Arch Linux

GrzegorzKozub

Member

Registered: 2021-09-19

Posts: 6

AX500-DBS stopped working after upgrading kernel 5.14.5.arch1-1

I'm on Dell XPS 13 9310, the 32 GB model with Qualcomm QCA6390 Wireless Network Adapter AX500-DBS. It works for me and has all the issues as properly documented on https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Dell_XPS_13_(9310). It works as long as I'm on linux 5.14.3.arch1-1. After upgrading to 5.14.5.arch1-1 and restarting I observed the following behaviors which are sometimes quite weird.

The network adapter is no longer detected. Multiple reboots don't help. Turning the laptop off and on again does not help.

After booting with 5.14.5.arch1-1 at least once, wifi card is not even detected when booting from archiso that's using an older kernel. Weirdly, it's also not detected in Windows (I have a dual-boot without fast boot or hibernation).

So after my wifi card gets "broken" by 5.14.5.arch1-1 the only thing I can do to revive it is to load factory defaults in BIOS. Sometimes disabling the wifi card in BIOS, restarting and re-enabling it again helps, but very rarely.

Happy to see AX500-DBS driver development continues but 5.14.5.arch1-1 seems tainted and I don't recommend upgrading if you have this cursed network adapter

tors42

Member

Registered: 2020-11-14

Posts: 4

Re: AX500-DBS stopped working after upgrading kernel 5.14.5.arch1-1

Yes,
after upgrading to 5.14.5-arch1-1 also my QC6390 AX500-DBS network adapter stopped working.

I also have the LTS kernel installed in parallel,
and when booting with the 5.10.66-1-lts the network adapter is found and works.

So maybe that could be an alternative workaround for you as well.

GrzegorzKozub

Member

Registered: 2021-09-19

Posts: 6

Re: AX500-DBS stopped working after upgrading kernel 5.14.5.arch1-1

Thanks tors42. A little off topic, but this is a very handy workaround to always have in place for such cases and I have added it to my install script now. On top of that I use fsarchiver and am planning to experiment with btrfs and time machine.

SheepOnMeth

Member

Registered: 2014-04-03

Posts: 38

Re: AX500-DBS stopped working after upgrading kernel 5.14.5.arch1-1

Hi,

I have the same issue, I also end up staying on 5.14.3 until it is fixed.
From what I saw in the log, the firmware could not be loaded properly at boot. If try to unload
and load the ath11k module, but the laptop becomes unresponsive.  I had to do a hard reboot
to get back on the system.

The bug is known: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=210923

Regarding the LTS kernel, it was working, but the brightness control had an issue with the OLED panel.

SheepOnMeth

Member

Registered: 2014-04-03

Posts: 38

Re: AX500-DBS stopped working after upgrading kernel 5.14.5.arch1-1

Upgrading to 5.14.7 fix the issue (available in testing).

GrzegorzKozub

Member

Registered: 2021-09-19

Posts: 6

Re: AX500-DBS stopped working after upgrading kernel 5.14.5.arch1-1

I can confirm linux 5.14.7 fixed it for me.