Arch Linux

maximiliano

Member

Registered: 2013-04-16

Posts: 29

[SOLVED] Alienware m16 R2 wifi not working.

Hello folks I recently bought a new Dell Alienware m16 r2. Today I installed arch linux using the archinstall script, the laptop is fully working but I can't make the wifi to work at startup. I completely deleted windows from the laptop, I was able to use the wifi card while installing arch but I think after deleting windows it stopped working ( might be ? ) in some places people says that is needed to disable "fast boot" from windows itself.

This is my env:

[root@alien ~]# lspci -k | grep "Network controller" -A3
0000:2e:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wi-Fi 7(802.11be) AX1775*/AX1790*/BE20*/BE401/BE1750* 2x2 (rev 1a)
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation BE202 160MHz [Misty Peak]
        Kernel driver in use: iwlwifi
        Kernel modules: iwlwifi

[root@alien ~]# ip a
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 ::1/128 scope host noprefixroute 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: enp45s0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 10:98:19:3e:a4:76 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.0.26/24 brd 192.168.0.255 scope global dynamic noprefixroute enp45s0
       valid_lft 2906sec preferred_lft 2906sec
    inet6 fe80::8ba3:c775:8047:f36d/64 scope link noprefixroute 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

[root@alien ~]# lsmod | grep -i iwlwifi
iwlwifi               593920  0
cfg80211             1384448  1 iwlwifi

If I remove the driver:

[root@alien ~]# modprobe -r iwlwifi
[root@alien ~]# modprobe iwlwifi

[root@alien ~]# ip a | grep wlan0 -A3
3: wlan0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 36:64:09:12:81:05 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff permaddr 10:91:d1:55:3e:e4

I have the secure boot disable in the bios, but idk about the fast boot, also I tried adding the "iwlwifi" module to the /etc/mkinitcpio.conf and rebuilding the initramfs, but no luck.

[root@alien ~]# cat /etc/mkinitcpio.conf
# vim:set ft=sh
# MODULES
# The following modules are loaded before any boot hooks are
# run.  Advanced users may wish to specify all system modules
# in this array.  For instance:
#     MODULES=(usbhid xhci_hcd)
MODULES=(iwlwifi)

Thanks!

Last edited by maximiliano (2024-10-11 13:17:42)

maximiliano

Member

Registered: 2013-04-16

Posts: 29

Re: [SOLVED] Alienware m16 R2 wifi not working.

I solved this issue by doing this.

1 ) Added the module

 iwlmvm 

to

 /etc/mkinitcpio.conf 

MODULES=(iwlmvm i915? nvidia? crc32c-intel)

2 ) Rebuild initramfs

 mkinitcpio -P 

( Don't know if this does something really useful )

3 ) Created a script for unload and reload iwlmvm kernel module

/usr/bin/iwlmvm

#!/bin/bash
modprobe -r iwlmvm && sleep 3 && modprobe iwlmvm

4 ) Created and enabled a systemd unit for execute the script.

 /usr/lib/systemd/system/iwlmvm.service 

[Unit]
Description=Reload iwlmvm failing driver
After=multi-user.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/bash /usr/bin/iwlmvm
Type=simple

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Wifi now works at KDE startup without any issues, I think its a nasty solution but it's working.