No WiFi in top settings tab (Debian 12) and apt malfuntioning

[BoneCream]

So in the past I installed Debian bookworm on my windows gateway laptop. Wi-Fi didn't work and at the moment the fix was just downloading the drivers, then installing them and of course needed help with that at the time also. When the operating system would crash id just re install from a thumb drive and repeat the steps. my dilemma now is i don't have that flash drive and really just want to get my Wi-Fi working again without going through the trouble of buying another drive. Well i tried to repeat the steps from a previous thread and it does not work. Ill repeat them again and post below the outputs of things. I'm using Tethering via USB for this. also when I go to do "sudo apt update" it tells me this:

sudo apt update
Hit:1 http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm InRelease
Hit:2 http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates InRelease
Hit:3 http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-backports InRelease
Hit:4 http://deb.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security InRelease
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
All packages are up to date.
W: Target Packages (main/binary-amd64/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target Packages (main/binary-all/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target Translations (main/i18n/Translation-en_US) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target Translations (main/i18n/Translation-en) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target DEP-11 (main/dep11/Components-amd64.yml) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target DEP-11 (main/dep11/Components-all.yml) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target DEP-11-icons-small (main/dep11/icons-48x48.tar) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target DEP-11-icons (main/dep11/icons-64x64.tar) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target Packages (main/binary-amd64/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-backports.list:1
W: Target Packages (main/binary-all/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-backports.list:1
W: Target Translations (main/i18n/Translation-en_US) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-backports.list:1
W: Target Translations (main/i18n/Translation-en) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-backports.list:1
W: Target DEP-11 (main/dep11/Components-amd64.yml) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-backports.list:1
W: Target DEP-11 (main/dep11/Components-all.yml) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-backports.list:1
W: Target DEP-11-icons-small (main/dep11/icons-48x48.tar) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-backports.list:1
W: Target DEP-11-icons (main/dep11/icons-64x64.tar) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-backports.list:1
W: Target Packages (main/binary-amd64/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target Packages (main/binary-all/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target Translations (main/i18n/Translation-en_US) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target Translations (main/i18n/Translation-en) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target DEP-11 (main/dep11/Components-amd64.yml) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target DEP-11 (main/dep11/Components-all.yml) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target DEP-11-icons-small (main/dep11/icons-48x48.tar) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target DEP-11-icons (main/dep11/icons-64x64.tar) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5
W: Target Packages (main/binary-amd64/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-backports.list:1
W: Target Packages (main/binary-all/Packages) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-backports.list:1
W: Target Translations (main/i18n/Translation-en_US) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-backports.list:1
W: Target Translations (main/i18n/Translation-en) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-backports.list:1
W: Target DEP-11 (main/dep11/Components-amd64.yml) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-backports.list:1
W: Target DEP-11 (main/dep11/Components-all.yml) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-backports.list:1
W: Target DEP-11-icons-small (main/dep11/icons-48x48.tar) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-backports.list:1
W: Target DEP-11-icons (main/dep11/icons-64x64.tar) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-backports.list:1


Checked the files with nano and mousepad nothing shows up using mousepad but shows with nano and doing anything anyone says with a simple google search simply doesn't work.

 

[BoneCream]

Also i just fixed the sudo apt update thing with a python script. but still.

normally after downloading and installing a driver with git, it works. thats how i fixed my wifi not showing up in the past. with this.
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install make gcc linux-headers-$(uname -r) build-essential git

git clone https://github.com/lwfinger/rtw88.git
cd rtw88
make
sudo make install


then id reinstall and everything would work normally. but instead it now does this.


sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install make gcc linux-headers-$(uname -r) build-essential git

git clone https://github.com/lwfinger/rtw88.git
cd rtw88
make
sudo make install
Hit:1 http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm InRelease
Hit:2 http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates InRelease
Hit:3 http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-backports InRelease
Hit:4 http://deb.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security InRelease
Reading package lists... Done
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package linux-headers-6.1.0-28-amd64
E: Couldn't find any package by glob 'linux-headers-6.1.0-28-amd64'
E: Couldn't find any package by regex 'linux-headers-6.1.0-28-amd64'
fatal: destination path 'rtw88' already exists and is not an empty directory.
make -j1 -C /lib/modules/6.1.0-28-amd64/build M=$PWD modules
make[1]: *** /lib/modules/6.1.0-28-amd64/build: No such file or directory. Stop.
make: *** [Makefile:183: all] Error 2
make -j1 -C /lib/modules/6.1.0-28-amd64/build M=$PWD modules
make[1]: *** /lib/modules/6.1.0-28-amd64/build: No such file or directory. Stop.
make: *** [Makefile:183: all] Error 2
toor@debian:~/rtw88$

since the last time i fixed this the only thing i was ding was using it to learn how to make my website better. but i wound up getting super busy with my job and my laptop has been sitting for like 3 or 4 months, powered off. so idk why the modules or drivers are missing?

do i need to reinstall? if so how?

