MX Linux 21 Problem activating Intel AX200

[cosmic303]

Hi everyone,
after spending hours on trying to get my RTL8821CE wifi to work, I just replaced it with a new Intel AX200 M.2 Card.

While the adapter gets detected correctly and drivers are loaded, i cant activate wlan0 in network assistant.

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$ uname -a
Linux mx21 5.16.0-5mx-amd64 #1 SMP PREEMPT Debian 5.16.14-1~mx21+1 (2022-03-22) x86_64 GNU/Linux

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Network:   Device-1: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 driver: iwlwifi 
           IF: wlan0 state: down mac: ea:11:77:f3:a5:03 

dmesg gives me a whole load of error messages.

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[  351.960628] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: Error sending MAC_CONTEXT_CMD: time out after 2000ms.
[  351.960643] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: Current CMD queue read_ptr 18 write_ptr 19
[  351.960967] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: HCMD_ACTIVE already clear for command MAC_CONTEXT_CMD
[  351.961928] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: Start IWL Error Log Dump:
[  351.961933] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: Transport status: 0x0000004A, valid: 6
[  351.961938] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: Loaded firmware version: 63.c04f3485.0 cc-a0-63.ucode
[  351.961941] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x00000084 | NMI_INTERRUPT_UNKNOWN       
[  351.961945] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x00A0A2F0 | trm_hw_status0
[  351.961949] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x00000000 | trm_hw_status1
[  351.961952] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x004FAA7E | branchlink2
[  351.961955] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x0001525A | interruptlink1
[  351.961957] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x0001525A | interruptlink2
[  351.961960] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x004F539C | data1
[  351.961963] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x01000000 | data2
[  351.961966] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x00000000 | data3
[  351.961968] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x0035F4B9 | beacon time
[  351.961971] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x002976EE | tsf low
[  351.961974] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x00000000 | tsf hi
[  351.961976] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x00000000 | time gp1
[  351.961979] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x0029E490 | time gp2
[  351.961982] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x00000001 | uCode revision type
[  351.961985] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x0000003F | uCode version major
[  351.961988] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0xC04F3485 | uCode version minor
[  351.961991] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x00000340 | hw version
[  351.961994] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x00C89000 | board version
[  351.961996] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x803FFC00 | hcmd
[  351.961999] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x20028000 | isr0
[  351.962001] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x00000000 | isr1
[  351.962002] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x08F04002 | isr2
[  351.962004] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x04C37FCC | isr3
[  351.962006] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x00000000 | isr4
[  351.962008] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x00110148 | last cmd Id
[  351.962010] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x004F539C | wait_event
[  351.962012] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x00000000 | l2p_control
[  351.962014] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x00000000 | l2p_duration
[  351.962016] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x00000000 | l2p_mhvalid
[  351.962018] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x00000000 | l2p_addr_match
[  351.962021] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x0000000B | lmpm_pmg_sel
[  351.962022] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x00000000 | timestamp
[  351.962024] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x00001050 | flow_handler
[  351.962377] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: Start IWL Error Log Dump:
[  351.962379] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: Transport status: 0x0000004A, valid: 7
[  351.962382] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x20000066 | NMI_INTERRUPT_HOST
[  351.962384] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x00000000 | umac branchlink1
[  351.962386] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x8045541A | umac branchlink2
[  351.962388] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x804629E0 | umac interruptlink1
[  351.962390] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x8047367E | umac interruptlink2
[  351.962392] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x01000000 | umac data1
[  351.962394] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x8047367E | umac data2
[  351.962396] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x00000000 | umac data3
[  351.962398] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x0000003F | umac major
[  351.962400] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0xC04F3485 | umac minor
[  351.962402] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x0029E48E | frame pointer
[  351.962404] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0xC0886270 | stack pointer
[  351.962406] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x00120128 | last host cmd
[  351.962408] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x00000000 | isr status reg
[  351.962913] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: IML/ROM dump:
[  351.962916] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x00000003 | IML/ROM error/state
[  351.963212] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x00006A32 | IML/ROM data1
[  351.963284] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x00000080 | IML/ROM WFPM_AUTH_KEY_0
[  351.963407] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: Fseq Registers:
[  351.963475] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x60000000 | FSEQ_ERROR_CODE
[  351.963543] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x80290021 | FSEQ_TOP_INIT_VERSION
[  351.963624] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x00050008 | FSEQ_CNVIO_INIT_VERSION
[  351.963854] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x0000A503 | FSEQ_OTP_VERSION
[  351.963923] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x80000003 | FSEQ_TOP_CONTENT_VERSION
[  351.963989] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x4552414E | FSEQ_ALIVE_TOKEN
[  351.964057] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x00100530 | FSEQ_CNVI_ID
[  351.964125] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x00000532 | FSEQ_CNVR_ID
[  351.964193] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x00100530 | CNVI_AUX_MISC_CHIP
[  351.964264] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x00000532 | CNVR_AUX_MISC_CHIP
[  351.964334] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x05B0905B | CNVR_SCU_SD_REGS_SD_REG_DIG_DCDC_VTRIM
[  351.964404] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: 0x0000025B | CNVR_SCU_SD_REGS_SD_REG_ACTIVE_VDIG_MIRROR
[  351.965010] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: WRT: Collecting data: ini trigger 4 fired (delay=0ms).
[  351.965015] ieee80211 phy0: Hardware restart was requested
[  351.965022] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: Failed to send MAC context (action:1): -110

Any idea how to fix this?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Best regards,
cosmic

[johnf76]

A quick search on this brought up two links:

https://community.intel.com/t5/Wireless ... -p/1256087
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=247659

Both of which point to a problem with the card when you have power setting turned on for energy savings/networking.

