Intel Wifi AX200 : Leap15.1+Latest Kernel or Tumbleweed installation

English Install/Boot/Login
1

Hi,
I’ve bought a new laptop (HP EliteBook 830 G6) and I’ve installed Leap 15.1, everything is working but wi-fi (and bluetooth).
The wifi chip is an Intel 6 AX200 ( https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005511/network-and-io/wireless-networking.html ) wich is not supported by kernel 4.12 (the distribution kernel of Leap 15.1) but is supported from kernel 5.1+ (I don’t understand if needs at least kernel 5.1 or >5.1 but this is not really important).
The use of this PC is mainly on the field, even with virtual machines (vmware player), wifi and bluetooth are not an option.
I always prefer stability vs latest version of sw but in that case I fear I’ve to change my point of view.
Now I’m facing a crossroads, is it better to stay with 15.1 and force the installation of latest kernel or install directly tumbleweed (I never installed it)?
What steps have I to do if I would stay with Leap15.1 with latest kernel (and what pro & cons)?
I’m a little bit afraid of Tumbleweed (my fear is mainly stability & vmware player compatibility with latest kernel) …

Thanks to who will reply.

2

Please post:

/sbin/lspci -nnk | grep -iA3 net

To see, which ID the Intel chip has.

Otherwise you can use the kernel from kernel:stable, but you can not use any precompiled hardware module packages shipped with Leap 15.1.
You have to build it by yourselve (f.e. Nvidia driver) or use packages of the community

3

As this notebook is all Intel (no Nvidia etc) and has an RJ45 Ethernet port, I would recommend:

Use YaST to:

  1. Add the repository http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Kernel:/stable/standard/
  2. Install the latest version of kernel-default

Reboot

Then continue as usual.

4

Great … It worked, now I’ve wifi and bluetooth enabled. It’s a pleasure to learn something new …

Just for completeness, after reboot :
3. UEFI Bios start MOK Util -> it’s mandatory to enroll the key of new firmware (it requires root pwd) otherwise it’s not possible to boot it.

Ciao

5

I have spoken to early, I have got some issues that makes PC not usable (for my purposes).

  1. Suspend to RAM & Hybernate simply doesn’t work. The PC totally freeze and only and hard switch off can be done. It’s not a good situation but I can survive to it.
  2. VMware Player (15.1) needs to be recompiled and the new kernel (5.4) requires GCC 9.1. I’ve download (GCC9.1) but compile process fails and I can’t survive with this issue.

So I think the only option is to turn to Tumbleweed (I’m expecting issues with Suspend & Hybernate, I don’t know what happen with VMware Player).

6

Maybe there is a solution for staying with Leap 15.1 and kernel 4.12.14:


00:1f.6  Ethernet controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection (6) I219-V [8086:15be] (rev 11)
           Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:854a]
           Kernel driver in use : e1000e
           Kernel modules: e1000e
--
3a:00.0 Network controller [0280] : Intel Corporation Wi-Fi 6 AX200 [8086:2723] (rev 1a)
           Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device [8086:0084]
3b:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller [0108]: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd NVMe SSD Controller SM981/PM981/PM983 [144d:a808]
           Subsystem: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd Device [144d:a801]

… and this is the output from Leap15.1 with kernel 5.4.2-4:


00:1f.6  Ethernet controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection (6) I219-V [8086:15be] (rev 11)
           Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:854a]
           Kernel driver in use : e1000e
           Kernel modules: e1000e
--
3a:00.0 Network controller [0280] : Intel Corporation Wi-Fi 6 AX200 [8086:2723] (rev 1a)
           Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device [8086:0084]
           Kernel driver in use : iwlwifi
           Kernel modules: iwlwifi
7

The driver for your Wlan Chip is in the kernel since kernel 5.1, so Leap shipps an older Kernel and you have to use the kernel from kernel:stable.

lkddb pci 8086 2723 .... 0084 ...... : CONFIG_IWLWIFI CONFIG_WLAN CONFIG_WLAN_VENDOR_INTEL : drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/pcie/drv.c # in 5.1–5.4, 5.5-rc+HEAD
8

And is what a I Did but it has other downside : suspend & hybernate doesn’t work and much worse I cannot get a running VMware Player.

9

And is what a I Did but it has other downside : suspend & hybernate doesn’t work and much worse I cannot get a running VMware Player.

Maybe Virtualbox instead of vmplayer? (vmplayer has often problems to get compiled on newer kernels, search for it)
or qemu/kvm?

10

Your VMware problem is a common problem which has been posted a number of times over the years in the Virtualization forum. This happens most often installing on Tumbleweed, but also if anyone uses an unusual kernel like what you’re doing.

The solution is simple…

  1. Install the latest gcc, one way to search is software.opensuse.org/search when it’s working (at the moment it seems to be down). Another way is if you know how to browse or search the repositories at download.opensuse.org but unless you’re in a hurry and a suitable gcc isn’t already in your configured repositories, I’d recommend waiting until the site is fixed. If you end up finding a binary on any Linux but not in a package, you can copy the binary to your machine… The gcc binary is completely standalone without any dependencies, so it can be simply copied and executed anywhere, there are no install or dependency requirements.

