Ath10k Firmware/ Network Card Issues

Operating Systems & Open Source Linux
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1

Wonderful Community!

I'm in a bind and would be grateful for some help.

I'm currently on the road and trying to play more with Linux. I don't have Wi-Fi at my place, but I do have access occasionally (a few hours a day). I've have successfully created a dual boot with Kali (the only distro I had). The network card not working seems to be a common issue for people with my computer (Acer Aspire V), and I've tried to follow the instructions found online. Most instructions reference the same sources and solutions, and they can be found with a quick search regarding Linux, error code, ath10k and/or the computer make and model.

Helpful sites include:

 https://github.com/kvalo/ath10k-firmware
 https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=208874
 https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2308578
 https://github.com/kvalo/ath10k-firmware/pull/2

upon booting I get the notice:

firmware: failed to load ath10k/cal-pci-0000:07:00.0.bin (-2)
firmware: failed to load ath10k/QCA6174/hw2.1/board-pci-168c:003e:e08e.bin

After following the information online, I type into the terminal:

 lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 net; dmesg | grep ath10k

the following is returned:

07:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Qualcomm Atheros QCA6174 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [168c:003e] (rev 20)
Subsystem: Foxconn International, Inc. QCA6174 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter [105b:e08e]
Kernel driver in use: ath10k_pci
Kernel modules: ath10k_pci
08:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller [10ec:8168] (rev 0c)
Subsystem: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller [10ec:0123]
Kernel driver in use: r8169
Kernel modules: r8169
 [    8.397873] ath10k_pci 0000:07:00.0: pci irq msi-x interrupts 8 irq_mode 0 reset_mode 0
 [    8.664056] ath10k_pci 0000:07:00.0: firmware: failed to load ath10k/cal-pci-0000:07:00.0.bin (-2)
 [    8.664057] ath10k_pci 0000:07:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/cal-pci-0000:07:00.0.bin failed with error -2
 [    8.664251] ath10k_pci 0000:07:00.0: firmware: failed to load ath10k/QCA6174/hw2.1/board-pci-168c:003e:105b:e08e.bin (-2)
 [    8.664252] ath10k_pci 0000:07:00.0: Direct firmware load for ath10k/QCA6174/hw2.1/board-pci-168c:003e:105b:e08e.bin failed with error -2
 [    8.664253] ath10k_pci 0000:07:00.0: failed to load spec board file, falling back to generic: -2
 [    8.669585] ath10k_pci 0000:07:00.0: firmware: direct-loading firmware ath10k/QCA6174/hw2.1/board.bin
 [    8.927225] ath10k_pci 0000:07:00.0: firmware: direct-loading firmware ath10k/QCA6174/hw2.1/firmware-5.bin
 [   10.124523] ath10k_pci 0000:07:00.0: qca6174 hw2.1 (0x05010000, 0x003405ff, 168c:003e:105b:e08e fallback) fw SW_RM.1.1.1-00157-QCARMSWPZ-1 api 5 htt-ver 3.1 wmi-op 4 htt-op 3 cal otp max-sta 32 raw 0 hwcrypto 1 features ignore-otp,no-4addr-pad
 [   10.124526] ath10k_pci 0000:07:00.0: debug 0 debugfs 0 tracing 0 dfs 0 testmode 0
 [   23.019201] ath10k_pci 0000:07:00.0 wlan0: disabling HT/VHT due to WEP/TKIP use
 [   23.019204] ath10k_pci 0000:07:00.0 wlan0: disabling HT as WMM/QoS is not supported by the AP
 [   23.019205] ath10k_pci 0000:07:00.0 wlan0: disabling VHT as WMM/QoS is not supported by the AP

Maybe one of you in the community who is smarter than me and more familiar with Linux can help me solve this... Any thoughts would be appreciated at this time. And if any more information might be helpful, just let me know.

I'm also thinking about scrapping windows altogether and committing to Debian if there is an easier solution there. If I go that route, I'll try to use a KVM via PCI so I can still have access to my games. (From my research, this seems possible...)

This has been a good learning experience for me and I look forward to continue learning with help from the community. Again, thanks in advance to anyone who is willing to contribute time and effort to help me, and thanks for tolerating my inexperience.

Rhydian

2

Kali is a strange pick for anything other than specific use cases - it's not what I'd [typically] consider a general purpose distro. It's pretty much a penetration testing distro. I'd expect some rough edges with Kali linux, and from my experience with it (even in the Backtrack days) havnig to manually load kernel modules was pretty much par for the course.

Anyway,
If I recall there are 2 different Atheros chipsets that have similar numbering, or are sometimes misdetected as each other. This was like 4 years ago... 802.11g era stuff.

I'd suggest trying something very current. Ubuntu 16.10 is pretty new, and can run as a LiveCD LiveDVD. I'd fire that up just to check out how well the hardware is detected.

I presume the WiFi worked in Windows.

3

WiFi works in windows.

Kali is a weird option, but it was available. I had it because I've been interested in learning about networking and pen testing... I thought it might be a useful tool in the learning projects. I've also heard that Ubuntu has some weird spyware type software, so I've been leaning toward Debian.

As for the two chipsets, I'll look into that. But I think I have it right. Is there any way to verify the firmware is for the correct chipset?

4

You probably need to do any updating in Windows.

I just recommended Ubuntu to TEST the WiFi on you system - to make sure it works in any Linux. Debian is fine too for that, but I think Ubuntu has a little better 'fit and finish' for things like WiFi especially.

5

Ah! Excellent idea. I should be able to do that from a USB right?

6

WiFi for some newer ath10 chips has been integrated into the latest kernel which may work for your chip, it's hard to tell without looking into the exact model. but as usual you need to use an up to date distro to actually make use of your hardware. Fedora or opensuse tumbleweed for example.

New ath code was put into the newer 4.8.?+ Kernels just in the last release or two.

7

Awesome. That's good to know. Is there a source that informs the public about such updates?

8

Headsup: even tho the drivers are in the kernel, atheros chips still might cause strange issues. Ie I have an ideapad with the QCA6174 chip, and to get it working I had to blacklist the ideapad-laptop module, couldn't get it working with any firmware tweaks.
Not the most desired fix but a temporary fix until a replacement intel chip arrives in mail.