[solved] Wireless not working - Qualcomm Atheros QCA6174

[dedanna1029]

Hi all,

It's been a while, due to some circumstances that I had to work out.

I've just got a new laptop, a Lenovo Z70-80 that I'm trying to get Mageia 5 installed to, but it doesn't recognize my wireless. It sees the chipset for the laptop, but absolutely refuses to get the WLAN portion installed, even with ndiswrapper. I installed Mageia 5, then tried another distro, the same thing happened. Another distro, the same thing.

Well, I'd like to go with Mageia 5, but wireless is all I have. From the reading I've done on many threads, development drivers are out there (but they are very confusing), the Qualcomm Atheros QCA6174 isn't even supported yet by the kernel, and that I'd have to wait for kernel 4.2 to ship out of the box, go from there, else recompile the kernel, which is way above my head. Currently, this laptop is sitting on Windows 8.1, which I detest.

I've tried ndiswrapper just a bit ago on the Mageia 5 live KDE DVD, but it was a no-go from MCC on setting up the connection with ndiswrapper:



I had the needed inf file, as you can see.

I'm wondering if I actually have to do an installation to see if this will work, or if there's anyone super minded in this that can give me ideas? I've read threads where even with ndiswrapper, people were having issues getting their wireless going.

Thanks!

[doktor5000]

As root please show the output of

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ndiswrapper -l
lsmod|grep ndis
lspcidrake -v

(and please not as a screenshot but as text)

[dedanna1029]

doktor5000, it's all root; as I've said, this is the live DVD. I did have an installation of Mageia 5 going, but was never able to get it running with the wireless, so tried other distros with the same results.

This is also why I asked if I need to install it to see if ndiswrapper or any other method would work. I can't copy/paste code to here from it, as I can't get online with it.

[doktor5000]

Sorry, but if I don't know the pci id of that chipset can't help much further. And ndiswrapper should also work in live mode, the only thing that might need to be done is either

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ndiswrapper -m

and/or or

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modprobe ndiswrapper

to actually load ndiswrapper with the driver (if you installed the windows driver already, hence the question what you see with ndiswrapper -l and if ndiswrapper "sees" the device) before you try to configure your wireless interface with any of the drakxtools.

You could also attach an USB stick and copy the output there.

[dedanna1029]

Well, I think I can see kinda sorta what's going on with ndiswrapper:

