[SOLVED] Qualcom Atheros QCA6174 fails to connect to network

[tarazed]

I have a problem with wifi on a new, very expensive, Dell XPS 13 which came with Ubuntu 16.04 (?) installed and working wifi. Ubuntu has since been overwritten by Mageia Cauldron and wifi connection fails. As far as I can see the firmware files are in place:

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# locate QC | grep 6174
/usr/lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA6174
/usr/lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA6174/hw2.1
/usr/lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0
/usr/lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA6174/hw2.1/board-2.bin
/usr/lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA6174/hw2.1/board.bin
/usr/lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA6174/hw2.1/firmware-5.bin
/usr/lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA6174/hw2.1/notice_ath10k_firmware-5.txt
/usr/lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/board-2.bin
/usr/lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/board.bin
/usr/lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/firmware-4.bin
/usr/lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/notice_ath10k_firmware-4.txt


but the interface does not work. It is seen but fails to connect using the ath10k_pci driver. Note that this device handles Bluetooth as well and Bluetooth did work for a short while.

'rfkill list wifi' shows that nothing is blocking wifi.

Tail of dmesg:

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[ 1340.984227] wlp58s0: authenticate with 14:dd:a9:99:18:f8
[ 1341.027439] wlp58s0: send auth to 14:dd:a9:99:18:f8 (try 1/3)
[ 1341.029179] wlp58s0: 14:dd:a9:99:18:f8 denied authentication (status 1)
[ 1346.032692] wlp58s0: authenticate with 14:dd:a9:99:18:f8
[ 1346.078377] wlp58s0: send auth to 14:dd:a9:99:18:f8 (try 1/3)
[ 1346.078411] wlp58s0: aborting authentication with 14:dd:a9:99:18:f8 by local choice (Reason: 3=DEAUTH_LEAVING)


This is a section from the boot journal:

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[    4.338393] ath10k_pci 0000:3a:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/pre-cal-pci-0000:3a:00.0.bin failed with error -2
[    4.338411] ath10k_pci 0000:3a:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/cal-pci-0000:3a:00.0.bin failed with error -2
[    4.338598] ath10k_pci 0000:3a:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/firmware-5.bin failed with error -2
[    4.338601] ath10k_pci 0000:3a:00.0: could not fetch firmware file 'ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/firmware-5.bin': -2
[    4.341325] 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


At the beginning of the boot sequence a message appears briefly to state that there was a problem fetching a firmware file, similar to the text above on the 4.338601 timestamp. The worrying thing is that firmware-5.bin is in the hw2.1 directory, not hw3.0.

There is Ubuntu software on a recovery partition, in the form of deb files. In an earlier experiment the Atheros deb was converted to rpm format and installed - that installed the same firmware files I think. There is another deb file connected with Atheros with a name which includes "workaround" which might indicate that Dell also had trouble getting this hardware to work but when I installed that it made the wifi interface invisible so I removed it. I later realized that the workaround had to do with delaying the loading of the kernel module so that is why the interface vanished.
Loading the ath10k_pci module did not help with establishing a connection.

After trawling the web I experimented a bit with Network Manager configuration, not really knowing what I was doing and managed to stop NM working properly - could not even make an ethernet connection. Several comments on the web indicated that "Power Management" needed to be switched off to get the device to work and that involved editing an NM configuration file which does not exist on this Cauldron system. neverthless I created it and rebooted but still no connection after configuring the wifi device again. iwconfig still reported that Power Management was 'on'. At that point I feared that the system was in too much of a mess for me to recover it with my limited knowledge so I reinstalled Cauldron and reconfigured the system which took it
back to square one. It must be worth pursuing this because people in other distributions have managed to get it to work.

[doktor5000]

Please provide the output of the following commands:

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lspcidrake -v


and, as root:

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journalctl -ab | grep -iE "fw|firmware|iwl|wifi|wire|80211|ath10k"

According to some other post there seem to be several issues with that chipset, see
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=220860
http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter ... t/19997633

But it could be worth trying to disable TKIP on the wifi router as mentioned here: http://askubuntu.com/a/870423/329633

[tarazed]

There is quite a lot of output! Thanks for taking the trouble to help me with this.

