Qualcomm Atheros Device [168c:0042] (rev 30) With Ubuntu 14.04 is not working

Question

I bought a Lenovo ideapad 300 laptop and installed Ubuntu 14.04 on it. The laptop's wifi card is Qualcomm Atheros Device [168c:0042] (rev 30).

I don't want to upgrade to 15.04 or 15.10 as I am running software that later will run on 14.04 servers, so I want to keep my development environment as close to run time environment.

I read that Ndiswrapper will not work here - Ndiswrapper won't work

I then found Jeremy31 answer here - install backports

I ran the commands in Jeremy31's answer and rebooted, but I saw no change. After I ran the commands, I dmesg | grep ath10k gave me nothing. sudo modprobe ath10k_pci && dmesg | grep ath results are not relevant:

[    0.643855] Loaded X.509 cert 'Magrathea: Glacier signing key: e09b1e7e9841e9cfef256b70ab210562dab1ef68'
[ 4855.547585]  [<ffffffff81074dea>] warn_slowpath_common+0x8a/0xc0
[ 4855.547587]  [<ffffffff81074e66>] warn_slowpath_fmt+0x46/0x50

I'll appreciate some help solving this issue. Thanks in advance

Here is the result of the wireless information script:

########## wireless info START ##########

Report from: 14 Jan 2016 13:45 IST +0200

Booted last: 14 Jan 2016 08:29 IST +0200

Script from: 27 Sep 2015 00:34 UTC +0000

##### release ###########################

Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 14.04.3 LTS
Release:    14.04
Codename:   trusty

##### kernel ############################

Linux 3.19.0-43-generic #49~14.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Thu Dec 31 15:44:49 UTC     2015 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Parameters: ro, quiet, splash, vt.handoff=7

##### desktop ###########################

Ubuntu

##### lspci #############################

01:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.         RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller         [10ec:8168] (rev 15)
    Subsystem: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device [10ec:0123]
Kernel driver in use: r8169

02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Qualcomm Atheros Device [168c:0042]     (rev 30)
    Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:4035]

##### lsusb #############################

Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0cf3:e360 Atheros Communications, Inc. 
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0bda:0129 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTS5129 Card     Reader Controller
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 04f2:b50e Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd 
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

##### PCMCIA card info ##################

##### rfkill ############################

0: ideapad_wlan: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no
1: ideapad_bluetooth: Bluetooth
    Soft blocked: yes
    Hard blocked: no
5: hci0: Bluetooth
    Soft blocked: yes
    Hard blocked: no

##### lsmod #############################

ideapad_laptop         24576  0 
sparse_keymap          16384  1 ideapad_laptop
wmi                    20480  0 

##### interfaces ########################

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

##### ifconfig ##########################

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr <MAC 'eth0' [IF]>  
          inet addr:192.168.1.30  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::<IP6 'eth0' [IF]>/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:522852 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:321922 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:613510252 (613.5 MB)  TX bytes:32176525 (32.1 MB)

##### iwconfig ##########################

eth0      no wireless extensions.

lo        no wireless extensions.

##### route #############################

Kernel IP routing table
Destination     Gateway         Genmask         Flags Metric Ref    Use     Iface
0.0.0.0         192.168.1.1     0.0.0.0         UG    0      0        0     eth0
192.168.1.0     0.0.0.0         255.255.255.0   U     1      0        0     eth0

##### resolv.conf #######################

nameserver 127.0.1.1
search Home

##### network managers ##################

Installed:

    NetworkManager

Running:

root       770     1  0 08:28 ?        00:00:00 NetworkManager

##### NetworkManager info ###############

NetworkManager Tool

State: connected (global)

- Device: eth0  [Wired connection 1]                     -------------------------------------------
  Type:              Wired
  Driver:            r8169
  State:             connected
  Default:           yes
  HW Address:        <MAC 'eth0' [IF]>

  Capabilities:
    Carrier Detect:  yes
    Speed:           100 Mb/s

  Wired Properties
    Carrier:         on

  IPv4 Settings:
    Address:         192.168.1.30
    Prefix:          24 (255.255.255.0)
    Gateway:         192.168.1.1

    DNS:             192.168.1.1

##### NetworkManager.state ##############

[main]
NetworkingEnabled=true
WirelessEnabled=true
WWANEnabled=true
WimaxEnabled=true

##### NetworkManager.conf ###############

[main]
plugins=ifupdown,keyfile,ofono
dns=dnsmasq

[ifupdown]
managed=false

##### NetworkManager profiles ###########

##### iw reg get ########################

Region: Asia/Jerusalem (based on set time zone)

country 00:
    (2402 - 2472 @ 40), (6, 20)
    (2457 - 2482 @ 40), (6, 20), PASSIVE-SCAN
    (2474 - 2494 @ 20), (6, 20), NO-OFDM, PASSIVE-SCAN
    (5170 - 5250 @ 160), (6, 20), PASSIVE-SCAN
    (5250 - 5330 @ 160), (6, 20), DFS, PASSIVE-SCAN
    (5490 - 5730 @ 160), (6, 20), DFS, PASSIVE-SCAN

##### iwlist channels ###################

eth0      no frequency information.

lo        no frequency information.

