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#1 2021-04-13 13:55

niftyprose
Member
Registered: 2021-04-10
Posts: 29

Atheros network card on Asus E200h, Q4OS-style

Hello guys, I have two Asus E200h . Netbook fans will be aware of this computer's many merits and its dreadful Atheros QCA9377 network card.

Every time I switch to a new distro I revisit my problems with the Atheros firmware. Q4OS has been interesting in this respect. Although I wiped the SSD disks and installed both machines from the same download, one machine's Atheros is working fine while the other, which I've had for four years, is cutting out intermittently.

I reinstalled the firmware on the bad machine using the instructions on this page: https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/Asus/X205TA  The X205 was the precursor to the E200 and lspci confirms the identity of the card. However, although this step has fixed the problems before, it didn't work this time.

Any suggestions will be gratefully received. I could swap out the card but would rather make the existing hardware work.

Best, NP

Last edited by niftyprose (2021-04-13 18:28)

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#2 2021-04-14 09:38

aluma
Member
From: Ukraine
Registered: 2018-03-12
Posts: 136

Re: Atheros network card on Asus E200h, Q4OS-style

Hi
The advice is probably stupid - to reload the kernel module.
sudo modprobe ath10k_pci -r
sudo modprobe ath10k_pci
lsmod | grep ath10k

In the BIOS of my lenovo s205, the USB disk is indicated first, but when turned on from a cold state, the netbook simply does not see it, Ctl-Alt-Del and then everything is OK.
Probably just does not have time to go through full initialization, perhaps something similar can happen with a wifi card

And so, there is such a firmware
https://github.com/ajaybhatia/Qualcomm- … Wifi-Linux

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#3 2021-04-14 15:37

niftyprose
Member
Registered: 2021-04-10
Posts: 29

Re: Atheros network card on Asus E200h, Q4OS-style

Thanks, Aluma, that's good advice. I did the modprobes already (but it's good to have another person recommend). I have another potential fix now because I've learned that Q4OS has a later kernel than I thought. I'll try that and post here. Best, W.

Last edited by niftyprose (2021-04-16 10:56)

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#4 2021-04-20 17:56

tlmiller76
Member
From: AZ, USA
Registered: 2016-11-29
Posts: 455

Re: Atheros network card on Asus E200h, Q4OS-style

The 9377 firmware is in the firmware-atheros package in non-free (used to have serveral 9377's), why jump through hoops to install it rather than just installing the firmware package that's already included with the distro?

As far as performance, you can't expect TOO much from a 9377, it's a 1x1 card who's only saving grace is being 802.11AC (Wifi 5) instead of the older 802.11N standard.

Last edited by tlmiller76 (2021-04-20 17:57)


Q4OS Trinity machine - Crelander E160.  Intel Celeron N5105, 16GB LPDDR4, 512GB m.2 SATA SSD, Intel UHD graphics, Intel 7265 Wifi 5 + BT 4.x, 16" 3072x1920 LCD.

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#5 2021-04-21 13:13

niftyprose
Member
Registered: 2021-04-10
Posts: 29

Re: Atheros network card on Asus E200h, Q4OS-style

Thanks, TLMiller76, that's useful advice. If I have your ear...

1. Some of my problems turn out to be self-inflicted. I followed instrs which I'd used before and downloaded v5 firmware, not realizing that Q4OS' kernel made v6 appropriate.  I'll put that right shortly now that I have bandwidth again. However...

2. Something is definitely odd. I presently have two E200H, the others having gone to the elephant's graveyard. One is UK and the other US keyboard. LS PCI confirms that both have the 9377. Networking in the US kbd one worked perfectly from Q4OS install. The other, which I've used daily for years on at least five other distros, showed serious misbehaviour. I can't iimagine it's hardware because the problem dates from the Q4OS install.

Um, embarrassed shuffle... I checked the 'install non-free' option so surely I wouldn't have had that problem when I first booted into Q4OS if the included driver was good for my setup?

Best, NP.

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#6 2021-04-21 23:00

tlmiller76
Member
From: AZ, USA
Registered: 2016-11-29
Posts: 455

Re: Atheros network card on Asus E200h, Q4OS-style

So, on the one that you're having issues with, give us the output of these 3 things ran as root:

lspci -k

You can realistically just post the information for the 9377 from this output as it's the only thing that's important, that'll show us what module is being loaded for it if any.

apt list --installed | grep firmware

dmesg | grep -i firmware


Q4OS Trinity machine - Crelander E160.  Intel Celeron N5105, 16GB LPDDR4, 512GB m.2 SATA SSD, Intel UHD graphics, Intel 7265 Wifi 5 + BT 4.x, 16" 3072x1920 LCD.

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#7 2021-04-22 13:27

niftyprose
Member
Registered: 2021-04-10
Posts: 29

Re: Atheros network card on Asus E200h, Q4OS-style

Thanks, THMiller76, much appreciated. Will be working solidly for the next couple of days but will get to this over the weekend. Best, NP

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