Cannot detect WiFi after installation of Lite 4.0 on an Acer Aspire 3830T

[cxm]

I installed Lite 4.0 today on an Acer Aspire TimeLine 3830T. Everything seemed fine except WiFi couldn't be detected. Did not find any helpful answers from internet either. Therefore I am hoping this forum may help me solve the issue. Your help is greatly appreciated.

Here are some information I collected.

>ifconfig -a

enp2s0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        inet 192.168.1.21  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 192.168.1.255
        inet6 2605:a000:1110:4151::896  prefixlen 128  scopeid 0x0<global>
        inet6 fe80::2ee9:696e:f159:b820  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>
        ether b8:70:f4:f3:39:37  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 97272  bytes 82235108 (82.2 MB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 78691  bytes 12906341 (12.9 MB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 3  collisions 0

lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING>  mtu 65536
        inet 127.0.0.1  netmask 255.0.0.0
        inet6 ::1  prefixlen 128  scopeid 0x10<host>
        loop  txqueuelen 1000  (Local Loopback)
        RX packets 12199  bytes 1165971 (1.1 MB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 12199  bytes 1165971 (1.1 MB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

wlp3s0: flags=4098<BROADCAST,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        ether 08:11:96:4d:04:28  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

> iwlist scanning

lo        Interface doesn't support scanning.

enp2s0    Interface doesn't support scanning.

wlp3s0    Failed to read scan data : Network is down


> lspci | grep Network

03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Centrino Advanced-N 6205 [Taylor Peak] (rev 34)

>rfkill list all

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

In addition, the syslog shows that the wireless is being toggled on and off continuously.

Thanks!

[trinidad]

Check your BIOS for wifi function switches mapped to a certain key to make sure it's not a keyboard recognition issue. Some go off and don't come back on when you reboot because they are not mapped.

https://askubuntu.com/questions/923687/n...buntu-16-0

To check the Wifi interface just run: sudo iwconfig

If you need drivers look below.

https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/user...rs/iwlwifi

TC

[cxm]

Hi TC,

Thank you for your quick reply. My problem seems more complicated.

I came across the two threads in your reply yesterday. Already changed the keyboard layout from Generic US-105 to Acer laptop. Now only Fn + F3 can toggle wlan and bluetooth; before F2 and F4 could also toggle wlan and bluetooth. There doesn't seem any wireless switch in the Bios setting. I also tried disabling bluetooth.

Wireless is still not working. I am still puzzled.

cxm

[Valtam]

Looks like a flakey, unreliable chipset in Linux. You could opt for a $10 linux compat. USB from ebay or read through the following:

https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2175375

https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2384476

https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=175048

[TheDead]

Hi, pretty sure this was tried but just addign my two cents

Have you tried connecting with the wired connection than do a check for drivers... ? This usually works for me.

Cheers!

[cxm]

Looks like a flakey, unreliable chipset in Linux. You could opt for a $10 linux compat. USB from ebay or read through the following:

https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2175375

https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2384476

https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=175048

Thank you for the suggestions. I haven't found a solution yet after reading the threads.

Hi, pretty sure this was tried but just addign my two cents

Have you tried connecting with the wired connection than do a check for drivers... ? This usually works for me.

Cheers!

I had not actually done it until you mentioned. Looks like it is correct. See below.

*-network               
      description: Ethernet interface
      product: AR8151 v2.0 Gigabit Ethernet
      vendor: Qualcomm Atheros
      physical id: 0
      bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
      logical name: enp2s0
      version: c0
      serial: b8:70:f4:f3:39:37
      size: 1Gbit/s
      capacity: 1Gbit/s
      width: 64 bits
      clock: 33MHz
      capabilities: pm msi pciexpress vpd bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
      configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=atl1c driverversion=1.0.1.1-NAPI duplex=full ip=192.168.1.21 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes port=twisted pair speed=1Gbit/s
      resources: irq:35 memory:c0700000-c073ffff ioport:2000(size=128)
  *-network DISABLED
      description: Wireless interface
      product: Centrino Advanced-N 6205 [Taylor Peak]
      vendor: Intel Corporation
      physical id: 0
      bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
      logical name: wlp3s0
      version: 34
      serial: 08:11:96:4d:04:28
      width: 64 bits
      clock: 33MHz
      capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
      configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwlwifi driverversion=4.15.0-36-generic firmware=18.168.6.1 latency=0 link=no multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11
      resources: irq:34 memory:c0600000-c0601fff

The syslog reports a loop of msg like below. I wish I knew what leads to that. Good night to you all.

[ 5752.864912] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: RF_KILL bit toggled to enable radio.
[ 5752.864919] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: reporting RF_KILL (radio enabled)
NetworkManager[922]: <info>  [1538538185.3396] manager: rfkill: WiFi now enabled by radio killswitch
[ 5754.656826] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: RF_KILL bit toggled to disable radio.
[ 5754.656831] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: reporting RF_KILL (radio disabled)
NetworkManager[922]: <info>  [1538538187.1314] manager: rfkill: WiFi now disabled by radio killswitch
[ 5756.448930] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: RF_KILL bit toggled to enable radio.
[ 5756.448937] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: reporting RF_KILL (radio enabled)
NetworkManager[922]: <info>  [1538538188.9239] manager: rfkill: WiFi now enabled by radio killswitch

[TheDead]

Seems the WiFi is disabled, have you tried your WiFi switch?
Maybe its just in software also when you click on the network icon at the bottom right in the taskbar.

... if I read wrong and everything works, then, uh, Cheers!

[cxm]

Finally, I solved the problem by installing lite 3.8 64-bit. I guess the kernel for Lite 4.0 isn't compatible with the hardware of Acer Aspire 3830T.