Ubuntu 18.04 No WiFi adapter found [Dell Inspiron 3542.]

Question

Just installed Ubuntu 18.04 but my WiFi adapter Qualcomm Atheros QCA9565 / AR9565 Wireless Network Adapter doesn't work or even appear in the system settings.

output of lspci -knn | grep Net -A3:

> rahul@rahul-Inspiron-3542:~$ lspci -knn | grep Net -A3
06:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9565 / AR9565 Wireless Network Adapter [168c:0036] (rev 01)
    Subsystem: Dell QCA9565 / AR9565 Wireless Network Adapter [1028:020c]
    Kernel driver in use: ath9k
    Kernel modules: ath9k
07:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101/2/6E PCI Express Fast/Gigabit Ethernet controller [10ec:8136] (rev 07)

output of lspci -knn | grep Net -A2

rahul@rahul-Inspiron-3542:~$ lspci -knn | grep Net -A2
06:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9565 / AR9565 Wireless Network Adapter [168c:0036] (rev 01)
    Subsystem: Dell QCA9565 / AR9565 Wireless Network Adapter [1028:020c]
    Kernel driver in use: ath9k
    Kernel modules: ath9k

output of sudo rfkill list

rahul@rahul-Inspiron-3542:~$ sudo rfkill list
[sudo] password for rahul: 
0: dell-rbtn: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: yes
    Hard blocked: yes
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no
2: hci0: Bluetooth
    Soft blocked: yes
    Hard blocked: no

output of sudo lshw -C network

rahul@rahul-Inspiron-3542:~$ sudo lshw -C network
  *-network DISABLED        
       description: Wireless interface
       product: QCA9565 / AR9565 Wireless Network Adapter
       vendor: Qualcomm Atheros
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:06:00.0
       logical name: wlp6s0
       version: 01
       serial: 4c:bb:58:30:aa:07
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list rom ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ath9k driverversion=4.17.11-041711-generic firmware=N/A latency=0 link=no multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11
       resources: irq:18 memory:f7900000-f797ffff memory:f7980000-f798ffff
  *-network
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: RTL8101/2/6E PCI Express Fast/Gigabit Ethernet controller
       vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:07:00.0
       logical name: enp7s0
       version: 07
       serial: 74:e6:e2:14:2a:c8
       size: 10Mbit/s
       capacity: 100Mbit/s
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix vpd bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=2.3LK-NAPI duplex=half firmware=rtl8106e-1_0.0.1 06/29/12 latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=MII speed=10Mbit/s
       resources: irq:19 ioport:e000(size=256) memory:f7800000-f7800fff memory:f2100000-f2103fff
  *-network
       description: Ethernet interface
       physical id: 2
       logical name: enp0s20u1
       serial: 7a:14:5b:44:b4:96
       capabilities: ethernet physical
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rndis_host driverversion=22-Aug-2005 firmware=RNDIS device ip=192.168.42.109 link=yes multicast=yes

output of dmesg | grep ath9k

rahul@rahul-Inspiron-3542:~$ dmesg | grep ath9k
[   23.712505] ath9k 0000:06:00.0 wlp6s0: renamed from wlan0

output of sudo iw dev

rahul@rahul-Inspiron-3542:~$ sudo iw dev
[sudo] password for rahul: 
phy#0
    Interface wlp6s0
        ifindex 3
        wdev 0x1
        addr 4c:bb:58:30:aa:07
        type managed
        txpower 0.00 dBm

output of dmesg Output of dmesg

I already tried so many solutions but nothing works for me , I'm looking for answer from so many days. Please Someone solve my issue . If anyone want any other information please let me know.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Solution

Guys i tried contionusly for a month then able to find solution of problem "No WiFi adapter found " , the problem is same in all versions of ubuntu because i tried Ubuntu 16.04 and then Ubuntu 14.04 , but i finnally able to find the solution.I almost tried each and every solution available.

In my case the output of rfkill list

0: dell-rbtn: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: yes
    Hard blocked: yes 

so to solve the problem i need to blacklist dell-rbtn (this is hardware issue)

to balcklist dell-rbtn, i did

echo "blacklist dell-rbtn" | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/dell-rbtn.conf

and after this reboot the laptop and now i m able to use WIFI.

I hope this will help someone because i also tried for months to solve this problem. Thanks

One last thing my laptop configration Dell Inspiron 3542 and Network controller [0280]: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9565 / AR9565 Wireless Network Adapter

Comments

[chili555]

Possibly helpful: askubuntu.com/questions/1054614/…

[kcdtv]

could you give us the stdout of sudo iw dev. If iw is not installed, install it (sudo apt install iw)

[Rahul Saini]

@chili555 thanks for the link my issue is same as issue in provided link, I tried all things you suggested there but nothing works for me for internal device both hard and soft are still blocked.

[Rahul Saini]

@kcdtv iw is already installed , i added output of sudo iw dev in question

[kcdtv]

Your wifi interface clearly appeared before and iw confirms that.. Which means that it is correctly installed and recognized. I don't understand why you say it does not appear in system settings... Where are you looking? The txpower at 0dbm suggest that it is not "up". Please try sudo ip l s wlp6s0 up and shows us your sudo iw dev stdout after that. what is strnage is this "dell wireless" interface... wtf is that? to be sure that it is not bllocking somehow your qualcom. you have on this interface a soft block (do sudo rfkill unblock wifi) and a hard block (check efi-bios and button)

[Rahul Saini]

@kcdtv i also don't know what's happening . I tried all things but nothing is working for me. I tried sudo ip l s wlp6s0 up and after that i tried sudo iw dev but still getting result same as before.Can you please suggest me something other because i m trying to resolve this problem from last 20 to 25 days and still i'm at same stage(nothing works).What do you think i need to go for different ubuntu version ,please suggest me something.

[kcdtv]

i have the same chispet and i am using it right now... the problem here is that your is DISABLED. I al retty sure that it comes from this "dell inetrface" which might override your chipset. Check your BIOS to see if you don't have some kind of option to enabe or disable wifi. Do you have a wifi button on your computer? did you tried to do sudo rfkill unblock wifi. that will stop softblock but maybe the hard block will disappear too. can we see dmesg command result?

[Rahul Saini]

@kcdtv sorry for late reply, i just installed ubuntu 16.04 on suggestion of some Developer but still facing same issue, i'm adding output of dmesg in question ,I hope something will resolve my issue. Thanks.

[Rahul Saini]

Hello @kcdtv thanks for supporting . i finally solved my issue by myself , I m adding solution in question .Thanks

[Feillen]

I had a similar issue with my Dell laptop and visited this post and this other post among others. Following this guide brought me out of this misery, I hope it helps you too if you're still looking for a way out (or to anyone who finds themselves in this situation)

[Robin]

Dell E6540 still wifi not found

[Md Sifatul Islam]

didnt not work my hp