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[SOLVED] No wireless networks despite of activated interface

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Durtal
Posts: 6
Joined: 2017-11-23 20:07

[SOLVED] No wireless networks despite of activated interface

#1 Post by Durtal »

Dear Debians,

I am coming from Arch but have to set up a debian system right now. It’s a brand new jessie minimal installation. I want to connect to my wifi-network using a usb-dongle (this here: https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/ ... pe-n150usb ) I installed the kernel modules, followed the instructions here https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/ ... re-install , and installed some wifi-packages.
I now have an interface which I can enable. After that ip link gives:

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1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN mode DEFAULT group default
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UNKNOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 78:a3:51:ab:b5:90 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
3: eth0.1@eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state UP mode DEFAULT group default
    link/ether 78:a3:51:ab:b5:90 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
4: eth0.2@eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state UP mode DEFAULT group default
    link/ether 78:a3:51:ab:b5:90 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
5: eth1: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 78:a3:51:ab:b5:90 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
6: wlan1: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state DOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 28:24:ff:1a:01:77 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
But wicd-curses still show no wireless networks. This might be related to the output of iwconfig:

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eth0.1    no wireless extensions.

lo        no wireless extensions.

wlan1     no wireless extensions.

eth1      no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

eth0.2    no wireless extensions.
I didn’t find a way to fix this. The strangest thing is, that I can see my network using iw wlan1 scan . But still, wicd-curses doesn’t show anything.

dmesg | grep ath9k gives:

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[   18.832000] usb 1-2.2: ath9k_htc: Firmware htc_9271.fw requested
[   18.844000] usbcore: registered new interface driver ath9k_htc
[   19.184000] usb 1-2.2: ath9k_htc: Transferred FW: htc_9271.fw, size: 51000
[   19.532000] ath9k_htc 1-2.2:1.0: ath9k_htc: HTC initialized with 33 credits
[   19.820000] ath9k_htc 1-2.2:1.0: ath9k_htc: FW Version: 1.4
So everythings seems fine. I am stuck here and didn't find anything online. What am I missing?
Last edited by Durtal on 2017-11-24 19:09, edited 1 time in total.

Durtal
Posts: 6
Joined: 2017-11-23 20:07

Re: Can't see wireless networks despite of activated interfa

#2 Post by Durtal »

Some additional information I collected in the meantime: I think it is neither the device nor the driver that causes the problem. I connected another usb-antenna that shows the same behavior. It seems that both are recognized only as Ethernet devices. lshw returns:

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 *-usb:0
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: RTL8187_Wireless
       vendor: Manufacturer_Realtek_RTL8187_
       physical id: 1
       bus info: usb@1:1
       logical name: wlan0
       version: 1.00
       serial: 00C0CA828D0E
       capabilities: usb-2.00 ethernet physical
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rtl8187 driverversion=3.10.14 firmware=N/A link=no maxpower=500mA multicast=yes speed=480Mbit/s
  *-usb
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: UB93
       vendor: ATHEROS
       physical id: 1
       bus info: usb@1:2.1
       logical name: wlan1
       version: 1.08
       serial: 12345
       capabilities: usb-2.00 ethernet physical
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ath9k_htc driverversion=3.10.14 firmware=1.4 link=no maxpower=500mA multicast=yes speed=480Mbit/s
The same for ifconfig:

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wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:c0:ca:82:8d:0e
          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:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

wlan1     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 28:24:ff:1a:01:77
          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:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)   
But believe me: They are wireless devices that work on other systems (and on this system they find my network via iw wlan0 scan). The only similar report I found is this old uninformative thread:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/64681/w ... untu-11-04

I am not sure if this is important, but rfkill list gives

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Can't open RFKILL control device: No such file or directory
Found nothing to fix this, too.
Last edited by Durtal on 2017-11-24 10:45, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Can't see wireless networks despite of activated interfa

#3 Post by Head_on_a_Stick »

deadbang

Durtal
Posts: 6
Joined: 2017-11-23 20:07

Re: Can't see wireless networks despite of activated interfa

#4 Post by Durtal »

Do you think the proprietary firmware will change this? I really do not want to do this since I paid a lot to come long entirely with free software.
Furthermore both adapters are working on a Trisquel system. And on this debian system everything seems to indicate that the drivers are working probably – see the strange output of iw ... scan.
Additionally installing this firmware would not the affect the Realtek-antenna.
If you insist, I will try. But this would make me hurt.

