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Cannot Find Missing ath10k Firmware on Debian 9 [SOLVED]

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edquin
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Cannot Find Missing ath10k Firmware on Debian 9 [SOLVED]

#1 Post by edquin »

I'm running the stable release of debian stretch. These are my laptop specifications. When I first installed debian, the installer said I was missing at least ten firmware files related to the atheros wifi card, most of which I was able to pull from this github repository (I placed the ath10k-firmware-master directory in a /firmware directory on a USB drive that was connected during installation). In addition to these firmware files, I also put this required firmware file in /firmware. Though the majority of the firmware files were pulled successfully, two files were still missing. I was unable to find these files online, so I continued the installation without them.

These files are as follows (pulled from the syslog, which complains every time I boot my computer):

Aug 20 14:27:13 debian kernel: [ 2.891565] ath10k_pci 0000:03:00.0: firmware: failed to load ath10k/pre-cal-pci-0000:03:00.0.bin (-2)
Aug 20 14:27:13 debian kernel: [ 2.891566] ath10k_pci 0000:03:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/pre-cal-pci-0000:03:00.0.bin failed with error -2
Aug 20 14:27:13 debian kernel: [ 2.891572] ath10k_pci 0000:03:00.0: firmware: failed to load ath10k/cal-pci-0000:03:00.0.bin (-2)
Aug 20 14:27:13 debian kernel: [ 2.891572] ath10k_pci 0000:03:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/cal-pci-0000:03:00.0.bin failed with error -2

Once I booted into my desktop environment, the network manager was unable to find open wifi networks. However, after some research and testing I was able to connect to my wifi network with the following commands as root:

ip link set wlp3s0 up
wpa_passphrase <MY_SSID> <PASSPHRASE_FOR_SSID> > /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf #wpa_supplicant.conf is an arbitrary file to hold the output of this command
wpa_supplicant -B -D wext -i wlp3s0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
dhclient wlp3s0

This approach works, but I take issue with it since I have to run these commands every time I reboot my computer, and it results in storing a passphrase as plain text in /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf. I also know that it is not normally required to run commands to connect to wifi if everything is set up properly. I cannot find the missing firmware files online, so I cannot be certain that the missing firmware is the cause of the problem. If anyone has any ideas, your help would be appreciated.

Thank you all for your time in reading and considering this.
Last edited by edquin on 2017-08-23 14:15, edited 1 time in total.

arochester
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Re: Cannot Find Missing ath10k Firmware on Debian 9 Stable

#2 Post by arochester »

By default, Debian installs only "free" stuff. To get "non-free" stuff - which is where the firmware is - you have to change your sources list.

(This is not unprecendented. Ubuntu installs "free" stuff and you have to install ubuntu-restricted-extras to get "non-free" stuff

Have a look at https://linuxpanda.wordpress.com/2016/1 ... n-stretch/ particularly the section "Update the source list".

(Don't follow all of the instructions blindly unless you know what you are doing because you could end up doing more harm than good.)

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Re: Cannot Find Missing ath10k Firmware on Debian 9 Stable

#3 Post by stevepusser »

Another workaround are the less-publicized ISO images that include the non-free firmware:

https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unof ... -firmware/

Instead of just pointing us to the manufacturer's page, which does not tell us what your wi-fi hardware really is, I would suggest installing inxi and giving the results of

Code: Select all

inxi -N
which usually provides truly useful information. I have a laptop that's similar, the Acer E5-575G-53VG, so I suspect you may have this chip:

Code: Select all

Network:   Card-1: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter driver: ath10k_pci
in which case, this package provides the firmware: https://packages.debian.org/stretch/firmware-atheros
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Re: Cannot Find Missing ath10k Firmware on Debian 9 Stable

#4 Post by stevepusser »

stevepusser wrote:Another workaround are the less-publicized ISO images that include the non-free firmware:

https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unof ... -firmware/

Instead of just pointing us to the manufacturer's page, which does not tell us what your wi-fi hardware really is, I would suggest installing inxi and giving the results of

Code: Select all

inxi -N
which usually provides truly useful information. I have a laptop that's similar, the Acer E5-575G-53VG, so I suspect you may have this chip:

Code: Select all

Network:   Card-1: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter driver: ath10k_pci
in which case, this package provides the firmware: https://packages.debian.org/stretch/firmware-atheros
Your system also benefits from other non-free firmware for your integrated Intel graphics and sound card, as well as patching the CPU microcode:

https://packages.debian.org/stretch/fir ... sc-nonfree
https://packages.debian.org/stretch/intel-microcode

I would say that this non-free firmware is very important to install--consider the changelog for intel-microcode!
+ This release fixes the nightmare-level errata SKZ7/SKW144/SKL150/
SKX150 (Skylake) KBL095/KBW095 (Kaby Lake) for all affected Kaby
Lake and Skylake processors: Skylake D0/R0 were fixed since the
previous upstream release (20170511). This new release adds the
fixes for Kaby Lake Y0/B0/H0 and Skylake H0 (Skylake-E/X).
+ Fix undisclosed errata in Skylake H0 (0x50654), Kaby Lake Y0
(0x806ea), Kaby Lake H0 (0x806e9), Kaby Lake B0 (0x906e9)

I can see that your next set of questions may be setting up Bumblebee to take advantage of your Optimus system for more demanding 3D applications.
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Re: Cannot Find Missing ath10k Firmware on Debian 9 Stable

#5 Post by RU55EL »

stevepusser wrote:[...]

