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Wi-Fi "device not ready" despite installed firmware (Debian Bullseye)

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Finger Connector 3
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Wi-Fi "device not ready" despite installed firmware (Debian Bullseye)

#1 Post by Finger Connector 3 »

Hello!

I just installed the firmware missing for Wi-Fi on my Debian Bullseye installation. I was informed by the installer that I needed iwlwifi-3945-1.ucode as well as iwlwifi-3945-2.ucode. However, after installing the appropriate iwlegacy package, the top panel just tells me "device not ready" when I enable Wi-Fi. The nmcli command just tells me that the Wi-Fi module is unavailable.

I thought that I just had to activate Bluetooth and Wi-Fi simulataneously in the Motherboard/BIOS settings and that caused the "Wireless access LED" to glow red (meaning that Wi-Fi is now activated but not connected). But when I log in to Debian after startup, I can't even tick the "Enable Wi-Fi" button on the top panel without having to resort to using the command modprobe -r iwl3945 and even then, that only causes the panel to display "device not ready" again. I have a feeling I should use nmcli to solve this, but I honestly don't know what to try at this point. And I don't want to have to activate Bluetooth and Wi-Fi in my BIOS settings if I'm only going to use Wi-Fi. Probably doesn't matter too much, but I think it is stupid and redundant since Bluetooth sits unused.

Thanks in advance for helping me!

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Re: Wi-Fi "device not ready" despite installed firmware (Debian Bullseye)

#2 Post by arochester »

You should install firmware-iwlwifi and then reboot.

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Re: Wi-Fi "device not ready" despite installed firmware (Debian Bullseye)

#3 Post by Finger Connector 3 »

I did install firmware-iwlwifi. Not iwlegacy. I just got confused about the names. Sorry about that! For your information

Code: Select all

apt-get install firmware-iwlwifi
just gives me confirmation that the firmware is installed with the latest version; so no problems there.


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Re: Wi-Fi "device not ready" despite installed firmware (Debian Bullseye)

#5 Post by Finger Connector 3 »

Yes, I have rebooted many times now :)

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Re: Wi-Fi "device not ready" despite installed firmware (Debian Bullseye)

#6 Post by FreewheelinFrank »

Wifi device ID would help.

Also check dmesg for warnings concerning wifi, firmware etc.

Sometimes these devices just get stuck in the off state and a complete power down reboot can help. On a mains powered machine, turn it off, unplug and press the on button for 30 seconds. On a laptop, turn off and take out the battery for a few minutes. (Yes, I know some modern laptops don't let you take out the battery without unscrewing the back. Don't try if you are not competent obviously.)

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Re: Wi-Fi "device not ready" despite installed firmware (Debian Bullseye)

#7 Post by Finger Connector 3 »

The device is an Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG (rev 2) with device ID 4222. Anyway, the command dmesg doesn't show any errors anywhere. I also tried removing the battery for roughly an hour and holding down the Power button for a minute, but that did not fix anything.

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Re: Wi-Fi "device not ready" despite installed firmware (Debian Bullseye)

#8 Post by FreewheelinFrank »

It seems you need to install specific firmware and other packages for this device. Have you done so?

https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebia ... w3945/etch

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Re: Wi-Fi "device not ready" despite installed firmware (Debian Bullseye)

#9 Post by Finger Connector 3 »

Should I really try this? The device ID for the device showed via the link https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebia ... 3945/etch is 4227 while my device ID is 4222. Since the IDs mismatch, I am unsure if I can follow the instructions. I just hope nothing bad will happen if I try. Isn't it also risky to use firmware/drivers designed for an older Debian version such as Etch?

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Re: Wi-Fi "device not ready" despite installed firmware (Debian Bullseye)

#10 Post by FreewheelinFrank »

Ooops! Yes, you are right - the instructions are for etc, and those packages don't exist any more.

According to the Debian Wiki (for Jessie, but if more recent kernels load the same legacy driver, it should apply to Bullseye):
As the iwlegacy driver is automatically loaded for supported devices, reinsert driver modules to access installed firmware:

Code: Select all

# modprobe -r iwl3945 iwl4965
# modprobe iwl3945 ; modprobe iwl4965
https://wiki.debian.org/iwlegacy

You said you tried modprobe -r (which removes the module), but did you reload it after that?

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Re: Wi-Fi "device not ready" despite installed firmware (Debian Bullseye)

#11 Post by Finger Connector 3 »

Yes, I did use the command

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# modprobe -r iwl3945 iwl4965
# modprobe iwl3945 ; modprobe iwl4965
several times since that was what I was told to do after installing the firmware. So yes, I had reloaded the module before. I just forgot to mention that.

