Mint 20 wireless just stopped working

Questions about Wi-Fi and other network devices, file sharing, firewalls, connection sharing etc
Forum rules
Before you post read how to get help. Topics in this forum are automatically closed 6 months after creation.
Locked
ffaat

Mint 20 wireless just stopped working

Post by ffaat »

Everything was working fine, when my wifi randomly disconnected. I restarted and now WIFI is not even an option in the network settings GUI, but I still have the old WIFI entry in the network connection GUI.

I'm currently running off of the wired ethernet port.

Machine is an Asus X550L laptop.

inxi -Fxxxrz

Code: Select all

System:    Kernel: 5.4.0-52-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 4.6.7 wm: muffin 4.6.3 
           dm: LightDM 1.30.0 Distro: Linux Mint 20 Ulyana base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: ASUSTeK product: X550LC v: 1.0 serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: ASUSTeK model: X550LC v: 1.0 serial: <filter> UEFI: American Megatrends v: X550LC.210 date: 07/09/2013 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT0 charge: 41.2 Wh condition: 42.7/44.2 Wh (97%) volts: 14.4/14.4 model: ASUSTeK X550A30 type: Li-ion 
           serial: <filter> status: Unknown cycles: 432 
CPU:       Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Core i5-4200U bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Haswell rev: 1 L2 cache: 3072 KiB 
           flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 18356 
           Speed: 798 MHz min/max: 800/2600 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 798 2: 798 3: 798 4: 798 
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics vendor: ASUSTeK driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 
           chip ID: 8086:0a16 
           Device-2: NVIDIA GF117M [GeForce 610M/710M/810M/820M / GT 620M/625M/630M/720M] vendor: ASUSTeK driver: N/A 
           bus ID: 03:00.0 chip ID: 10de:1140 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.8 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa 
           resolution: 1366x768~60Hz, 1920x1080~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 4400 (HSW GT2) v: 4.5 Mesa 20.0.8 compat-v: 3.0 direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel Haswell-ULT HD Audio vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:03.0 
           chip ID: 8086:0a0c 
           Device-2: Intel 8 Series HD Audio vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0 
           chip ID: 8086:9c20 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-52-generic 
Network:   Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: ASUSTeK driver: r8169 v: kernel port: e000 
           bus ID: 02:00.1 chip ID: 10ec:8168 
           IF: enp2s0f1 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 465.76 GiB used: 128.98 GiB (27.7%) 
           ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Seagate model: ST95005620AS size: 465.76 GiB speed: 3.0 Gb/s rotation: 7200 rpm 
           serial: <filter> rev: SD26 scheme: GPT 
Partition: ID-1: / size: 456.01 GiB used: 128.97 GiB (28.3%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-0 
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 980.0 MiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/dm-1 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 47.0 C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 2600 
Repos:     No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/gambas-team-gambas3-focal.list 
           1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/gambas-team/gambas3/ubuntu focal main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list 
           1: deb [arch=amd64] http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
           1: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com ulyana main upstream import backport #id:linuxmint_main
           2: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal main restricted universe multiverse
           3: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
           4: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
           5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-security main restricted universe multiverse
           6: deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ focal partner
Info:      Processes: 236 Uptime: 16m Memory: 7.66 GiB used: 1.65 GiB (21.5%) Init: systemd v: 245 runlevel: 5 Compilers: 
           gcc: 9.3.0 alt: 7/9 Shell: bash v: 5.0.17 running in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.0.38 
iwconfig

Code: Select all

lo        no wireless extensions.

enp2s0f1  no wireless extensions.
lsusb

Code: Select all

Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 04f2:b40a Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd USB2.0 HD UVC WebCam
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 046d:c018 Logitech, Inc. Optical Wheel Mouse
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
lspci

Code: Select all

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Haswell-ULT DRAM Controller (rev 09)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)
00:03.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation Haswell-ULT HD Audio Controller (rev 09)
00:04.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Haswell-ULT Thermal Subsystem (rev 09)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series USB xHCI HC (rev 04)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series HECI #0 (rev 04)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 8 Series HD Audio Controller (rev 04)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 8 Series PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev e4)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 8 Series PCI Express Root Port 3 (rev e4)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 8 Series PCI Express Root Port 5 (rev e4)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 8 Series LPC Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series SATA Controller 1 [AHCI mode] (rev 04)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 8 Series SMBus Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.6 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation 8 Series Thermal (rev 04)
02:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8411B PCI Express Card Reader (rev 01)
02:00.1 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 12)
03:00.0 3D controller: NVIDIA Corporation GF117M [GeForce 610M/710M/810M/820M / GT 620M/625M/630M/720M] (rev a1)
I have no idea where to even start with this, so any help would be appreciated. Everything was working fine until it wasn't - I wasn't doing an update or anything a the time, just searching the web.

TIA-

-Rob A>
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Welcome
Level 6
Level 6
Posts: 1026
Joined: Wed Aug 19, 2020 11:38 am

Re: Mint 20 wireless just stopped working

Post by Welcome »

Is there a way to turn WiFi on and off on the laptop? I've had laptops that have a small switch on the side. Check that.
Does your laptop have a function key to turn on and off WiFi? My laptop uses the F2 key, but yours might be different. Check that.
Might check BIOS to see if somehow it got disabled in there magically.
Otherwise, in my humble opinion, it looks like your WiFi card is dead. But, hopefully it's only been turned off somehow.

It looks like a replacement will run you about $10 on 'a popular auction site'.
ffaat

Re: Mint 20 wireless just stopped working

Post by ffaat »

Fn+f2 is supposed to toggle wifi on and off, but seems to do nothing obvious. I couldn't find any settings in the BIOS for the wireless.

I opened it up and removed and reseated the wifi card, but no luck. Next step will be to find the original mint USB I installed from and try booting off that, as it did work in that version. That would at least let me know if it is a hardware issue.

-Rob A>
sleeper12
Level 21
Level 21
Posts: 14397
Joined: Thu May 25, 2017 3:22 pm

Re: Mint 20 wireless just stopped working

Post by sleeper12 »

What does this show?

Code: Select all

 rfkill list && mokutil --sb-state 
TD15

Re: Mint 20 wireless just stopped working

Post by TD15 »

I know it may not be the case, but did you enable UEFI secure boot lately? It will likely block the wifi driver (that was the case with me).
ffaat

Re: Mint 20 wireless just stopped working

Post by ffaat »

Just to let everyone know, it was indeed a failed wireless card.

I had an Asus G73J in storage that was a slight older vintage machine. I swapped the WIFI module from that one and its now working again.

Thanks for the suggestions and assistance!

-Rob A>
sleeper12
Level 21
Level 21
Posts: 14397
Joined: Thu May 25, 2017 3:22 pm

Re: Mint 20 wireless just stopped working

Post by sleeper12 »

Good to hear & thanks for letting us know. :)
Locked

Return to “Networking”