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As title says, I'm trying to get the A7000 USB WiFi adapter working on a Thinkpad laptop with Ubuntu 18.04.

I followed the instructions in this post which were to go:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install git dkms
git clone https://github.com/zebulon2/rtl8814au.git
sudo dkms add ./rtl8814au 
sudo dkms build -m rtl8814au -v 4.3.21
sudo dkms install -m rtl8814au -v 4.3.21

Then reboot. All steps appeared to be completed successfully, such that now when I type the last command, I get the expected message: 

$ sudo dkms install -m rtl8814au -v 4.3.21
Module rtl8814au/4.3.21 already installed on kernel 5.3.0-42-generic/x86_64

But STILL, iwconfig does not show the device (just my normal builtin wifi, and no wireless extensions for lo and enp0s31f6), while lsusb indicates it's there (Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0846:9054 NetGear, Inc.).

Any thoughts, friends?

Peter
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    Please edit your question to show the result of the terminal command: sudo modprobe 8814au && dmesg | grep -i rtl Welcome to Ask Ubuntu. – chili555 Apr 02 '20 at 02:15
  • modprobe: ERROR: could not insert '8814au': Operation not permitted – Peter Apr 02 '20 at 14:32
  • Or if you meant sudo modprobe rtl8814au && dmesg | grep -i rtl it gives you modprobe: FATAL: Module rtl8814au not found in directory /lib/modules/5.3.0-45-generic – Peter Apr 02 '20 at 14:34
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    Above you said you were running kernel version -42 and now it says -45. Please show: sudo dkms status – chili555 Apr 02 '20 at 15:08
  • Hmmm yeah good point it seems to have changed since I made the question... still nothing in iwconfig though. ... sudo dkms status gives me rtl8814au, 4.3.21, 5.3.0-42-generic, x86_64: installed
    rtl8814au, 4.3.21, 5.3.0-45-generic, x86_64: installed     – Peter Apr 02 '20 at 15:49
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    "modprobe: ERROR: could not insert '8814au': Operation not permitted" Did you include sudo? – chili555 Apr 02 '20 at 15:56
  • I did include sudo - turned out I needed to disable secure boot though. Did that, and now sudo modprobe 8814au just hangs, providing no output. If I run it with -vvv, I get: https://pastebin.com/62QyXjnB – Peter Apr 12 '20 at 16:19
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    I'm not sure I see anything wrong and therefore fixable in your paste. Are there any other clues here? dmesg | grep -i -e rtl -e 8814 – chili555 Apr 12 '20 at 16:40
  • Hmmm nothing intelligable to me: https://pastebin.com/zBdJysLk – Peter Apr 18 '20 at 21:13
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    There is quite a bit here. We see the 8814au driver stumbling, throwing errors, crashing and sort of recovering only to start the same process again. You have the latest driver version that I can find, 4.3.21. I am persuaded by some of the clues at the github repository: "forked from tpircher/rtl8814AU" Notice that the repository hasn't been amended in about ten months. – chili555 Apr 19 '20 at 15:50
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    At the mentioned tpircher repository, the README says: "This repository is no longer maintained. If you are thinking of buying a product with this chip in: don't, unless you are prepared to put a considerable amount of work in yourself. More generally, don't buy any hardware that is not supported by the mainline kernel." In short, I know of no way to make this device and driver combination work properly. Sorry. – chili555 Apr 19 '20 at 15:50
  • Ah, oh well, some things weren't meant to be. Thank you for your help along the way. What I might try as a work-around is the plug it into a Raspberry Pi with an older kernel version and use the Pi's own WiFi as a hotspot. – Peter Apr 19 '20 at 19:57

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