Trisquel not detecting ThinkPenguin wifi adapter after install
I recently installed Trisquel on my ThinkPad x60. Since the wifi card is nonfree and will not work with Trisquel, I got a USB wifi adapter from ThinkPenguin. I tested it while running Trisquel from a USB drive without installing, and Trisquel recognized the device immediately and I was able to connect to wifi no problem. However, after installation Trisquel no longer detects the device and I cannot use wifi. While booting, a "free firmware not found" error repeats for several minutes that from looking at past threads appears to refer to the wifi card, so perhaps that is related. Is there something additional I need to do after installation so that the USB adapter works as it did while running live from USB drive? Thanks!
Do you have htc_9271.fw in your /lib/firmware folder? If not, see if you can copy it from the live system on the USB drive to the /lib/firmware folder on your ThinkPad.
That's not necessary, and improper because it's being done behind the package manager's back so it'll never get updates. The proper way is to use the package manager to install the package called open-ath9k-htc-firmware.
Everything was working for a while, but now whenever I try to log in I get the same "missing free firmware" message for a few minutes and then return to the login screen. From the login screen I am able to see ATHEROS UB93 and connect to wifi, so the device still seems to be working, but the error message makes it seem like it's related to the earlier issue. I am able to start a guest session, but I am unable to run the package manager as a guest so I can't check on open-ath9k-htc-firmware. Once I log out of the guest session I get the same error message and return to the login screen. I'm not sure why this is happening now after a week of no issues. I am running low on disk space, if that could have something to do with it.
The connection issue looks separate from the missing free firmware. Can you log in the terminal you get by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1 (or Ctrl+Alt+F2 or ... or Ctrl+Alt+F6)? If so, you can execute the following command:
$ sudo apt-get install open-ath9k-htc-firmware
Could you try booting with a different kernel?
Press Shift or ESC at boot and in GRUB select advanced options hit enter and select a different kernel.
Here you have a more detailed instruction with images: https://askubuntu.com/questions/621393/how-to-change-kernel-at-boot
The top one is normally the latest then there is probable a recovery with the sawe kernel. So the tird is probable the one you want.
ESC toggles the splash screen on and off and Shift doesn't do anything, whether or not the splash screen is on. Is there another key that could work? Should I do something differently from the libreboot menu?
Isn't the splash screen grub??
If not this is:
When GRUB 2 is fully functional, the GRUB 2 terminal is accessed by pressing c. If the menu is not displayed during boot, hold down the SHIFT key until it appears. If it still does not appear, try pressing the ESC key repeatedly.
I am new to GNU/Linux and don't really understand what grub is. When I power up, I see the libreboot menu. It has two options that mention grub:
-Load test configuration (grubtest.cfg) inside of CBFS
-Search for GRUB2 configuration on external media
The first of those options makes the menu disappear for a second and then return. The second option might work if I knew what files to include on external media.
I can also press 'c' for a "grub>" command line, which might be what you refer to in your last comment. From here I pressed Tab to display all commands. The two commands that stand out as related to the kernel are "xnu_kernel" and "xnu_kernel64," both which give the error: "file '/boot/grub/i386-coreboot/xnu.mod' not found." I don't see a way of accessing "advanced options" from the libreboot menu unless there is a way to do so from the command line. I'm attaching images of the libreboot menu and grub terminal.
If from the libreboot menu I instead select "Load Operating System" as usual, I immediately see a splash screen with the Trisquel logo. During this time, pressing ESC toggles the splash screen, pressing 'c' does nothing, pressing Shift does nothing, holding Shift does nothing, and repeatedly pressing ESC repeatedly toggles the splash screen. I get the "free firmware" error 6 times while booting, after which I am taken to the login screen . The exact error is:
iwl3945 ... : /*(DEBLOBBED)*/ firmware file req failed: -22
iwl3945 ... : Could not read microcode: -22
Missing Free firmware
Where in this process does it sound like I need to select the kernel, and how? Thanks for your time and assistance.
Ok I se what you mean now.
The splash screen is already grub.
It seems that it lacks the option to select a different kernel or advanced options.
Let me looking at the manual of grub and at libreboot.
You can also ask on IRC #libreboot how to boot a different kernel.
I'll try to answer as soon as possible.
On IRC #libreboot they said that libreboot just loads the distro's grub menu so it's a Trisquel issue.
