# Could not find a wireless interface on boot

## ThuleanTraveller

Hi there. When I first installed gentoo, I had no trouble connecting to the internet. Recently (I believe it started after a kernel update) I get these boot messages:

```

* Could not find a wireless interface

* ERROR: wpa_supplicant failed to start

```

nmcli no longer shows my wireless device. Here is the output:

```

eth0: disconnected

   "Intel 82566MM"

   ethernet (e1000e), 00:1C:25:1C:75:2C, hw, mtu 1500

sit0: unmanaged

   "sit0"

   iptunnel (sit), 00:00:00:00, sw, mtu 1480

lo: unmanaged

   "lo"

   loopback (unknown), 00:00:00:00:00:00, sw, mtu 65536

Use "nmcli device show" to get complete information about known devices and

"nmcli connection show" to get an overview on active connection profiles.

Consult nmcli(1) and nmcli-examples(7) manual pages for complete usage details.

```

However, the hardware shows up on lshw -C network (along with the correct driver, iwlwifi):

```

  *-network

       description: Ethernet interface

       product: 82566MM Gigabit Network Connection

       vendor: Intel Corporation

       physical id: 19

       bus info: pci@0000:00:19.0

       logical name: eth0

       version: 03

       serial: 00:1c:25:1c:75:2c

       capacity: 1Gbit/s

       width: 32 bits

       clock: 33MHz

       capabilities: pm msi bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt-fd autonegotiation

       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=e1000e driverversion=5.14.2-gentoo firmware=0.3-0 latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=twisted pair

       resources: irq:30 memory:fe200000-fe21ffff memory:fe225000-fe225fff ioport:1840(size=32)

  *-network

       description: Network controller

       product: Ultimate N WiFi Link 5300

       vendor: Intel Corporation

       physical id: 0

       bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0

       version: 00

       width: 64 bits

       clock: 33MHz

       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list

       configuration: driver=iwlwifi latency=0

       resources: irq:33 memory:d0000000-d0001fff

```

Following other users with similar problems on this forum, I’ve made sure that when configuring the kernel, it was installed properly and I'm using the version I intended.

I'm unsure what the problem could be. The system recognises the hardware, clearly. The problem seems to occur before wpa_supplicant loads, so I don't imagine I need to configure that.. What do you guys think?

----------

## roccobaroccoSC

Scan your dmesg output and /var/log/messages for error messages related to wifi!

Also, check if the interface is there by using "ifconfig -a"

----------

## ThuleanTraveller

 *roccobaroccoSC wrote:*   

> Scan your dmesg output and /var/log/messages for error messages related to wifi!
> 
> Also, check if the interface is there by using "ifconfig -a"

 

Thanks for your response!

I had two errors associated with wifi in /var/log/messages:

```
 cfg80211: failed to load regulatory.db 
```

and

```
 iwlwifi 000:03:00.0: can't disable ASPM; OS doesn't have ASPM control 
```

I fixed the regulatory.db error by emerging net-wireless/wireless-regdb but this has not fixed the problem.

All I could find in dmesg was iwlwifi initialising, no errors.

The interface is not listed in ifconfig -a. It only lists the same interfaces shown in nmcli.

----------

## NeddySeagoon

ThuleanTraveller,

Put all of dmesg onto a pastebin site.

You can copy it to a usb stick if you need to post it from elsewhere.

It's far too big for a post.

----------

## ThuleanTraveller

 *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   

> ThuleanTraveller,
> 
> Put all of dmesg onto a pastebin site.
> 
> You can copy it to a usb stick if you need to post it from elsewhere.
> ...

 

Hi again! thanks for trying to help.

Here's dmesg: https://pastebin.pl/view/436ac6c9

----------

## NeddySeagoon

ThuleanTraveller,

```
[    3.585988] Loading firmware: regulatory.db

[    3.587866] Loading firmware: regulatory.db.p7s

...

[    3.634164] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: can't disable ASPM; OS doesn't have ASPM control

[    3.666454] Loading firmware: iwlwifi-5000-5.ucode

[    3.669512] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: loaded firmware version 8.83.5.1 build 33692 5000-5.ucode op_mode iwldvm
```

That's all good stuff.

That should make wlan0 appear in dmesg then udev should rename it.

Two or three things come to mind, in no particular order.

1. Power management. Is the interface disabled by power management? 

2. Your RF Kill switch, if you have one. It that disabling the interface.

3. A piece of the WiFi stack missing from your kernel.

For 1. poke about in the fine print of your user manual.

The rfkill command may shed some light on 2.

For 3. Tell us how your configured and installed your kernel.

Its quite easy to not be using the kernel you think you are too.

Look at the output of 

```
uname -a
```

 The time and date is the build time of the running kernel.

Do you remember making a newer one?

----------