Code: Select all

inxi -N
[...]
I like it! This little program does lots of cool stuff.

Advanced network card information:

Code: Select all

inxi -n
sources.list

Code: Select all

inxi -r
partition table

Code: Select all

inxi -l
...and the list goes on...

Thanks for pointing this little gem out Steve!

edquin
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Re: Cannot Find Missing ath10k Firmware on Debian 9 Stable

#6 Post by edquin »

I solved this problem on my own by changing a single setting in wicd network manager; for some reason the 'Wireless Interface' field was blank (I set it to 'wlp3s0') so the network manager was unable to find open wifi networks. I thank everyone for their input and their help, since I would not have changed settings in the network manager if I had not made this post.
arochester wrote:By default, Debian installs only "free" stuff. To get "non-free" stuff - which is where the firmware is - you have to change your sources list.
My source list already has nonfree and contrib added to each line.
stevepusser wrote:

Code: Select all

Network:   Card-1: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter driver: ath10k_pci
in which case, this package provides the firmware: https://packages.debian.org/stretch/firmware-atheros
I have the same network card and I already have the atheros firmware package installed. After you posted, I uninstalled it then reinstalled the package to make sure it had installed correctly the first time, and I still get the missing firmware message on boot up. It doesn't really bother me since I fixed my problem, but if you have any ideas I'd like to know.
stevepusser wrote: Your system also benefits from other non-free firmware for your integrated Intel graphics and sound card, as well as patching the CPU microcode:

https://packages.debian.org/stretch/fir ... sc-nonfree
https://packages.debian.org/stretch/intel-microcode
Thanks, I wish I had known about that sooner. What kind of behavior would you expect if you didn't have these patches? (I did not notice any difference)
stevepusser wrote: I can see that your next set of questions may be setting up Bumblebee to take advantage of your Optimus system for more demanding 3D applications.
I actually figured that out awhile ago - in case you're curious I don't use bumblebee because it throttles applications - it doesn't seem to take advantage of the graphics card fully. Now I'm looking into switching over to the Nvidia card exclusively... but I digress.

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Re: Cannot Find Missing ath10k Firmware on Debian 9 Stable

#7 Post by arochester »

My source list already has nonfree and contrib added to each line.
It wouold be interesting to see your sources.list. I note that you have written nonfree, whereas it is non-free...

edquin
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Re: Cannot Find Missing ath10k Firmware on Debian 9 Stable

#8 Post by edquin »

arochester wrote:
My source list already has nonfree and contrib added to each line.
It wouold be interesting to see your sources.list. I note that you have written nonfree, whereas it is non-free...
I meant non-free. I know I have acess to non-free packages. Here it is in case you are curious:

Code: Select all

# deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 9.0.0 _Stretch_ - Official amd64 NETINST 20170617-13:06]/ stretch main

#deb cdrom:[Debian GNU/Linux 9.0.0 _Stretch_ - Official amd64 NETINST 20170617-13:06]/ stretch main

deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ stretch main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ stretch main contrib non-free

deb http://security.debian.org/ stretch/updates main contrib non-free

deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security stretch/updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http://security.debian.org/debian-security stretch/updates main contrib non-free

# stretch-updates, previously known as 'volatile'
deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ stretch-updates main contrib non-free
deb-src http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ stretch-updates main contrib non-free

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Re: Cannot Find Missing ath10k Firmware on Debian 9 Stable

#9 Post by stevepusser »

This is the "nightmare" bug that the newer intel-microcode patches for many recent Intel processors..though possibly a UEFI update for the machine would also fix it. https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2 ... 00308.html
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Re: Cannot Find Missing ath10k Firmware on Debian 9 Stable

#10 Post by edquin »

stevepusser wrote:This is the "nightmare" bug that the newer intel-microcode patches for many recent Intel processors..though possibly a UEFI update for the machine would also fix it. https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2 ... 00308.html
I read the thread, and it recommends that I turn off hyperthreading in my BIOS, but I do not see a hyperthreading option anywhere in the BIOS. Do you have this option on your computer? If I'm unable to turn off hyperthreading, with these two packages downloaded, should I be safe?

(https://packages.debian.org/stretch/fir ... sc-nonfree, https://packages.debian.org/stretch/intel-microcode)

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Re: Cannot Find Missing ath10k Firmware on Debian 9 Stable

#11 Post by stevepusser »

No, I don't have that option in my Acer either, but I have updated the BIOS/UEFI to the latest version (1.27, I think) and have that intel-microcode, either one should do the trick. Note that on my laptop with MX 16 Linux, any UEFI update or major Win10 update will reset it to "default settings" and it starts booting straight into Win10 until I go back into the setup, turn off Secure Boot again, and put the MX-16 efi file back up at the top of the list...pure Debian might be different, though
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Re: Cannot Find Missing ath10k Firmware on Debian 9 Stable

#12 Post by edquin »

stevepusser wrote:No, I don't have that option in my Acer either, but I have updated the BIOS/UEFI to the latest version (1.27, I think) and have that intel-microcode, either one should do the trick. Note that on my laptop with MX 16 Linux, any UEFI update or major Win10 update will reset it to "default settings" and it starts booting straight into Win10 until I go back into the setup, turn off Secure Boot again, and put the MX-16 efi file back up at the top of the list...pure Debian might be different, though
Alright well thanks for your help and thank you to everyone who posted. I'll mark this as solved now.

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