(16.04) XPS Quallcomm Atheros not working after soft-block, now UNCLAIMED

[caranha]

EDIT: The problem was that linux-modules-extra was not correctly installed for my kernel version.
Rebooting to an older kernel version and re-installing the correct linux-modules-extra did the trick.

Thank you kc1di and Jeremy31!

================================================== ===========

Dell XPS, Ubuntu 16.04, wifi is Quallcomm Atheros QCA6174, has been working for over one year.
Today I pressed the fn-key for stopping wifi (fn-prtscr), and after that wifi and bluetooth completely disappeared from
the system, even after reboot.

At first I suspected hardware failure, but booting on a 16.04 USB disk wifi/bluetooth works normally (and I can even use
the soft block to block/unblock the wifi).

Here is the wireless info output (removed personal info about local networks), and information from lshw after that.

Also, I have tried connecting and external USB wifi (buffallo) as a workaround (I really need networking on this computer),
but the computer did not recognize it.

I hope someone out there can give me a hint!

########## wireless info START ##########


Report from: 10 Aug 2018 21:22 JST +0900


Booted last: 10 Aug 2018 00:00 JST +0900


Script from: 10 Jan 2018 20:04 UTC +0000


##### release ###########################


Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 16.04.4 LTS
Release: 16.04
Codename: xenial


##### kernel ############################


Linux 4.15.0-29-generic #31~16.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Wed Jul 18 08:54:04 UTC 2018 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux


Parameters: ro, quiet, splash, vt.handoff=7


##### desktop ###########################


Plasma


##### lspci #############################


3a:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Qualcomm Atheros QCA6174 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [168c:003e] (rev 32)
Subsystem: Bigfoot Networks, Inc. QCA6174 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [1a56:1535]


3b:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS525A PCI Express Card Reader [10ec:525a] (rev 01)


##### lsusb #############################


Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0bda:568b Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0cf3:e300 Atheros Communications, Inc.
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 090c:1000 Silicon Motion, Inc. - Taiwan (formerly Feiya Technology Corp.) Flash Drive
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub


##### PCMCIA card info ##################


##### rfkill ############################


##### lsmod #############################


wmi 24576 0


##### interfaces ########################


[/etc/network/interfaces]
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback


##### ifconfig ##########################


docker0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr <MAC 'docker0' [IF1]>
inet addr:172.17.0.1 Bcast:0.0.0.0 Mask:255.255.0.0
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)


lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:65536 Metric:1
RX packets:888150 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:888150 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:68386648 (68.3 MB) TX bytes:68386648 (68.3 MB)


##### iwconfig ##########################


lo no wireless extensions.


docker0 no wireless extensions.


##### route #############################


Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
169.254.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.0.0 U 1000 0 0 docker0
172.17.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.0.0 U 0 0 0 docker0


##### resolv.conf #######################


##### network managers ##################


Installed:


NetworkManager


Running:


root 1029 1 0 21:17 ? 00:00:01 /usr/sbin/NetworkManager --no-daemon


##### NetworkManager info ###############


GENERAL.DEVICE: docker0
GENERAL.TYPE: bridge
GENERAL.NM-TYPE: NMDeviceBridge
GENERAL.VENDOR:
GENERAL.PRODUCT:
GENERAL.DRIVER: bridge
GENERAL.DRIVER-VERSION: 2.3
GENERAL.FIRMWARE-VERSION: N/A
GENERAL.HWADDR: <MAC address>
GENERAL.MTU: 1500
GENERAL.STATE: 100 (connected)
GENERAL.REASON: 0 (No reason given)
GENERAL.UDI: /sys/devices/virtual/net/docker0
GENERAL.IP-IFACE: docker0
GENERAL.IS-SOFTWARE: yes
GENERAL.NM-MANAGED: yes
GENERAL.AUTOCONNECT: yes
GENERAL.FIRMWARE-MISSING: no
GENERAL.NM-PLUGIN-MISSING: no
GENERAL.PHYS-PORT-ID: --
GENERAL.CONNECTION: docker0
GENERAL.CON-UUID: 92afd25b-7a3d-4bcd-a577-c146520d11cd
GENERAL.CON-PATH: /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/ActiveConnection/0
GENERAL.METERED: no (guessed)
CAPABILITIES.CARRIER-DETECT: yes
CAPABILITIES.SPEED: unknown
CAPABILITIES.IS-SOFTWARE: yes
BRIDGE.SLAVES:
CONNECTIONS.AVAILABLE-CONNECTION-PATHS: /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Settings/{31}
CONNECTIONS.AVAILABLE-CONNECTIONS[1]: 92afd25b-7a3d-4bcd-a577-c146520d11cd | docker0
IP4.ADDRESS[1]: 172.17.0.1/16
IP4.GATEWAY:
IP4.ROUTE[1]: dst = 169.254.0.0/16, nh = 0.0.0.0, mt = 1000
IP6.GATEWAY:


##### NetworkManager.state ##############


[main]
NetworkingEnabled=true
WirelessEnabled=true
WWANEnabled=true


##### NetworkManager.conf ###############


[main]
plugins=ifupdown,keyfile,ofono
dns=dnsmasq


[ifupdown]
managed=false


##### NetworkManager profiles ###########


(... removed ...)


##### Netplan config ####################


##### iw reg get ########################


nl80211 not found.


##### iwlist channels ###################


lo no frequency information.


docker0 no frequency information.


