Wireless kill switch on HGL31

Hi.
I've had a GL31 for a few weeks now, and am pretty happy with it (except the fan problem reported by others).

However, I am unable to get the wireless network up. I am running linux, but I do not think the problem is the OS. The correct modules (drivers) are installed, and seems to recognize the card fine. But no matter what I do, it always reports that the kill switch is on.
I have tried the hardware kill switch in the front, but it does not matter if it is set to "on" or "off". Also, nothing happens if I press Fn-F2.
No blue light, the driver still reports the kill switch to be on, and will not enable the radio.

So is there any other way to disable the kill switch?
I will use the wireless network 99% of the time anyway, so it is not very important to me to be able to turn it off easily.

Anyone else having a similar problem? Or know enough about the hardware to give me any idea on how to enable the radio?

 

Yeah, I have the exact same hardware. I researched the acerhk kernel module, and I upgraded BIOS, but to no avail.

At this point, I have a wireless card that I can't use because of a stupid kill switched that can't be toggled

So, there seems to be only one option at this point, and that's to disable the hardware switch alltogether. There should have been a BIOS option for this, but it isn't...

Can this be done?

 

Weird... I have the same machine running Kubuntu 7.04, the 64bit version, and have never had that problem. The 3945ABG module just works. Make sure the switch is on when you're booting the computer, too.

 

Weirdness.... Have you ever had windows running on the same box? I've heard some people say that if you have it on when booting windows, it will retain that position... But I have Linux-only...

 

Yup. I dual-boot between XP and Kubuntu. See the sig. I'll see if I can remember to check it out this weekend sometime, but I don't think that's the case. I've had it off and switched it on under both OS's, and it hasn't caused me any consternation that I haven't been able to remedy.

 

Right, so that could be it... Hmmm, so say that I could manage to turn the switch and get it to work if I had a windows install. Is there anything like Knoppix or something in the Windows world that could possibly help...?

 

My HGL30 experienced similar behavior to this. It would see the wireless card, but would not enable it regardless of the kill switch position/driver version/voodoo magic/whatever. I fixed it by installing the Wireless Select Switch application in windows, and using that to toggle it on. Now it works beautifully in Linux (Ubuntu Feisty) and Windows XP.

 

Right, so like I suspected, the fix should be to get Windows running... I've tried BartPE, a cow-orker lent me his Lenovo to build it. However, it wouldn't install the Wireless Switch Application, so it didn't get me there. Any other ideas on how to get windows on it temporarily?

 

Uh, could be that there is some first off software setup. I don't have an intel card, but an atheros 108Mbps minipci-e card, and the so called kill switch doesn't do a bloody thing - it's just a toy basically, a software switch -

this is what happens with fn+f2

atkbd.c: Unknown key pressed (translated set 2, code 0x84 on isa0060/serio0).
atkbd.c: Use 'setkeycodes e004 <keycode>' to make it known.
atkbd.c: Unknown key released (translated set 2, code 0x84 on isa0060/serio0).
atkbd.c: Use 'setkeycodes e004 <keycode>' to make it known.

And this is what happens with kill switch on the bottom left front panel:

atkbd.c: Unknown key pressed (translated set 2, code 0xf1 on isa0060/serio0).
atkbd.c: Use 'setkeycodes e071 <keycode>' to make it known.
atkbd.c: Unknown key released (translated set 2, code 0xf1 on isa0060/serio0).
atkbd.c: Use 'setkeycodes e071 <keycode>' to make it known.
atkbd.c: Unknown key pressed (translated set 2, code 0xf1 on isa0060/serio0).
atkbd.c: Use 'setkeycodes e071 <keycode>' to make it known.
atkbd.c: Unknown key released (translated set 2, code 0xf1 on isa0060/serio0).
atkbd.c: Use 'setkeycodes e071 <keycode>' to make it known.

Turnet it Off then back On. Makes no difference on my atheros. Also, the wireless lamp doesn't even turn on - only for a milisecond during boot, it flashes red.

Weird?

How's the acerhk for that matter- does it sort the keys? Cheers,

//m.

 

Maybe someone can help me regarding this matter that has risen recently probably due to my long uses of this laptop.
The wireless will connect and work wonderfully for 2 hours or so and then it will drop the connection and not reconnect. If i try having it reconnect it says that a connection can not be established bc of a switch possibly turning it off. The hardware switch is on and the compal software switch is installed and enabled.

When this happens the only solution is to restart the system in which it works for a while followed by the same things happening if its on for a long time.

pete