Yeah they didn't help me much either. The answer was too technical and as you say you are new, I wasn't OK with it.
Now that I think about it is not related to kernel. Because you can login with guest but not your user. Did you try to install a new Desktop Environment or something especial?
Does WiFi works with guest? If it does is not related to WiFi. And must be something of your user configuration.
Don't worry we will fix it. Just in case boot your PC from a USB or a LiveDVD make a backup of your important data.
Could you post a picture of the splash screen with trisquel logo? Just to be sure is not kernel
No, I haven't installed a new desktop environment. I can think of only two changes I made shortly before the problem began.
(1) Installing Thunderbird and making the mistake of letting it download all of my emails, which took up all of my remaining disk space. I'll delete these once I can log in again.
(2) I set up my printer. The printer worked during the first session I tried it, but the next time it did not. I don't see how that could be related to the problem, but the problem did begin when I restarted my computer to try to get the printer working.
Yes, WiFi works with guest.
All important data is backed up, so as a last resort I'd be willing to reinstall Trisquel, although I'd rather learn how to address the problem in case it happens again.
A photo of the splash screen is attached.
Thanks so much for your help. I appreciate the time you're putting into this.
What printer is this and how did you install it?
I doubt this is the problem but better be safe.
Splash screen is not what I was expecting :/
When you go to a tty (Ctrl+alt+f2 or f3 or whatever..) Can you use it ? You must put your username and password.
Brother HL-2270DW. I just plugged in the USB cable and it worked. If a driver was installed it happened so quickly that I didn't notice.
I also found the splash screen a little strange, as it wasn't there the first time I installed Trisquel, but appeared after installing libreboot, installing Trisquel Mini for a while, and then switching back to Trisquel.
Ctrl+Alt+F* gives me the repeating "free firmware" error, same as when I try to log in, except that instead of returning to the login screen after a few minutes the error keeps repeating either indefinitely or a very long time.
Ok.
Could you login as guest open a terminal (please tell me if you have trouble with this)
In the terminal type
su - your-user
Of course replace "your-user".
It should ask for a password. If you are able to login in the terminal as your user please do this.
lspci
And paste the result here. You can paste it here as a text file for a better format.
Also if you are able to login try to do a
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
Is your message looking like this??
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/i915/kbl_dmc_ver1_01.bin for module i915
If so please share the exact, maybe taking a picture like the one you took of splash screen so we know what firmare is the one you are missing.
I don't have more time right now, but I am gonna leave this link here:
https://raphaelhertzog.com/2011/03/14/missing-firmware-in-debian-learn-how-to-deal-with-the-problem/
I don't know if it will help us. But I don't want to lose it. For now lets make sure you can start your user from the guest terminal.
I am able to open a terminal as guest using Ctrl-Alt-T (Ctrl-Alt-F* causes the same problem as before). When I enter "su - mason" I am prompted for a password, but when I enter my password it says "setgid: Operation not permitted." I'm sure that I'm typing my password correctly because I when I type it incorrectly it says "su: Authentication failure."
However, I was able to run lspci. Results are attached.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| lspci.txt | 2.05 KB |
Does the "missing firmware" shows anything else?
If you're referring to the error that I get when I try to log in or use Ctrl+Alt+F#, I get the following three lines over and over again
iwl3945 ... : /*(DEBLOBBED)*/ firmware file req failed: -22
iwl3945 ... : Could not read microcode: -22
Missing Free firmware
Sometimes the "microde" line is missing, and occasionally I get a one longer line that goes by way too fast to read. Here's a picture of what it looks like.
1.- turn off your computer
2.Unplug WiFi
and turn off the laptop's integrated WiFi (there is is supposed to be a switch)
3.- turn on (do not plug WiFi)
4.- Try to login
If you login please connect WiFi.
Tell me how did it go
If you are able to login connect WiFi
With the Wifi disabled, I no longer get the "missing free firmware" error when I try to log in. Instead I just get "Starting LightDM Display Manager, Stopping Send and event to indicate plymouth is up" and then I am returned to the login screen.
However, I am now able to open a terminal with Ctrl-Alt-F1. I was able to log in through the terminal, plug in the external USB adapter, and enable WiFi. I then got the "missing free firmware" error, but only a couple of times. I then ran "sudo apt-get update" and "sudo apt-get dist-upgrade" like you said earlier, but did not get a "W: Possible missing firmware" message.
