WORKAROUND: I discovered that the acer_wmi module loads by default and I had originally blacklisted it because it added "acer wireless" as a device. In order to get this to work I had to remove it from the blacklist. Below are the steps I followed.
1. Login in (assuming acer wireless module gets loaded) and select Enable Wireless from network applet
2. Enable to wireless on the ideapad (Fn-F5)
3. Now, run sudo rmmod acer_wmi
Wifi connects immediately
Adding acer_wmi to the blacklist causes Natty to freeze on the Ubuntu loading splash screen. If you manage to get in this situation you have to get into initramfs by adding break=bottom to the kernel boot line. After you've remounted /root to make it writable you can restore the blacklist file if you backed it up. If you didn't back up the file first you'll need to run sed on the blacklist.conf and fix the line.
If Enable to wireless by using the keyboard shortcuts freezes (step 2 above) you can run: rfkill unblock wifi then continue to remove acer_wmi
Natty Desktop i386 Alpha 3
= Info before installing STA Broadcom driver =
Network Manager applet does not list any wireless network information
$ iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.
eth0 no wireless extensions.
$ rfkill list wifi
0: ideapad_wlan: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
$ lshw -C network
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: AR8131 Gigabit Ethernet
vendor: Atheros Communications
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
logical name: eth0
version: c0
serial: f0:de:f1:12:21:e9
size: 1Gbit/s
capacity: 1Gbit/s
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress vpd bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=atl1c driverversion=1.0.1.0-NAPI duplex=full firmware=N/A ip=192.168.1.139 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes port=twisted pair speed=1Gbit/s
resources: irq:41 memory:f0400000-f043ffff ioport:2000(size=128)
*-network UNCLAIMED
description: Network controller
product: BCM4313 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN Controller
vendor: Broadcom Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:04:00.0
version: 01
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress cap_list
configuration: latency=0
resources: memory:f0500000-f0503fff
$ cat /var/lib/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.state
[main]
NetworkingEnabled=true
WirelessEnabled=true
WWANEnabled=true
= Info after installing STA Broadcom driver =
Network Manager now lists Wireless Network info, but they are disabled
$ iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.
eth0 no wireless extensions.
eth1 IEEE 802.11 Access Point: Not-Associated
Link Quality:5 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
Rx invalid nwid:0 invalid crypt:0 invalid misc:0
$ rfkill list wifi
0: ideapad_wlan: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
3: brcmwl-0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: yes
$ lshw -C network
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: AR8131 Gigabit Ethernet
vendor: Atheros Communications
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
logical name: eth0
version: c0
serial: f0:de:f1:12:21:e9
size: 1Gbit/s
capacity: 1Gbit/s
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress vpd bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=atl1c driverversion=1.0.1.0-NAPI duplex=full firmware=N/A ip=192.168.1.139 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes port=twisted pair speed=1Gbit/s
resources: irq:43 memory:f0400000-f043ffff ioport:2000(size=128)
*-network
description: Wireless interface
product: BCM4313 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN Controller
vendor: Broadcom Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:04:00.0
logical name: eth1
version: 01
serial: ac:81:12:38:ba:89
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=wl0 driverversion=5.100.82.38 latency=0 multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11
resources: irq:17 memory:f0500000-f0503fff
$ cat /var/lib/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.state
[main]
NetworkingEnabled=true
WirelessEnabled=true
WWANEnabled=true
ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: linux-image-2.6.38-5-generic 2.6.38-5.32
Regression: Yes
Reproducible: Yes
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-5.32-generic 2.6.38-rc6
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-5-generic i686
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.23.
Architecture: i386
ArecordDevices:
**** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC269VB Analog [ALC269VB Analog]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
AudioDevicesInUse:
USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
/dev/snd/controlC0: patrickmw 1480 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xf0800000 irq 43'
Mixer name : 'Intel IbexPeak HDMI'
Components : 'HDA:10ec0269,17aa600a,00100100 HDA:80862804,80860101,00100000'
Controls : 17
Simple ctrls : 9
Date: Mon Mar 7 15:35:47 2011
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=f28f03d7-7aac-44dd-a082-1af00074d4b9
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Alpha i386 (20110302)
IwConfig:
lo no wireless extensions.
eth0 no wireless extensions.
MachineType: LENOVO 08945KU
ProcEnviron:
LANGUAGE=en_US:en
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-5-generic root=UUID=67063a39-77cb-40d4-a4b0-75cd44759b8a ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
linux-restricted-modules-2.6.38-5-generic N/A
linux-backports-modules-2.6.38-5-generic N/A
linux-firmware 1.48
SourcePackage: linux
StagingDrivers: brcm80211
Title: [STAGING]
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 05/10/2010
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 33CN14WW
dmi.board.asset.tag: Tag 12345
dmi.board.name: MoutCook
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: Not Applicable
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Tag
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: N/A
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvr33CN14WW:bd05/10/2010:svnLENOVO:pn08945KU:pvrLENOVOIdeapadU160:rvnLENOVO:rnMoutCook:rvrNotApplicable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrN/A:
dmi.product.name: 08945KU
dmi.product.version: LENOVO Ideapad U160
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO
= Recently I blacklisted ideapad_laptop =
$ rfkill list wifi
1: brcmwl-0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: yes
Hi Patrick,
This looks like it might be a duplicate of bug 728746 so I am marking it as such. A proposed fix is noted in that bug and a patch has been sent to the Ubuntu kernel team mailing list. If you're issue is not resolved with that fix, feel free to unmark this as a duplicate. Thanks.