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I am running a fresh install of Ubuntu 18.04LTS, and I am noticing that I cannot connect to the wifi. The error shown in settings is "Wi-Fi module not detected". How can I go about remedying this issue?

This is what I see checking to see the status of any networking hardware detected.

lshw -C network

  *-network UNCLAIMED       
       description: Network controller
       product: Intel Corporation
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 14.3
       bus info: pci@0000:00:14.3
       version: 00
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: cap_list
       configuration: latency=0
       resources: memory:d541c000-d541ffff
HayashiEsme
  • 189
  • See https://askubuntu.com/q/1196308/167850 – Pilot6 Dec 15 '19 at 17:34
  • @Pilot6 I already had a kernel installed that met the requirements, this didn't solve the issue I'm afraid – HayashiEsme Dec 15 '19 at 17:41
  • You could install the kernel a wrong way. – Pilot6 Dec 15 '19 at 17:53
  • Are there any clues in the log? sudo modprobe iwlwifi && dmesg | grep iwl Welcome to Ask Ubuntu. – chili555 Dec 15 '19 at 18:03
  • @chili555 No results I'm afraid – HayashiEsme Dec 15 '19 at 18:15
  • Most likely the kernel is wrongly installed. – Pilot6 Dec 15 '19 at 18:24
  • What is the point of using an unsupported mainline kernel 5.2.x? You have problems with it. While the official Ubuntu 5.3 kernel works perfectly with this adapter. It is not really interesting for Ubuntu users why there is some intermittent work of the wireless adapter on this specific kernel, when this kernel was never supposed to work or tested on Ubuntu. – Pilot6 Dec 19 '19 at 22:12

2 Answers2

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The Intel AX201 is a very new wifi module. It requires kernel version 5.2.x as a minimum. However currently, as of December 2019, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS is packaged with a 5.0.x kernel, and will not come with a kernel new enough to support it out of the box till sometime around February 2020. This is why you'll notice the network module being marked as unclaimed. That is to mean that there is no driver attached to it that can run the hardware. While Canonical strives to ensure that new hardware will always get support as soon as possible (these kernel updates are provided as part of the Hardware Enablement stack), computers with this wifi card will currently have to install a pre-release (a beta designed for developers to test their hardware) version of the kernel to gain wifi.

Install the new kernel this way:

sudo apt install linux-generic-hwe-18.04-edge

and you should be on your way. (the -edge denotes that this is the pre-release)

It is worth pointing out that there are many ways to install a kernel - one possibility is to install a kernel directly from the Linux mainline. However this is generally not recommended as this is only used to help test compatibility for future stable releases, and an optimized version for your distro can often be found instead to improve performance. What is best is to install a kernel update developed for your distro and version specifically.

Hope this helps someone in the future!

HayashiEsme
  • 189
1

The wifi driver seems to have intermittent periods of not being detected. I rebooted this morning (I do have secure boot, UEFI secure mode and fast boot turned off as well) and the wifi is being detected fine again. I'll update this if I have any more details.

HayashiEsme
  • 189
  • Kernel 5.2.x is EoL and problems with it are quite obsolete. – Pilot6 Dec 19 '19 at 22:14
  • @Pilot6 I am responding to your criticism here as it will help more people. There were issues on both 5.2.x and 5.4.x. The point of bringing up the fact that I had 5.2 at the time was to save the effort for someone to tell me that the kernel for 18.04LTS does not support my wifi card at this moment. In the interest of keeping the topic to the problem at hand, I would hope that you refrain from discussing kernel versions as I have explained that it does not matter which kernel I have used. – HayashiEsme Dec 19 '19 at 22:23
  • It seems that you don't see the difference between mainline and Ubuntu kernels. Mainline kernels 5.4.x, or 5.3.x are not supported on Ubuntu and may have issues as you see already ;-) There is an Ubuntu kernel that perfectly supports the adapter. It is used in 19.10 and in 18.04 with hwe-edge. So your problem comes from using of unsupported kernels. – Pilot6 Dec 19 '19 at 22:26
  • The solution is to remove backports and install the official 5.3.0 kernel. But you don't want to do it for some reason. – Pilot6 Dec 19 '19 at 22:27
  • Please stop accusing me of not using the right kernel install. I installed the Ubuntu kernel. – HayashiEsme Dec 19 '19 at 22:27
  • Which Ubuntu kernel did you install? There is no 5.4.x Ubuntu kernel. Kernels from the Ubuntu PPA or UKUU are NOT Ubuntu kernels. – Pilot6 Dec 19 '19 at 22:29
  • Apologies, I do mean the mainline kernel. As far as the Canonical page concerned, kernel 5.3 has not been officially released for 18.04LTS and so is not a path I would like to consider for my distro. Please refrain from giving me advice on how to install kernels, I would like to make the decision on my own. – HayashiEsme Dec 19 '19 at 22:42
  • Was the 5.4.x kernel officially released for Ubuntu? ;-)) I don't insist. If you are willing having these problems, it's your choice ;-) – Pilot6 Dec 19 '19 at 22:45
  • Neither has 5.2 so I don't understand why you insist on harassing me for wanting my PC to work. We make calls like this when stable versions are not out. Can a mod please intervene. Thank you. – HayashiEsme Dec 19 '19 at 22:47
  • I suggest deleting this answer now, because it's not an answer. – Pilot6 Dec 20 '19 at 10:43