 

[Condobloke]

I am out of my depth here....but////.....i noticed this: Unable to locate package linux-headers-6.1.0-28-amd64

That means to me that the kernel in use has changed.....it has probably moved on when it has updated (normal behaviour)

If you hit the down arrow when the grub menu is entered.....it will stop the boot process, and also allow you to select the Linux Kernel : 6.1.0-28

Give that a try. It will do no harm if it doesnt work

 

[BoneCream]

That didn't allow me to find a way to change my kernel being used. But what it did do is speed up my booting process from 1 or 2 minutes to less than 30 seconds. After main screen popped up and hit enter it began to black screen showing sequences I hit bottom button a couple times it froze for a sec then debian booted up instantly in like 3 or 4 seconds

 

[Condobloke]

When the operating system would crash id just re install from a thumb drive and repeat the steps.

Why did the OS crash ?

i just fixed the sudo apt update thing with a python script

Does that mean the ""W: Target DEP-11-icons (main/dep11/icons-64x64.tar) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5"" errors no longer appear ?

After main screen popped up and hit enter it began to black screen showing sequences I hit bottom button....etc etc etc.....

I think you need to do a reinstall, and also think about how it got to be in a mess.

Needing to reinstall every time it crashes, is not cool.

Follow what @osprey says below

 

[osprey]

Also i just fixed the sudo apt update thing with a python script. but still.

normally after downloading and installing a driver with git, it works. thats how i fixed my wifi not showing up in the past. with this.
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install make gcc linux-headers-$(uname -r) build-essential git

git clone https://github.com/lwfinger/rtw88.git
cd rtw88
make
sudo make install


then id reinstall and everything would work normally. but instead it now does this.


sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install make gcc linux-headers-$(uname -r) build-essential git

git clone https://github.com/lwfinger/rtw88.git
cd rtw88
make
sudo make install
Hit:1 http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm InRelease
Hit:2 http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-updates InRelease
Hit:3 http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-backports InRelease
Hit:4 http://deb.debian.org/debian-security bookworm-security InRelease
Reading package lists... Done
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package linux-headers-6.1.0-28-amd64
E: Couldn't find any package by glob 'linux-headers-6.1.0-28-amd64'
E: Couldn't find any package by regex 'linux-headers-6.1.0-28-amd64'
fatal: destination path 'rtw88' already exists and is not an empty directory.
make -j1 -C /lib/modules/6.1.0-28-amd64/build M=$PWD modules
make[1]: *** /lib/modules/6.1.0-28-amd64/build: No such file or directory. Stop.
make: *** [Makefile:183: all] Error 2
make -j1 -C /lib/modules/6.1.0-28-amd64/build M=$PWD modules
make[1]: *** /lib/modules/6.1.0-28-amd64/build: No such file or directory. Stop.
make: *** [Makefile:183: all] Error 2
toor@debian:~/rtw88$

since the last time i fixed this the only thing i was ding was using it to learn how to make my website better. but i wound up getting super busy with my job and my laptop has been sitting for like 3 or 4 months, powered off. so idk why the modules or drivers are missing?

do i need to reinstall? if so how?

The apt-get install line:

apt-get install make gcc linux-headers-$(uname -r) build-essential git

has redundancies because the build-essential package already includes make and gcc. You can check the build-essential programs in /usr/share/doc/build-essential/list once build-essential is installed.

The second issue with the command is that it's usually unnecessary to install the linux-headers-$(uname -r) separately if the the package: linux-headers-amd64, is installed. This latter package will install the matching linux headers for the various kernels on the system at each upgrade. If you only want a particular version of headers, and not have them for each kernel, then one can install particular headers, but since the driver under consideration needs to be recompiled for each new kernel, it's more useful to install the linux-header-amd64 meta-package.

In relation to the output: "configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-backports.list:1", this means that in the sources files on your system, the repositories have been included in at least two different entries, either in the one file or in separate files. The solution to this is to review all the sources files in /etc/apt/sources.list and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ and omit the duplicate entries.

In relation to the error messages from the make command about the inability to find the header files, you need to ensure the header files associated with the current kernel are in fact installed before you try and compile the driver. Check the /usr/src/linux-headers... directory before running any compiling of the driver. Same goes for the modules for that kernel in /lib/modules...

Hopefully that all helps.

