[Solved] Upgrade from 10 to 11, dead WiFi USB adapter (802.11ac NIC) -- rtl88x2bu driver

[aschueler]

This is driving me insane. I didn't upgrade forever because I was worried something would break, didn't think it would be wifi. I do want 12 but had to go to 11 first. Anyway here is the problem:

USB wifi worked great on 10. Stopped as soon as I rebooted into 11.

Am typing this from mac, so can't cut and paste but here is some important info:

lsusb:

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Bus 001 Device 003:  ID 0b05:184c ASUSTek Computer, Inc. 802.11ac NIC

DMESG (at first did complain no firmware, I have loaded it in since):

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usb1-4: New USB device found, idVendor=0b05, idProduct=184c, bcdDevice=2.10
usb1-4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
usb1-4: Product 802.11ac NIC
usb1-4: Manufacturer:  Realtek
usb1-4: SerialNumber 123456

and output from ip a:

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1 lo: I am skipping this as it looks correct if needed let me know
2: enps4s0: NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast DOWN group defaul qlen 1000
	link/ether 00:d8:61:50:6d:84 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

KDE does not show wireless network at all, I can tether with my cell phone temporarily.

Am I missing something simple? Thanks!

[lindi]

Check if wifi works with debian 12 live usb

[aschueler]

Check if wifi works with debian 12 live usb

That's a great idea, was in the back of my mind -- maybe I'll do a fresh install, it's all backed up anyway

Will let you know

[aschueler]

It did not work, the Debian 12 live USB login indicated that the network could not be found and thought I was maybe not using DHCP, which I am. So I presume it didn't find it.

it is strange to see the driver and firmware there without error but KDE either cannot pick it up, or it's off for some reason, or ?

I do have a new usb dongle coming this week (I think, who knows how long to come in) from Think Penguin, maybe I just need something more compatible.

[Aki]

Hello,

DMESG (at first did complain no firmware, I have loaded it in since):

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usb1-4: New USB device found, idVendor=0b05, idProduct=184c, bcdDevice=2.10
usb1-4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
usb1-4: Product 802.11ac NIC
usb1-4: Manufacturer:  Realtek
usb1-4: SerialNumber 123456

Are you currently using an external USB WiFi adapter or is it integrated in the computer ?

Can you report the output of the following command (the inxi program must be installed ?)

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inxi -Fz

Can you report the full system log after boot ? You can use the command:

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script log.txt
su -l -c "journalctl -b --nopager"
exit

You can report logs in one the following ways:

• paste them into the Debian Pastezone service (https://paste.debian.net) and report the URL/link of the paste in a follow-up message

• attaching the logs to a follow-up forum message as a compressed zip or gz file

• paste logs into the body of a follow-up message between code tags (if they fit the size of a forum message)

Anyway, according to the followind hardware database, you WiFi adapter (Device 'ASUSTek Computer 802.11ac NIC', usb:0b05-184c) should be supported from kernel version 6.2+ (Debian 10 is reported as not working):

• https://linux-hardware.org/?id=usb:0b05-184c

[aschueler]

Thanks for jumping in. There is an intriguing error in the system log I didn't know about and am not 100% sure what it means regarding dhclient.

Here are the requesting bits:

