Lubuntu 18.04 LTS: Intel 2230 WLAN card failed to show up occacionally

illidan.modeler · 01-10-2020, 11:23 AM

A brand new Lubuntu 18.04 installation with the Canonical built-in Linux 5.0.0 kernel:

Code:

Linux ThinkPad-S3 5.3.0-24-generic #26~18.04.2-Ubuntu SMP

One out of the three times when I boot the system, the WLAN interface does not show up, which means the GUI Network Manager does not show it and 'ip addr' does not show it. I try 'lspci' and I find that the card is not listed.Whe I tried dmesg|grep error, nothing related the WLAN card was shown.

When everything is fortunately to be normal in a new boot up, 'lspci' lists the WLAN card and 'ip addr' shows the card.

Code:

03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Centrino Wireless-N 2230 (rev c4)
	Subsystem: Intel Corporation Centrino Wireless-N 2230 BGN
	Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
	Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
	Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
	Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 29
	Region 0: Memory at e1d00000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: iwlwifi
	Kernel modules: iwlwifi

I upgraded the kernel, the modules, and the modules-extra to distro-latest v. 5.3.0-24. But the problem was still the same.

Code:

sudo apt-get install linux-image-5.3.0-24-generic
sudo apt-get install linux-modules-extra-5.3.0-24-generic

I might no say the driver is broken, as 67% chance it does not have any problem. It was a relatively old Windows 7 Lenovo laptop, whose WLAN worked without any problem for years before I changed it to be a standalone Lubuntu.

Any hints to track the root cause and any suggestion for a workaround?

phantom_cyph · 01-10-2020, 12:25 PM

I think the problem you're running into is that 18.04 LTS released with a 4.15 kernel. Upgrading from that to 5.3 which is currently running in their 19.10 release is likely to cause issues.

You're probably needing to try and do a full system upgrade.. Ubuntu bases aren't nearly as "clean" as you'd hope/pray for

.. so just updating the kernel and modules may not be enough as other .. features (/hacks) may have been added which relate to the wireless. In addition, various libraries which may be used by given utilities may not have been compiled for usage against the 5.0 kernel releases and you're left with more issues..

illidan.modeler · 01-10-2020, 09:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phantom_cyph

I think the problem you're running into is that 18.04 LTS released with a 4.15 kernel. Upgrading from that to 5.3 which is currently running in their 19.10 release is likely to cause issues.

You're probably needing to try and do a full system upgrade.. Ubuntu bases aren't nearly as "clean" as you'd hope/pray for

.. so just updating the kernel and modules may not be enough as other .. features (/hacks) may have been added which relate to the wireless. In addition, various libraries which may be used by given utilities may not have been compiled for usage against the 5.0 kernel releases and you're left with more issues..

As you have mentioned, I have checked the fact sheets on distrowatch, which show that the 18.04 LTS is shipped with kernel v4.15. But my 18.04 LTS, whose distro ISO was downloaded last month, is shipped with a 5.0.0 kernel out of the box. What I have done was merely upgrade the kernel with modules from 5.0.0 to 5.3.0. Maybe Canonical Corp. made some upgrades to the 18.04 ISO since its initial release in 2018 or the installer upgraded part of the system "intelligently" during my installation.

If I carry out a 'system upgrade' as you suggested, will it still stay as a 18.04 LTS distro instead of being a 18.10 distro?