Fresh install Linux Mint 19.1 Wifi not connecting problem

[Linux-NB]

Hi, I am totally new and unfamiliar with linux. First of all, apologize that I am not fluent in English. My machine reject installation of mint 19.3, ubuntu 20.4 and deepin 20.04, all stalled at early process due to something related to cpu, despite the sha256sums check was ok. I am going to post it later. Anyway, I finally was able to install mint 19.1. But the wifi was not connecting. When I tried using puppylinux live usb, the wifi always works. I browsed this forum and tried some terminal code with following result :

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mike-su@mike-su:~$ inxi -Fxz
System:    Host: mike-su Kernel: 4.15.0-20-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 7.3.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 4.0.8 
           Distro: Linux Mint 19.1 Tessa base: Ubuntu 18.04 bionic 
Machine:   Type: Desktop Mobo: MSI model: A88X-G45 GAMING (MS-7900) v: 1.0 serial: <filter> BIOS: American Megatrends 
           v: 1.0 date: 02/11/2014 
CPU:       Topology: Quad Core model: AMD A10-7700K APU with Radeon R7 Graphics bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Steamroller 
           rev: 1 L2 cache: 2048 KiB 
           flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm bogomips: 27143 
           Speed: 1994 MHz min/max: 2000/3400 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1995 2: 1996 3: 1994 4: 1995 
Graphics:  
Audio:     
Network:   Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros AR9287 Wireless Network Adapter driver: ath9k v: kernel port: e000 
           bus ID: 03:00.0 
           IF: wlp3s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
           Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros Killer E220x Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: alx v: kernel 
           port: d000 bus ID: 04:00.0 
           IF: enp4s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
Drives:    
Partition: 
Sensors:   
Info:      Processes: 211 Uptime: 38m Memory: 6.81 GiB used: 790.0 MiB (11.3%) Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: 
           gcc: 7.3.0 Shell: bash v: 4.4.19 inxi: 3.0.27 

#############################################################################################################################

mike-su@mike-su:~$ lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 net; rfkill list
03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Qualcomm Atheros AR9287 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) [168c:002e] (rev 01)
	Subsystem: Qualcomm Atheros AR9287 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) [168c:30a4]
	Kernel driver in use: ath9k
	Kernel modules: ath9k
04:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Qualcomm Atheros Killer E220x Gigabit Ethernet Controller [1969:e091] (rev 13)
	Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. [MSI] Killer E220x Gigabit Ethernet Controller [1462:7900]
	Kernel driver in use: alx
	Kernel modules: alx
0: hci0: Bluetooth
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no

#########################################################################

mike-su@mike-su:~$ nmcli
wlp3s0: disconnected
        "Qualcomm Atheros AR9287 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express)"
        1 connection available
        wifi (ath9k), A0:F3:C1:95:BD:AC, hw, mtu 1500

enp4s0: unavailable
        "Qualcomm Atheros Killer E220x Gigabit Ethernet Controller"
        ethernet (alx), 44:8A:5B:85:09:C4, hw, mtu 1500

lo: unmanaged
        "lo"
        loopback (unknown), 00:00:00:00:00:00, sw, mtu 65536

Does above info give enough clue what the problem is and what the solution. Thank you in advance.

[bc1x]

Good that you verified the .iso before installing.

Did you check the integrity of the medium?

[sleeper12]

What does this show:

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 mokutil --sb-state 

[Linux-NB]

Good that you verified the .iso before installing.

Did you check the integrity of the medium?

I downloaded it from Linux Mint site. And the message on the screen during installation shows it was ok until it stalled. When it stalled, it gives message related to bug that cause first core stalled, another trial moves the problem to 2nd core and another trial moves the problem to 3rd core of cpu stalled. How it stalled ? I'll post it later. At the moment I am trying to get the wifi connection problem get solved first. Thank you for reminding this though.

