What driver for Intel AC 7260 adapter

Question

My notebook has the infamous Intel AC 7260 adapter and after a few days the adapter just stopped working e.g. (The adapter can see the ap but can not connect when it connects it is connected for short time and than disconnects also it can't connect after disconnects), maybe it is because I ran apt-get update but I'm not sure.

I can't connect to ap

I checked the version of the driver

ls /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-7260* 

and it returned

/lib/firmware/iwlwifi-7260-7.ucode
/lib/firmware/iwlwifi-7260-8.ucode
/lib/firmware/iwlwifi-7260-9.ucode

so I'm not sure which version of the driver the OS is using. Is it 7,8 or 9? I checked the Intel site and there is a version 9 for my kernel. I'm not sure if I should delete all 3 and get a new driver from Intel

Solution

The driver is iwlwifi. Check modinfo:

filename:       /lib/modules/4.0.1-040001-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/iwlwifi/iwlwifi.ko
license:        GPL
author:         Copyright(c) 2003- 2014 Intel Corporation <[email protected]>
description:    Intel(R) Wireless WiFi driver for Linux
firmware:       iwlwifi-100-5.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-1000-5.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-135-6.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-105-6.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-2030-6.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-2000-6.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-5150-2.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-5000-5.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-6000g2b-6.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-6000g2a-5.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-6050-5.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-6000-4.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-7265D-10.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-7265-10.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-3165-10.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-3160-10.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-7260-10.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-8000-10.ucode
<snip>

Your results will vary if you are using a different kernel version.

You can determine the version being loaded, generally the latest, in your case -9, from dmesg:

dmesg | grep iwl

You will probably see something like:

loaded firmware version 25.228.9.0 op_mode iwlmvm

This corresponds to -9 firmware.

Please edit your question to add more details about your wireless beyond, "...just stopped working."

I suggest you update the driver to enable the use of the later firmware. Please download this file to your desktop: https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/projects/backports/stable/v4.0.1/backports-4.0.1-1.tar.xz Right-click it and select 'Extract Here.' Now, in a terminal, and with a temporary internet connection, do:

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic build-essential
cd ~/Desktop/backports-4.0.1.1
make defconfig-iwlwifi
make
sudo make install

Now we need the latest firmware. Please download this to your desktop: http://www.linuxwireless.org/attachments/en/users/Drivers/iwlwifi/iwlwifi-7260-ucode-23.11.10.0.tgz Right-click it and select 'Extract Here.' Now, in a terminal, do:

cd ~/Desktop/iwlwifi-7260-ucode-23.11.10.0
sudo cp iwlwifi-7260-10.ucode  /lib/firmware

Next, in my experience, the driver iwlwifi is somewhat access point sensitive. I have experimented and honed a few techniques.

First, check the settings in the router. WPA2-AES is preferred; not any WPA and WPA2 mixed mode and certainly not TKIP. Second, if your router is capable of N speeds, you may have better connectivity with a channel width of 20 MHz in the 2.4 GHz band instead of automatic 20/40 MHz, although it is likely to affect N speeds. I also have better luck with a fixed channel, either 1, 6 or 11, rather than automatic channel selection. Also, be certain the router is not set to use N speeds only; auto B, G and N is preferred. After making these changes, reboot the router.

Next, I recommend that your regulatory domain be set explicitly. Find yours here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1_alpha-2 Set it permanently:

gksudo gedit /etc/default/crda

Use nano or kate or leafpad if you don't have the text editor gedit.

Change the last line to read:

REGDOMAIN=IS

Of course, substitute your country code if not Iceland. Proofread carefully, save and close the text editor.

Next, I'd set IPv6 to Ignore in Network Manager: http://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/Fedora/18/html/Installation_Guide/images/netconfig/network-connections-ipv6-ignore.png This example is for ethernet, but you want wireless.

Reboot and let us know the result.

Comments

[metamp_mvc]

I checked with dmesg | grep iwl and the latest driver available is loaded. So I think this adapter needs to be replaced with something more reliable. Thank you for your help

[chili555]

The latest? -10, that is? If not, I suggest we update the driver.

[metamp_mvc]

According to wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/iwlwifi the latest driver for my kernel which is 3.16.0-30 generic is version 9, version 10 is for 3.17+

[chili555]

That's the firmware, not the driver. I will propose a full solution in a few minutes.