[SOLVED] How to enable the wireless card from command line

[spirit.986]

Hi to all,

This is my first forum post, long time Linux user, Ubuntu and Centos veteran, new to Linux Mint.
I always wanted to try this distro and I finally found some time to do that on my old laptop ASYS M51va.

Upon booting from USB stick the wireless card (Atheros AR928X) was working perfectly, as well as everything else. At the supported wireless controllers database it is stated that this card is working perfectly. Before this, there was Kali Linux installed on my system, and everything was working fine.

After installation of Mint I noticed that no wireless networks are shown. Upon further research I found out that often the wifi proprietary drivers are not installed. However that was not the case for me, the Driver Manager window was empty. I tried to aptitude update && aptitude upgrade my system, but there was no changes.

After some research (it has been two days by now) I finally found out that the card is installed, but it has been disabled. Fn+F2 should enable the card, but for some reason it does not work. If I press Fn+F1 (sleep) the system goes to sleep, which indicates that the Fn key is working. I also checked the hard wifi switch on my laptop (yes there is another switch to enable/disable the wireless card), but still no change.

Is there any other way to enable the wireless adapter to start searching for networks?

Bellow there is additional output from my system:

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spirit@Mercury ~ $ uname -a
Linux Mercury 3.16.0-41-generic #57~14.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Thu Jun 18 18:01:13 UTC 2015 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
spirit@Mercury ~ $ 
spirit@Mercury ~ $
spirit@Mercury ~ $
spirit@Mercury ~ $
spirit@Mercury ~ $
spirit@Mercury ~ $ inxi -Fx
System:    Host: Mercury Kernel: 3.16.0-41-generic x86_64 (64 bit, gcc: 4.8.2) 
           Desktop: MATE 1.10.0  Distro: Linux Mint 17.2 Rafaela
Machine:   Mobo: ASUSTeK model: M51Va version: 1.0 Bios: American Megatrends version: 210.000 date: 09/04/2008
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core2 Duo CPU T5800 (-MCP-) cache: 2048 KB flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 ssse3) bmips: 7979.94 
           Clock Speeds: 1: 800.00 MHz 2: 2000.00 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] RV635/M86 [Mobility Radeon HD 3650] bus-ID: 01:00.0 
           X.Org: 1.15.1 drivers: ati,radeon (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1280x800@60.0hz 
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on AMD RV635 GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 10.1.3 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] RV635 HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 3600 Series] bus-ID: 01:00.1 
           Card-2: Intel 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller bus-ID: 00:1b.0 
Network:   Card-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller driver: r8169 port: e800 bus-ID: 07:00.0
           IF: eth0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: 00:23:54:81:12:8d
           Card-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR928X Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) bus-ID: 06:00.0
           IF: N/A state: N/A mac: N/A
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 320.1GB (1.7% used) 1: id: /dev/sda model: ST9320320AS size: 320.1GB temp: 34C 
Partition: ID: / size: 30G used: 4.8G (17%) fs: ext4 ID: /boot size: 464M used: 124M (29%) fs: ext4 
           ID: /home size: 113G used: 153M (1%) fs: ext4 ID: /tmp size: 2.8G used: 4.4M (1%) fs: ext4 
           ID: swap-1 size: 6.14GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap 
RAID:      No RAID devices detected - /proc/mdstat and md_mod kernel raid module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 55.0C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A 
Info:      Processes: 155 Uptime: 8 min Memory: 454.3/3009.2MB Runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.8.4 
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.11) inxi: 1.9.17 
spirit@Mercury ~ $ 
spirit@Mercury ~ $
spirit@Mercury ~ $
spirit@Mercury ~ $
spirit@Mercury ~ $
spirit@Mercury ~ $ sudo lshw -class network
  *-network UNCLAIMED     
       description: Network controller
       product: AR928X Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express)
       vendor: Qualcomm Atheros
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:06:00.0
       version: 01
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix bus_master cap_list
       configuration: latency=0
       resources: memory:fe9f0000-fe9fffff
  *-network
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
       vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:07:00.0
       logical name: eth0
       version: 02
       serial: 00:23:54:81:12:8d
       size: 100Mbit/s
       capacity: 1Gbit/s
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix vpd bus_master cap_list rom ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=2.3LK-NAPI duplex=full ip=192.168.1.111 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes port=MII speed=100Mbit/s
       resources: irq:46 ioport:e800(size=256) memory:fcfff000-fcffffff memory:fcfe0000-fcfeffff memory:feaf0000-feafffff
spirit@Mercury ~ $ 

Also I stumbled upon some posts where people are having similar problems, but after Fn+F1(sleep) the Fn+F2(wifi) is working. That is not the case here, I also tried that option.

[Hoser Rob]

How about this?

http://askubuntu.com/questions/452826/w ... untu-14-04

I'm actually an ex ubuntu user at the moment but I still use ubuntuforums and askubuntu all the time.

[spirit.986]

How about this?
http://askubuntu.com/questions/452826/w ... untu-14-04
I'm actually an ex ubuntu user at the moment but I still use ubuntuforums and askubuntu all the time.