[Linux-NB]

What does this show:

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 mokutil --sb-state 

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mike-su@mike-su:~$ mokutil --sb-state

Command 'mokutil' not found, but can be installed with:

sudo apt install mokutil

mike-su@mike-su:~$ sudo apt install mokutil
[sudo] password for mike-su:       
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  mokutil
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 20,9 kB of archives.
After this operation, 59,4 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Err:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/main amd64 mokutil amd64 0.3.0-0ubuntu5
  Could not resolve 'archive.ubuntu.com'
E: Failed to fetch http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/m/mokutil/mokutil_0.3.0-0ubuntu5_amd64.deb  Could not resolve 'archive.ubuntu.com'
E: Unable to fetch some archives, maybe run apt-get update or try with --fix-missing?

At this moment, I need help first to get my Linux Mint 19.1 wifi connection problem solved. (not the installations problem as mentioned earlier).

[sleeper12]

Well, I don't know if you have secure boot on that machine or not. But, if you do, it needs to be disabled in Bios.

[Linux-NB]

Well, I don't know if you have secure boot on that machine or not. But, if you do, it needs to be disabled in Bios.

Ok. I get it. Let me check it.

[Linux-NB]

Just checked by entering into the motherboard's BIOS/CMOS setting menu. The secure boot is disabled.

[sleeper12]

And still no wifi?

[Linux-NB]

No. Still can not connect to wifi.

Ps.
I have live Linux Mint 19.3 and puppylinux installed on a bootable usb (using "Easy to Boot" apps), the puppy linux is always able to connect to wifi while the linux mint 19.3 live usb was never able to connect to wifi. But the Mint installed now on my machine is 19.1.

[sleeper12]

Does this do anything:

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 sudo modprobe -r ath9k && sudo modprobe ath9k 

[Linux-NB]

Does this do anything:

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 sudo modprobe -r ath9k && sudo modprobe ath9k 

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mike-su@mike-su:~$ sudo modprobe -r ath9k && sudo modprobe ath9k
[sudo] password for mike-su:       
mike-su@mike-su:~$ 

Give no any result. I started to get a bit panic

[sleeper12]

Well, you have the driver, so I'm not sure why it isn't working. Try:

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 sudo ifconfig wlp3s0 up 

[Linux-NB]

Well, you have the driver, so I'm not sure why it isn't working. Try:

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 sudo ifconfig wlp3s0 up 

Pasted above to the terminal and showed nothing afterwards. Then tried clicked the wifi connection, and the response remain the same as before : "Connection failed. Activation of network connection failed"

[sleeper12]

It might be worth trying a kernel update. I have kernel 4.15.0-101 on Mint 19. See if that's available in Update Manager, View, Linux kernels. If so, install it & reboot.

[Linux-NB]

It might be worth trying a kernel update. I have kernel 4.15.0-101 on Mint 19. See if that's available in Update Manager, View, Linux kernels. If so, install it & reboot.

Just checked, the kernel option available from the update manager menu is only one, ie. 4.15.0-20. For the moment, I am trying to get ethernet cable for a wired connection.

[sleeper12]

If you can't get ethernet, see if you can connect with usb phone tethering:
https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.c ... ernet.html

[Linux-NB]

If you can't get ethernet, see if you can connect with usb phone tethering:
https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.c ... ernet.html

1. hooray ... I am able to connect to internet now, despite I have to use usb phone tethering. Many thanks for your advice. It gives me some early relieve
2. So, I took the chance to upgrade to Mint 19.3. The upgrade to 19.3 was successful. But if I entered into the generic 4.15.0-101, it always end up in "Black Screen".
3. But if I enter the advance menu option, I always able to boot into the generic 4.15.0-20 option. but the problem remains the same, connection to available wifi always failed.
Any further suggestions ?

[sleeper12]

Since you are on Mint 19.3 now, see if you have any luck with the 5.3 kernel.

[Linux-NB]

Since you are on Mint 19.3 now, see if you have any luck with the 5.3 kernel.

Just finish testing on 5.0 and 5.3, neither one works. Mint stalled during booting. So I returned to 4.15.0-20.
There are words on the screen "Soft Bug ; CPU #1 stuck for 23 seconds" This also what happened when I tried to install Ubuntu 20.04 and Deepin 20.
But using the same iso mediums, I was able to install all those distros successfully in multiboot on my brother's few years old Asus A43E Laptop along side Windows 10.

Any further idea ?