Plugging In Iphone Disables Wifi

[Clean]

First off, I hope that I am in the right place and posting with the correct format.

I have an issue.  Mainly my issue is I have WAY to much to do.  But, I have been using Linux lite for about a year now.  And the ease of use has made me quite inept at understanding Linux.  I really do not know how to navigate directories and understand much of the Linux structure.  But, I still do not want to abandon Linux if I do not have to. 

Tonight, I plugged my iPhone into my Linux lite Dell Inspiron 1525 in order to try and upload some picture off of it for work.
I shouldn't have done this.  It was stupid as could be.  I am my family computer person, and I cannot tell you how often the Wi-Fi of an older model laptop/desktop goes down from plugging in an iPhone. 
This is a very common problem for me, as my mother constantly plugs in her iPhone to her HP laptop (the 3rd one now) and then whatya know the Wi-Fi stops working.  It happens with older desktops as well, but I just plug those in to ethernet. 

I do not think this is a coincidence.  It is far to common for this to be the case. 
My question is, is there a restore point on Linux lite?
Or is there a way to search and destroy whatever was done to my networking tonight after plugging in my iPhone? 
I cannot even view the networks, which is new to me, as I am usually able to view the Wi-Fi networks in my area but I am not able to connect.
This time they do not even come up.

If there is no solution, I will probably just abandon Linux, as I do not have the time.  I do not want to do this, but my life is too stressful to have to deal with Apple screwing over my devices constantly.
Please help.  I am all ears.  Whatever information you need I will get.
I must remind you, you will have to speak to me as a small child.  I have used windows most of my life and will need direction on how to go about commands in the terminal.

Thanks in advance.

[JanetBiggar]

So I may not be much help here as this situation has not occurred with me despite using LL 3.8 and 5.0 with more than 2 dozen old and even older laptops.
However, my suggestion until,someone more knowledgeable replies, is what about picking up a WiFi USB?

I have resorted to using these on occasion when the WiFi stops working on some of my student placed laptops. The majority are plug and play, just make sure they are linux compatible, and they are very reasonable cost wise. I haven’t bought one recently, but in Canada they are probably between $10-15 Canadian so converted to USD they might be free (lol  :011

[stevef]

My question is, is there a restore point on Linux lite?

Yes, the restore point tool is called 'System Restore Utility' and uses a program called Timeshift.
Found under Menu-> System->
However it only runs on demand (not automatically) so unless you have run it fairly recently it won't help here.

Do you have a network icon in the taskbar (lower right) near the date/time and speaker icon ?

This may look like a bar graph or two shapes representing a plug/socket on a diagonal.
I'm guessing this is where you are looking when you report seeing no Wi-Fi networks.

Does right clicking on it show both Enable Networking and Enable Wi-Fi ticked ?  If not enable both and try again.

If that doesn't help try

Menu-> Settings-> Advanced Network Configuration

Is there a Wi-Fi connection listed ?  If so let us know the details.

If neither of the above help, open a terminal session by pressing the three keys 'Ctrl' 'Alt' and 't' at the same time.  Maximise the resulting window and type

Code:

sudo lshw -class network

at the prompt followed by return and your password when asked.  Use the mouse to select and copy the result and post it back here using another machine if necessary.

[trinidad]

I cannot tell you how often the Wi-Fi of an older model laptop/desktop goes down from plugging in an iPhone

Yeah it's a bad network manager in the phone which has been forced on Apple users via itunes and some other apps. It actually changes settings because it uses USB root on the phone connection. First off from now on connect with bluetooth instead of plugging in and/or shut off the phone while it's plugged in to the computer before unplugging it.

Unplug the phone and shut down your LL computer. Start it again and see if the netwrok manager returns. If not open a terminal and run the following code.

Code:

sudo iwconfig

If your wifi interface (probably something like wlx... and a bunch of numbers) is not listed as managed run the codes below in order.

Code:

sudo ifconfig yourinterfacename down

Code:

sudo iwconfig yourinterfacename mode managed

Code:

sudo ifconfig yourinterfacename up

Not a Linux Lite error. Just a little joyful piece of Apple spyware.

TC

[Clean]

@ stevef Thank you for the reply!!!

Yes, the restore point tool is called 'System Restore Utility' and uses a program called Timeshift.
Found under Menu-> System->
However it only runs on demand (not automatically) so unless you have run it fairly recently it won't help here.

Evidently I do not have enough SSD space to run this program and have not run it manually so I doubt I even have a usable restore point.  Something I should probably maintain in the future once I reformat my OS.

I do have a wifi symbol at the bottom right-hand side of the screen.  It looks like a monitor but has an "x" indicating no network.
I am unable to turn on wifi via network manager, it is grayed out and not selectable.  Enable networking box is selected.
My version of LL does not have "Advanced Network Configuration."  It does have network manager, which just shows the WiFi newtworks I've been previously connected to and a bit of their information.  It does not show available networks, nor does it show my neighbors' wifi, which is always listed.

Code:

sudo lshw -class network

at the prompt followed by return and your password when asked.  Use the mouse to select and copy the result and post it back here using another machine if necessary.

