New Issue with Ubuntu 25.04

Support and Help
1

I’m running Ubuntu 25.04 on a Dell Latitude PC. Previously I reported a problem with the mouse suddenly not working. Was informed that it was a common problem. The solutions mentioned worked much of the time. Still having problem but found a simple solution: I power down the mouse for about ten seconds, turn it back on and it works again. Now I have another issue I’d like to report and get some suggestions.

I set up my PC so that the Wi-Fi is turned off for security reasons and airplane mode is enabled when I log in. (Note: Wi-Fi is on when computer boots) About 10% of the time when I want to turn the Wi-Fi on to use the internet, Wi-Fi does not appear when I go to to turn airplane mode off. When I go to SETTINGS, it says there Wi-Fi is not connected. Restarting the computer almost always allows me to turn Wi-Fi back on normally.

I really want to continue logging on in airplane mode. Is there a way to connect Wi-Fi without restarting the computer.

2

Are you sure you don’t have a hardware issue with your mouse… That behavior I’ve only encountered before the mouse will soon (weeks to months) need to be replaced, ie. new mouse won’t have the issue, and using that mouse on another system causes the problem to exist on the other box.

It can also occur if the mouse is battery powered (ie. cordless), and the batteries need to be replaced, or re-charged too.

3

Try the command rfkill to check the status of your wifi hardware.

Try it once now, when everything is working properly…

$ rfkill
ID TYPE      DEVICE      SOFT      HARD
 1 wlan      phy0   unblocked unblocked

Try it again when you are having problems, and see if the output is any different. Any difference would provide valuable clues.

4

I haven’t posted anything since as updates (I install every update when a notification is sent) must have corrected problem with the mouse and the loss of the WiFi icon in the upper right pop up window that opens when I click on the airplane mode icon. Yesterday, I loaded the most recent update. Today, I was working on the internet, exited the internet and put the computer back on airplane mode. After a working a while. I needed to get back on the internet, so I clicked on the airplane mode icon and the window opened. Both WiFi and Bluetooth icons were dimmed in the window. I clicked on the airplane mode icon, it went dimmed and the WiFi and Bluetooth icons lit up, but the WiFi didn’t connect. I ran rfkill and the following appeared:
ID TYPE DEVICE SOFT HARD
1 wlan dell-wifi unblocked unblocked
2 bluetooth dell-bluetooth unblocked unblocked
3 bluetooth hci0 unblocked unblocked

(The same rfkill command yields the following when everything is working correctly:
ID TYPE DEVICE SOFT HARD
1 wlan dell-wifi unblocked unblocked
2 bluetooth dell-bluetooth unblocked unblocked
3 wlan phy0 unblocked unblocked
4 bluetooth hci0 unblocked unblocked)

So I went to settings to find out what the issue was. Neither WiFi nor Bluetooth were listed in the settings menu. Powered off and powered back on and everything was working.

5

So there seems a difference: Your wlan phy0 line dropped out.
That’s not good; the list shouldn’t change. It suggests some kind of hardware fault.

Note the time a problem occurs, and review your journal or syslog for timestamped entries around your noted time. The log entries might narrow the possibilities.

6

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