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I have a Dell XPS 12 running Ubuntu 13.10 and it doesn't appear to find it's wireless. I have tried the suggestions here but they made no difference

peter@xps:/lib/firmware$ ls -l /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-7260-7.ucode 
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 682892 Aug  4 12:50 /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-7260-7.ucode
peter@xps:/lib/firmware$ sudo lshw -c network
  *-network UNCLAIMED     
       description: Network controller
       product: Wireless 7260
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:06:00.0
       version: 63
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress cap_list
       configuration: latency=0
       resources: memory:f7c00000-f7c01fff

peter@xps:~/backports-3.10-2$ grep IWL7260_UCODE_API_MAX drivers/net/wireless/iwlwifi/iwl-7000.c 
#define IWL7260_UCODE_API_MAX   7
    .ucode_api_max = IWL7260_UCODE_API_MAX,         \
peter@xps:~/backports-3.10-2$ dmesg | grep iwl
peter@xps:~/backports-3.10-2$ iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

peter@xps:~$ find / -name *7260-6*
peter@xps:~$ find / -name *7260-7*
/lib/firmware/iwlwifi-7260-7.ucode 

peter@xps:~$ dmesg | grep -i -A 20 intel
[ 1318.013278] Intel(R) Wireless WiFi driver for Linux, in-tree:d
[ 1318.013281] Copyright(c) 2003-2013 Intel Corporation
[ 1318.015154] cfg80211: World regulatory domain updated:
[ 1318.015157] cfg80211:   (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp)
[ 1318.015159] cfg80211:   (2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[ 1318.015161] cfg80211:   (2457000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[ 1318.015162] cfg80211:   (2474000 KHz - 2494000 KHz @ 20000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[ 1318.015164] cfg80211:   (5170000 KHz - 5250000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[ 1318.015165] cfg80211:   (5735000 KHz - 5835000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)

What I have found is that it appears to be loading an old version of the firmware but I don't know how or why

peter@xps:/lib/firmware$ modinfo iwlwifi | grep 7260
firmware:       iwlwifi-7260-6.ucode
peter@xps:/lib/firmware$ ls *7260-6*
ls: cannot access *7260-6*: No such file or directory

Any suggestions of how to get this setup very welcome.

Community
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Peter Lawrey
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  • Please confirm that you made the changes to iwl-7000.c, compiled backports-3.10.2 and loaded iwlwifi. What interesting clues are in: dmesg | grep iwl? – chili555 Aug 12 '13 at 13:30
  • I believe it's the loading of the iwlwifi which failed as I see iwlwifi-7260-6.ucode is loaded. I had a version iwlwifi-7260-7.ucode already, and replacing it didn't help. Not sure why it doesn't load this anyway. – Peter Lawrey Aug 12 '13 at 13:34
  • The change to iwl-7000.c is supposed to fix that. You might also rename -6.ucode to -6.bak so it can't load and see if it helps. You will need to unload and reload iwlwifi or reboot for the change to be effective. – chili555 Aug 12 '13 at 13:42
  • @chili555 That is what confuses me. No such file exists. Only the -7.ucode exists. – Peter Lawrey Aug 12 '13 at 13:44
  • What is the exact message in dmesg that says -6 is loading. Maybe we can deduce what to fix in iwl-7000.c. dmesg | grep -e firm -e ucode – chili555 Aug 12 '13 at 13:46
  • @chili555 dmesg doesn't mention 7260 at all, nor anything to do with -6 and wifi. Only modinfo suggests it is loaded. – Peter Lawrey Aug 12 '13 at 13:48
  • let us continue this discussion in chat – chili555 Aug 12 '13 at 13:51

2 Answers2

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I suggest you download this to your desktop: http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/projects/backports/stable/v3.11-rc3/backports-3.11-rc3-1.tar.bz2 Right-click it and select 'Extract Here.' Now open a terminal and do:

cd Desktop/backports-3.11-rc3-1/
make defconfig-iwlwifi
make
sudo make install

Now download the required firmware here: https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/egrumbach/linux-firmware.git/plain/iwlwifi-7260-7.ucode Now open a terminal and do:

sudo cp ~/Desktop/iwlwifi-7260-7.ucode /lib/firmware/  <--or wherever you downloaded it
sudo modprobe -r iwldvm  <--If it is not loaded, OK, please proceed
sudo modprobe -r iwlwifi <--If it is not loaded, OK, please proceed
sudo modprobe iwlwifi

Your wireless should now be working.

For those that can't get the ucode file from the above link use this link: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/network-and-i-o/wireless-networking/000005511.html

Aza
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chili555
  • 60,188
  • For those who ask, the ucode file comes from the Debian package: http://packages.debian.org/fr/sid/firmware-iwlwifi – rcomblen Sep 04 '13 at 10:09
  • Thanks, that helped! Does this mean though that now I can't update the kernel packages via system update? – Dmitry Pashkevich Oct 15 '13 at 14:06
  • @DmitryPashkevich- Yes, you can, but you will have to repeat the compile process above. The firmware part need not be repeated. – chili555 Oct 15 '13 at 14:25
  • yeah that's what I actually meant :) thanks. I can update the kernel but I would have to reinstall the backport again – Dmitry Pashkevich Oct 15 '13 at 15:14
  • @DmitryPashkevich- Exactly! – chili555 Oct 15 '13 at 15:40
  • For those that prefer getting things from original sources, the firmware can be found at: http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/iwlwifi#Firmware – Maks Nov 29 '13 at 04:29
  • Apparently the new 3.10 kernel should work just fine. – Braiam Jan 21 '14 at 18:39
  • Worked also for me (12.04) – Noosrep Feb 06 '14 at 08:58
  • Also worked for me with Advanced-N 6235 – Sina Mar 12 '14 at 04:40
  • @chili555: +1. I have been plagued by a similar wireless adapter problem: http://askubuntu.com/questions/612138/wireless-automatic-disconnected?noredirect=1#comment862486_612138 Could you take a look? Thanks. – Tim Apr 23 '15 at 03:07
  • This answer is great. Solves my problem of no wlan0 after removing 3.16 and installed 3.19. followed this answer, I download the backports 3.19 and the corresponding intel wifi firmware. The only difference I did is "make -j". saves me a little time though. – Peng Zhang Aug 24 '15 at 04:54
2

After installing Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty on my Dell Vostro 5470 laptop, I had the same problem. Installing the newest driver worked for me, no need for backports.

It can be found here: http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/iwlwifi#Firmware

In the driver files, there is a Readme with instructions, but here is how to do it:

Download the driver on your Desktop: http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/iwlwifi?action=AttachFile&do=get&target=iwlwifi-7260-ucode-22.24.8.0.tgz

Extract the contents on your Desktop.

sudo cp ~/Desktop/iwlwifi-7260-ucode-22.15.8.0/iwlwifi-7260-8.ucode /lib/firmware/

Restart.

smoortema
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