Disabling Wi-Fi automatically enables Airplane Mode and affects Bluetooth

General Help
1

Hello,

I have a Lenovo G50 laptop running Zorin OS 18.

I am experiencing a strange issue with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Airplane Mode.

Problem:

When I disable Wi-Fi from the Quick Settings menu, Airplane Mode turns on automatically. When I disable Airplane Mode, Bluetooth turns on automatically. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Airplane Mode seem to be linked together incorrectly.

What I have already checked:

rfkill shows no soft or hard blocks. Bluetooth service is running correctly. NetworkManager is working. The issue also occurs with a newly created user account. Wi-Fi card: Intel Dual Band Wireless AC 3160. Driver in use: iwlwifi. Zorin OS is fully updated.

Additional information: Using terminal commands such as: nmcli radio wifi off works correctly and disables Wi-Fi normally.

The issue appears to affect only the graphical Quick Settings interface.

Has anyone experienced this issue before or knows how to fix it?

Thank you.

20260609_171527_2_2_2_2_2_2

2

Welcome to the Forum!

When You enable/disable it in the Settings (I mean the Settings Program not the Quick Settings) does it behave normally too?

3

The issue happens both in Quick Settings and in the Settings application.

When I disable Wi-Fi from either Quick Settings or Settings, Airplane Mode is automatically enabled.

However, using:

nmcli radio wifi off

works correctly and only disables Wi-Fi without triggering the same behavior.

The issue also occurs in a plain GNOME session and with a new user account.

4

Since nmcli and the Settings app work normally, I would treat this as a Quick Settings / GNOME Shell path first, not an iwlwifi problem. One quick check: run rfkill event in a terminal, then toggle Wi-Fi from Quick Settings and see whether it emits both wlan and bluetooth events, or only the UI state changes. Also try logging into a plain GNOME session if it is available; if it only happens in the Zorin session, it is probably a shell/extension bug worth reporting with that rfkill output.

6

The issue happens both in Quick Settings and in the Settings application.

When I disable Wi-Fi from either Quick Settings or Settings, Airplane Mode is automatically enabled.

However, using:

nmcli radio wifi off

works correctly and only disables Wi-Fi without triggering the same behavior.

The issue also occurs in a plain GNOME session and with a new user account

7

Perhaps this gnome extension can help you:

Try to turn off there in the extension settings

When disabling Wi-Fi enable airplane mode

To install the gnome-extension, first install the gnome-shell-extension-manager

sudo apt install gnome-shell-extension-manager

then open it, go to tab "browse" and search for the extension. Click on the cogwheal of the extension to make your settings afterwards (at tab "installed").

8

Do You have for Bluetooth a seperate built-in Card or is it included in Your Wifi Card?

9

Thank you, the problem is solved!!

1 Like