Notebook WLAN interface not recognized any more

English Hardware
1

Hello Forum,

on an ASUS K73E laptop (core i3, 4GiB, SDD), about 7 years old, running OpenSUSE 15.0, the WLAN interface suddenly became unavailable.

  • "hwinfo --wlan"
    showed nothing - "hwinfo --network"
    showed (of course) only “Ethernet” and “lo” interface … - … so did "ip link list"
  • "lspci"
    did only show Ethernet controller, no WLAN - manually loading the required driver “ath9k” did not change anything, also no outputs on syslog while loading
  • booting Leap 15.1 “Network Installation” as test did not detect the WLAN

So, I guess this is a HW defect :? Or is there something else I have overseen or I can check ?

Regards, Wumpus

2

Please post

/sbin/lspci -nnk | grep -iA3 net

or if it is an USB-Adapter:

lsusb
3

Along with sauerland’s suggestion, make sure to check that you haven’t accidentally disabled the wifi via a switch or function key perhaps.

4

Hi Sauerland,

sorry for the delay - no access to the computer. The result is:

data:/home/XXX # lspci -nnk | grep -iA3 net
02:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Qualcomm Atheros AR8151 v2.0 Gigabit Ethernet [1969:1083] (rev c0)
        Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device [1043:1851]
        Kernel driver in use: atl1c
        Kernel modules: atl1c

That however seems only to be the Ethernet interface.
A deano_ferrari suggested, I also checked if the WLAN was deactivated by function key (Fn-F2 in my case), pressing this however did not change anything; and a switch does not exist.

5

HW-defect?

6

It would be a good idea to check that the card is not dislodged or just needs reseating perhaps, and not generally a big deal if it does need replacing. There are manuals and youtube videos online that should show you the access details if necessary.

7

That is my opinion, too; I will check for dislodging and try to reseat, or even get a replacement, no big deal.
Just wanted to check if I’ve missed something, thanks for help :shake:.