Score:1

Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS stopped recognizing WiFi adapter

gb flag

I'm having issues to make Ubuntu recognize my wifi adapter which was working just fine. The issue started after the following 2 actions:

  • Ubuntu update that ended up updating the firmware (my laptop is a Dell Precision 5550).
  • Booting Windows 10 that I have in a separate partition and that I haven't used in a while.

So the sequence of actions was:

  • Working on Ubuntu, Network working fine. Installed Ubuntu update which required a restart.
  • I restarted the laptop since I needed to test something in my Windows partition so that also triggered the Firmware update which ended correctly.
  • Accessed Windows partition. Network there works fine, so I don't think is a hardware issue. Restarted laptop.
  • Logged into Ubuntu and then realized that the Network was not working.

So, I can't tell if the network issue started because of the firmware update or logging into Windows. I tried multiple fixes but nothing seems to solve the issue.

What I find very confusing is that if I boot Ubuntu from a usb drive, the Network still doesn't work there (which was working fine).

The result of runinng $ sudo lshw -C network is:

  *-network                 
       description: Network controller
       product: Wi-Fi 6 AX201
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 14.3
       bus info: pci@0000:00:14.3
       version: 00
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix bus_master cap_list
       configuration: driver=iwlwifi latency=0
       resources: iomemory:600-5ff irq:16 memory:604b11c000-604b11ffff

Which seems to mean that the drivers for my wifi card are installed.

Can anyone think what could be the issue? Thanks!

ChanganAuto avatar
us flag
When dual-booting with Windows, disabling its Fast Startup feature is a MUST. That alone can prevent proper hardware initialization when rebooting to another OS. Shutting down Windows instead of rebooting typically don't have the same problem.
heynnema avatar
ru flag
You probably have some missing firmware. Although it's not exactly the same as your problem, see https://askubuntu.com/questions/1352653/intel-ax201-wi-fi-6-is-not-working-on-ubuntu-21-04 and note some of the firmware related questions and commands. Maybe you can add similar commands/output into your question. You may just need to add some .ucode firmware files.
gb flag
Thanks both. I tried disabling the Fast Startup and didn't fix the issue. I didn't get to try the missing firmware fix since the WIFI started to work again without me doing anything. I believe it had something to do with Windows preventing the proper hardware initialization.
Score:0
gb flag

The issue got fixed on its own. I believe it had something to do with Windows preventing the proper hardware initialization. However, I'm unsure why it took 2 days to fix itself, plus I haven't logged into Windows recently.

Score:0
ru flag

Check these settings in Windows. It may fix the problem permanently for you.

Windows

  • boot into Windows
  • open the Power control panel
  • choose change what the power buttons do
  • choose change options that are unavailable
  • uncheck fast startup
  • close the Power control panel
  • open an administrative command prompt window
  • type powercfg /h off
  • type chkdsk /f c:
  • approve to run chkdsk at next reboot
  • reboot into Windows to let chkdsk run on drive C:
mangohost

Post an answer

Most people don’t grasp that asking a lot of questions unlocks learning and improves interpersonal bonding. In Alison’s studies, for example, though people could accurately recall how many questions had been asked in their conversations, they didn’t intuit the link between questions and liking. Across four studies, in which participants were engaged in conversations themselves or read transcripts of others’ conversations, people tended not to realize that question asking would influence—or had influenced—the level of amity between the conversationalists.