  2. Once you install a suitable gcc, your system will still point to the gcc version first installed. You can switch between installed gcc by configured alternatives as I describe in my following Wiki page

https://en.opensuse.org/User:Tsu2/gcc_update-alternatives

  1. Once the above is set up, then make sure you have all your requirements for compiling C and your kernel headers… make, kernel-default-devel and kernel-devel. And then install your VMware.

TSU

11

This is a brief recap on the situation and about the progresses.

PC HP Elitebook 830 G6 with Intel Wi-fi AX200 : wi-fi is supported by kernel 5.1 onward (and this is the starting point of this thread).

I installed Leap 15.1 (kernel 4.14) -> obviously wi-fi is not working. Suspend to ram works fine.
On Leap 15.1 I added kernel (stable) repo & I installed kernel 5.4 : wi-fi works, suspend to ram freeze the PC (I can only do an hard switch off), installation of VMware Player 15.1 or 15.5 fails.
Clean installation of Tumbleweed (kernel 5.3) : wi-fi works, suspend to ram works partially (no touchpad on resume *), installation of VMware Player 15.1 fails, 15.5 works !

  • I’ll open a new thread regarding this issue.

I would like to thank all guys who gave me inspirations for find a working solution.

12

I have this same problem on an Asus Zenbook Pro Duo, but do have Nvidia graphics card and no Ethernet port…here is some of the information I’ve gathered

Network Controller: Intel Corperation Device 2723 (REv 1a)
When I run this command: /usr/sbin/iwconfig receive lo no wireless extensions
Other information: Intel Corporation device [8086:2723] (rev 1a)

Problem occurring on latest Leap download 15.1 with kernal 5.1

Please advise…eager to get this up and running.

13

@MaxRiservo,
I recommend you search for prior posting and post in the Virtualization Forum if you still have issues with VMware.
Not sure why VMware Workstation suddenly works unless you had a gcc upgrade and not noticed. Otherwise, over the years the most common problem installing VMware products have been due to an unsupported gcc. You can install any version of gcc you wish (see software search for more options) and I’ve posted a Wiki page how to switch between multiple gcc installed side by side on your system

https://en.opensuse.org/User:Tsu2/gcc_update-alternatives

@billkent,
It’s generally bad form to hijack a thread by posting to a thread particularly when the problem for that @OP was solved… Either that solution also works for you or you should create a new thread describing your problem. In your case, I’d recommend reading the Stickies in the Wireless Forum that describe how to do some early and basic troubleshooting and collecting information about your system, and if you still have a problem then go ahead and post there.

Welcome to these Technical Help Forums, you’ll be working soon…

TSU

14

I don’t know well the current settings of OpenSuse and where to do kernel modifications. What do you mean by adding kernel (stable) repo? Which repository URL do I have to add in the repository manager?
If I have done that, I still don’t know where to switch the Kernel: the “Kernel Settings” in Yast do not have an option to change the Kernel version.

15

Driver is already included in Leap 15.1 (and 15.2):

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005511/network-and-i-o/wireless-networking.html
iwlwifi-cc-46.3cfab8da.0.tgz
/lib/firmware/iwlwifi-cc-a0-46.ucode

16

Please post:

/sbin/lspci -nnk | grep -iA3 net

uname -a
17

Meanwhile I tried to follow the instruction of this link: https://www.addictivetips.com/ubuntu-linux-tips/install-new-linux-kernel-versions-on-opensuse-leap/It suggests to include this repo: http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Kernel:/HEAD/standard/

However, this Repo does not exist. Instead, I found this: http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Kernel:/stable/standard/
This Repo just seems to include the current kernel 4.12.14, which does not support AX200 (unless I install the debug version).

Below you see the two outputs. Please note that I have two network cards: 04:00.0 is my ‘old’ card that only supports 2.4 GHz and which I would like to replace with 05:00.0, the AX200 card which doesn’t work yet.

/home/caliaro> uname -r
4.12.14-lp151.28.52-default
/home/caliaro> /sbin/lspci -nnk |grep -iA3 net
00:19.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection (2) I218-V [8086:15a1]
        Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device [1043:85c4]
        Kernel driver in use: e1000e
        Kernel modules: e1000e
--
04:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Ralink corp. RT2561/RT61 rev B 802.11g [1814:0302]
        Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. [MSI] PC54G3 Wireless 11g PCI Card [1462:b834]
        Kernel driver in use: rt61pci
        Kernel modules: rt61pci
05:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Wi-Fi 6 AX200 [8086:2723] (rev 1a)
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device [8086:0084]
18

Amusing :slight_smile:

It suggests to include this repo: http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Kernel:/HEAD/standard/

However, this Repo does not exist.

Could be temporary mirror issue or something specific to your location. This most certainly exists, but note, it contains bleeding edge (5.8 rc3 currently).

http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/Kernel:/stable/standard/
This Repo just seems to include the current kernel 4.12.14

I’m puzzled how do you manage it. This repo contains kernel 5.7.6 as of now. Copy-paste exact commands and their output you used to add this repository and to check what version it contains.

19

It worked now. Maybe I copy/pasted the repo wrong. Now it works flawlessly, and I get >500 Mbps Download and almost 900 Mbps Upload speed. Not bad for a WiFi connection.
Thanks @Sauerland and @arvidjaar for your help!