Cannot connect to WIFI after driver patch

[cmacattack]

Hello all,

Preface; I'm new to Linux.

After installing Linux Mint 18 on a new build and patching the driver source code in order to use a Linksys AE6000 wifi adapter, I still cannot connect to my network. The wifi adapter lights up as if it is on, but after lspci shows no network controller. Also ifconfig wlan0 returns "no such device".

Thank you for your help.

 

[atanere]

Your adaptor isn't plugged into the PCI bus... try lsusb instead and see what it shows.

Also run ifconfig by itself... do not specify wlan0. You may see ra0 instead, which may be your wireless network.

When you compiled the driver, did it report any errors?

 

[cmacattack]

okay that makes more sense, lsusb shows that the adapter is recognized.
after booting, ifconfig does not show ra0, but after running
sudo ifconfig ra0 up
ra0 is listed. No errors were reported after installing the driver.

 

[atanere]

So... is it working?

 

[cmacattack]

No, still not detecting my network

 

[atanere]

What does ifconfig show?

 

[cmacattack]

enp1s0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 1c:1b:0d:10:97:f9
inet addr:10.0.0.48 Bcast:10.0.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: 2601:183:8202:bb40:504:557b:dca4:5990/64Scope:Global
inet6 addr: 2601:183:8202:bb40:1e1b:dff:fe10:97f9/128 Scope:Global
inet6 addr: fe80::e560:b15f:f99b:c1f5/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:235244 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:104642 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:322570348 (322.5 MB) TX bytes:8615844 (8.6 MB)

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:65536 Metric:1
RX packets:2957 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:2957 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1
RX bytes:280870 (280.8 KB) TX bytes:280870 (280.8 KB)

ra0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 14:91:82:2e:2f:76
inet6 addr: fe80::1691:82ff:fe2e:2f76/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

 

[atanere]

OK, I'm guessing that enp1s0 is an ethernet connection to your router. But the ra0 link definitely looks dead, no activity, and it did not get an IP address from your router. I'm also not sure that the "sudo ifconfig ra0 up" did anything to help, other than just list a dead link.

My only guess for now is that you missed a step or made a wrong step in the preparation of the driver. For example, the instructions I see online say that you should NOT have the adaptor plugged in when you compile the driver, and only plug it in when complete. These are probably the same guidelines you went by, but I'll link them here again for you to review. The short instructions give a simple link to the tar file without using git, but the long instructions indicates it should come to life right after you plug the adaptor in (and you look at your network icon in the panel to see and connect to your network).

But it's late for me and I have to bail out for the night. Will check back tomorrow and see if you have any success. Good luck!

 

[cmacattack]

When i initially installed the driver and plugged in the usb the light did not go on and did not turn on until after sudo ifconfig ra0 up.

I've tried re-installing the driver with no success.

Thank you for your help!

 

[atanere]

Well, I wish I could help more. Sometimes I get lucky, sometimes not. Your adaptor seems to be recognized, that's a big plus right there. If you click on your network icon in the panel, do you have a checkbox for "Enable WiFi" (should be checked, of course)? With WiFi enabled, there is another option for "Edit Connections" and in that screen is the option to edit WiFi (if it sees it) or to Add a new connection. You may can manually enter your adaptor in these settings and get it going. Where it shows a spot for "device"... you would enter the MAC address that shows up with ifconfig for the ra0 link (14:91:82:2e:2f:76). You'll need to know the SSID of your home network, what type of encryption (WPA, WPA2, WEP, or whatever) and the password.

And maybe someone smarter than me will jump in and give you a solution that works!

At the end of the day, if all else fails, I'd spend $10-15 to buy a different brand adaptor. I used to have a TP-Link TL-WN722N that was plug and play with Linux... it was kinda big and clunky, but it had a real antenna that gave it much better range. There is an Edimax on Amazon for only $8 that I've seen bundled with Raspberry Pi boards, so I'm pretty confident it would work well with Linux too.

 

[ryanvade]

I cannot find anything that suggests that dongle is supported at the moment. What is the hardware ID?

 

[DanK]

Did you solve the issue with WIFI after driver patch

 

[cmacattack]

No, I never found a solution. I ended up returning the dongle and bought a Gigabyte (Brand) wifi adapter. Was way easier to set up and was cheaper than the dongle. Not sure why I didn't do that to start.

I apologize for not posting that I had resolved the issue through other means.

 

[atanere]

Glad you solved the problem! And surprised (REALLY SURPRISED!) that a post from @DanK 6-months later brought you out of the woodwork! Welcome back!

 

[Crippled]

No, I never found a solution. I ended up returning the dongle and bought a Gigabyte (Brand) wifi adapter. Was way easier to set up and was cheaper than the dongle. Not sure why I didn't do that to start.

I apologize for not posting that I had resolved the issue through other means.

Wise choice. It has been my experience that Linksys is troublesome. I switched to D-Link and no more problems.