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[live@localhost ~]$ su -
gpg-agent[3406]: directory `/root/.gnupg' created
gpg-agent[3406]: directory `/root/.gnupg/private-keys-v1.d' created
gpg-agent[3407]: gpg-agent (GnuPG) 2.0.27 started
[root@localhost ~]# ndiswrapper -l
[root@localhost ~]# lsmod|grep ndis
[root@localhost ~]# lspcidrake -v
Card:NVIDIA GeForce 420 series and later: NVIDIA Corporation|GM108M [GeForce 840M] [DISPLAY_3D] (vendor:10de device:1341 subv:17aa subd:381c) (rev: a2)
--->unknown         : Qualcomm Atheros|QCA6174 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [NETWORK_OTHER] (vendor:168c device:003e subv:17aa subd:3044) (rev: 20)
r8169           : Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.|RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller [NETWORK_ETHERNET] (vendor:10ec device:8168 subv:17aa subd:3819) (rev: 10)
i2c_i801        : Intel Corporation|Wildcat Point-LP SMBus Controller [SERIAL_SMBUS] (vendor:8086 device:9ca2 subv:17aa subd:3987) (rev: 03)
unknown         : Intel Corporation|Wildcat Point-LP SATA Controller [AHCI Mode] [STORAGE_SATA] (vendor:8086 device:9c83 subv:17aa subd:3987) (rev: 03)
lpc_ich         : Intel Corporation|Wildcat Point-LP LPC Controller [BRIDGE_ISA] (vendor:8086 device:9cc3 subv:17aa subd:3987) (rev: 03)
shpchp          : Intel Corporation|Wildcat Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #5 [BRIDGE_PCI] (vendor:8086 device:9c98) (rev: e3)
shpchp          : Intel Corporation|Wildcat Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #4 [BRIDGE_PCI] (vendor:8086 device:9c96) (rev: e3)
shpchp          : Intel Corporation|Wildcat Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #3 [BRIDGE_PCI] (vendor:8086 device:9c94) (rev: e3)
shpchp          : Intel Corporation|Wildcat Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #1 [BRIDGE_PCI] (vendor:8086 device:9c90) (rev: e3)
snd_hda_intel   : Intel Corporation|Wildcat Point-LP High Definition Audio Controller [MULTIMEDIA_AUDIO_DEV] (vendor:8086 device:9ca0 subv:17aa subd:3987) (rev: 03)
mei_me          : Intel Corporation|Wildcat Point-LP MEI Controller #1 [COMMUNICATION_OTHER] (vendor:8086 device:9cba subv:17aa subd:3987) (rev: 03)
xhci_pci        : Intel Corporation|Wildcat Point-LP USB xHCI Controller [SERIAL_USB] (vendor:8086 device:9cb1 subv:17aa subd:3987) (rev: 03)
snd_hda_intel   : Intel Corporation|Broadwell-U Audio Controller [MULTIMEDIA_AUDIO_DEV] (vendor:8086 device:160c subv:17aa subd:3987) (rev: 09)
Card:Intel 810 and later: Intel Corporation|Broadwell-U Integrated Graphics [DISPLAY_VGA] (vendor:8086 device:1616 subv:17aa subd:381c) (rev: 09)
unknown         : Intel Corporation|Broadwell-U Host Bridge -OPI [BRIDGE_HOST] (vendor:8086 device:1604 subv:17aa subd:3987) (rev: 09)
hub             : Linux 3.19.8-desktop-3.mga5 xhci-hcd|xHCI Host Controller [Hub|Unused|Full speed (or root) hub] (vendor:1d6b device:0003)
hub             : Linux 3.19.8-desktop-3.mga5 xhci-hcd|xHCI Host Controller [Hub|Unused|Full speed (or root) hub] (vendor:1d6b device:0002)
usbhid          : PIXART|USB OPTICAL MOUSE [Human Interface Device|Boot Interface Subclass|Mouse] (vendor:093a device:2510)
usb_storage     : SanDisk|U3 Cruzer Micro [Mass Storage|SCSI|Bulk-Only] (vendor:0781 device:5406)
usb_storage     : SanDisk|Cruzer Glide [Mass Storage|SCSI|Bulk-Only] (vendor:0781 device:5575)
rtsx_usb        : Generic|USB2.0-CRW (vendor:0bda device:0129)
uvcvideo        : Acer, Inc|Lenovo EasyCamera  [Video|Video Control] (vendor:5986 device:0249)
btusb           : Atheros Communications, Inc.|Unknown [Wireless|Radio Frequency|Bluetooth] (vendor:0cf3 device:e300)
hid_generic     : PIXART USB OPTICAL MOUSE
[root@localhost ~]#

I'll try the ndiswrapper -m and modprobe ndiswrapper, but somehow I don't think I'll get very far with it.
The "unknown" is what I get in MCC with it too.

***Update: I was right on that one. I thought for a minute there with "modprobe ndiswrapper" I was getting somewhere, but no dice. I tried again in MCC to add the wireless connection after I ran these, and got the exact same results as in the OP.

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[live@localhost ~]$ su -
gpg-agent[3417]: directory `/root/.gnupg' created
gpg-agent[3417]: directory `/root/.gnupg/private-keys-v1.d' created
gpg-agent[3418]: gpg-agent (GnuPG) 2.0.27 started
[root@localhost ~]# modprobe ndiswrapper
[root@localhost ~]# ndiswrapper -m
adding "alias wlan0 ndiswrapper" to /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper.conf ...
[root@localhost ~]#

[doktor5000]

Well, I think I can see kinda sorta what's going on with ndiswrapper:

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[root@localhost ~]# ndiswrapper -l
[root@localhost ~]# lsmod|grep ndis


ndiswrapper -l shows that no windows driver has been installed. It is totally useless to try to load the ndiswrapper kernel module then.

--->unknown : Qualcomm Atheros|QCA6174 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [NETWORK_OTHER] (vendor:168c device:003e subv:17aa subd:3044) (rev: 20)

Ok, from what I read it is supported by the ath10k driver. It can be made to work with kernels < 4.2 with a patch and using newer firmware which can be obtained from ath10k development repository at https://github.com/kvalo/ath10k-firmware
It can also be made to work without a patch using kernel >= 4.2 and also the latest firmware from that upstream repo. In Mageia 5 we only seem to have firmware for older hardware, contained in package
kernel-firmware-nonfree in folder /lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0

You would need ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0/board.bin and ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0/firmware-5.bin at the very least from what I read.

