Dell Vostro 5490 no WIFI in Ubuntu 18.04

Question

I have a Dell Vostro 5490 with Ubuntu 18.04 installed in dual boot with Windows 10. I currently have no WIFI. I have tried to update and upgrade my packages, and I have also followed this guide, but without success. Except for the things mentioned, my Ubuntu is completely stock, I have not done any other modifications. Please help me out with this issue, any help would be greatly appreciated!

This is the output from the command lspci -knn | grep Net -A3; rfkill list:

00:14.3 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:02f0] Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device [8086:42a4] Kernel driver in use: iwlwifi Kernel modules: iwlwifi 0: hci0: Bluetooth Soft blocked: yes Hard blocked: no

Here is a paste of the output from the command dmesg | grep iwl: https://paste.ubuntu.com/p/hzDHb6zGhb/

Answer 1

Please note this:

[    3.205709] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: Failed to start RT ucode: -110 
[    3.205711] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: Firmware not running - cannot dump error 
[    3.217939] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: Failed to run INIT ucode:-110

There are several bug reorts that reference this exact sequence. The first that suggests a fix is this: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-firmware/+bug/1867026 It suggests renaming the firmware file that loads. Please try:

sudo rmmod iwlmvm
sudo rmmod iwlwifi
sudo cp /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-Qu-b0-jf-b0-48.ucode{,.bak}
sudo cp /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-QuZ-a0-jf-b0-48.ucode /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-Qu-b0-jf-b0-48.ucode
sudo modprobe iwlwifi

If this is ineffective, then revert the rename:

sudo rmmod iwlmvm
sudo rmmod iwlwifi
sudo mv /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-Qu-b0-jf-b0-48.ucode{,.bak} /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-Qu-b0-jf-b0-48.ucode
sudo cp /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-Qu-a0-jf-b0-48.ucode /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-Quz-b0-jf-b0-48.ucode
sudo modprobe iwlwifi

Then try the solution here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-firmware/+bug/1867026/comments/2

Download all the deb files to your desktop. Then install them with:

cd ~/Desktop
sudo dpkg -i linux*.deb

Reboot.

Answer 2

I've been using this website for years and never felt the need to log in ... until now. Just to say THANK YOU to the guy who recommended to rename the files. Renaming the freaking files! I can't believe there would be such a bug, and that the solution would be so stupid.

So, if like me your Wifi (iwlwifi) isn't working on Ubuntu 18.04 running on an Asus Vivobook 15 (X512F), giving you this error "Failed to run INIT ucode: -110" in dmesg, the solution is, as root:

rmmod iwlmvm
rmmod iwlwifi
mv /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-Qu-b0-jf-b0-48.ucode{,.bak} /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-Qu-b0-jf-b0-48.ucode
cp /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-Qu-a0-jf-b0-48.ucode /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-Quz-b0-jf-b0-48.ucode
modprobe iwlwifi

The most frustrating part of this problem is that the Wifi will typically work fine during the installation, but then stop working after the OS is installed.