Debian 8. Failed to load iwlwifi

Question

I used the netdisk iso to install debian, which apperently is missing the firmware files: rtl_nic_rtl8411-2.fw and iwlwifi, so I can't get my wifi working. My laptop uses intel wireless-AC 8260, and I have updated my kernel to 4.8

Dmesg output:

    iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: firmware: failed to load iwlwifi-8000C-24.ucode (-2)

firmware: failed to load iwlwifi-8000C-23.ucode (-2)

firmware: failed to load iwlwifi-8000C-22.ucode (-2)

firmware: failed to load iwlwifi-8000C-21.ucode (-2)

firmware: failed to load iwlwifi-8000C-20.ucode (-2)

firmware: failed to load iwlwifi-8000C-19.ucode (-2)

firmware: failed to load iwlwifi-8000C-18.ucode (-2)

firmware: failed to load iwlwifi-8000C-17.ucode (-2)

firmware: failed to load iwlwifi-8000C-16.ucode (-2)

uname -a output:

 Linux debian 4.8.0-0.bpo.2-rt-amd64 #1 SMP PREEMPT RT Debian 4.8.11-1~bpo8+1 (2016-12-14) x86_64 GNU/Linux

I'm not sure if I have installed iwlwifi 8000 correctly. this is my /lib/firmware output.

3com                 iwlwifi-135-6.ucode      qat_c3xxx_mmp.bin
advansys             iwlwifi-2000-6.ucode     qat_c62x.bin
agere_ap_fw.bin          iwlwifi-2030-6.ucode     qat_c62x_mmp.bin
agere_sta_fw.bin         iwlwifi-3160-7.ucode     qat_mmp.bin
amdgpu               iwlwifi-3160-8.ucode     r128
amd-ucode            iwlwifi-3160-9.ucode     radeon
as102_data1_st.hex       iwlwifi-3945-2.ucode     rp2.fw
as102_data2_st.hex       iwlwifi-4965-2.ucode     rt2561.bin
av7110               iwlwifi-5000-2.ucode     rt2561s.bin
carl9170-1.fw            iwlwifi-5000-5.ucode     rt2661.bin
cis              iwlwifi-5150-2.ucode     rt2860.bin
ctefx.bin            iwlwifi-6000-4.ucode     rt2870.bin
ctspeq.bin           iwlwifi-6000g2a-5.ucode  rt3070.bin
cxgb3                iwlwifi-6000g2a-6.ucode  rt3071.bin
cxgb4                iwlwifi-6000g2b-6.ucode  rt3090.bin
dabusb               iwlwifi-6050-4.ucode     rt3290.bin
dsp56k               iwlwifi-6050-5.ucode     rt73.bin
dvb-fe-xc4000-1.4.1.fw       iwlwifi-7260-7.ucode     RTL8192E
dvb-fe-xc5000-1.6.114.fw     iwlwifi-7260-8.ucode     rtl_bt
dvb-fe-xc5000c-4.1.30.7.fw   iwlwifi-7260-9.ucode     rtl_nic
dvb-usb-dib0700-1.20.fw      iwlwifi-7265-8.ucode     rtlwifi
dvb-usb-it9135-01.fw         iwlwifi-7265-9.ucode     s2250.fw
dvb-usb-it9135-02.fw         iwlwifi-8000C-13.ucode   s2250_loader.fw
dvb-usb-terratec-h5-drxk.fw  kaweth           tehuti
e100                 keyspan_pda          tigon
ene-ub6250           matrox           ueagle-atm
f2255usb.bin             moxa             usbduxfast_firmware.bin
go7007               mt7601u.bin          usbdux_firmware.bin
hp               mt7650.bin           usbduxsigma_firmware.bin
i915                 mts_cdma.fw          v4l-cx231xx-avcore-01.fw
intel                mts_edge.fw          v4l-cx23418-apu.fw
intel-ucode          mts_gsm.fw           v4l-cx23418-cpu.fw
isci                 nvidia           v4l-cx23418-dig.fw
iwlwifi-1000-5.ucode         qat_895xcc.bin       v4l-cx23885-avcore-01.fw
iwlwifi-100-5.ucode      qat_895xcc_mmp.bin       v4l-cx25840.fw
iwlwifi-105-6.ucode      qat_c3xxx.bin        vntwusb.fw

iwconfig output:

eth0      no wireless extensions.