Durtal
Posts: 6
Joined: 2017-11-23 20:07

Re: Can't see wireless networks despite of activated interfa

#5 Post by Durtal »

Well, I installed the package firmware-ath9k-htc from sid. After a reboot the wlan1-Interface (the one for the Atheros-adapter) is completely gone. dmesg gives:

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ath9k_htc: `1' invalid for parameter `use_dev_fw'

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Re: Can't see wireless networks despite of activated interfa

#6 Post by bw123 »

There might be two or more versions of the hardware, but the rtl8187 I own doesn't require firmware, and works well on jessie. The atheros is showing that you have the firmware already, right?

I think you should use the iw commands, and post the dmesg output from plugging in the devices instead of iw/ifconfig and lshw outputs.
Don't grep the dmesg, post the whole block from when it's plugged in.

I never used wicd, but it looks like config error to me, you could use the interfaces file temporarily to test either or both dongles. If one or both wlan0/wlan1 has any reference in your interfaces file that would explain things.

p.s. wicd is not easily installed with networkmanager at the same time, so if they are both running stop one or purge the other, or vice-versa.
resigned by AI ChatGPT

Durtal
Posts: 6
Joined: 2017-11-23 20:07

Re: Can't see wireless networks despite of activated interfa

#7 Post by Durtal »

Yes, I installed the firmware for the atheros according to the instructions from thinkpenguin. I have now removed firmware-ath9k-htc and wlan1 is again showing up. I didn’t install networkmanager or any other desktop-related package. And I am not bound to wicd.

I think the first step would be to get iw recognize the wireless extensions.

What to you mean with the interfaces file? /etc/network/interfaces contained

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auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto eth0.1
iface eth0.1 inet static
    address 192.168.1.1
    netmask 255.255.255.0

auto eth0.2
iface eth0.2 inet dhcp
from the beginning. I added:

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auto wlan1
iface wlan1 inet dhcp
        wireless-essid <...>
but this didn’t change anything.

Here the output of dmesg. For the Realtek removed and reattached:

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[  734.280000] usb 1-1: USB disconnect, device number 2
[  740.396000] usb 1-1: new high-speed USB device number 5 using xhci-hcd
[  740.428000] add_ep parameters, dev_speed 3, is_in 1, isTT 0, ep_type 2, maxp 512, interval 1, burst 0, mult 0, ep 0x9be46e80, ep_ctx 0xbbd32080, sch_ep 0x9bd37c80
[  740.456000] [DBG] BPKTS: 1, BCSCOUNT: 0, BBM: 1
[  740.456000] [DBG] BOFFSET: 0, BREPEAT: 0
[  740.456000] add_ep parameters, dev_speed 3, is_in 0, isTT 0, ep_type 2, maxp 512, interval 1, burst 0, mult 0, ep 0x9be46eac, ep_ctx 0xbbd320a0, sch_ep 0x9bdeb680
[  740.488000] [DBG] BPKTS: 1, BCSCOUNT: 0, BBM: 1
[  740.488000] [DBG] BOFFSET: 0, BREPEAT: 0
[  740.488000] add_ep parameters, dev_speed 3, is_in 0, isTT 0, ep_type 2, maxp 512, interval 1, burst 0, mult 0, ep 0x9be46ed8, ep_ctx 0xbbd320e0, sch_ep 0x9bd25f00
[  740.516000] [DBG] BPKTS: 1, BCSCOUNT: 0, BBM: 1
[  740.516000] [DBG] BOFFSET: 0, BREPEAT: 0
[  740.644000] ieee80211 phy2: Selected rate control algorithm 'minstrel_ht'
[  740.644000] ieee80211 phy2: hwaddr 00:c0:ca:82:8d:0e, RTL8187vB (default) V1 + rtl8225z2, rfkill mask 2
[  740.676000] rtl8187: Customer ID is 0xFF
[  740.684000] rtl8187: wireless switch is on
And for the atheros:

