Comment 14 for bug 421095

Problem seems to be that since a recent update (approx 12/4/2009, guessing 2.6.31-16 kernel or modules), b43 driver initialized in "disabled" state rather than state at shutdown. I found a workaround: I'm able to "enable wifi" on my Dell Inspiron 1501 laptop via <Fn-F2> key once booted and then I get wifi as normal. Main problem here seems to be that the b42s always initializing in "disabled" state rather than "active" or prior state at shutdown. This previously worked fine in Jaunty and Karmic until applying a small batch of recent updates that included kernel 2.6.31-16.

Interesting was that falling back to an older kernel did not fix, at least not immediately, so maybe the problem is that "active" state is not being saved (so regardless of kerel booted, starts as inactive)? Need to try boot in older kernel, activate, shutdown, reboot in same old kernel to see if this theory is holds true.