eth1      no wireless extensions.

lo        no wireless extensions.

ifconfig output:

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 70:8b:cd:25:a4:e8  
          inet addr:192.168.87.107  Bcast:192.168.87.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::728b:cdff:fe25:a4e8/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:4815 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:4504 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:2976911 (2.8 MiB)  TX bytes:949120 (926.8 KiB)

eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 4a:74:6e:46:fc:a2  
          UP BROADCAST 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)

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:41 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:41 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1 
          RX bytes:4725 (4.6 KiB)  TX bytes:4725 (4.6 KiB)

I have copied the non-free sources into my /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ jessie main contrib non-free#
deb http://mirror.one.com/debian/ jessie-backports main contrib non-free 

When I do apt-get iwlwifi:

firmware-iwlwifi is already the newest version.

I have tried to get this working for 2 days now without luck, what am I missing? I'm new to Linux so I'd really appreciate an understandable answer for a beginner.

Answer 1

Download iwlwifi-8000C-24.ucode from https://github.com/NetBit73/NeteXt73_pakiety/tree/master/iwlwifi

Answer 2

Debian 8. Failed to load iwlwifi

If your card works, its just a information message from Kernel :

[    7.523433] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: firmware: failed to load iwlwifi-8000C-26.ucode (-2)
[    7.523529] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-8000C-26.ucode failed with error -2
[    7.523559] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: firmware: failed to load iwlwifi-8000C-25.ucode (-2)
[    7.523648] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-8000C-25.ucode failed with error -2
[    7.523668] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: firmware: failed to load iwlwifi-8000C-24.ucode (-2)
[    7.523756] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-8000C-24.ucode failed with error -2
[    7.523775] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: firmware: failed to load iwlwifi-8000C-23.ucode (-2)
[    7.523863] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-8000C-23.ucode failed with error -2
[    7.770877] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: firmware: direct-loading firmware iwlwifi-8000C-22.ucode
[    7.772129] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: loaded firmware version 22.361476.0 op_mode iwlmvm
[    7.904051] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: Detected Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless AC 8260, REV=0x208

As you can read in the README for iwlwifi-firmware package :

1. OVERVIEW

The files iwlwifi-8000C-16.ucode provided in this package must be present on your system in order for the Intel Wireless WiFi Link AGN driver for Linux (iwlwifi) to operate on your system.

The "-16" in the filename reflects an interface/architecture version number. It will change only when changes in new uCode releases make the new uCode incompatible with earlier drivers.

On adapter initialization, and at varying times during the uptime of the adapter, the microcode is loaded into the memory on the network adapter. The microcode provides the low level MAC features including radio control and high precision timing events (backoff, transmit, etc.) while also providing varying levels of packet filtering which can be used to keep the host from having to handle packets that are not of interest given the current operating mode of the device.

Answer 3

I suffered this problem for a week and did not know how to fix it. After many tests, I discovered that my Kernel (3.10) was not compatible with the firmware as say the next web: https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users/drivers/iwlwifi The Kernel versión you need is: * 4.1+ for iwlwifi-8000-ucode-25.30.13.0.tgz (Intel® Wireless 8260 and 4165) * 4.3+ for iwlwifi-8000-ucode-16.242414.0.tgz (Intel® Wireless 8260 and 4165) * 4.6+ for iwlwifi-8265-ucode-22.361476.0.tgz (Intel® Wireless 8265) I updated from 3.10 to 4.6 and my problem was solved for my Intel 8260 Dual Wireless/WiFi card. I hope this helps someone. Cheers!

Answer 4

The package that you are missing is firmware-iwlwifi which is a non-free package. The official Debian image only ships Free Software.

Method #1 - with ethernet connection

So to install it you need to add the non-free and contrib components to /etc/apt/sources.list

See: https://wiki.debian.org/SourcesList#Example_sources.list

Then,

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install firmware-iwlwifi

Method #2 - with no Internet connection

Manually download (from some other machine with Internet connection) the deb package for your release from here.

If you're using the Debian stable, check: https://packages.debian.org/stable/firmware-iwlwifi

Then,

dpkg -i firmware-iwlwifi*.deb

Restart.

The same process should work for Realtek drivers.

FYI:

http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/unofficial/non-free/firmware/stable/current

https://wiki.debian.org/DontBreakDebian