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Re: Wi-Fi "device not ready" despite installed firmware (Debian Bullseye)

#12 Post by FreewheelinFrank »

What is the output of:

Code: Select all

# dmesg | grep 'wifi\|iwl3945\|firmware'
?

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Re: Wi-Fi "device not ready" despite installed firmware (Debian Bullseye)

#13 Post by Finger Connector 3 »

The output of

Code: Select all

# dmesg | grep 'wifi\|iwl3945\|firmware'
is

Code: Select all

[   16.708580] platform regulatory.0: firmware: direct-loading firmware regulatory.db
[   16.708920] platform regulatory.0: firmware: direct-loading firmware regulatory.db.p7s
[   17.124776] iwl3945: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG/BG Network Connection driver for Linux, in-tree:s
[   17.124780] iwl3945: Copyright(c) 2003-2011 Intel Corporation
[   17.124782] iwl3945: hw_scan is disabled
[   17.124870] iwl3945 0000:08:00.0: can't disable ASPM; OS doesn't have ASPM control
[   17.256774] iwl3945 0000:08:00.0: Tunable channels: 13 802.11bg, 23 802.11a channels
[   17.256779] iwl3945 0000:08:00.0: Detected Intel Wireless WiFi Link 3945ABG
[   18.224404] iwl3945 0000:08:00.0 wlp8s0: renamed from wlan0
[  827.431284] platform regulatory.0: firmware: direct-loading firmware regulatory.db
[  827.431874] platform regulatory.0: firmware: direct-loading firmware regulatory.db.p7s
[  827.610487] iwl3945: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG/BG Network Connection driver for Linux, in-tree:s
[  827.610492] iwl3945: Copyright(c) 2003-2011 Intel Corporation
[  827.610493] iwl3945: hw_scan is disabled
[  827.610577] iwl3945 0000:08:00.0: can't disable ASPM; OS doesn't have ASPM control
[  827.650964] iwl3945 0000:08:00.0: Tunable channels: 13 802.11bg, 23 802.11a channels
[  827.650969] iwl3945 0000:08:00.0: Detected Intel Wireless WiFi Link 3945ABG
[  827.683603] iwl3945 0000:08:00.0 wlp8s0: renamed from wlan0
[  827.950104] iwl3945 0000:08:00.0: firmware: direct-loading firmware iwlwifi-3945-2.ucode
[  827.950118] iwl3945 0000:08:00.0: loaded firmware version 15.32.2.9
[ 2732.146874] (NULL device *): firmware: direct-loading firmware regulatory.db
[ 2732.146893] (NULL device *): firmware: direct-loading firmware iwlwifi-3945-2.ucode
[ 2732.146961] (NULL device *): firmware: direct-loading firmware regulatory.db.p7s
[ 3381.398305] (NULL device *): firmware: direct-loading firmware regulatory.db
[ 3381.398363] (NULL device *): firmware: direct-loading firmware regulatory.db.p7s
[ 3381.398519] (NULL device *): firmware: direct-loading firmware iwlwifi-3945-2.ucode
[ 3381.571591] iwl3945 0000:08:00.0: Master Disable Timed Out, 100 usec
I'm going to guess ASPM control and especially hw_scan is the problem here, but I have no idea.

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Re: Wi-Fi "device not ready" despite installed firmware (Debian Bullseye)

#14 Post by FreewheelinFrank »

What is the output of

Code: Select all

$ nmcli device status
?

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Re: Wi-Fi "device not ready" despite installed firmware (Debian Bullseye)

#15 Post by Finger Connector 3 »

Code: Select all

$ nmcli device status
just tells me that Wi-Fi is "unavailable".

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Re: Wi-Fi "device not ready" despite installed firmware (Debian Bullseye)

#16 Post by panpan »

And the output of this command?

Code: Select all

sudo rfkill list all ; lspci -nnk | grep -iA3 net

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Re: Wi-Fi "device not ready" despite installed firmware (Debian Bullseye)

#17 Post by Finger Connector 3 »

The command

Code: Select all

sudo rfkill list all ; lspci -nnk | grep -iA3 net
shows that neither Wi-Fi nor Bluetooth is hardware- nor software blocked. After that it just tells me that the Wi-Fi module uses subsystem WM3945ABG MOW2 [8086:1001]. Both the kernel driver and kernel module is named iwl3945. There is no new information here.

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Re: Wi-Fi "device not ready" despite installed firmware (Debian Bullseye)

#18 Post by panpan »

Finger Connector 3 wrote: 2022-10-03 11:01 The command

Code: Select all

sudo rfkill list all ; lspci -nnk | grep -iA3 net
shows that neither Wi-Fi nor Bluetooth is hardware- nor software blocked. After that it just tells me that the Wi-Fi module uses subsystem WM3945ABG MOW2 [8086:1001]. Both the kernel driver and kernel module is named iwl3945. There is no new information here.
Check this: https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic. ... 3#p1563364

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Re: Wi-Fi "device not ready" despite installed firmware (Debian Bullseye)

#19 Post by FreewheelinFrank »

panpan wrote: 2022-10-03 11:45
Finger Connector 3 wrote: 2022-10-03 11:01 The command

Code: Select all

sudo rfkill list all ; lspci -nnk | grep -iA3 net
shows that neither Wi-Fi nor Bluetooth is hardware- nor software blocked. After that it just tells me that the Wi-Fi module uses subsystem WM3945ABG MOW2 [8086:1001]. Both the kernel driver and kernel module is named iwl3945. There is no new information here.
Check this: https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic. ... 3#p1563364
Here's another where the same solution worked:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... omments/33

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Re: Wi-Fi "device not ready" despite installed firmware (Debian Bullseye)

#20 Post by Joe2Shoe »

You have to deactivate N-mode:
echo "options iwlwifi 11n_disable=1" | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi.conf
sudo modprobe -rfv iwlwifi
sudo modprobe -v iwlwifi
dmesg | grep 'wifi\|iwl3945\|firmware'

I would just disable wifi power management and reboot:
sudo sed -i 's/wifi.powersave = 3/wifi.powersave = 2/' /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/default-wifi-powersave-on.conf

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