Entering that code into the terminal results in:

Code:

*-network                 
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: 88E8040 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller
       vendor: Marvell Technology Group Ltd.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:09:00.0
       logical name: enp9s0
       version: 12
       serial: 00:1d:09:52:23:85
       capacity: 100Mbit/s
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=sky2 driverversion=1.30 latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=twisted pair
       resources: irq:24 memory:fe8fc000-fe8fffff ioport:de00(size=256)
  *-network DISABLED
       description: Wireless interface
       product: BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY
       vendor: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:0b:00.0
       logical name: wlan0
       version: 01
       serial: 00:1f:e1:1b:8c:82
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=b43 driverversion=4.15.0-176-generic firmware=666.2 latency=0 link=no multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11
       resources: irq:17 memory:fe7fc000-fe7fffff

I did have to copy and paste to another machine I did my best to keep the layout as it was in the terminal.

Let me know if you see anything from that.  It shows my Wi-Fi network has been disabled. 

[Clean]

[member=5916]trinidad[/member] Thank you for the reply!!!

I appreciate the Bluetooth advice.  I will definitely try and implement that in the future.

Here are the results of your terminal queries:

Code:

sudo iwconfig

lo        no wireless extensions.

enp9s0    no wireless extensions.

wlan0    IEEE 802.11  ESSID:off/any 
          Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated  Tx-Power=off 
          Retry short limit:7  RTS thr:off  Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
         

Code:

sudo ifconfig wlan0 IEEE 802.11 down

IEEE: Host name lookup failure
ifconfig: `--help' gives usage information.

Code:

sudo ifconfig wlan0 down
sudo iwconfig wlan0 mode managed
sudo ifconfig wlan0 up

SIOCSIFFLAGS: Operation not possible due to RF-kill

As you can see I entered it wrong the first time.  But I do believe that it was entered in correctly the second time, using "wlan0."
If I did not enter it correctly let me know.

"operation not possible due to RF-kill?"  So are you saying that hooking up my iphone installed RF-Kill on my LL laptop?
Is RF-Kill an installed application on Ubuntu based Linux distros?
If it's Apple that's pretty screwy if you ask me.  I have used this program for something in the past.  But it has been years ago.

What are my options here? 
 

[Clean]

So I may not be much help here as this situation has not occurred with me despite using LL 3.8 and 5.0 with more than 2 dozen old and even older laptops.
However, my suggestion until,someone more knowledgeable replies, is what about picking up a WiFi USB?

I have resorted to using these on occasion when the WiFi stops working on some of my student placed laptops. The majority are plug and play, just make sure they are linux compatible, and they are very reasonable cost wise. I haven’t bought one recently, but in Canada they are probably between $10-15 Canadian so converted to USD they might be free (lol  :011

I have tried Wi-Fi USB in the past and it doesn't seem to fix the issue.  If it does its only temporary.  When I worked at a machine shop the CNC machines ran on really old computers and were very basic.  Every time someone plugged in their phone the Wi-Fi magically went away.  Management loved it!  It kept people offline while working.  But eventually we would find times where we actually needed them to connect to the network, and we tried the USB adapters, sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. 

Thanks for the reply!  I appreciate it!
:045:   

[Clean]

So I had 30 whole extra minutes before bed..

So, I took some initiative.  I think I have confirmed that RF-Kill is a Linux program.

Code:

sudo rfkill list

        0:  ph0:  Wireless LAN
                    Soft blocked: no
                    Hard blocked: yes

Well, what I was reading showed "softblock."  But I wanted to try it anyway.

Code:

sudo rfkill unblock all wifi
rfkill list

0:  ph0:  Wireless LAN
                    Soft blocked: no
                    Hard blocked: yes

Trying that didn't get me anywhere.  So I am assuming that "softblock" refers to a software block of Wi-Fi and "hardblock" refers to a hardware block of Wi-Fi.

In assuming this, should my next step be to remove and re-install the kernel for my BCM4312 adapter?

[trinidad]

You can try reintsalling the firmware for the brcm adapter then rebooting. The Linux kernel is not the problem. The wifi is blocked by an on/off mechanical switch.The problem is the Dell BIOS which are accessible to the Apple Iphone and the laptop era Vista/XP. Check the BIOS to make sure the hardware WIFI switch is enabled, and by the way first try turning it off and on again. Also change the boot order if USB is listed ahead of main disk and/or disallow booting or flashing from USB.

TC 

[Clean]

@ trinidad Thanks!

So I went into the bios to check if the WiFi adapter was enabled and to see if there were settings for the switch.

I disabled the WiFi adapter rebooted and then enabled the adapter and rebooted.  This didn't help.
I then disabled the WiFi adapter and there is a setting where i can select "none" for the wireless switch.  This setting essentially ignores the switch.  I rebooted and still nothing. 
Still blocked by rfkill.

Next I enabled my wireless device and ignored the wireless switch.  Nothing, still blocked. :banghead

So, I removed rfkill.

Code:

sudo apt-get purge rfkill
sudo apt-get purge --auto-remove rfkill

Both commands removed something.  So then I rebooted.  Upon reboot I went back in to the Bios, I made sure to have enabled wireless adapter and I left the wireless switch setting set to "none" which essentially ignores the switch. 

I now have WiFi access back on my laptop.
So you are correct!  :045: :bow It is in fact the switch causing the issue. 

Is there a way to go about fixing this?  I would prefer the switch worked properly and I would also prefer rfkill to be re-installed as I understand Linux uses it as a kill-swtich when needed.

So I have re-installed rfkill

Code:

sudo apt-get install rfkill
rfkill list

0: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no

So now I am no longer blocked and have access to the internet. 
But my switch is basically ignored/disabled. 
Is there a way to fix this?