Ubuntu
linux-firmware package

Installing latest linux-firmware (1.187.16) causes wifi interface to disappear

Bug #1943079 reported by J Al-Ansari
8
This bug affects 1 person
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
linux-firmware (Ubuntu)
New
Undecided
Unassigned

Bug Description

Summary
=======

Installing linux-firmware 1.187.16, which became available on 17th Aug 2021, caused my wifi interface to disappear after reboot.

My machine:
Lenovo T15 Gen2
CPU: 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1165G7

I tried force installing previous version 1.187.15, but that version isn't available!
So, in the end, I rebooted into a live CD and re-installed the OS!

In the newly installed OS, I just made sure to NOT select linux-firmware package in the list of available upgrades, and I will stick with version 1.187.15 till I have confidence there is better and working version.

NOTE:

On an older machine, with an older chipset, I did NOT experience this issue.
Older machine:
Lenovo x230
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3210M CPU
Wifi: Centrino Advanced-N 6205

System
======

I'm running Linux Mint Edge, based on Ubuntu 20.04, but with upgraded kernel (5.11.0.34):
lsb_release -rd
Description: Linux Mint 20.2
Release: 20.2

Package
=======

apt-cache policy linux-firmware
linux-firmware:
  Installed: 1.187.16
  Candidate: 1.187.16
  Version table:
 *** 1.187.16 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates/main i386 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     1.187 500
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal/main i386 Packages

Expected
========

Upgrade to linux-firmware=1.187.16
Reboot.
Wifi network Interface must continue to be available and functioning.

What Happened
=============

Upgrade to linux-firmware=1.187.16
Reboot.
Wifi network interface disappeared.
Therefore, cannot use wifi.

Revision history for this message
Kai-Heng Feng (kaihengfeng) wrote :

Can you please attach `lspci -nn`?

Revision history for this message
J Al-Ansari (m-j-3) wrote :

Output from `lspci -nn`:

```
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:9a14] (rev 01)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:9a49] (rev 01)
00:04.0 Signal processing controller [1180]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:9a03] (rev 01)
00:06.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:9a09] (rev 01)
00:07.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:9a25] (rev 01)
00:07.2 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:9a27] (rev 01)
00:0d.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:9a13] (rev 01)
00:0d.2 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:9a1b] (rev 01)
00:0d.3 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:9a1d] (rev 01)
00:14.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:a0ed] (rev 20)
00:14.2 RAM memory [0500]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:a0ef] (rev 20)
00:16.0 Communication controller [0780]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:a0e0] (rev 20)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:a0b8] (rev 20)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:a0bc] (rev 20)
00:1c.7 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:a0bf] (rev 20)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:a082] (rev 20)
00:1f.3 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:a0c8] (rev 20)
00:1f.4 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:a0a3] (rev 20)
00:1f.5 Serial bus controller [0c80]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:a0a4] (rev 20)
00:1f.6 Ethernet controller [0200]: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection (13) I219-V [8086:15fc] (rev 20)
04:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller [0108]: SK hynix Device [1c5c:174a]
09:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:2725] (rev 1a)
0a:00.0 SD Host controller [0805]: Genesys Logic, Inc GL9750 SD Host Controller [17a0:9750] (rev 01)
```

Revision history for this message
Kai-Heng Feng (kaihengfeng) wrote :

So it's Intel AX210.
Can you please also attach dmesg here? Thanks!

Revision history for this message
J Al-Ansari (m-j-3) wrote :

Yes, I believe it is an Intel AX210.
* I booted into Windows, and AX210 is the driver name in Windows device manager.
* Also, in the dmesg output, you'll also see AX210 detected message, on line 1137 in the attachment.

Revision history for this message
Logan Symons (logansymons) wrote :

Temporary workaround:

```
# This is an official source, despite the less common url
wget http://launchpadlibrarian.net/543359934/linux-firmware_1.187.15_all.deb

# Remove linux-firmware 1.187.16
sudo apt purge linux-firmware

# Install linux-firmware .deb
sudo dpkg -i linux-firmware_1.187.15_all.deb

# Hold linux-firmware package to stop updates replacing 1.187.15
sudo apt-mark hold linux-firmware

# Verify installed version
apt policy linux-firmware
```

Once a fixed version of linux-firmware is out the following will need to be run:

```
sudo apt-mark unhold linux-firmware
```

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