Turning on WiFi in Buster is not possible [SOLVED!]

[ravy]

Hi. I just got here and I just installed Debian buster. I'm sort of new user to linux world. So.
The problem is I cannot turn on wifi in my Debian. In last 3 4 days, I tried any link I found in google, I removed and reinstalled the OS several times, and nothing helped to get wifi on. I even don't know how to start thrubleshooting the problem. But, I want to stay on Debian and learn it for sure. I'll be so thankfull if you help me to get through this very first problem I'm having. Thanks in advance.

[4D696B65]

Almost all wireless cards require non-free firmware to be installed. First we need to know what chipset your wireless uses.
Open a terminal and run this

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lspci -nn | grep -i net

post the results here

[ravy]

Hi. It's nice to having you helping me. This is the result:

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07:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8822BE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac WiFi adapter [10ec:b822]
08:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller [10ec:8168] (rev 15)

[arochester]

1) Change your sources list so it contains: contrib and non-free

2) TEMPORARILY connect by Ethernet

3) Install the package: firmware-realtek

4) Remove the Ethernet

5) Reboot

https://medium.com/@authmane512/how-to- ... c0a9213c56

[stevepusser]

It appears to be still a staging driver in the stock Buster 4.19 kernel, but graduated to a different "ready for prime time" driver by at least 5.8--at least in the third-party Liquorix kernel. Any help from those running a backports kernel?

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/usr/lib/modules/4.19.0-13-amd64/kernel/drivers/staging/rtlwifi/r8822be.ko
/usr/lib/modules/5.8.0-10.1-liquorix-amd64/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw88/rtw88_8822be.ko

Edit: Maybe at least a 5.2 backported kernel, according to this, if Debian's staging driver doesn't work well enough. https://wikidevi.wi-cat.ru/Realtek_RTL8 ... mbo_Module

[ravy]

I did all of these. Nothing changed ):

The output of

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lspci -knn |grep -i net -A2

is:

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07:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8822BE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac WiFi adapter [10ec:b822]
        Subsystem: Lenovo RTL8822BE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac WiFi adapter [17aa:b023]
        Kernel driver in use: r8822be
--
08:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller [10ec:8168] (rev 15)
        Subsystem: Lenovo RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller [17aa:38c2]
        Kernel driver in use: r8169
        Kernel modules: r8169

[arochester]

Have you got a Network Interface e.g. NetworkManager?

[ravy]

It appears to be still a staging driver in the stock Buster 4.19 kernel, but graduated to a different "ready for prime time" driver by at least 5.8--at least in the third-party Liquorix kernel. Any help from those running a backports kernel?

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/usr/lib/modules/4.19.0-13-amd64/kernel/drivers/staging/rtlwifi/r8822be.ko
/usr/lib/modules/5.8.0-10.1-liquorix-amd64/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw88/rtw88_8822be.ko

Edit: Maybe at least a 5.2 backported kernel, according to this, if Debian's staging driver doesn't work well enough. https://wikidevi.wi-cat.ru/Realtek_RTL8 ... mbo_Module

Sorry, I don't know what to do with these commands. I execute theme in terminal and get error (command not found).

Yes i have nmcli installed.

[Bulkley]

I removed and reinstalled the OS several times, and . . .

ravy, I wonder if you might like to do one more install. This time try MX Linux which might be easier. It is based on Debian but is well configured. I think the non-free firmware is included. MX is easier than pure Debian for someone new to Linux.

[ravy]

I removed and reinstalled the OS several times, and . . .

ravy, I wonder if you might like to do one more install. This time try MX Linux which might be easier. It is based on Debian but is well configured. I think the non-free firmware is included. MX is easier than pure Debian for someone new to Linux.

Thanks to the advice. I actually did try MX, Ubuntu, Fedora, and some other distros for a few last months. But I decided to move on to the grand father's and learn how to live with. This is a problem that need to be solved; and I don't want to clear the problem itself. Thank yu again.

[arochester]

This is a problem that need to be solved; and I don't want to clear the problem itself.

Then what is your problem now? Did you managed to install firmware-realtek?

As a Network Interface I find Ceni, available from Repository, simpler.

[reinob]

@ravy,

It would be nice if you could check the logs ("journalctl -b", as root, will show the log since the last reboot).
If you're not comfortable with reading the log, you can "journalctl -b > output.txt" (as root), and then post the contents of output.txt here (or paste it to some online service).

Please also check that your wireless card is actually enabled, using the "rfkill" command (as root).
Like

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# rfkill list
0: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no

[Bulkley]

This is a problem that need to be solved; and I don't want to clear the problem itself.

Understood.

When I was new to Debian I moved my machine (tower, screen, keyboard, wires, etc) down the hall to the router and connected it with Ethernet cable. There I installed the necessary non-free blobs. Basic but it worked.

Other than that, the other guys that posted know their stuff. I'll get out of the way and leave them to it.

[stevepusser]

If you still have MX on a USB drive, try starting a live session of it, then running Quick System Info from the menu. Pay attention to the first line that tells you what kernel MX is running, then the Network section below. Print or otherwise save that information. If the wi-fi is working on MX as you implied, then we'll know what kernel and driver is being used, and that can be duplicated on standard Buster.

[ravy]

If you still have MX on a USB drive, try starting a live session of it

OK. Thanks to all you friends trying to help me. And sorry to not being around for a couple of days and answering too late.
And thanks to @stevepusser, I wondered what is the major different between Debian Buster and other distributions that I have tried and wifi was working perfectly on them. Bingo! The Kernel!
So, thanks to this post, I upgraded the kernel, and then I installed the backported realtek firmware and the problem was gone! Here is the complete solution for how to upgrade the Debian Buster kernel and how to fix WiFi problem on Debian Buster if anyone needed later.
Thank you all again. Cheers.

[Bulkley]

I upgraded the kernel, and then I installed the backported realtek firmware and the problem was gone! Here is the complete solution for how to upgrade the Debian Buster kernel and how to fix WiFi problem on Debian Buster if anyone needed later.

Good stuff. Now, so that others will notice, could you edit your opening post to add SOLVED! to the title?

[stevepusser]

If you still have MX on a USB drive, try starting a live session of it

OK. Thanks to all you friends trying to help me. And sorry to not being around for a couple of days and answering too late.
And thanks to @stevepusser, I wondered what is the major different between Debian Buster and other distributions that I have tried and wifi was working perfectly on them. Bingo! The Kernel!
So, thanks to this post, I upgraded the kernel, and then I installed the backported realtek firmware and the problem was gone! Here is the complete solution for how to upgrade the Debian Buster kernel and how to fix WiFi problem on Debian Buster if anyone needed later.
Thank you all again. Cheers.

Ummm--a different kernel can be only a tiny bit of the difference. Debian stable ships with an older kernel by default, so a newer kernel and firmware is very often a solution to get newer hardware working, though. MX AHS and KDE editions are based on Debian stable, but with updated kernels, etc. for those with newer hardware that want it to work right off.

[ravy]

Good stuff. Now, so that others will notice, could you edit your opening post to add SOLVED! to the title?

Sure. I didn't know that I should mark the topic with solved flag. Ill mark it right away. Thanks.