So I think that I can now start a root session from the terminal. Where should '/etc/modprobe.d/iwl3945.conf' be saved, and how can I create it within the terminal?
That is exactly the direction.
Change directory to /etc/modprobe.d/
To do this in the terminal as root type this
cd /etc/modprobe.d/
cd stands for Change Directory.
After that you can create the file
nano iwl3945.conf
This will open the nano editor you should be able to type what you need.
And after that close it with ctrl-x it will ask you to save changes hit the proper key as nano will show it.
Nano has the advantage that at the bottom you will see most useful commands. But, if in doubt you can search internet for tutorials on how to use it. There are others like Vim or Vi but nano is really friendly for beginners.
Don't worry we are closer to a fix now :) follow jxself steps and you will be safe.
This worked! I had to use 'sudo apt-get purge thunderbird*' to get clear up some disk space because running 'update-initramfs -u' gave me 'cp:fails to extend ...: No space left on the device' but after that I was able to restart and rerun that command, and after one more restart I can log in again.
Thanks albertoefg for the time and effort you put to walking me through this. Thanks jxself for your input as well.
The repeated message was probably logged into /var/log/kern.log* and /var/log/syslog*. You can see the sizes of these files with the following command (you can use a graphical file manager too):
$ ls -lh /var/log/kern.log* /var/log/syslog*
If they are indeed large and you do not think you will ever look at them (your past problems are past), remove them (otherwise, copy them somewhere else and then remove them):
$ sudo rm /var/log/kern.log* /var/log/syslog*
Other classical ways to save disk space on the root partition (i.e., the partition mounted at /):
- Remove packages that are not needed anymore (dependencies of packages you removed):
$ sudo apt-get autoremove - Remove .deb packages (only drawback: you need to download the .deb package again to reinstall it):
$ sudo apt-get clean - Remove packages relating to older versions of the kernel (new versions of the kernel do not substitute older versions, unlike any other package) such as "linux-image-*", "linux-headers-*", ... with a version number that is not the largest (in the dictionary order: the leftmost dot-separated numbers are the most significant) or the second largest (for safety: if the latest kernel does not boot or is defective, you can boot the older one that raises no issue).
This is really good advice.
I hope you learned and enjoyed fixing your computer.
As you can see the main way to solve a problem is generally looking at the error and looking for it in the internet.
Sometimes the error has multiple lines and only one of them is the answer.
If you ever have a problem with a program you don't know what is wrong. Try to launch it from the terminal. You can launch any program from tho terminal just type "thunderbird" or "abrowser".
By the way there is a difference between your data and Thunderbird's data.
If you erased the program with purge I am not sure it will delete your downloaded emails.
But you can look on your /home you can see hidden files with " Ctrl+h" or in a terminal with "ls -a"
Usually it is in ~/.thunderbird
You can also look at ~/.cache/thunderbird
The ~ stands for your /home/mason is a common way to write it.
I deleted the mail itself by finding it via
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Thunderbird#Linux_and_Unix
although after reading Magic Bannana's comment and taking a look at my log folder I believe that the repeating firmware error was the real cause of my shrinking disk space.
Thanks again, and yes I learned. I appreciate you explaining the steps.
I didn't realize all of those messages were being logged, but it explains why as we worked on this my remaining disc space shrank from a few hundred MB to 0. I'll try your other suggestions as well. Thanks!
EDIT: Wow, the logs were taking up like %80 of my disk space.
I am a translator!
meh, is any fix for this planned? It's been with us ever since I joined this beautiful forum :/
Create a file '/etc/modprobe.d/iwl3945.conf' containing 'blacklist iwl3945'.
Run 'depmod -ae' as root
Recreate your initrd with 'update-initramfs -u'
Restart
This is a really good advice, I read about the blacklist. What I don't know is how our friend will start a root session.
As libreboot's grub is different and I have no idea what should he do to boot rescue mode. He said he is a begginer. Any suggestions?
When I tried Ctrl+Alt+F1 from the login screen I got the "missing free firmware" message for about 20 minutes, after which the computer froze up.
Same thing with Ctrl+Alt+F2? If not, you can fire 'sudo apt-get install open-ath9k-htc-firmware' there (although it should be installed by default...) or even install a newer kernel: https://jxself.org/linux-libre/