##### iwlist scan #######################

eth0      Interface doesn't support scanning.

lo        Interface doesn't support scanning.

##### module infos ######################

##### module parameters #################

##### /etc/modules ######################

lp
rtc

##### modprobe options ##################

[/etc/modprobe.d/ath10k_core.conf]
options ath10k_core skip_otp=y

[/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-ath_pci.conf]
blacklist ath_pci

[/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf]
blacklist evbug
blacklist usbmouse
blacklist usbkbd
blacklist eepro100
blacklist de4x5
blacklist eth1394
blacklist snd_intel8x0m
blacklist snd_aw2
blacklist i2c_i801
blacklist prism54
blacklist bcm43xx
blacklist garmin_gps
blacklist asus_acpi
blacklist snd_pcsp
blacklist pcspkr
blacklist amd76x_edac

[/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-rare-network.conf]
alias net-pf-3 off
alias net-pf-6 off
alias net-pf-9 off
alias net-pf-11 off
alias net-pf-12 off
alias net-pf-19 off
alias net-pf-21 off
alias net-pf-36 off

[/etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi.conf]
remove iwlwifi \
(/sbin/lsmod | grep -o -e ^iwlmvm -e ^iwldvm -e ^iwlwifi | xargs /sbin/rmmod)     \
&& /sbin/modprobe -r mac80211

[/etc/modprobe.d/mlx4.conf]
softdep mlx4_core post: mlx4_en

##### rc.local ##########################

exit 0

##### pm-utils ##########################

##### udev rules ########################

[/etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules]
# PCI device 0x10ec:0x8168 (r8169)
SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTR{address}=="<MAC 'eth0'     [IF]>", ATTR{dev_id}=="0x0", ATTR{type}=="1", KERNEL=="eth*", NAME="eth0"

##### dmesg #############################

[14691.294859] WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 21023 at /build/linux-lts-vivid-xAeXSD/linux-lts-vivid-3.19.0/drivers/base/firmware_class.c:1126     _request_firmware+0xb47/0xb90()
[14691.295253]  [<ffffffff815087aa>] ? _request_firmware+0x5a/0xb90
[14691.295281]  [<ffffffff81509297>] _request_firmware+0xb47/0xb90
[14691.295303]  [<ffffffff81509315>] request_firmware+0x35/0x50
[14691.295619] bluetooth hci0: firmware: qca/rampatch_usb_00000300.bin will     not be loaded
[14692.745370] r8169 0000:01:00.0 eth0: link down (repeated 2 times)
[14692.745658] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
[14696.283402] r8169 0000:01:00.0 eth0: link up
[14696.283420] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready

########## wireless info END ############

Adding the information for modinfo ath10k_pci; dkms status:

filename:       /lib/modules/3.19.0-43-generic/kernel/drivers    /net/wireless    /ath/ath10k/ath10k_pci.ko
firmware:       ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0/board.bin
firmware:       ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0/firmware-3.bin
firmware:       ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0/firmware-2.bin
firmware:       ath10k/QCA988X/hw2.0/firmware.bin
license:        Dual BSD/GPL
description:    Driver support for Atheros QCA988X PCIe devices
author:         Qualcomm Atheros
srcversion:     06FDAE7EFB4CDD527508269
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd0000003Csv*sd*bc*sc*i*
depends:        ath10k_core
intree:         Y
vermagic:       3.19.0-43-generic SMP mod_unload modversions 
signer:         Magrathea: Glacier signing key
sig_key:            E0:9B:1E:7E:98:41:E9:CF:EF:25:6B:70:AB:21:05:62:DA:B1:EF:68
sig_hashalgo:   sha512
parm:           irq_mode:0: auto, 1: legacy, 2: msi (default: 0) (uint)
parm:           reset_mode:0: auto, 1: warm only (default: 0) (uint)    

Solution

Reinstall the backports using

cd backports-20151120
make clean
make
make defconfig-ath10k
sudo make install

Reboot and see if the filename in modinfo ath10k_pci Shows a location of /lib/modules/3.19.0-43-generic/kernel/updates/ath10k_pci.ko

Comments

[Omer Hertz]

You can see my lspci -nnk here: (paste.ubuntu.com/14543549). You can see my lsmod here: (paste.ubuntu.com/14543561)

[baba smith]

i've the same problem and the patch doesnt work. please share the answer if you find it.

[Jeremy31]

Please edit to include results for modinfo ath10k_pci; dkms status thanks

[Omer Hertz]

I appended it to my original question

[Jeremy31]

You will likely have to repeat the steps again when another kernel is installed unless the new kernel is made to support your wifi card. I would hope that happens soon as there are quite a few bug reports on the newer Atheros cards and the solution is out there