WiFi Working but Soft-blocked

Support and Help
1

Ubuntu Version: Ubuntu 24.10

Desktop Environment: GNOME

Problem Description:
I recently installed Ubuntu 24.10 on my Asus Vivobook S14 and while the WiFi is connected (and I’m able to access the internet) the GUI Network Manager and the WiFi panel of Settings shows my WiFi as off. I have a suspicion that this is due to rfkill showing my wifi as soft blocked

❯ rfkill list wifi
1: asus-wlan: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: yes
	Hard blocked: no
3: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no

I would appreciate some help to understand

  1. Why the WiFi information in the GUI doesn’t reflect that I am indeed connected to the WiFi
  2. How to remove the soft block on my WiFi shown by rfkill

Relevant System Information:

Screenshots or Error Messages:

Result of ./wireless-info: https://termbin.com/pwse

Wi-Fi Settings

image
image977×637 53.1 KB

What I’ve Tried:

  1. rfkill unblock all and rfkill unblock wifi: Nothing happens, WiFi is still soft blocked
  2. Disabled Fast Boot in the Windows partition: Didn’t change anything
2

It looks to me, from the image of the WiFi settings, that WiFi is turned off.
Click on the Wi-Fi button or slide, the Wi-Fi button to the right to turn it on. I think this is the “soft blocked” mentioned in the rfkill list wifi

Cheers
Pete

3

Sorry, I should have been more clear. The WiFi is in a liminal state where it is both off (according to the main settings) and on (since I can access the internet via the WiFi). When I click the WiFi button/slide it toggles to on for a moment before going back to the original off state. Shouldn’t rfkill unblock wifi for a soft block do the exact same thing as clicking the Wi-Fi button/slide?

Additionally, when viewing the WiFi settings via the corner menu, it shows the WiFi as off but also connected.

image

5

In all reality, the rfkill unblock all should do it unless something isn’t right in the asus_nb_wmi module

1 Like
6

Woah, that fixed it!

I disabled the asus-nb-wmi module with

$ sudo echo "blacklist asus-nb-wmi"  >>  /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf 
$ sudo modprobe -r asus-nb-wmi

and now the WiFi shows as enabled both in the GUI and unblocked via rfkill

rfkill list wifi
3: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no

Thank you Jeremy31!

1 Like