inxi output

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 System:    Kernel: 5.10.0-28-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.20.5 Distro: Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye) 
Machine:   Type: Desktop System: Micro-Star product: MS-7B79 v: 1.0 serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: Micro-Star model: X470 GAMING PRO (MS-7B79) v: 1.0 serial: <filter> UEFI [Legacy]: American Megatrends 
           v: 1.70 date: 01/23/2019 
CPU:       Info: 8-Core model: AMD Ryzen 7 2700X bits: 64 type: MT MCP L2 cache: 4 MiB 
           Speed: 1893 MHz min/max: 2200/3700 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1893 2: 1901 3: 1935 4: 1937 5: 4347 6: 4349 7: 2182 
           8: 2172 9: 1889 10: 1898 11: 1991 12: 1904 13: 1891 14: 1898 15: 1934 16: 1938 
Graphics:  Device-1: NVIDIA TU104 [GeForce RTX 2080 Rev. A] driver: nvidia v: 470.223.02 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 driver: loaded: nvidia unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,nouveau,vesa 
           resolution: 2560x1440~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080/PCIe/SSE2 v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 470.223.02 
Audio:     Device-1: NVIDIA TU104 HD Audio driver: snd_hda_intel 
           Device-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 17h HD Audio driver: snd_hda_intel 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.10.0-28-amd64 
Network:   Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet driver: r8169 
           IF: enp24s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
           Device-2: ASUSTek 802.11ac NIC type: USB driver: usb-network 
           IF-ID-1: enx9a502e8c7ec3 state: up speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 1.82 TiB used: 161.28 GiB (8.7%) 
           ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Samsung model: SSD 850 EVO 1TB size: 931.51 GiB 
           ID-2: /dev/sdb vendor: Samsung model: SSD 860 EVO 1TB size: 931.51 GiB 
Partition: ID-1: / size: 900.12 GiB used: 161.28 GiB (17.9%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1 
Swap:      ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 15.95 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) dev: /dev/sda5 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 34.5 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 25 C 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: nvidia fan: 24% 
Info:      Processes: 311 Uptime: 15m Memory: 15.63 GiB used: 2.2 GiB (14.1%) Shell: Bash inxi: 3.3.01  

Next:

will attach on a separate post. too long. Has intriguing dhclient errors.

[aschueler]

Here is the log file from before

[Aki]

Hello,

What's the content of the file named /etc/network/interfaces ?

[aschueler]

was looking at that just now ironically. It looks sparse.

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 # This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

source /etc/network/interfaces.d/*

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

and before you ask:

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mike@Petunia2:/etc/network/interfaces.d$ ls
setup
mike@Petunia2:/etc/network/interfaces.d$ 

and

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 mike@Petunia2:/etc/network/interfaces.d$ cat setup
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

mike@Petunia2:/etc/network/interfaces.d$ 

[Aki]

Hello,

You need to remove (or comment out) the file in /etc/network/interfaces.d otherwise ifupdown attempts the configuration of eth0 that in the logs is renamed and handled by NetworkManager. Let the Network Manager configure network connections at least in this phase.

This should be your motherboard:

• X470 GAMING PRO

If I read correctly, there's no wireless adapter in the specifications. Therefore you added it and I assume it is an USB external WiFi dongle, isn't it ?

From your system logs, this USB WiFi dongle is recognized as USB device, but not as a wireless adapter. There's no missing firmware. Therefore, the kernel 5.10 (you are currently booting) seems that do not support and set up the USB WiFi dongle. Or the USB WiFi dongle is out of service.

Are you currently connecting tethering a smartphone ?

Can you share logs from previous Debian 10 installation (when you reported the adapter was recognized and configured) ? You should easily find them in /var/log/syslog.*

note: please, modify the subject of the first post adding a reference to WiFi adapter; as an example:

Debian Upgrade from 10 to 11, now dead WiFi USB adapter (ID 0b05:184c ASUSTek Computer, Inc. 802.11ac NIC)

[aschueler]

Sorry, I thought I did specify but yes, this is a USB wifi dongle. When I boot into Windows, it works fine. Which is sad. But anyway

I am tethering with a smartphone from time to time

I will add log from just before the update. I have to admit I am not sure what I am looking for in this but learning as I got, and I thank you for that.

[Aki]

Hello,

Sorry, I thought I did specify but yes, this is a USB wifi dongle. When I boot into Windows, it works fine. Which is sad. But anyway

Thanks.

I will add log from just before the update. I have to admit I am not sure what I am looking for in this but learning as I got, and I thank you for that.

