Wireless interface has just disappeared

Question

Out of nowhere, the wifi stopped working on my laptop, an Asus UX433FA. The wifi adapter is not recognized by Ubuntu anymore, I do not see it in the network manager.

Output of sudo lshw -C network:

*-network                 
       description: Network controller
       product: Intel Corporation
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 14.3
       bus info: pci@0000:00:14.3
       version: 30
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix bus_master cap_list
       configuration: driver=iwlwifi latency=0
       resources: irq:16 memory:b121c000-b121ffff
  *-network
       description: Ethernet interface
       physical id: 1
       logical name: enp0s20f0u2
       serial: 3e:f8:7b:1f:3c:05
       capabilities: ethernet physical
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rndis_host driverversion=22-Aug-2005 firmware=RNDIS device ip=192.168.42.48 link=yes multicast=yes

There is no more Wifi interface!

ifconfig shows:

enp0s20f0u2: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        inet 192.168.42.48  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 192.168.42.255
        inet6 fe80::f7e2:9b19:30ff:2b48  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>
        ether 3e:f8:7b:1f:3c:05  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 20655  bytes 21508840 (21.5 MB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 14725  bytes 2205670 (2.2 MB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING>  mtu 65536
        inet 127.0.0.1  netmask 255.0.0.0
        inet6 ::1  prefixlen 128  scopeid 0x10<host>
        loop  txqueuelen 1000  (Local Loopback)
        RX packets 4190  bytes 916540 (916.5 KB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 4190  bytes 916540 (916.5 KB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

Internet access is provided by my phone as USB hotspot, but no mention of Wifi here either. I have performed the mandatory multiple restarts and everything is up to date.

Note: the laptop has windows on dual boot, and windows does not see my wifi card anymore either.

Has my wifi card just burned down?

EDIT: here is the output of sudo modprobe iwlwifi && dmesg | grep -e iwl -e 14.3

[    0.014855] ACPI: DSDT 0x0000000099C6B228 0414D3 (v02 _ASUS_ Notebook 01072009 INTL 20160527)
[    0.127801] Memory: 16067824K/16587220K available (14339K kernel code, 2335K rwdata, 4316K rodata, 2584K init, 5196K bss, 519396K reserved, 0K cma-reserved)
[    0.142353] NR_IRQS: 524544, nr_irqs: 2048, preallocated irqs: 16
[    0.143300] DMAR: RMRR base: 0x00000099f58000 end: 0x0000009a1a1fff
[    0.143301] DMAR: RMRR base: 0x0000009b800000 end: 0x0000009fffffff
[    0.143302] DMAR-IR: IOAPIC id 2 under DRHD base  0xfed91000 IOMMU 1
[    0.143302] DMAR-IR: HPET id 0 under DRHD base 0xfed91000
[    0.143303] DMAR-IR: Queued invalidation will be enabled to support x2apic and Intr-remapping.
[    0.299218] pci 0000:00:14.3: [8086:9df0] type 00 class 0x028000
[    0.299241] pci 0000:00:14.3: reg 0x10: [mem 0xb121c000-0xb121ffff 64bit]
[    0.299334] pci 0000:00:14.3: PME# supported from D0 D3hot D3cold
[    0.331463] PCI: Using ACPI for IRQ routing
[    1.690595] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
[    1.727673] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: loaded firmware version 43.95eb4e97.0 op_mode iwlmvm
[    1.768088] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: Detected Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless AC 9460, REV=0x318
[    1.778373] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: Microcode SW error detected. Restarting 0x0.
[    1.778379] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: Not valid error log pointer 0x00000000 for Init uCode
[    1.778405] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: SecBoot CPU1 Status: 0x23, CPU2 Status: 0x0
[    1.778409] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: Failed to start INIT ucode: -5
[    1.778412] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: Collecting data: trigger 15 fired.
[    2.001362] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: Failed to run INIT ucode: -5

Wow: it seems that the wifi card is still found but there is a Microcode SW error detected! Any clue how I can fix this?

EDIT 2: My laptop's model was affected by a microcode update that prevented it from booting on Ubuntu 18.04. See this thread: Ubuntu 18.04.2 boot stuck on purple screen after updates However, there was an update on this topic 2 days ago. It seems that I can now boot normally into Ubuntu without the need for the dis_ucode_ldr option in GRUB that I had to manually add to start again. Stay tuned on whether this helps.

EDIT 3: I was able to apply the new BIOS update, remove the line that deactivated the cpu microcode in grub and updated the microcode to the latest version. However, this did not fix the problem. Actually, I am now unable to connect to the internet via USB once I log in.

It fails in Ubuntu 18.04 too. I have edited the question for a more Ubuntu-centered one. — Shinagan, Sep 05 '19 at 17:45
Maybe you pressed aome hardware switch or button accidentally. — Pilot6, Sep 05 '19 at 17:54
I have just looked, I do not see any external switch/button. So far the only option I see left is a hardware problem indeed. — Shinagan, Sep 05 '19 at 18:07
A review of your manual confirms there is no mechanical off switch. Maybe the WiFi mini-PCIe card inside is loose? I would try removing and then reinserting it. You manual did not provide instructions in so doing, so it's time to call Asus support to ask them. — K7AAY, Sep 05 '19 at 20:27
Please edit your question to add the result of the terminal command: sudo modprobe iwlwifi && dmesg | grep -e iwl -e 14.3 — chili555, Sep 05 '19 at 20:41
Ok so it seems that the issue is related to a Microcode SW error, probably in the Intel Wireless card not in the CPU given that I was able to flash the BIOS and reactivate the microcode updates for the CPU (see EDIT 3). What can I do now with that situtation? — Shinagan, Sep 06 '19 at 12:08

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 08 '19 at 19:11

2

By running sudo modprobe iwlwifi && dmesg | grep -e iwl -e 14.3, I was able to notice that there is a problem with the microcode of the internal wireless card. This is not easily fixable, and the hardware will have to be replaced.

Using an external wifi dongle works as a temporary replacement.

answered Sep 08 '19 at 19:11

Shinagan

183

Same problem here. I need to boot to windows first and then it works. Luckily I have some usb wifi stick that works. A bit slow, but it works – Andrei T Jan 30 '21 at 09:50

Wireless interface has just disappeared

1 Answers1