish).

Something that the rfkill switch physically cuts is the bluetooth (disconnect from the USB bus).

 

install a non-whitelisted card and try it for yourself.   that way you are.sure.

 

Maybe the touchy wifi switch is only happening in X200/X200s models?

Has anyone found a way to fix or disable the switch completely? Through the OS?

 

I've decided that the only way to fix the problem is to give my laptop to Lenovo and have them fix the hardware. Bummer

 

Krazy Glue?