 

[BoneCream]

The apt-get install line:

apt-get install make gcc linux-headers-$(uname -r) build-essential git

has redundancies because the build-essential package already includes make and gcc. You can check the build-essential programs in /usr/share/doc/build-essential/list once build-essential is installed.

The second issue with the command is that it's usually unnecessary to install the linux-headers-$(uname -r) separately if the the package: linux-headers-amd64, is installed. This latter package will install the matching linux headers for the various kernels on the system at each upgrade. If you only want a particular version of headers, and not have them for each kernel, then one can install particular headers, but since the driver under consideration needs to be recompiled for each new kernel, it's more useful to install the linux-header-amd64 meta-package.

In relation to the output: "configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-backports.list:1", this means that in the sources files on your system, the repositories have been included in at least two different entries, either in the one file or in separate files. The solution to this is to review all the sources files in /etc/apt/sources.list and /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ and omit the duplicate entries.

In relation to the error messages from the make command about the inability to find the header files, you need to ensure the header files associated with the current kernel are in fact installed before you try and compile the driver. Check the /usr/src/linux-headers... directory before running any compiling of the driver. Same goes for the modules for that kernel in /lib/modules...

Hopefully that all helps.

did apt-get install make gcc linux-headers-$(uname -r) build-essential git and it spat this back at me
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
make is already the newest version (4.3-4.1).
gcc is already the newest version (4:12.2.0-3).
linux-headers-6.1.0-35-amd64 is already the newest version (6.1.137-1).
linux-headers-6.1.0-35-amd64 set to manually installed.
build-essential is already the newest version (12.9).
git is already the newest version (1:2.39.5-0+deb12u2).
The following package was automatically installed and is no longer required:
linux-image-6.1.0-28-amd64
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove it.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

 

[BoneCream]

Why did the OS crash ?


Does that mean the ""W: Target DEP-11-icons (main/dep11/icons-64x64.tar) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5"" errors no longer appear ?


I think you need to do a reinstall, and also think about how it got to be in a mess.

Needing to reinstall every time it crashes, is not cool.

Follow what @osprey says below

""W: Target DEP-11-icons (main/dep11/icons-64x64.tar) is configured multiple times in /etc/apt/sources.list:3 and /etc/apt/sources.list:5"" doesnt show up anymore i read a post on how to fix it, it was a python script that removed all the duplicates in the file locations

 

[osprey]

did apt-get install make gcc linux-headers-$(uname -r) build-essential git and it spat this back at me
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
make is already the newest version (4.3-4.1).
gcc is already the newest version (4:12.2.0-3).
linux-headers-6.1.0-35-amd64 is already the newest version (6.1.137-1).
linux-headers-6.1.0-35-amd64 set to manually installed.
build-essential is already the newest version (12.9).
git is already the newest version (1:2.39.5-0+deb12u2).
The following package was automatically installed and is no longer required:
linux-image-6.1.0-28-amd64
Use 'sudo apt autoremove' to remove it.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

The make program in post #2 is complaining: "Unable to locate package linux-headers-6.1.0-28-amd64".

Which kernel are you compiling against? It appears your current kernel is: linux-headers-6.1.0-35-amd64, and the earlier kernel is slated for removal from the output in post #7.

As suggested in post #6, it's wise to check the presence of the current kernel headers that match the current kernel before compilation.

 

[BoneCream]

See it didn't really "crash" by crash I mean. I turned it on one day after not using for 3 months then all of the sudden my wifi button was gone. Checked to see of it was rtw88 driver. And it says unable to locate package/driver. Amd I also don't know how to delete all of that stuff and redo it from scratch

 

[BoneCream]

And when I tried to add backports. In the begging of this post. Those outputs are what it gave me. Been stuck ever since. I might look some more stuff up like how to remove the rtw88 driver then re install it. It's what is inside my laptop. I know if I reinstall and repeat steps for installing driver again amd fixing Apts it will work again. But I don't have USB flash drive at the moment

 

[osprey]

And when I tried to add backports. In the begging of this post. Those outputs are what it gave me. Been stuck ever since. I might look some more stuff up like how to remove the rtw88 driver then re install it. It's what is inside my laptop. I know if I reinstall and repeat steps for installing driver again amd fixing Apts it will work again. But I don't have USB flash drive at the moment

There's no need to remove the old driver which evidently is compiled from an earlier kernel. One only needs to compile a new driver from the current kernel and matching header files. The new kernel will not load the old driver because it won't identify it as fitting the hardware, rather, if the new driver compiled with the current kernel exists, it will load that one. If, by chance, it's the correctly compiled driver but the kernel didn't load it at boot, then it can be loaded manually with the modprobe command as root.

 

[BoneCream]

Finding all that stuff is wizardry lmao ‍