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[  834.240000] usb 1-2.1: USB disconnect, device number 4
[  834.376000] usb 1-2.1: ath9k_htc: USB layer deinitialized
[  838.024000] usb 1-2.1: new high-speed USB device number 6 using xhci-hcd
[  838.060000] add_ep parameters, dev_speed 3, is_in 0, isTT 0, ep_type 2, maxp 512, interval 1, burst 0, mult 0, ep 0x9b196c00, ep_ctx 0xbb4e2060, sch_ep 0x9b4f6f00
[  838.088000] [DBG] BPKTS: 1, BCSCOUNT: 0, BBM: 1
[  838.088000] [DBG] BOFFSET: 0, BREPEAT: 0
[  838.088000] add_ep parameters, dev_speed 3, is_in 1, isTT 0, ep_type 2, maxp 512, interval 1, burst 0, mult 0, ep 0x9b196c2c, ep_ctx 0xbb4e20c0, sch_ep 0x9b4e5180
[  838.116000] [DBG] BPKTS: 1, BCSCOUNT: 0, BBM: 1
[  838.116000] [DBG] BOFFSET: 0, BREPEAT: 0
[  838.116000] add_ep parameters, dev_speed 3, is_in 1, isTT 0, ep_type 3, maxp 64, interval 1, burst 0, mult 0, ep 0x9b196c58, ep_ctx 0xbb4e2100, sch_ep 0x9b4e5b80
[  838.144000] [DBG] BPKTS: 1, BCSCOUNT: 0, BBM: 1
[  838.144000] [DBG] BOFFSET: 0, BREPEAT: 0
[  838.144000] add_ep parameters, dev_speed 3, is_in 0, isTT 0, ep_type 3, maxp 64, interval 1, burst 0, mult 0, ep 0x9b196c84, ep_ctx 0xbb4e2120, sch_ep 0x9b24ee80
[  838.176000] [DBG] BPKTS: 1, BCSCOUNT: 0, BBM: 1
[  838.176000] [DBG] BOFFSET: 0, BREPEAT: 0
[  838.176000] add_ep parameters, dev_speed 3, is_in 0, isTT 0, ep_type 2, maxp 512, interval 1, burst 0, mult 0, ep 0x9b196cb0, ep_ctx 0xbb4e2160, sch_ep 0x9b2f9680
[  838.204000] [DBG] BPKTS: 1, BCSCOUNT: 0, BBM: 1
[  838.204000] [DBG] BOFFSET: 0, BREPEAT: 0
[  838.204000] add_ep parameters, dev_speed 3, is_in 0, isTT 0, ep_type 2, maxp 512, interval 1, burst 0, mult 0, ep 0x9b196cdc, ep_ctx 0xbb4e21a0, sch_ep 0x9b2f9100
[  838.232000] [DBG] BPKTS: 1, BCSCOUNT: 0, BBM: 1
[  838.232000] [DBG] BOFFSET: 0, BREPEAT: 0
[  838.232000] usb 1-2.1: ath9k_htc: Firmware htc_9271.fw requested
[  838.524000] usb 1-2.1: ath9k_htc: Transferred FW: htc_9271.fw, size: 51000
[  838.764000] ath9k_htc 1-2.1:1.0: ath9k_htc: HTC initialized with 33 credits
[  839.004000] ath9k_htc 1-2.1:1.0: ath9k_htc: FW Version: 1.4
[  839.016000] ath: EEPROM regdomain: 0x65
[  839.016000] ath: EEPROM indicates we should expect a direct regpair map
[  839.016000] ath: Country alpha2 being used: 00
[  839.016000] ath: Regpair used: 0x65
[  839.024000] ieee80211 phy3: Atheros AR9271 Rev:1
I should mention that I get

Code: Select all

[   23.084000] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan1: link is not ready
[   49.772000] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
after boot. But I read that this can be ignored.

Durtal
Posts: 6
Joined: 2017-11-23 20:07

Re: Can't see wireless networks despite of activated interfa

#8 Post by Durtal »

The hint to the interface file was effective. I set it up according to this https://wiki.debian.org/WiFi/HowToUse#W ... d_WPA2-PSK and after reboot I found myself connected to the wifi-network. iwconfig still gives the mentioned output but for now this is only a cosmetic issue, since I won’t walk around with this system. I hope no one will encounter this with a laptop.
Thanks for your support. I would like to mark this as "solved" but cannot find a button to do it.

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Re: Can't see wireless networks despite of activated interfa

#9 Post by 4D696B65 »

Durtal wrote:I would like to mark this as "solved" but cannot find a button to do it.
Edit the title of your first post.

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