No Wifi access in LMDE 6?

[TuxSymphony]

Loving LMDE6 with one annoyance, the darned wifi isn't working, as I discovered elsewhere yesterday.
I suspect the module has been dropped in kernel 6.1.0-12-amd64 as I have hunted for firmware containing ath5k with no joy. The ethernet is working fine although that resignation makes the laptop less mobile and wiremore.

Device/ module in question:

Code: Select all

Qualcomm Atheros AR242x / AR542x Wireless Network Adapter
driver: ath5k v: kernel pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 168c:001c
IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: <filter>

lsmod | grep ath output:

Code: Select all

ath5k                167936  0
ath                    36864  1 ath5k
mac80211       1175552  1 ath5k
cfg80211         1134592  3 ath,ath5k,mac80211

I remember many years ago having issues with lack of ath5k driver support, now it looks like groundhog day all over again except with a kernel / module / firmware extinction.

The Wifi worked fine in Mint Cinnamon 21.0 to 21.1 although I prefer LMDE.
The ubuntu hardware stack supports the wifi and I'm not keen on a usb wifi dongle.

Any pointers on how to get the wifi working would be greatly appreciated.

[sleeper12]

Is anything blocked? Let's see:

Code: Select all

rfkill list ; iwconfig ; mokutil --sb-state

[TuxSymphony]

Thanks, the output:

Code: Select all

0: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
lo        no wireless extensions.

enp2s0    no wireless extensions.

wlp3s0    IEEE 802.11  ESSID:off/any  
          Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=20 dBm   
          Retry short limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off
          
EFI variables are not supported on this system

[sleeper12]

Nothing blocked & wifi shows as up. Have you tried restarting the router/modem & machine?

Qualcomm Atheros AR242x / AR542x Wireless Network Adapter
driver: ath5k v: kernel pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 168c:001c
IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: <filter>

[TuxSymphony]

yeah thanks, tried this earlier and no change.
The laptop wifi light is on and occasionally flashes but when I look for wifi connections,
nothing is visible in the wifi network, even though the neighbors all have wifi on constantly.
I'm at a loss here after hours of checking and internet searching /sigh

[sleeper12]

I'm not sure if you can do this in LMDE, but maybe reload the driver:

Code: Select all

 sudo modprobe -r ath5k && sudo modprobe ath5k 

Reboot if needed

[surfer57]

Sorry you're having issues with your WiFi. I updated LMDE5 to LMDE6 today on 4 PCs and a laptop with no issues. However, I plugged into Ethernet during the upgrade. Once installed, after reboot, I connected to WiFi with no issues. I have in the past ran into WiFi connectivity issues when the upgrade was completed on WiFi. I had to plug into Ethernet to setup my WiFi.