[Solved] Relatively new wireless card not recognized by Mint 18.3

[somelurker]

I have a relatively new computer with a wireless card that Mint does not recognize. Based on frantic Googling, I believe the problem may be that the versions of kernel officially supported by my version of Mint do not yet have support for this card. If this is the case, I would be comfortable compiling and installing my own drivers. However, I need some guidance:

1. How can I identify my specific wireless card and confirm whether or not a particular kernel version supports that card?
2. Assuming I can confirm that my card is indeed too new to be supported by my version of Mint, where can I find the source for a newer Wi-Fi driver that I can compile and install myself?

Thanks!

[JeremyB]

Post results from terminal for

Code: Select all

lspci -nnk | grep -iA3 net; lsusb

[somelurker]

Here is the full output:

Code: Select all

00:14.3 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:a370] (rev 10)
	DeviceName: Onboard - Ethernet
	Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device [8086:0034]
00:16.0 Communication controller [0780]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:a360] (rev 10)
	Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:84db]
--
3c:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller [10ec:8168] (rev 16)
	DeviceName: Realtek PCIe FE Family Controller
	Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller [103c:84db]
	Kernel driver in use: r8169
	Kernel modules: r8169
3d:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS522A PCI Express Card Reader [10ec:522a] (rev 01)
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 04f2:b627 Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd 
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 8087:0aaa Intel Corp. 
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

[JeremyB]

That one is supported with the 4.15 kernels, or you could use Mint 19

[somelurker]

I tried installing the latest version of the 4.15 kernel (4.15.0-42 in update manager), but I couldn't boot into it. The screen just turned black right after the boot menu. I was forced to revert by going into advanced options, choosing the old kernel, and uninstalling 4.15.0-42. I am trying to stay on the LTS version for more stability. Do I have any other options?

[JeremyB]

Mint 19 is LTS, supported until 2023, but if you want to use 18, disable Secure Boot in BIOS and see https://askubuntu.com/a/1028199/300665

[somelurker]

Thanks! I'll look into both options. By the way, if I can't boot into a specific kernel version for whatever reason (4.15.0-42 in this case), is that the end of the road or can I do more to fix it?

I have been trying to upgrade to the 4.15 kernel on one of my other computers for some time, but there's a strange display glitch and I reverted because I didn't know how to fix it.

Edit: It turns out wi-fi wasn't the only thing broken. I was also missing sound, and probably a bunch of other things. I gave up and upgraded to Mint 19. It had numerous annoyances, but with the help of the people of this forum, I managed to get them under control.