# iwconfig shows no wireless interface

## recursion

Hi, I just finished installing gentoo but something weird is happening to the wireless. I just bought an intel card to replace a broadcom one that died on me. I never had this problem with broadcom. By the way I configured my network and all that, its working perfectly with dhcpcd init module (when, added to runlevel, the symlink init.d/net.wlan0 says net.wlan0 is started ut is inactive and doesnt try to get an IP address even though its specified in conf.d/net if its of any importance) 

The only caveat is that iwconfig doesnt detect the card and so I cant see some goodies like the signals strength, status and IP address in i3status.

lspci | grep Network

```
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection (rev 04)

02:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 (rev 35)

```

iwconfig

```
wlan0 no wireless extensions.

sit0 no wireless extensions.

lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

```

conf.d/net

```
config_wlan0=(dhcp)

module=(wpa_supplicant)

wpa_supplicant_wlan0="-Dnl80211"

```

dmesg | grep wifi

```
[    2.364681] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: can't disable ASPM; OS doesn't have ASPM control

[    2.365686] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: pci_enable_msi failed(0Xffffffda)

[    2.366789] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: Direct firmware load failed with error -2

[    2.367765] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: Falling back to user helper

[    5.801334] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: Direct firmware load failed with error -2

[    5.801338] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: Falling back to user helper

[    5.874321] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: loaded firmware version 9.221.4.1 build 25532 op_mode iwldvm

[    5.874330] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: CONFIG_IWLWIFI_DEBUG disabled

[    5.874332] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: CONFIG_IWLWIFI_DEBUGFS disabled

[    5.874333] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: CONFIG_IWLWIFI_DEVICE_TRACING disabled

[    5.874335] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: Detected Intel(R) Centrino(R) Ultimate-N 6300 AGN, REV=0x74

[    5.874477] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: L1 Enabled; Disabling L0S

[    8.475150] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: L1 Enabled; Disabling L0S

[    8.481792] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: Radio type=0x0-0x3-0x1

[    8.697587] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: L1 Enabled; Disabling L0S

[    8.704247] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: Radio type=0x0-0x3-0x1

```

 As it shows it I installed ucode 6000 firmware but I dont know where it looks for it in the two first tries. The iwlwifi module is built in the kernel since I knew exactly which one I needed.

the interface shows up in 

```
ifconfigeth0: flags=4099<UP,BROADCAST,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500

        inet6 fe80::aee1:d49d:15:d095  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>

        ether d4:be:d9:62:34:c8  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)

        RX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)

        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0

        TX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)

        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

        device interrupt 20  memory 0xf7e00000-f7e20000  

lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING>  mtu 65536

        inet 127.0.0.1  netmask 255.0.0.0

        inet6 ::1  prefixlen 128  scopeid 0x10<host>

        loop  txqueuelen 0  (Boucle locale)

        RX packets 7195530  bytes 586185721 (559.0 MiB)

        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0

        TX packets 7195530  bytes 586185721 (559.0 MiB)

        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

wlan0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500

        inet 192.168.2.4  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 192.168.2.255

        inet6 fe80::7447:e49:c6f8:dad3  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>

        inet6 fe80::224:d7ff:fe8b:c974  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>

        ether 00:24:d7:8b:c9:74  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)

        RX packets 6471861  bytes 2810133089 (2.6 GiB)

        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0

        TX packets 4778147  bytes 2206197545 (2.0 GiB)

        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

```

----------

## DONAHUE

wlan0 no wireless extensions. Suggest enabling:

" -*- Networking support  --->

-*-   Wireless  --->

--- Wireless

-M-   cfg80211 - wireless configuration API

[*]     cfg80211 wireless extensions compatibility

<M>   Generic IEEE 802.11 Networking Stack (mac80211)

<M>   RF switch subsystem support  ---- "

if not present. intel nics have been known to need  " [*]     cfg80211 wireless extensions compatibility " in menuconfig even though nl80211 driver is in use.

----------

## charles17

 *recursion wrote:*   

> As it shows it I installed ucode 6000 firmware but I dont know where it looks for it in the two first tries. The iwlwifi module is built in the kernel since I knew exactly which one I needed.

 Would NeddySeagoon's explanation help? https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-7640156.html#7640156

 *DONAHUE wrote:*   

> if not present. intel nics have been known to need  " [*]     cfg80211 wireless extensions compatibility " in menuconfig even though nl80211 driver is in use.

 At least the older Intel 3945 does not need old WEXT stuff.

----------

## recursion

@DONAHUE

That did it, the wireless extension compability in the kernel should have been checked

@Charles

I see, Ill try symlinking the firmware to the kernel and report back

Well, my efforts were quickly trumped. Found this curious file in /usr/src/linux-version/firmware 

```

   DO NOT ADD FIRMWARE TO THIS DIRECTORY.

   ======================================

This directory is only here to contain firmware images extracted from old

device drivers which predate the common use of request_firmware().

As we update those drivers to use request_firmware() and keep a clean

separation between code and firmware, we put the extracted firmware

here.

This directory is _NOT_ for adding arbitrary new firmware images. The

place to add those is the separate linux-firmware repository:

    git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git

That repository contains all these firmware images which have been

extracted from older drivers, as well various new firmware images which

we were never permitted to include in a GPL'd work, but which we _have_

been permitted to redistribute under separate cover.

To submit firmware to that repository, please send either a git binary

diff or preferably a git pull request to:

      David Woodhouse <dwmw2@infradead.org>

      Ben Hutchings <ben@decadent.org.uk>

Your commit should include an update to the WHENCE file clearly

identifying the licence under which the firmware is available, and

that it is redistributable. If the licence is long and involved, it's

permitted to include it in a separate file and refer to it from the

WHENCE file.

Ideally, your commit should contain a Signed-Off-By: from someone

authoritative on the licensing of the firmware in question (i.e. from

within the company that owns the code).

```

But anyway, I have more pressing things to fix than gaining a few milliseconds in boot time. Thanks for the support guys.

----------

## donjames

 *DONAHUE wrote:*   

> wlan0 no wireless extensions. Suggest enabling:
> 
> " -*- Networking support  --->
> 
> -*-   Wireless  --->
> ...

 

Hi Donahue,

I had been trying to get gentoo to recognize my Atheros AR5212/AR5213 adapter for about 3 days.  When I enabled cfg80211 wireless extensions compatibility, it started working.

Thanks for the help.

Sincerely,

Don James

----------