I'm running MX 21 plasma, so I went into the power managment/energy saving page, and saw at the bottom saw "wireless"
You should be able to test turning off power savings to the card there (you may have to do it for both AC/Battery if it works)
I'd try this before editing files.

FYI, if you want a relatively cheap usb NIC, Panda has a nice one that works fine in Linux (I'm using it now!)
https://www.amazon.com/Panda-Ultra-150M ... C99&sr=8-2

Good luck!

[cosmic303]

Hi John,
thanks for the quick reply.
I am using MX Linux with xfce and can't find any wireless option in the power manager :(
Is there a command I can use to disable power savings for wifi?

<edit>
Found a way to disable power savings by issueing sudo iwconfig wlan0 power off
Still not working though :(
</edit>

Also thanks for the recommendation about the usb NIC, I am currently using a D-Link USB NIC which is working fine.
Since my laptop only has two USB ports, I would prefer getting the internal adapter to work though.

[Huckleberry Finn]

...While the adapter gets detected correctly and drivers are loaded...

Despite that: Have you tried this?

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en ... eless.html

https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/_media ... b8da.0.tgz

Also:

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rfkill unblock all

(it won't give any output)

[cosmic303]

...While the adapter gets detected correctly and drivers are loaded...

Despite that: Have you tried this?

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en ... eless.html

https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/_media ... b8da.0.tgz

Also:

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rfkill unblock all

(it won't give any output)

Hi Huckleberry,
I downloaded the cc-46 firmware and copied the file to /lib/firmware.
Nevertheless I can still see in dmesg, that a different firmware is loaded and the error is still the same.

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[  479.256828] iwlwifi 0000:01:00.0: Loaded firmware version: 63.c04f3485.0 cc-a0-63.ucode

Do you happen to know, how I can force the system to use the new firmware?

Best regards,
cosmic

[Huckleberry Finn]

It must be there, same place:

In fact, these are present ootb in MX21:

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$ ll /lib/firmware/iwl*cc*code
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1020K Aug 27  2021 /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-cc-a0-46.ucode
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1.1M Aug 27  2021 /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-cc-a0-48.ucode
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1.1M Aug 27  2021 /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-cc-a0-50.ucode
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1.2M Aug 27  2021 /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-cc-a0-53.ucode
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1.2M Aug 27  2021 /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-cc-a0-55.ucode
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1.3M Aug 27  2021 /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-cc-a0-59.ucode
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1.3M Aug 27  2021 /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-cc-a0-62.ucode
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  1.3M Aug 27  2021 /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-cc-a0-63.ucode

You can rename (to inactivate):

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sudo mv /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-cc-a0-63.ucode /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-cc-a0-63.ucode.orig

or

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sudo mv /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-cc-a0-63.ucode /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-cc-a0-63.ucode.old

... (also others but try one by one)


But:

If you have Windows, too: First disable "Fast Startup" there (as it's not a real shutdown, it keeps devices engaged) , then retry (without renaming).

Also I assume you already disabled "Secure Boot" in Bios settings (that prevents most open source drivers for they're digitally unsigned)

[Stevo]

FWIW, this chipset works great on the Dell G15 here in front of me:

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inxi -Nxx

           Device-2: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 vendor: Rivet Networks Killer™ driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: 2000 bus-ID: 04:00.0 
           chip-ID: 8086:2723

I would bet yours is from another vendor, and has a different chip-ID, though.

[Stevo]

Also I assume you already disabled "Secure Boot" in Bios settings (that prevents most open source drivers for they're digitally unsigned)

That would have mattered with the 8821ce-dkms driver, not at all with the iwlwifi driver in the kernel.

[cosmic303]

Hi everyone,
considering all your hints, I tried a few things.
Here's the results.

Renamed all available firmwares one by one, rebooted each time, no success. The error is still the same, no matter which version I am using.
After that, I downloaded Ubuntu 20.04 and tried to see if it works with the live system. Unfortunately same error.
To make sure, its not a hardware problem, I also downloaded Hiren's Boot CD to try a Windows operating system.
While Hiren can't establish a WiFi connection, I was able to see the WiFi card in the Windows Device Manager, so I assume it would work just fine.

To answer your questions, I am not using a dual boot setup, it's a linux only system.
Also I have the same chip-ID as you, Stevo.

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$ inxi -Nxx
Network:   Device-1: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel bus-ID: 01:00.0 
           chip-ID: 8086:2723 

I am actually running out of ideas :(

[Stevo]

Can you check if it works with the MX 21.2 AHS live system?

And can you remember if it worked on the original MX 21 live session that you first installed from, or did that involve the Realtek?

Some machines' BIOS actually only let certain wi-fi chipsets on an approved whitelist work. I don't know how common it is nowadays, but that was the source of lots of cursing some years ago.