[solved] cfg80211: Unknown symbol wireless_nlevent_flush

[suchoss]

Hello,

yesterday I confirmed applying update after restart. It restarted, installed packages and after booting into the GNOME I find out that my WiFi is gone. By googling I was able to find similar problem in mail-lists (https://lists.debian.org/debian-kernel/ ... 00122.html). But I can't see any solution there. Tobias Bengfort just mentioned:

So I guess this is not an issue with the kernel itself but rather with my boot setup. So I guess this report can be closed.

My laptop is: Hewlett-Packard HP ENVY 15 x360 PC
My linux used is Debian jessie with GNOME. I am running it as a Live image from USB with persistence.
dmesg error:

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cfg80211: Unknown symbol wireless_nlevent_flush (err 0)

lspci says:

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08:00.0 Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9565 / AR9565 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)

modprobe:

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modprobe: ERROR: could not insert 'iwlwifi': Unknown symbol in module, or unknown parameter (see dmesg)

uname:

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Linux debian 3.16.0-4-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 3.16.7-ckt25-2 (2016-04-08) x86_64 GNU/Linux

iwconfig:

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eth0      no wireless extensions.; lo        no wireless extensions.

rfkill list:

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0: hci0: Bluetooth
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no

I also tried to add this: "deb http://http.debian.net/debian/ jessie main contrib non-free" to sources.list and then install firmware-atheros, firmware-linux, firmware-linux-nonfree, firmware-realtek with no effect.

Since I am user-beginner I don't know what additional info would help with solving this thing. Maybe one last remark - my wifi still works (tested in win).

Thanks in advance

[arochester]

Have you seen? https://unix.stackexchange.com/question ... vent-flush

Try booting from an older kernel?

[suchoss]

Thanks for reply arochester.
It worked (the second attempt of dpkg -i /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-image-... with version 3.16.7).

But I am still wondering what does that mean to me? Older version = more vulnerability. Is there any way how to use newer kernell and fix just the wifi module?

If I understand it correctly - the main issue was that new kernell was incompatible with some module. Right?
How can I prevent this problem for future? Or how to check when I can install new kernell again?

Thanks again.

[arochester]

If you read the thread "What kernel do you use" - http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=129757 - you will see that people use a lot of different kernels.

I believe that 3.16 is still the default kernel for Debian Jessie.

If you insist on a more recent kernel maybe you need to try compiling your own - https://www.debian.org/releases/jessie/ ... 06.html.en

Watch out for 4.8! "Linus Torvalds admits 'buggy crap' made it into Linux 4.8" - http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/10/05 ... _linux_48/

[suchoss]

Ok. Thanks for answers.