missing firmware for iwl3945

[Darko Veberic]

while iwl3945 wireless was working flawlessly in kernel from the raring install image (updates and aditional media stuff was downloaded) the same goes also for the first installed kernel. unfortunately, first update brought a kernel where this dmesg appears:

[ 17.924399] iwl3945 0000:04:00.0: iwlwifi-3945-2.ucode firmware file req failed: -2
[ 17.928864] iwl3945 0000:04:00.0: iwlwifi-3945-1.ucode firmware file req failed: -2
[ 17.928940] iwl3945 0000:04:00.0: Could not read microcode: -2
[ 17.931734] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready

and clicking on the network manager displays grayed-out "Wi-Fi Networks | device not ready (firmware missing)"...

lspci:
04:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] Network Connection (rev 02)

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.04
Package: linux-image-extra-3.8.0-19-generic 3.8.0-19.30
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.8.0-19.30-generic 3.8.8
Uname: Linux 3.8.0-19-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.9.2-0ubuntu8
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: andrea 2907 F.... pulseaudio
                      andrea 3355 F.... pulseaudio
Date: Fri May 3 02:25:07 2013
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=1683cf56-3605-467e-b1cd-d412897bd838
InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-05-02 (0 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.04 "Raring Ringtail" - Release amd64 (20130424)
MachineType: LENOVO 0769BJG
MarkForUpload: True
ProcFB: 0 inteldrmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.8.0-19-generic root=UUID=763a607f-ec3c-4295-a77f-96e904ff950e ro
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.8.0-19-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.8.0-19-generic N/A
 linux-firmware N/A
SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 06/11/2008
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 68ET37WW
dmi.board.name: IEL10
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: REFERENCE
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Tag
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: No Enclosure
dmi.chassis.version: N/A
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvr68ET37WW:bd06/11/2008:svnLENOVO:pn0769BJG:pvr3000N200:rvnLENOVO:rnIEL10:rvrREFERENCE:cvnNoEnclosure:ct10:cvrN/A:
dmi.product.name: 0769BJG
dmi.product.version: 3000 N200
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This change was made by a bot.

[Darko Veberic (darko-veberic-kit)]

workaround:

download http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/iwlegacy?action=AttachFile&do=get&target=iwlwifi-3945-ucode-15.32.2.9.tgz
untar, move iwlwifi-3945-2.ucode to /lib/firmware

usually the module wakes up, otherwise reload the iwl3945 or simply reboot.

[Tim Gardner (timg-tpi)]

Darko - I'm wondering if you might not have some file system corruption. Nothing has changed in the iwlwifi3945 driver sources or firmware since Raring was released. If downloading firmware from Intel has fixed your problem, then try reinstalling the linux-firmware package, e.g.,

wget http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/l/linux-firmware/linux-firmware_1.106_all.deb
sudo dpkg -i linux-firmware_1.106_all.deb

[Darko Veberic (darko-veberic-kit)]

tim - found the culprit: in our sitewide installation scripts (for the whole university) we were installing amd64-microcode package which uninstalls the linux-firmware. that's why things were working until first update performed by the scripts. i checked amd64-microcode and i don't see why would it require to uninstall linux-firmware.

workaround is thus very simple: as you sugest, the linux-firmware should be installed. close the bug?

[Tim Gardner (timg-tpi)]

I actually did not realize amd-ucode was a multiverse package. I guess your installation script removes linux-firmware because otherwise /lib/firmware/amd-ucode would conflict.

Marking invalid as this does not appear to be a distro problem.