Linux Mint & Dell Inspiron 17 7000 Series: Wifi Turned OFF

Question

I can not turn on wifi in my dell laptop. The software wireless switch is off and I can not turn it on. As soon as you try to flick it to ON it moves back to OFF.

I have just installed Linux Mint from scratch in it. The wifi used to work originally weeks weeks ago but I borrowed the laptop to other person and it does not work now. the laptop used to have windows system installed. So, when I opened windows it had the same problem: wifi turned off and airplane mode on.

So, i decided to wipe all of and install linux in it to see if the problem is caused by windows and it is not ...

i tried:

rfkill unblock wifi
rfkill list all

rkill list all returns:

0: dell-rbtn: Wireless LAN
              Soft blocked: yes
              Hard blockeD: yes
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
         Soft blocked: no
         Hard blocked: no
2: hci0: Bluetooth
         Soft blocked: no
         Hard blocked: no

I have tried rfkill unblock all It does not help ..

I have tried as well Fn + Antenna button next to PrtScr and it does not work. I have tried antenna button on its own and it does not help...

there is no hardware wifi switch ...

Answer 1

Your wireless card might be disabled in your BIOS.

To enter your BIOS, when the Dell logo appears tap F2 key until the message Entering Setup appears.

Look for : Power Management-> Wireless Radio control-> Control WLAN Radio or something along those lines, and make sure it is always on.