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$ cat /etc/release
Mageia release 6 (Cauldron) for x86_64

$ lspcidrake -v
mei_me          : Intel Corporation|Sunrise Point-LP CSME HECI #1 [COMMUNICATION_OTHER] (vendor:8086 device:9d3a subv:1028 subd:075b) (rev: 21)
shpchp          : Intel Corporation|Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #6 [BRIDGE_PCI] (vendor:8086 device:9d15) (rev: f1)
processor_thermal_device: Intel Corporation|Skylake Processor Thermal Subsystem [SIGNAL_OTHER] (vendor:8086 device:1903 subv:1028 subd:075b) (rev: 02)
unknown         : Intel Corporation|Device 9d58 [BRIDGE_ISA] (vendor:8086 device:9d58 subv:1028 subd:075b) (rev: 21)
intel_lpss_pci  : Intel Corporation|Sunrise Point-LP Serial IO I2C Controller #1 [SIGNAL_OTHER] (vendor:8086 device:9d61 subv:1028 subd:075b) (rev: 21)
shpchp          : Intel Corporation|Device 9d10 [BRIDGE_PCI] (vendor:8086 device:9d10) (rev: f1)
unknown         : Intel Corporation|Sunrise Point-LP PMC [MEMORY_OTHER] (vendor:8086 device:9d21 subv:1028 subd:075b) (rev: 21)
i2c_i801        : Intel Corporation|Sunrise Point-LP SMBus [SERIAL_SMBUS] (vendor:8086 device:9d23 subv:1028 subd:075b) (rev: 21)
xhci_pci        : Intel Corporation|Sunrise Point-LP USB 3.0 xHCI Controller [SERIAL_USB] (vendor:8086 device:9d2f subv:1028 subd:075b) (rev: 21)
Card:Intel 810 and later: Intel Corporation|Device 5916 [DISPLAY_VGA] (vendor:8086 device:5916 subv:1028 subd:075b) (rev: 02)
shpchp          : Intel Corporation|Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #5 [BRIDGE_PCI] (vendor:8086 device:9d14) (rev: f1)
intel_pch_thermal: Intel Corporation|Sunrise Point-LP Thermal subsystem [SIGNAL_OTHER] (vendor:8086 device:9d31 subv:1028 subd:075b) (rev: 21)
shpchp          : Intel Corporation|Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #9 [BRIDGE_PCI] (vendor:8086 device:9d18) (rev: f1)
ath10k_pci      : Qualcomm Atheros|QCA6174 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [NETWORK_OTHER] (vendor:168c device:003e subv:1a56 subd:1535) (rev: 32)
intel_lpss_pci  : Intel Corporation|Sunrise Point-LP Serial IO I2C Controller #0 [SIGNAL_OTHER] (vendor:8086 device:9d60 subv:1028 subd:075b) (rev: 21)
rtsx_pci        : Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.|RTS525A PCI Express Card Reader (vendor:10ec device:525a subv:1028 subd:075b) (rev: 01)
unknown         : Intel Corporation|Device 5904 [BRIDGE_HOST] (vendor:8086 device:5904 subv:1028 subd:075b) (rev: 02)
snd_hda_intel   : Intel Corporation|Device 9d71 [MULTIMEDIA_AUDIO_DEV] (vendor:8086 device:9d71 subv:1028 subd:075b) (rev: 21)
nvme            : Samsung Electronics Co Ltd|NVMe SSD Controller SM961/PM961 (vendor:144d device:a804 subv:144d subd:a801)
hub             : Linux 4.9.16-desktop-2.mga6 xhci-hcd|xHCI Host Controller [Hub|Unused|Full speed (or root) hub] (vendor:1d6b device:0002)
usbhid          : Microsoft|Microsoft® Nano Transceiver v2.0 [Human Interface Device|Boot Interface Subclass|Keyboard] (vendor:045e device:0745)
btusb           : Atheros Communications, Inc.|Unknown [Wireless|Radio Frequency|Bluetooth] (vendor:0cf3 device:e300)
usbhid          : ELAN|Touchscreen [Human Interface Device|No Subclass|None] (vendor:04f3 device:2234)
uvcvideo        : CN09GTFM724876C6BD97A01|Integrated_Webcam_HD [Video|Video Control] (vendor:0c45 device:670c)
hub             : Linux 4.9.16-desktop-2.mga6 xhci-hcd|xHCI Host Controller [Hub|Unused|Full speed (or root) hub] (vendor:1d6b device:0003)
usb_storage     : innostor|Intenso Ultra Line [Mass Storage|SCSI|Bulk-Only] (vendor:1f75 device:0917)
hid_generic     : Microsoft Microsoft® Nano Transceiver v2.0
hid_generic     : Microsoft Microsoft® Nano Transceiver v2.0
hid_multitouch  : DLL075B:01 06CB:76AF
hid_multitouch  : ELAN Touchscreen
hid_generic     : Microsoft Microsoft® Nano Transceiver v2.0