##### iwlist scan #######################


lo Interface doesn't support scanning.


docker0 Interface doesn't support scanning.


##### module infos ######################


##### module parameters #################


##### /etc/modules ######################


##### modprobe options ##################


[/etc/modprobe.d/amd64-microcode-blacklist.conf]
blacklist microcode


[/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-ath_pci.conf]
blacklist ath_pci


[/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf]
blacklist evbug
blacklist usbmouse
blacklist usbkbd
blacklist eepro100
blacklist de4x5
blacklist eth1394
blacklist snd_intel8x0m
blacklist snd_aw2
blacklist i2c_i801
blacklist prism54
blacklist bcm43xx
blacklist garmin_gps
blacklist asus_acpi
blacklist snd_pcsp
blacklist pcspkr
blacklist amd76x_edac


[/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-rare-network.conf]
alias net-pf-3 off
alias net-pf-6 off
alias net-pf-9 off
alias net-pf-11 off
alias net-pf-12 off
alias net-pf-19 off
alias net-pf-21 off
alias net-pf-36 off


[/etc/modprobe.d/intel-microcode-blacklist.conf]
blacklist microcode


[/etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi.conf]
remove iwlwifi \
(/sbin/lsmod | grep -o -e ^iwlmvm -e ^iwldvm -e ^iwlwifi | xargs /sbin/rmmod) \
&& /sbin/modprobe -r mac80211


[/etc/modprobe.d/mlx4.conf]
softdep mlx4_core post: mlx4_en


##### rc.local ##########################


exit 0


##### pm-utils ##########################


##### udev rules ########################


##### dmesg #############################


[ 1.476695] [drm] Finished loading DMC firmware i915/kbl_dmc_ver1_01.bin (v1.1)
[ 17.610979] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): docker0: link is not ready


########## wireless info END ############

And here is information from lshw:

lshw -class network
*-network UNCLAIMED
product: QCA6174 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter
vendor: Qualcomm Atheros
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:3a:00.0
version: 32
width: 64 bits
clock: 33Mhz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress cap_list
configuration: latency=0
resources: memory:dc000000-dc1fffff

[kc1di]

what does the output of

dmesg | grep ath10k

show?

[caranha]

dmesg | grep ath10k outputs nothing :-/

[caranha]

• If it helps, this is what I get from dmesg | grep ath10k when I do it from the (wifi working) USB stick:
  
  
  [ 13.256172] ath10k_pci 0000:3a:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
  
• [ 13.258669] ath10k_pci 0000:3a:00.0: pci irq msi oper_irq_mode 2 irq_mode 0 reset_mode 0
  
• [ 13.548875] ath10k_pci 0000:3a:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/pre-cal-pci-0000:3a:00.0.bin failed with error -2
  
• [ 13.548899] ath10k_pci 0000:3a:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/cal-pci-0000:3a:00.0.bin failed with error -2
  
• [ 13.548926] ath10k_pci 0000:3a:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/firmware-5.bin failed with error -2
  
• [ 13.548928] ath10k_pci 0000:3a:00.0: could not fetch firmware file 'ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/firmware-5.bin': -2
  
• [ 13.591952] ath10k_pci 0000:3a:00.0: qca6174 hw3.2 target 0x05030000 chip_id 0x00340aff sub 1a56:1535
  
• [ 13.591955] ath10k_pci 0000:3a:00.0: kconfig debug 0 debugfs 1 tracing 1 dfs 0 testmode 0
  
• [ 13.592398] ath10k_pci 0000:3a:00.0: firmware ver WLAN.RM.2.0-00180-QCARMSWPZ-1 api 4 features wowlan,ignore-otp,no-4addr-pad crc32 75dee6c5
  
• [ 13.716930] ath10k_pci 0000:3a:00.0: board_file api 2 bmi_id N/A crc32 6fc88fe7
  
• [ 15.850651] ath10k_pci 0000:3a:00.0: htt-ver 3.26 wmi-op 4 htt-op 3 cal otp max-sta 32 raw 0 hwcrypto 1
  
• [ 15.961053] ath10k_pci 0000:3a:00.0 wlp58s0: renamed from wlan0

[kc1di]

does

rfkill list

output anything?

it didn't in the script you ran but please check again.

[jeremy31]

Try

sudo apt install --reinstall linux-modules-extra-$(uname -r)

Then reboot

[kc1di]

I suspect the problem may be with the 4.15.0-29 kernel and the firmware not having been built against that one yet. try this, go to grub menu and select older kernel in advanced options see if it works with that.

[caranha]

kc1di >> Nope, rfkill list lists nothing (it lists the usual suspects under the working USB)

jeremy31 >> apt-install -reinstall will fail because I cant fetch the linux-modules-extra from the internet. Is it okay if I download the package manually and install it with dpkg -i ?

[jeremy31]

If you happen to boot into older kernel do

sudo apt install --reinstall linux-modules-extra-4.15.0-29-generic

[caranha]

Yes, that worked!

Rebooted into the latest 4.13 kernel, wifi was working again.

Re-installed the extra modules for the 4.15 kernel, wifi is working again. yay!

I had a problem to install these, because my boot partition was full. I deleted a few extra kernels to make space for the update. Maybe the problem was that the update to the latest kernel was not complete because of this lack of space, and I did not pay attention to the error message? I found it a bit strange that I went weeks before everything went fubar... If anyone could explain to me what they think went wrong, it would be greatly appreciated.

Anyway, thank you very much!