I have an HP 520 and is running the latest Ubuntu 11.10. The hardware works fine with Ubuntu with one exception: The device has a hardware switch for turning the wifi on and off. Every time the wi-fi is disabled through the hardware switch, I am unable to bring it on again. The message on the networking popup would be device not ready.

What I am looking for is a way to disable the hardware switch altogether so that when users accidentally press the button, the wifi would not be disabled.

• There is no setting to disable the switch in the BIOS.

Hardware info from lspci -nn:

00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GME Express Memory Controller Hub [8086:27ac] (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GME Express Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:27ae] (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller [0380]: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:27a6] (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family High Definition Audio Controller [8086:27d8] (rev 01)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 1 [8086:27d0] (rev 01)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 2 [8086:27d2] (rev 01)
00:1d.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #1 [8086:27c8] (rev 01)
00:1d.7 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB2 EHCI Controller [8086:27cc] (rev 01)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge [8086:2448] (rev e1)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge [8086:27b9] (rev 01)
00:1f.2 IDE interface [0101]: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) SATA IDE Controller [8086:27c4] (rev 01)
02:06.0 CardBus bridge [0607]: ENE Technology Inc CB1410 Cardbus Controller [1524:1410] (rev 01)
02:08.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Intel Corporation 82562ET/EZ/GT/GZ - PRO/100 VE (LOM) Ethernet Controller Mobile [8086:1068] (rev 01)
10:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] Network Connection [8086:4222] (rev 02)

The output from lsmod | grep iwl:

iwl3945                73329  0 
iwl_legacy             71499  1 iwl3945
mac80211              272785  2 iwl3945,iwl_legacy
cfg80211              172392  3 iwl3945,iwl_legacy,mac80211