$ sudo journalctl -ab | grep -iE "fw|firmware|iwl|wifi|wire|80211|ath10k" > jtext
$ cat jtext
Mar 22 17:50:02 hamal kernel: ACPI: [Firmware Bug]: BIOS _OSI(Linux) query ignored
Mar 22 17:50:02 hamal kernel: [drm] GuC firmware load skipped
Mar 22 17:50:03 hamal kernel: Bluetooth: HCI UART protocol Three-wire (H5) registered
Mar 22 17:50:03 hamal kernel: ath10k_pci 0000:3a:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
Mar 22 17:50:03 hamal kernel: ath10k_pci 0000:3a:00.0: pci irq msi oper_irq_mode 2 irq_mode 0 reset_mode 0
Mar 22 17:50:03 hamal kernel: ath10k_pci 0000:3a:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/pre-cal-pci-0000:3a:00.0.bin failed with error -2
Mar 22 17:50:03 hamal kernel: ath10k_pci 0000:3a:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/cal-pci-0000:3a:00.0.bin failed with error -2
Mar 22 17:50:03 hamal kernel: ath10k_pci 0000:3a:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/firmware-5.bin failed with error -2
Mar 22 17:50:03 hamal kernel: ath10k_pci 0000:3a:00.0: could not fetch firmware file 'ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/firmware-5.bin': -2
Mar 22 17:50:03 hamal kernel: ath10k_pci 0000:3a:00.0: qca6174 hw3.2 target 0x05030000 chip_id 0x00340aff sub 1a56:1535
Mar 22 17:50:03 hamal kernel: ath10k_pci 0000:3a:00.0: kconfig debug 1 debugfs 0 tracing 0 dfs 0 testmode 0
Mar 22 17:50:03 hamal kernel: 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
Mar 22 17:50:03 hamal kernel: ath10k_pci 0000:3a:00.0: board_file api 2 bmi_id N/A crc32 19644295
Mar 22 17:50:03 hamal kernel: Bluetooth: hci0: QCA: patch rome 0x302 build 0x138, firmware rome 0x302 build 0x111
Mar 22 17:50:06 hamal kernel: 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
Mar 22 17:50:06 hamal kernel: ath10k_pci 0000:3a:00.0 wlp58s0: renamed from wlan0
Mar 22 17:50:06 hamal service_harddrake[794]: FIREWIRE_CONTROLLER took:  0:00:00
Mar 22 17:50:10 hamal network[1068]: Configuring wireless regulatory domain  [  OK  ]
Mar 22 17:50:13 hamal network[1068]: Bringing up interface wlp58s0:  Error for wireless request "Set Encode" (8B2A) :
Mar 22 17:50:13 hamal ifplugd(wlp58s0)[1481]: Using interface wlp58s0/9C:B6:D0:DB:C4:4B with driver <ath10k_pci> (version: 4.9.16-desktop-2.mga6)
Mar 22 17:50:16 hamal kernel: IFWLOG: register target
Mar 22 17:50:16 hamal systemd[1]: Started Network monitoring daemon (Interactive Firewall and wireless).
Mar 22 17:53:37 hamal mandi[3424]: handling method call 'GetMode' on interface 'org.mageia.monitoring.ifw'
Mar 22 17:53:37 hamal mandi[3424]: handling method call 'GetReports' on interface 'org.mageia.monitoring.ifw'
Mar 22 18:03:58 hamal mandi[3424]: handling method call 'GetMode' on interface 'org.mageia.monitoring.ifw'
Mar 22 18:03:58 hamal mandi[3424]: handling method call 'GetReports' on interface 'org.mageia.monitoring.ifw'
Mar 22 18:09:35 hamal sudo[23622]:      lcl : TTY=pts/2 ; PWD=/home/lcl/wifi ; USER=root ; COMMAND=/bin/journalctl -ab


Those times are about six hours behind. It is after midnight here.
I shall have a look at the router configuration later (regarding TKIP etc.).

[tarazed]

The router interface does not reveal any way to restrict the encryption methods. It is a bit out of my league all that stuff.

[tarazed]

Red-faced again. MAC address filtering was the culprit; something I forget no matter how many times I add a new device to the router. Added the MAC adddress to the table and hit apply and within seconds the XPS 13 had connected. Abject apologies for all the noise.

[tarazed]

One more thing to note; iwconfig reports that Power Management is on, so that particular concern (expressed by somebody on an external forum) is a red herring.

[doktor5000]

It's probably not a red herring in general, as it also depends on the particular version of that chipset which might differ, used kernel version and firmware release and also your energy settings and the wifi router.