wireless won't work on Ubuntu 11.04

If the wifi card hard blocked you can change by pressing your laptop's WiFi button
or if it is soft block you can override by using rfkill command

rfkill list

rfkill unblock all

http://askubuntu.com/questions/9816/wireless-shows-up-as-disabled-how-can-i-get-it-working

Hi,

Please first connect your wired network adapter to the wireless router using an ethernet cable (also known as a LAN cable).

In order to gather essential troubleshooting information about your wireless card, please follow this procedure:

Step 1:

If you are using the Gnome interface, open the Terminal console via "Applications->Accessories->Terminal"

If you are using the Unity interface, the easiest way to open the Terminal is to use the 'search' function on the dash. Or you can click on the 'More Apps' button, click on the 'See more results' by the installed section, and find it in that list of applications. A third way, available after you click on the 'More Apps' button, is to go to the search bar, and see that the far right end of it says 'All Applications'. You then click on that, and you'll see the full list. Then you can go to Accessories > Terminal after that.

So the methods in Unity are:
Dash > Search for Terminal
Dash > More Apps > 'See More Results' > Terminal
Dash > More Apps > Accessories > Terminal

Step 2: Please copy-paste the following command from https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WirelessTroubleshootingProcedure in Firefox into the Linux Terminal. Do NOT copy-paste from the Email message into the Terminal, as that will only copy PART of the command. The command STARTS with the word sudo and ENDS with the word lsmod. So please copy-paste the ENTIRE command below from Firefox into a Terminal, press <enter>, then enter password when sudo asks for password, then press enter again.

Tip: If you have a wheel mouse or 3 button mouse you do not need to type commands into the Terminal. Highlight the command written on the page. Move your cursor anywhere in the Terminal and press the wheel or middle button. Automatic Copy and paste! No spelling mistakes! No Typos! No other errors!

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install hwinfo grep; sudo lshw -C network; rfkill list; sudo iwlist scanning; cat /etc/network/interfaces; cat /etc/lsb-release; lspci -nn; lsusb; sudo lshw -short; uname -a; dmesg | egrep 'acx|at76|ath|b43|bcm|brcm|CX|eth|ipw|ireless|irmware|isl|lbtf|orinoco|ndiswrapper|NPE|ound|p54|prism|rtl|rt2|rt3|rt5|rt6|rt7|usb|witch|wl';sudo dmidecode|egrep 'anufact|roduct|erial|elease'; iwconfig; cat /etc/modprobe.d/* | egrep 'acx|at76|ath|b43|bcm|brcm|CX|eth|ipw|irmware|isl|lbtf|orinoco|ndiswrapper|NPE|p54|prism|rtl|rt2|rt3|rt6|rt7|wmi|witch|wl'; cat /var/lib/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.state; sudo hwinfo --netcard ; ps -aux|egrep 'icd|etwork'; sudo lsmod

Step 3: Please post results (copy/paste terminal output) on this thread. The troubleshooters here need to see the full Terminal output from running the above command.

Step 4: Please also specify the exact model and make of your PC (if known) on this thread

Regards,

Mark

Thanks Eliah Kagan, that solved my question.