[SOLVED] Trying to get Netgear AC1200 WiFi USB adapter to work

[JKMooney]

I've been a long time user of Mint and, given the direction Ubuntu seems to be going, thought it might be a good idea to get familiar with LMDE.

I've got a computer in my guest room I do test installs on. It connects to the internet via a Netgear AC1200 WiFi adapter. It currently runs Manjaro, but I've also tried out MX Linux, Peppermint, and Zorin on it. All of those seemed to work "out of the box" with my WiFi adapter. LMDE 4.0, on the other hand, does not. It's detecting my WiFi network, but it won't connect to it. I suppose I could try installing it, running an ethernet cable to it, updating everything (and maybe make sure "contrib" and "non-free" are added) and see if it works after that but I was hoping maybe someone here might have some thoughts?

[antikythera]

boot the zorin ISO again and post inxi -Fxms output please from the machine itself. That way we will know which specific adaptor you have as Netgear have a habit of making two or more versions with differing chips inside. It could be realtek, atheros, ralink...

[JKMooney]

Manjaro is currently installed so I just ran the command from there. Here's what I get for "NetGear" under :NETWORK"

Network:
...
Device-2: NetGear A6210 type: USB driver: mt76x2u bus ID: 1-5:4
IF: wlp0s26f7u5 state: up mac: 8c:3b:ad:bc:44:b7


I thought kernel support rolled in around 4.19, which is what this ISO has. maybe it's not in there yet?

UPDATE: Just booted my MX LInux ISO. It's also kernel 4.19 as well as Debian Buster. It connected through my Netgear USB Wifi Adapter instantly.

[JKMooney]

Ok...

A little more research and I no longer think the Netgear Wifi adapter is the issue. It looks like the network service isn't starting at all and, when I try to start (or restart) it manually, I get a message saying network.service can't be found. "Iwconfig" also shows I have an adapter that's not connected. However, if I start this ISO from a computer connected via ethernet cable, it will connect to the internet. Poking around, I've learned this is a known problem impacting a few distros. The answer might be to connect my guest room computer via ethernet cable, install LMDE, run all the updates, and see if WiFi works after that.

[antikythera]

The support is there, the necessary mediatek modules are in the firmware-non-free which is on the ISO. Not sure why it isn't being recognised though

[JKMooney]

Looks like I solved it:

Once I got it booted and connected to the internet via ethernet. I could update the kernel through the Debian repositories and now the WiFi adapter works just fine. BTW - took the kernel all the way to 5.7

From what I've come to understand, it was a known bug in earlier versions of kernel 4.19. Using the machine to post to this forum right now. It's also got an older nvidia card and I just finished installing the 390xx nvidia legacy driver for it. I suppose I should see if Steam will work

UPDATE: Yup Steam's working just fine. I'd forgotten about the 32 bit driver requirement but looks like they came with the 390xx legacy package and inxi SGx gives me....

Graphics:
Device-1: NVIDIA GF119 [GeForce GT 520] vendor: ZOTAC driver: nvidia
v: 390.138 bus ID: 01:00.0
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.4 driver: nvidia
unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,nouveau,vesa resolution: 1440x900~60Hz
OpenGL: renderer: GeForce GT 520/PCIe/SSE2 v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 390.138
direct render: Yes

So, looks like I"m good to go.