More information via
https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/use ... ers/ath10k
https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/use ... k/firmware
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... ug/1383184

Support might also improve with the 4.1.8 kernel update candidate for Mageia 5 that is currently being tested.

Or you could try to compile a newer ath10k module on your own using the kernel backports from upstream,
similar to what is described at http://askubuntu.com/a/607982/329633


Please show the output after a fresh boot in live mode as root from

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journalctl -ab | grep -iE "ath10k|atheros"

***Update: I was right on that one. I thought for a minute there with "modprobe ndiswrapper" I was getting somewhere, but no dice. I tried again in MCC to add the wireless connection after I ran these, and got the exact same results as in the OP.
[/code]

See above. If no windows driver has been installed, ndiswrapper can not help. ndiswrapper is a wrapper around universal NDIS drivers,
e.g. you need to register your windows driver, the ndiswrapper kernel module wraps around it as a compatibility layer.

[dedanna1029]

Then why does it give option to install a Windows wireless driver via ndiswrapper, and give option to go to the path that the .inf file is stored in? I did get that far with it before the above happened - I even gave it the .inf file.
I think I'm going to end up waiting for kernel 4.2 to ship out of the box - the rest of what you've posted ^ is over my head. I had previously checked out the links, but then got lost (the kavalo ones).

[dedanna1029]

I guess I'll try them, but wouldn't I want the QCA6174 board.bin and firmware-5.bin from there? Under 2.1 or 3.0?

[dedanna1029]

Commented to here, thanks.

[doktor5000]

For ndiswrapper, please don't complain to me, I cannot change that fact. It's been like that for years, I've reported that back in Mandrake days as https://qa.mandriva.com/show_bug.cgi?id=26046
You can use drakconnect to install the windows driver, but it forgets to load ndiswrapper, and sometimes has issues installing the windows driver properly.
But it's not rocket science, using ndiswrapper consists of three basic steps:

1. install windows driver via ndiswrapper -i
   optional - check if driver was installed and if ndiswrapper sees the actual wireless device via ndiswrapper -l
2. add the modprobe alias via ndiswrapper -m
3. actually load the wrapped driver via modprobe ndiswrapper

Then you can use drakconnect to configure the interface.

For ath10k, your questions about the firmware should all be answered by the link posted above: https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/use ... k/firmware
Also the driver will tell you where it expects the firmware via e.g. dmesg.

[Ken-Bergen]

For what it's worth ndiswrapper needs both the correct *.inf and *.sys files for your device and they must be in the same folder when you point ndiswrapper to the *.inf file.

[doktor5000]

Yep, sorry took that for granted.

[dedanna1029]

For what it's worth ndiswrapper needs both the correct *.inf and *.sys files for your device and they must be in the same folder when you point ndiswrapper to the *.inf file.

Oh, these requirements have been met. K.

[dedanna1029]

Yep, sorry took that for granted.

Correctly. Thanks.
I think what I've commented to kernel.org will suffice (link above).

[doktor5000]

I think what I've commented to kernel.org will suffice (link above).

Just a slight hint: a single comment would have done - if no one replies, add. comments/complaints that do not add to the original report will not help more.

[dedanna1029]

Update, seems even Fedora has some work to do on it. I ran the live F23 live dvd rather than install... no love, no option to add a wireless connection.

