Deleting module version: 7906 completely from the DKMS tree

Question

I'm recently having issues with my WiFi which works a bit haphazardly, and I noticed while installing other apps that the issue seems to come from the backport-iwlwifi-7906 package, but I'm not too sure how to fix it... I don't think I had this issue before switching to Ubuntu 19.10.

I saw this question already, but in my case the network is recognised, so I'm not sure the fix quite applies in my case, and I don't want to risk totally breaking my WiFi by trying something without knowing if it's a good idea!

Here's my lshw -C network output for the appropriate device:

*-network
   description: Wireless interface
   product: Wireless 8260
   vendor: Intel Corporation
   physical id: 0
   bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
   logical name: wlp2s0
   version: 3a
   serial: e4:a7:a0:cc:24:87
   width: 64 bits
   clock: 33MHz
   capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
   configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwlwifi driverversion=5.3.0-23-generic
       firmware=36.77d01142.0 ip=192.168.1.19 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes
       wireless=IEEE 802.11
   resources: irq:129 memory:df000000-df001fff

And here my lspci -nnk | grep 0280 -A2 output:

02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Wireless 8260 [8086:24f3]
    (rev 3a)
Subsystem: Intel Corporation Dual Band Wireless-AC 8260 [8086:1010]
Kernel driver in use: iwlwifi

And here is the full message I get when running apt-get upgrade when everything else has already been upgraded:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
Calculating upgrade... Done
0 to upgrade, 0 to newly install, 0 to remove and 0 not to upgrade.
1 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Setting up backport-iwlwifi-dkms (7906-0ubuntu1) ...
Removing old backport-iwlwifi-7906 DKMS files...

------------------------------
Deleting module version: 7906
completely from the DKMS tree.
------------------------------
Done.
Loading new backport-iwlwifi-7906 DKMS files...
Building for 5.3.0-23-generic
Building initial module for 5.3.0-23-generic
ERROR: Cannot create report: [Errno 17]
  File exists: '/var/crash/backport-iwlwifi-dkms.0.crash'
Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel: 5.3.0-23-generic (x86_64)
Consult /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/make.log for more information.
dpkg: error processing package backport-iwlwifi-dkms (--configure):
 installed backport-iwlwifi-dkms package post-installation script subprocess
 returned error exit status 10
Errors were encountered while processing:
 backport-iwlwifi-dkms
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Thank you very much for helping, I'm not sure what other information might be useful so please do tell me if I should run any other commands to get more outputs!

Edit: after following heynnema's advice, here is the content from /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/make.log (sorry I don't really understand this log, don't really know anything technical about Linux/Ubuntu, so I'm not sure which lines are relevant or not):

DKMS make.log for backport-iwlwifi-7906 for kernel 5.3.0-23-generic (x86_64)
Sat 23 Nov 15:34:09 EET 2019
cc -Wall -Wmissing-prototypes -Wstrict-prototypes -O2 -fomit-frame-pointer   -c -o conf.o conf.c
cc -Wall -Wmissing-prototypes -Wstrict-prototypes -O2 -fomit-frame-pointer   -c -o zconf.tab.o zconf.tab.c
cc   conf.o zconf.tab.o   -o conf
#
# configuration written to .config
#
make[5]: 'conf' is up to date.
#
# configuration written to .config
#
Building backport-include/backport/autoconf.h ... done.
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/compat/main.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/main.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/wireless/core.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/mvm/fw.o
  LD [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/compat/compat.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/mvm/mac80211.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/wireless/sysfs.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/status.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/driver-ops.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/wireless/radiotap.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/mvm/nvm.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/mvm/ops.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/sta_info.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/wireless/util.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/xvt/xvt.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/mvm/phy-ctxt.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/xvt/user-infc.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/wireless/reg.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/wep.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/mvm/mac-ctxt.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/aead_api.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/xvt/utils.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/wpa.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/mvm/utils.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/wireless/scan.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/xvt/fw.o
/var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/mvm/utils.c: In function ‘iwl_mvm_get_sync_time’:
/var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/mvm/utils.c:1468:14: error: implicit declaration of function ‘ktime_get_boot_ns’; did you mean ‘ktime_get_raw_ns’? [-Werror=implicit-function-declaration]
 1468 |  *boottime = ktime_get_boot_ns();
      |              ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      |              ktime_get_raw_ns
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/scan.o
cc1: some warnings being treated as errors
make[9]: *** [scripts/Makefile.build:290: /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/mvm/utils.o] Error 1
make[8]: *** [scripts/Makefile.build:519: /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/mvm] Error 2
make[8]: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/xvt/nvm.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/xvt/rx.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/wireless/nl80211.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/xvt/debugfs.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/wireless/mlme.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/offchannel.o
  LD [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/xvt/iwlxvt.o
make[7]: *** [scripts/Makefile.build:519: /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi] Error 2
make[6]: *** [scripts/Makefile.build:519: /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/drivers/net/wireless/intel] Error 2
make[5]: *** [scripts/Makefile.build:519: /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/drivers/net/wireless] Error 2
make[5]: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/ht.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/wireless/ibss.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/agg-tx.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/agg-rx.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/wireless/sme.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/vht.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/he.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/wireless/chan.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/wireless/ethtool.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/ibss.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/wireless/mesh.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/wireless/ap.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/iface.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/wireless/trace.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/wireless/ocb.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/wireless/pmsr.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/wireless/debugfs.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/rate.o
  GEN     /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/wireless/shipped-certs.c
  GEN     /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/wireless/extra-certs.c
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/wireless/shipped-certs.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/wireless/extra-certs.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/michael.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/tkip.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/aes_cmac.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/aes_gmac.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/fils_aead.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/cfg.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/ethtool.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/rx.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/spectmgmt.o
  LD [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/wireless/cfg80211.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/tx.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/key.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/util.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/wme.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/chan.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/trace.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/mlme.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/tdls.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/ocb.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/led.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/debugfs.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/debugfs_sta.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/debugfs_netdev.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/debugfs_key.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/pm.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/rc80211_minstrel.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/rc80211_minstrel_ht.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/rc80211_minstrel_debugfs.o
  CC [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/rc80211_minstrel_ht_debugfs.o
  LD [M]  /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build/net/mac80211/mac80211.o
make[4]: *** [Makefile:1655: _module_/var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi/7906/build] Error 2
make[3]: *** [Makefile.build:6: modules] Error 2
make[2]: *** [Makefile.real:100: modules] Error 2
make[1]: *** [Makefile:43: modules] Error 2
make: *** [Makefile:30: default] Error 2

And here's dkms status:

backport-iwlwifi, 7906: added

Answer 1

From @Pilot6's comment, I assumed that probably this package wasn't necessary, so did a sweet sudo apt-get remove backport-iwlwifi-dkms, which solved the issue. Still not sure how I got this package installed, but at least now everything seems alright!

Only thing I'm still unsure about: now apt-get is telling me that dkmsis no longer required, is removing it safe? I thought dkms was a pretty central package, but again, I'm very much a newbie here.

Answer 2

You can remove this module completely by

sudo dkms remove backport-iwlwifi/7906 --all

If that doesn't work, you can manually remove it from dkms tree by

sudo rm -r /var/lib/dkms/backport-iwlwifi

Be careful and don't make typos in this command, or it can remove something useful.

This is quite safe to remove this way, because dkms doesn't store info in other places like apt.

Sources must be stored in /usr/src, you can remove from there as well, but it doesn't affect anything.

Answer 3

Another solution:

In my case, all the methods above did not work (after reboot, it appeared again). So, after I detached the wifi module from PC(Jetson Nano), it has been removed.