According to logs from Debian 10 (kernel 4.19), the USB dongle was using the kernel module named rtl88x2bu :

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Feb  5 01:38:06 Petunia2 kernel: [    5.599816] RTW: module init start
Feb  5 01:38:06 Petunia2 kernel: [    5.599817] RTW: rtl88x2bu v5.3.1_27678.20180430_COEX20180427-5959
Feb  5 01:38:06 Petunia2 kernel: [    5.599817] RTW: build time: Jan 21 2024 07:47:56
Feb  5 01:38:06 Petunia2 kernel: [    5.599818] RTW: rtl88x2bu BT-Coex version = COEX20180427-5959
Feb  5 01:38:06 Petunia2 kernel: [    5.599825] RTW: rtw_inetaddr_notifier_register
Feb  5 01:38:06 Petunia2 kernel: [    5.599842] RTW: 
Feb  5 01:38:06 Petunia2 kernel: [    5.599842] usb_endpoint_descriptor(0):
[..]
Feb  5 01:38:06 Petunia2 kernel: [    5.599851] RTW: USB_SPEED_HIGH
Feb  5 01:38:06 Petunia2 kernel: [    5.599851] RTW: CHIP TYPE: RTL8822B
Feb  5 01:38:06 Petunia2 kernel: [    5.599883] RTW: [HALMAC]11692M
Feb  5 01:38:06 Petunia2 kernel: [    5.599883] HALMAC_MAJOR_VER = 1
Feb  5 01:38:06 Petunia2 kernel: [    5.599883] HALMAC_PROTOTYPE_VER = 4
Feb  5 01:38:06 Petunia2 kernel: [    5.599883] HALMAC_MINOR_VER = 8
Feb  5 01:38:06 Petunia2 kernel: [    5.599883] HALMAC_PATCH_VER = 3
Feb  5 01:38:06 Petunia2 kernel: [    5.604560] RTW: rtw_hal_config_rftype RF_Type is 2 TotalTxPath is 2
Feb  5 01:38:06 Petunia2 kernel: [    5.604561] RTW: Chip Version Info: CHIP_8822B_Normal_Chip_UMC_D_CUT_2T2R_RomVer(3)
Feb  5 01:38:06 Petunia2 kernel: [    5.604563] RTW: config_chip_out_EP OutEpQueueSel(0x07), OutEpNumber(3)
Feb  5 01:38:06 Petunia2 kernel: [    5.605311] RTW: ERROR [HALMAC][ERR]Dump efuse in suspend

The rtl88x2bu kernel module is not part of the standard Debian installation. It is an "out of the tree kernel module" (unofficial), which I have to assume you probably downloaded and compiled manually at some point and then forgot to mention in previous posts, did you ?

As a result, it appears that your USB wifi dongle (CHIP TYPE: RTL8822B) is not supported out of the box in either Debian 10 or Debian 11.

You may:

• try installing with a newer kernel (>= 6.2): you could upgrade to Debian 12 and install a kernel 6.5 from debian-backports

• try rebuild the "out of the tree kernel module" (you used for Debian 10) for Debian 11, too

Hope this helps.

[aschueler]

I thought I compiled and reinstalled the module when I reinstalled. Maybe not. I'm confused now, was sure I did re-install the module. It complained that it was already there where I tried again, and this is what prompted to reach out here. Sorry if I have given you a hard time, I wasn't trying to.

I think I will try debian 12 even though the install usb also cannot make the wifi dongle work. I think I will just replace it with a better supported one, which is probably for the best. Wish I had a wired connection, I used to but... well, long story about rural internent access. I will try to re compile that module and if working will mark this solved.

[aschueler]

I found this post with almost the same issues -- it seems like a newer kernel and or USB wifi is one answer, apparently the linux and this chispet don't get along very nicely but kernel 6.2 forward has it built in like you mention

viewtopic.php?t=155967

[Aki]

Thanks for updating the discussion.

Moved from "System and Network configuration" to "Hardware" sub-forum.