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[root@localhost ~]# lspci | grep Qualcomm -v
    00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Broadwell-U Host Bridge -OPI (rev 09)
    00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Broadwell-U Integrated Graphics (rev 09)
    00:03.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation Broadwell-U Audio Controller (rev 09)
    00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP USB xHCI Controller (rev 03)
    00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP MEI Controller #1 (rev 03)
    00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP High Definition Audio Controller (rev 03)
    00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #1 (rev e3)
    00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #3 (rev e3)
    00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #4 (rev e3)
    00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #5 (rev e3)
    00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP LPC Controller (rev 03)
    00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP SATA Controller [AHCI Mode] (rev 03)
    00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation Wildcat Point-LP SMBus Controller (rev 03)
    02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 10)
    04:00.0 3D controller: NVIDIA Corporation GM108M [GeForce 840M] (rev a2)
    [root@localhost ~]#
    [root@localhost ~]#
    [root@localhost ~]# journalctl -ab | grep -iE "ath10k|atheros"
    Sep 29 11:41:35 localhost kernel: ath10k_pci 0000:03:00.0: pci irq msi-x interrupts 8 irq_mode 0 reset_mode 0
    Sep 29 11:41:36 localhost kernel: ath10k_pci 0000:03:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/cal-pci-0000:03:00.0.bin failed with error -2
    Sep 29 11:41:36 localhost kernel: ath10k_pci 0000:03:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/QCA6174/hw2.1/board-pci-168c:003e:17aa:3044.bin failed with error -2
    Sep 29 11:41:36 localhost kernel: ath10k_pci 0000:03:00.0: failed to load spec board file, falling back to generic: -2
    Sep 29 11:41:36 localhost kernel: ath10k_pci 0000:03:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/QCA6174/hw2.1/board.bin failed with error -2
    Sep 29 11:41:36 localhost kernel: ath10k_pci 0000:03:00.0: failed to fetch generic board data: -2
    Sep 29 11:41:36 localhost kernel: ath10k_pci 0000:03:00.0: failed to fetch board file: -2
    Sep 29 11:41:36 localhost kernel: ath10k_pci 0000:03:00.0: could not fetch firmware files (-2)
    Sep 29 11:41:36 localhost kernel: ath10k_pci 0000:03:00.0: could not probe fw (-2)
    [root@localhost ~]#

ndiswrapper is not found, and it kept telling me that I didn't have permissions to install the board.bin and firmware-5.bin (of course, as it can't install to a dvd...). F23 touts the kernel, but it seems there's still development on this to be done.

[Ken-Bergen]

(of course, as it can't install to a dvd...).

Fedora should be no different than Mageia in that you setup software sources and install anything you want until you run out of RAM. Of course if the software requires a reboot all of it is lost.

[dedanna1029]

And I have a feeling that would.

If I were to do this I'd have to figure out just where on the system to install these things, another question.

I've got a good 8GBs of RAM, so that shouldn't be a problem. However, even after running chmod a+x on those files, it's still throwing me permissions errors on them when I try to run them.

[doktor5000]

If I were to do this I'd have to figure out just where on the system to install these things, another question.

What are "these things"? If you're asking for the firmware that question was already answered, for where to install these things
And what about chmod and what do you want to "run"? You can't run the firmware files like binaries, they are automatically loaded by the kernel, check your journalctl output above.

And for Fedora, maybe you forgot to do it as root or their overlayfs or aufs in live mode (dunno from the top of my head what they are using nowadays) is broken somehow ...
Better ask in a fedora forum regarding that one.

[dedanna1029]

For ndiswrapper, please don't complain to me, I cannot change that fact. It's been like that for years, I've reported that back in Mandrake days as https://qa.mandriva.com/show_bug.cgi?id=26046
You can use drakconnect to install the windows driver, but it forgets to load ndiswrapper, and sometimes has issues installing the windows driver properly.
But it's not rocket science, using ndiswrapper consists of three basic steps:

1. install windows driver via ndiswrapper -i
   optional - check if driver was installed and if ndiswrapper sees the actual wireless device via ndiswrapper -l
2. add the modprobe alias via ndiswrapper -m
3. actually load the wrapped driver via modprobe ndiswrapper

Then you can use drakconnect to configure the interface.

For ath10k, your questions about the firmware should all be answered by the link posted above: https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/use ... k/firmware
Also the driver will tell you where it expects the firmware via e.g. dmesg.

Apologies, I'd missed this post.

[dedanna1029]

I finally found where on this thing to turn off secure boot, did so, ,and got Mageia installed (x86_64 DVD on USB, not live), and got the driver installed for the wireless. It sees the netathrx.inf file when I run the ndiswrapper commands (speaking of which, I had to install ndiswrapper; it wasn't installed).
Ran the ndiswrapper commands right down the line, placed the board.bin and firmware-5.bin files in /lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA6X74/hw2.0/ folder and in a hw3.0 folder that I created - it wasn't there but that's where these drivers came from, was 3.0. The QCA6X74 folder all around was not there. I'm debating trying the /lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0/ folder, but there is already a firmware-4.bin in there, along with notes for it. There is no board.bin for it, or any other file in that folder.

