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
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