Windows 10 to the rescue

[mbohets]

Yesterday, suddenly I no longer had network connectivity on KDE Neon.
I tried to push the button to activate/deactivate wifi, but no luck.
I connected a LAN cable, but no connectivity either
I checked on my cell phone, and had wifi-internet connectivity --> router worked
I tried to restart the network service, and got an error msg telling me that there was no network service
2 Reboots: no luck, so I started to worry that it was a hardware failure.

The laptop is dual boot Neon - W10, so I started W10 to check if networking worked there, and it worked.
Reboot and start Neon again, and my network access worked again.

So apparently Windows did some magic to my box.
I only use W10 about once or twice a year, and was thinking of wiping it, but I'll leave it for magical cases like this.
--> If in the future I buy a PC, I will not buy a linux only box (they also seem to cost more),
but instead buy a windows box, and make an additional install of Linux.

Any ideas on what could have caused this event, and why simply starting/stopping W10 solved it ?

[oshunluvr]

Well, wifi cards can be turned off with software so they are sort of "locked" off - "rfkill" is the linux program that turns them off/on, and windows might have re-activated that automatically. Ethernet NICs can be configured off, but they don't usually stay off if you activate them. Seems like an odd event.

Since you really did no evidence gathering or hardware level troubleshooting (at least not in evidence in your post), it's hard to say what the real cause was. You don't say if it's a laptop or desktop PC but it's remotely possible a card came loose enough to cause shenanigans then reconnected - but that's a stretch.

If it happens again, do some real Linux sleuthing and get ifconfig, rfkill, and a few other network outputs to look at. It is sort of a curious event and it would be good to run it down, if for no other reason than so you'll know the cause and the cure.

As far as buying Windows vs. Linux machines, you're right Linux branded usually costs more. This is because Microsoft subsidizes the actual cost of a PC by kicking back to the PC makers. Then they make their money back when you buy Anti-Virus, MSOffice, Adobe crapware , and other Windows "needs". They don't even include DVD burning software.

Personally, I buy hardware, period. If the machine will run Linux I don't care what's on it when I buy it because I'm taking that virus-ridden, over-laden-with-"helpful"-garbage, advertisement-driven, piece-of-s$!+ Windows operating system off of it as soon as it's in my hands. I work in fairly high-tech IT and no one in our shop views Windows as anything but a burden. Unreliable, easily breakable, secretly stealing your information and you can keep it. When we have to use it, we strip it bare and lock it down - it's called "session zero". That way it can't wreak any havoc.

Buying a Linux machine at a premium is a way to support the FOSS effort. I do so by buying Linux software and donating to worthy projects and participating like I do here. If I buy a laptop (I build my desktop PCs so no OS decision involved there) I look at the specs and my needs. If a suitable Linux machine (Dell is selling them again, btw) is available , I'll pay the extra $$ to support the effort. However, I'm not so spiteful that I pay more for lesser hardware. I suspect I spend as much or more on donations than I would if I rode the Microsith train-to-hell.

Hmmm, on re-read of the above I guess my feelings about Windows are clear

[oshunluvr]

I will say that in the case of a new laptop, I often don't totally wipe windows. More often than not, warranty service requires it. In that case I will shrink the windows partition to minimum (or remove and replace the drive). Once the warranty expires, then I erase it.

[mbohets]

I feel the same about windows, but in this rare case it saved my day.
But perhaps booting of a Linux USB stick would have had the same effect.

I occasionally help friends and family with drawing electrical schematics when they change some things in their electric installation.
To make these drawings I use a drawing program that easily allows me to draw schematics according to Belgian law, and it does not run on Linux (not via wine either)
So when I start Windows once a year, I always need to wait for several hours and a few reboots until it finishes upgrading itself.
Upgrading itself in one go is something that Microsoft still not nailed down, it remains a real pain.

Usually when I have a problem, I quickly find a solution by googling the error msg, but in this case I had no internet access until I powered up Windows.
And as it is the first time I encounter network problems, I did not remember commands like rfkill, so I'll try to remember them in case it happens again.
Still it is strange that both wireless and wired networking stopped working and remained down after a few reboots.

In the mean time I googled around, and found a bug report describing the same thing (wired AND wireless down).
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...r/+bug/1666432 (last 2 msgs)
My problem also started after an update.