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My Aspire 5 has an Intel wifi 6 AX201 wifi card, that just doesn't work. I seen lots of older posts advising to install the 5.3 kernel, but as I have 18.04 LTS with 5.4 kernel...going backwards doesn't seem helpful, especially when 5.4 has support for my graphics card.

sudo lshw -C network outputs:

 *-network                 
       description: Wireless interface
       product: Intel Corporation
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 14.3
       bus info: pci@0000:00:14.3
       logical name: wlp0s20f3
       version: 30
       serial: 34:cf:f6:61:c0:38
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwlwifi driverversion=5.4.0-52-generic firmware=48.13675109.0 ip=192.168.0.107 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11

ubuntu-drivers devices outputs:

== /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.3 ==
modalias : pci:v00008086d000034F0sv00008086sd00000074bc02sc80i00
vendor   : Intel Corporation
manual_install: True
driver   : backport-iwlwifi-dkms - distro free

And this is what I see under "Software & Updates".. (no ability to change driver selection)

Any advice?

enter image description here

UPDATE I just followed the instructions found here to install the Intel® Wi-Fi 6 AX201 160MHz driver and it again didn't work, even after reboot. (same results as above). Baffled..

rfkill list all outputs:

0: acer-bluetooth: Bluetooth
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no
2: hci0: Bluetooth
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no

dmesg | grep iwl outputs:

[    4.599126] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-Qu-c0-hr-b0-50.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.599140] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-Qu-c0-hr-b0-49.ucode failed with error -2
[    4.601381] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: TLV_FW_FSEQ_VERSION: FSEQ Version: 43.2.23.17
[    4.601388] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: Found debug destination: EXTERNAL_DRAM
[    4.601390] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: Found debug configuration: 0
[    4.601704] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: loaded firmware version 48.13675109.0 op_mode iwlmvm
[    4.638673] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: Detected Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6 AX201 160MHz, REV=0x338
[    4.645726] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: Applying debug destination EXTERNAL_DRAM
[    4.646575] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: Allocated 0x00400000 bytes for firmware monitor.
[    4.790849] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: base HW address: 34:cf:f6:61:c0:38
[    4.805279] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3 wlp0s20f3: renamed from wlan0
[    6.295861] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: Applying debug destination EXTERNAL_DRAM
[    6.439366] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: FW already configured (0) - re-configuring
[    6.448594] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: BIOS contains WGDS but no WRDS
nightwatch
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  • Ubuntu 18.04 LTS has two supported software stacks, HWE provides the 5.4 kernel, and the GA stack uses the 4.15 kernel; using the GA stack isn't an option? – guiverc Oct 21 '20 at 02:09
  • I don't know much about kernels, can you provide some instructions, will gladly try them. FYI, check out my update above. – nightwatch Oct 21 '20 at 02:15
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    Please edit your question to show the result of the terminal commands: rfkill list all and also: dmesg | grep iwl – chili555 Oct 21 '20 at 02:16
  • The outputs have been added to the post – nightwatch Oct 21 '20 at 02:22
  • The software stack is selected at install time (the default selected by ISO used for install), refer https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/LTSEnablementStack
    https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/RollingLTSEnablementStack for some details. It's easy to go from GA to HWE, there can be complications going the other way around though.. I'd suggest chasing @chili555's help first though :)     – guiverc Oct 21 '20 at 02:27
  • Just found his user profile, but I can't find a way to directly contact him...any recommendations? – nightwatch Oct 21 '20 at 02:35
  • I am in the chat you invited me to. I await your reply. – chili555 Oct 21 '20 at 14:07
  • @chili555, thought you may want to know, I found the solution,... thx for your help. – nightwatch Nov 02 '20 at 13:34

1 Answers1

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Of course, the problem was Windows, the problem is always Windows...

"Shutting down" doesn't really mean "shutting down" to Microsoft.

I happen to notice that Wi-Fi would fail after I was booting Ubuntu from a previous Windows session... But Wifi would load properly if I was rebooting from a previous Ubuntu session.

Well, the "splinter in my toe" has been that with Windows 10, even though you shut down the computer, it actually stays on with minimal power and annoyingly keeps control of the wifi car as part of its "fast boot" functionality.

This means each time that I was booting into Ubuntu following a windows session the Intel Wifi card would fail because it was already in use by the Windows 10 partition.

Symptoms other may face with this same problem:

1.) Aforementioned, WIFI only fails after a previous Windows session on a dual-boot machine

2.) Your firmware is completely up-to-date from manufacturer

3.) Switching to older kernels doesn't resolve the wifi connectivity problem

4.) After loading -without- wifi, you are unable to manually load the driver via command line

SOLUTION If you are experiencing these symptoms you should:

1.) Boot in Windows 10

2.) go into settings > power > advanced options > Select: Choose what power button does > uncheck fast boot (fast startup)

3.) Re-boot and enjoy your microsoft-interference-free wifi ;-)

Gotta give credit to this threat, that stop me from pulling hair out..

Ubuntu 18.04 cannot recognized Intel Wireless-AC 9260

nightwatch
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