Anyway, all ndiswrapper commands at that point showed good and clear, so I tried drakconnect, which wanted the driver for ndiswrapper, and then... again, couldn't find the ndiswrapper interface (again).

I rebooted to try again, and now modprobe ndiswrapper comes up with no results; ndiswrapper isn't running, yada-yada... and now journalctl -ab | grep -iE "ath10k|atheros" comes up with no results as well.

I don't know what else to do. I've got to be missing something. There is no opt.bin listed to download at kvalo. The latest firmware is firmware-5.bin, which is what I'm using, with its associated board.bin found here. Maybe I should make the 2.1 folder as well? Or something?

When I run ndiswrapper -i to try installing the driver again, it states it's already installed.
ndiswrapper -l shows the Qualcomm, says it's present.

Yet I can't make a wireless connection.
Will I now have to try kernel backports?

Any clue?

Thank you for hanging in there with this.

[doktor5000]

Ran the ndiswrapper commands right down the line, placed the board.bin and firmware-5.bin files in /lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA6X74/hw2.0/ folder and in a hw3.0 folder that I created
[...]
Anyway, all ndiswrapper commands at that point showed good and clear, so I tried drakconnect, which wanted the driver for ndiswrapper, and then... again, couldn't find the ndiswrapper interface (again).

Seems you're mixing things up. You can either use ndiswrapper with the windows driver OR try to use a native linux driver. They are NOT related to each other.

I rebooted to try again, and now modprobe ndiswrapper comes up with no results; ndiswrapper isn't running, yada-yada... and now journalctl -ab | grep -iE "ath10k|atheros" comes up with no results as well.

When I run ndiswrapper -i to try installing the driver again, it states it's already installed.
ndiswrapper -l shows the Qualcomm, says it's present.

It would help if you post the exact outputs as root of

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ndiswrapper -l
lsmod|grep ndis
iwconfig

I don't know what else to do. I've got to be missing something. There is no opt.bin listed to download at kvalo. The latest firmware is firmware-5.bin, which is what I'm using, with its associated board.bin found here. Maybe I should make the 2.1 folder as well? Or something?
[...]
Will I now have to try kernel backports?

As mentioned previously, seems those newer chipsets are only supported starting with mainline kernel 4.2 OR with a custom patch linked to previously: viewtopic.php?p=59505#p59505

[dedanna1029]

The custom patch being what I did, described above, and installed the windows .inf file.

[doktor5000]

No, you didn't describe anything regarding a kernel patch.

Totally apart from that, I'd like to repeat one thing another time, as it seems you did not understand that yet:

Seems you're mixing things up. You can either use ndiswrapper with the windows driver OR try to use a native linux driver. They are NOT related to each other.

I'll leave it at that. I've provided all the information and explanation that I could, what you do with that is up to you.

[dedanna1029]

placed the board.bin and firmware-5.bin files in /lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA6X74/hw2.0/ folder and in a hw3.0 folder that I created - it wasn't there but that's where these drivers came from, was 3.0. The QCA6X74 folder all around was not there. I'm debating trying the /lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0/ folder, but there is already a firmware-4.bin in there, along with notes for it. There is no board.bin for it, or any other file in that folder.

<snip>

There is no opt.bin listed to download at kvalo. The latest firmware is firmware-5.bin, which is what I'm using, with its associated board.bin found here. Maybe I should make the 2.1 folder as well? Or something?

These are not the patches in the post you alluded to? Yes they are.

I'll remove them and just keep trying with ndiswrapper then. I still face the issue that ndiswrapper is not loading. It is installed. I installed it.
Update:

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[dedanna@localhost ~]$ su -
Password:
[root@localhost ~]# ndiswrapper -l
netathrx : driver installed
   device (168C:003E) present
[root@localhost ~]#
[root@localhost ~]# lsmod | grep ndis
[root@localhost ~]#
[root@localhost ~]#
[root@localhost ~]# iwconfig
enp2s0    no wireless extensions.

lo        no wireless extensions.

[root@localhost ~]#