Hello Hoser Rob,

This just happened:

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spirit@Mercury ~ $ nmcli nm
RUNNING         STATE           WIFI-HARDWARE   WIFI       WWAN-HARDWARE   WWAN      
running         connected       enabled         enabled    enabled         disabled  
spirit@Mercury ~ $ sudo nmcli nm sleep false
[sudo] password for spirit: 
Error in sleep: Already awake
spirit@Mercury ~ $ 
spirit@Mercury ~ $ 
spirit@Mercury ~ $ sudo nmcli nm sleep true
spirit@Mercury ~ $ 
spirit@Mercury ~ $ 
spirit@Mercury ~ $ sudo nmcli nm sleep false
spirit@Mercury ~ $ 
spirit@Mercury ~ $ 
spirit@Mercury ~ $ nmcli nm
RUNNING         STATE           WIFI-HARDWARE   WIFI       WWAN-HARDWARE   WWAN      
running         connected       enabled         enabled    enabled         enabled   
spirit@Mercury ~ $ 

As you can see, after issuing disable/enable with nmcli, the WWAN shows state enabled, but I still cannot see any wireless networks.

Here's some additional output from my laptop:

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spirit@Mercury ~ $ lspci | grep -i wireless
06:00.0 Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros AR928X Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)
spirit@Mercury ~ $ 
spirit@Mercury ~ $ 
spirit@Mercury ~ $ 
spirit@Mercury ~ $ iwconfig
eth0      no wireless extensions.

lo        no wireless extensions.

[JeremyB]

Post the result of

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lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 net

[spirit.986]

Post the result of:
lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 net

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spirit@Mercury ~ $ lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 net
06:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Qualcomm Atheros AR928X Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) [168c:002a] (rev 01)
	Subsystem: AzureWave AW-NE771 802.11bgn Wireless Mini PCIe Card [AR9281] [1a3b:1067]
07:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller [10ec:8168] (rev 02)
	Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. U6V/U31J laptop [1043:16d5]
	Kernel driver in use: r8169

[JeremyB]

Try

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sudo modprobe -v ath9k

Report any errors and see if wifi works, if wifi doesn't work post

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modprobe -c | grep -i 002a | grep ath9k

[spirit.986]

Yes, I already tried to insert atheros module. Here's the output again, it returns error even with the -f flag.

Another thing is, I don't know what modprobe -c | grep -i 002a | grep ath9k should do, but it returns no output,

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spirit@Mercury ~ $ sudo modprobe -v ath9k
modprobe: ERROR: ../libkmod/libkmod.c:556 kmod_search_moddep() could not open moddep file '/lib/modules/3.16.0-41-generic/modules.dep.bin'
spirit@Mercury ~ $ sudo modprobe -vf ath9k
modprobe: ERROR: ../libkmod/libkmod.c:556 kmod_search_moddep() could not open moddep file '/lib/modules/3.16.0-41-generic/modules.dep.bin'
spirit@Mercury ~ $ sudo modprobe -v ath
modprobe: ERROR: ../libkmod/libkmod.c:556 kmod_search_moddep() could not open moddep file '/lib/modules/3.16.0-41-generic/modules.dep.bin'
spirit@Mercury ~ $ sudo modprobe -vf ath
modprobe: ERROR: ../libkmod/libkmod.c:556 kmod_search_moddep() could not open moddep file '/lib/modules/3.16.0-41-generic/modules.dep.bin'
spirit@Mercury ~ $ 
spirit@Mercury ~ $ 
spirit@Mercury ~ $ 
spirit@Mercury ~ $ modprobe -c | grep -i 002a | grep ath9k
spirit@Mercury ~ $ 
spirit@Mercury ~ $ 
spirit@Mercury ~ $ man modprobe
spirit@Mercury ~ $ 
spirit@Mercury ~ $ modprobe -cv | grep -i 002a | grep ath9k
spirit@Mercury ~ $ 

Bellow is output from all of the loaded modules:

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spirit@Mercury ~ $ lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
btrfs                 899463  0 
xor                    21411  1 btrfs
raid6_pq               97812  1 btrfs
hid_generic            12559  0 
usbhid                 52616  0 
hid                   110426  2 hid_generic,usbhid
mmc_block              36096  0 
psmouse               106722  0 
ahci                   34062  5 
libahci                32424  1 ahci
firewire_ohci          40551  0 
firewire_core          68769  1 firewire_ohci
crc_itu_t              12707  1 firewire_core
radeon               1412941  2 
sdhci_pci              23301  0 
sdhci                  43685  1 sdhci_pci
r8169                  71694  0 
mii                    13934  1 r8169
i2c_algo_bit           13413  1 radeon
ttm                    93588  1 radeon
video                  20128  0 
drm_kms_helper         61574  1 radeon
drm                   311018  5 ttm,drm_kms_helper,radeon

[JeremyB]

Use the Linux Mint Update Manager through View/Linux kernels to install the newest 3.16.0 kernel and reboot..the latest is 3.16.0-43 as far as I know

[spirit.986]

I just installed the 3.19.0-22 kernel and now it works.
The Fn+F2 (wifi) key is also working so I am able to enable/disable the wireless on demand.

I wonder why everything was working prior installation when I booted the Mint from the USB stick, and after installation was not working. Shouldn't that be the same kernel?

Thanks for the support.

----
EDIT: How can I mark this as SOLVED?
EDIT2: Never mind, I edited the subject