[SOLVED] Debian 7.5 "wheezy" does not recognise Intel AC7260 (dual wifi and bluetooth)

k3lt01 · 06-12-2014, 04:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by achim_59

Why would I need that firmware?

Read your output and see these lines that tell you it is missing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by achim_59

Code:

W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168g-3.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168g-2.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8106e-2.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8106e-1.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8411-2.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8411-1.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8402-1.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168f-2.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168f-1.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8105e-1.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168e-3.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168e-2.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168e-1.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168d-2.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168d-1.fw for module r8169

k3lt01 · 06-12-2014, 04:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by achim_59

Code:

deb https://packages.debian.org/ wheezy-backports/kernel non-free
deb https://packages.debian.org/ wheezy-backports/kernel/firmware non-free

So I guess the question should be: What did I do wrong?

Any suggestions, people?

It seems to me that you are making things difficult for yourself.
Those sources.list additions are just messy and are not practical.
All you need to add is

Code:

deb http://YOURMIRROR.debian.org/debian wheezy-backports main contrib non-free

where YOURMIRROR is your country code.
It is easy and will give you access to ALL of the backported packages. Once you have done that open Synaptic and click in Reload, then look for the package you need, then go to the "package" menu and select Force Version. This will give you the option of what version you want to install.

The CLI method has been explained above by EDDY1.

evo2 · 06-12-2014, 04:12 AM

Hi,

Quote:

Originally Posted by achim_59

That's probably more output than you want to read, so I'll point out the salient fact: firmware-iwlwifi was not included in the list of packages upgraded. That's why I tried adding the second line shown above. Again I ran apt-get upgrade and got rather less output:

Code:

root@ascomtux:/etc/apt# apt-get upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
root@ascomtux:/etc/apt# less sources.list

Obviously I haven't fully understood what the administrator's handbook says. I admit I haven't read all of it and probably didn't pay as much attention to the details as I should have. Sadly, I really don't have much time for this stuff and the administrator's handbook is not really an ideal learning source, but it's the best I've found to date.

So what exactly is the point that I'm missing? I checked in Synaptic and the installed version is 0.36, whereas the package listed on the backport URL has 0.41. Furthermore, Synaptic does not offer the option to upgrade the package.

So I guess the question should be: What did I do wrong?

Any suggestions, people?

What is the output of the following?

Code:

apt-cache policy firmware-iwlwifi

To install from backports you may need to do

Code:

sudo apt-get install -t wheezy-backports firmware-iwlwifi

To see all available versions of that package see
https://packages.debian.org/search?k...rmware-iwlwifi
It looks like 0.42 exists, if you really want to you can download that package from jessie or sid and install it manually. EG

Code:

wget http://http.us.debian.org/debian/pool/non-free/f/firmware-nonfree/firmware-iwlwifi_0.42_all.deb
sudo dpkg -i firmware-iwlwifi_0.42_all.deb

Note that although this should be fine for this firmware package, in general you should not install packages this way, especially if they are from jessie or sid.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought you wanted to install a newer kernel - if so go ahead and do it. You can get a list of available kernels with something like:

Code:

apt-cache search linux-image-3

Note also that what is reported by lspci is unrelated to having firmware installed. lspci uses a database to map device ids to human readable names. You can try using "lspci -Q" to query a remote database.

HTH,

Evo2.

achim_59 · 06-12-2014, 04:27 PM

YES,YES,YES!!!

I did as EDDY1 suggested and (since I don't know the command for restarting networking) restarted my machine. Network manager, or whatever that icon on the task bar is, now shows me WLANs... well, one at least. I'm now in my flat and there aren't that many in the neighbourhood, I'd guess. Still, the problem seems to have been solved. I'll know fo sure when I try to connect to a wireless network.

@EDDY1: thankyou ever so much. Tell me, are there any really good tutorials on how to deal with debian repositories and updates? I'm grateful for the advice to date, but I'd like to really understand what it is that I'm doing.

If nothing else is available, I will continue working through the andministrator's handbook... well, I'll probably do that anyway, since I really want to achieve "geek" status!

I'll mark this as solved when I actually connect to a WLAN.

EDDY1 · 06-12-2014, 08:40 PM

Quote:

@EDDY1: thankyou ever so much. Tell me, are there any really good tutorials on how to deal with debian repositories and updates? I'm grateful for the advice to date, but I'd like to really understand what it is that I'm doing.

Everyone here are my tutors & Thank you for asking.

achim_59 · 06-14-2014, 06:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by k3lt01

Read your output and see these lines that tell you it is missing.

@k3lt01: I took those messages as warnings and promptly ignored them. The r8169 (according to lspci it's an r8168B) is an ethernet device and has been working all along. I have not yet removed the firmware, so it hasn't hurt anything.

Still, my question was admittedly due to a misunderstanding of what EDDY1 was hinting at.

Quote:

It seems to me that you are making things difficult for yourself.
Those sources.list additions are just messy and are not practical.
All you need to add is...

It's not deliberate, I assure you. I'm just following hints given here and in other forums. I'll make the changes you suggest and see what happens. Thanks for explaining the debain mirrors. The URLs appear to be much better organised than most.

@evo2: Thanks for those details. It fits with the other stuff I've been told. As for the kernel upgrade, I did that quite some time ago... successfuly. I'll need a bit of time to digest all the information you've given but I reckon it' worth it.

achim_59 · 06-26-2014, 10:14 AM

Set up a WLAN at home and connected to it successfully. Problem is definitely solved.

My thanks to all who contributed. I hope the discussion of debian packages and backports is of use to others who read this.

If anyone knows anything about screen timeout settings, I have another thread with a query about that. As usual all hints gratefully accepted.