Doesn't detect wifi

[Kalruby]

Hello, this is my first time using linux, and i installed it alongside windows 11 in a lenovo ideapad5 laptop with amd, and everything works fine, just that i cant detect any wifi networks and dont know how to solve it

[claydoh]

Howdy!

Was wifi working during the install process?
Does your laptop have ehternet?

Simple things first: make sure that wifi hasn't been toggled off, try the keyboard Fn-key shortcut for this.

next, we need to see what wifi card this is. Find and open KInfoCenter, then go to >>Devices >> PCI and look for entries that say wifi, wireless, or something similar. Copy the text for that and paste it in a reply.

it will look somewhat similar to this:

06:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (rev 1a)
Subsystem: Intel Corporation Wi-Fi 6 AX200NGW
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
Memory at dfd00000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: iwlwifi
Kernel modules: iwlwifi​

If you want to be all 1337, you can get this information using Konsole:

 lspci -vv | egrep -i 'network|ethernet|wireless|wi-fi'

00:1f.6 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection (2) I219-V
DeviceName: Onboard - Ethernet
Subsystem: ASRock Incorporation Ethernet Connection (2) I219-V
06:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (rev 1a)
Subsystem: Intel Corporation Wi-Fi 6 AX200NGW

This should help point to what may be needed. Some cards need external drivers, etc.

if you can, another option that may help is to tether with your mobile, update your system, and then use the Driver Manager (in System Settings, maybe, or in Discoverer's Settings area) to see what it shows, sometimes (but not always) it can offer a driver package to download and install.

[Kalruby]

Ok, i have tried the things you have said with the code it just prompts this :

03:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device b852
DeviceName: Realtek RTL8111E Ethernet LOM

And in the driver manager i cant seem to find a driver package

[claydoh]

So, it isn't showing that you have a wifi card.
It would show, even if it was not working, or didn't have a driver, unless it was disconnected or disabled.

Try this more general command, to list all your pci devices:

lspci

or look in KInfoCenter like I mentioned, and find 'wifi' 'wireless', or similar. Maybe the command line string I gave isn't catching the right word. "wifi" and "WiFi" would not be shown, using the command I provided.

Check your bios to make sure it hasn't been disabled there somehow (I have seen this myself, in the distant past)
Check that it isn't toggled off via the laptop's keyboard shortcuts. ( I have also seen, and done this somehow, more than I would like to admit)

[Kalruby]

Ok, with lspci it shows this:

03:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device b852

And this in the KInfoCenter:

03:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device b852
DeviceName: Realtek RTL8111E Ethernet LOM
Subsystem: Lenovo Device 4853
Flags: fast devsel, IRQ 255, IOMMU group 12
I/O ports at 2000 [disabled] [size=256]
Memory at d0500000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [disabled] [size=1M]
Capabilities: <access denied>

In this laptop i dont have an ethernet port i should say, only WIFI.

And i just checked the bios too and the wireless is enabled

[claydoh]

03:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device b852
DeviceName: Realtek RTL8111E Ethernet LOM

lol, I guess that this is the WiFi card, though it says Ethernet
I should have checked it anyway.

In any case, it looks like you will need to try to tether or use a wifi dongle, or some adapter so that you can install the package r8168-dkms

sudo apt update
sudo apt install r8168-dkms

USB wifi dongles are the worst option, they almost always don't work without downloading extra stuff.
if you can tether via USB, that would be easiest, as there will be more than one package to install along with r8168-dkms.

Another option is to spend ~20USD or less for a replacement wifi card that is from Intel, which of course does require opening up the laptop.

I had assumed that you had ethernet, so the Driver Manager can't find stuff without an internet connection.

[Kalruby]

Okay, i just did that and find this:

I: The initramfs will attempt to resume from /dev/nvme0n1p6
I: (UUID=7c644dd0-69bc-472f-ab8d-96f349ded335)
I: Set the RESUME variable to override this.

i dont know what to do to set the resume variable

[Schwarzer Kater]

[…] USB wifi dongles are the worst option, they almost always don't work without downloading extra stuff. […]

There is a reliable list of working USB WIFI dongles you can find here:
https://github.com/morrownr/USB-WiFi

Kalruby: If your swap partition (with the UUID=7c644dd0-69bc-472f-ab8d-96f349ded335) is on /dev/nvme0n1p6 you can consider this an information.
To verify that you can get the name of the swap partition and its UUID in Konsole with lsblk -f .

If not you could correct this on Debian-based systems in /etc/initramfs-tools/conf.d/resume or /etc/initramfs-tools/initramfs.conf and sudo update-initramfs -u -k all afterwards.

[Kalruby]

The swap partition is on dev/nvme0n1p6 but i really dont know how to set the resume variable
(right now im using an ethernet to usb adapter)

[Schwarzer Kater]

This message about the initramfs has nothing to do directly with your USB, WIFI, Ethernet…
And if your swap is on dev/nvme0n1p6 and the UUID matches, everything should be fine regarding the initramfs and you should not have to set anything.

[Kalruby]

Then i really dont know what to do to make the wifi work

[Schwarzer Kater]

I can't imagine that "Realtek RTL8111E Ethernet LOM" is for Wi-Fi - this normally is a PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller using e.g. the r8169 kernel module…

Sure you don't get any other output in Konsole from lspci -vv | grep -Ei 'network|wireless|wifi|wi-fi|wlan|w-lan|802' and your Wi-Fi card is enabled (UEFI, keyboard or other methods of switching it on…)?

[GreyGeek]

I followed the trail crumbs about the b852 device and it led me here: https://github.com/lwfinger/rtw89#dk...nd-derivatives