Wifi card WLE900VX (Atheros QCA9880) not showing up

Keltere · March 14, 2019, 11:45pm

Hi, recently has arrived a Qotom mini pc (Q515G6) with a Calereon CPU on board.
Just amazing how fast and solid it is but i have a problem with the wifi card.
It seems that the m2 pcie slot can't "load" any sort of wifi card, like it was disabled.
I've also tried with a intel 9260 (using an m2 adapter) but i get the same problem.
It doesn't show no matter what i do.

I've tried to install this packets:

ath10k-firmware-qca988x
kmod-ath10k
wpad-min
Tried after to generate a wifi config but it was still empty.

Here it is the lspci output

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v6/7th Gen Core Processor Host Bridge/DRAM Registers (rev 02)
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 2015
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
        Capabilities: [e0] Vendor Specific Information: Len=10 <?>
        Kernel driver in use: skl_uncore
lspci: Unable to load libkmod resources: error -12

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Device 5906 (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 2015
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 11
        Memory at de000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
        Memory at c0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
        I/O ports at f000 [size=64]
        [virtual] Expansion ROM at 000c0000 [disabled] [size=128K]
        Capabilities: [40] Vendor Specific Information: Len=0c <?>
        Capabilities: [70] Express Root Complex Integrated Endpoint, MSI 00
        Capabilities: [ac] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
        Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 2

00:08.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v5/v6 / E3-1500 v5 / 6th/7th Gen Core Processor Gaussian Mixture Model
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 2015
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 11
        Memory at df632000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
        Capabilities: [90] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
        Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2
        Capabilities: [f0] PCI Advanced Features

00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP USB 3.0 xHCI Controller (rev 21) (prog-if 30 [XHCI])
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 7270
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 121
        Memory at df610000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
        Capabilities: [70] Power Management version 2
        Capabilities: [80] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/8 Maskable- 64bit+
        Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd

00:14.2 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP Thermal subsystem (rev 21)
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 7270
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
        Memory at df631000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
        Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 3
        Capabilities: [80] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
        Kernel driver in use: intel_pch_thermal

00:15.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP Serial IO I2C Controller #0 (rev 21)
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 7270
        Flags: fast devsel, IRQ 11
        Memory at df630000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [disabled] [size=4K]
        Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 3
        Capabilities: [90] Vendor Specific Information: Len=14 <?>

00:15.1 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP Serial IO I2C Controller #1 (rev 21)
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 7270
        Flags: fast devsel, IRQ 10
        Memory at df62f000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [disabled] [size=4K]
        Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 3
        Capabilities: [90] Vendor Specific Information: Len=14 <?>

00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP CSME HECI #1 (rev 21)
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 1999
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 11
        Memory at df62e000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [disabled] [size=4K]
        Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 3
        Capabilities: [8c] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+

00:17.0 SATA controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 21) (prog-if 01 [AHCI 1.0])
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 7270
        Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 120
        Memory at df628000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8K]
        Memory at df62d000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
        I/O ports at f090 [size=8]
        I/O ports at f080 [size=4]
        I/O ports at f060 [size=32]
        Memory at df62c000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2K]
        Capabilities: [80] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
        Capabilities: [70] Power Management version 3
        Capabilities: [a8] SATA HBA v1.0
        Kernel driver in use: ahci

00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #1 (rev f1) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=0
        I/O behind bridge: 0000e000-0000efff [size=4K]
        Memory behind bridge: df500000-df5fffff [size=1M]
        Prefetchable memory behind bridge: None
        Capabilities: [40] Express Root Port (Slot+), MSI 00
        Capabilities: [80] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
        Capabilities: [90] Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 7270
        Capabilities: [a0] Power Management version 3
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport

00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 9d11 (rev f1) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=02, sec-latency=0
        I/O behind bridge: 0000d000-0000dfff [size=4K]
        Memory behind bridge: df400000-df4fffff [size=1M]
        Prefetchable memory behind bridge: None
        Capabilities: [40] Express Root Port (Slot+), MSI 00
        Capabilities: [80] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
        Capabilities: [90] Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 7270
        Capabilities: [a0] Power Management version 3
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport

00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #3 (rev f1) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=03, subordinate=03, sec-latency=0
        I/O behind bridge: 0000c000-0000cfff [size=4K]
        Memory behind bridge: df300000-df3fffff [size=1M]
        Prefetchable memory behind bridge: None
        Capabilities: [40] Express Root Port (Slot+), MSI 00
        Capabilities: [80] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
        Capabilities: [90] Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 7270
        Capabilities: [a0] Power Management version 3
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport

00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 9d13 (rev f1) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=04, subordinate=04, sec-latency=0
        I/O behind bridge: 0000b000-0000bfff [size=4K]
        Memory behind bridge: df200000-df2fffff [size=1M]
        Prefetchable memory behind bridge: None
        Capabilities: [40] Express Root Port (Slot+), MSI 00
        Capabilities: [80] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
        Capabilities: [90] Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 7270
        Capabilities: [a0] Power Management version 3
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport

00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #5 (rev f1) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=05, subordinate=05, sec-latency=0
        I/O behind bridge: 0000a000-0000afff [size=4K]
        Memory behind bridge: df100000-df1fffff [size=1M]
        Prefetchable memory behind bridge: None
        Capabilities: [40] Express Root Port (Slot+), MSI 00
        Capabilities: [80] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
        Capabilities: [90] Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 7270
        Capabilities: [a0] Power Management version 3
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport

00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #6 (rev f1) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=06, subordinate=06, sec-latency=0
        I/O behind bridge: 00009000-00009fff [size=4K]
        Memory behind bridge: df000000-df0fffff [size=1M]
        Prefetchable memory behind bridge: None
        Capabilities: [40] Express Root Port (Slot+), MSI 00
        Capabilities: [80] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
        Capabilities: [90] Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 7270
        Capabilities: [a0] Power Management version 3
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport

00:1d.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #9 (rev f1) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
        Bus: primary=00, secondary=07, subordinate=07, sec-latency=0
        I/O behind bridge: None
        Memory behind bridge: None
        Prefetchable memory behind bridge: None
        Capabilities: [40] Express Root Port (Slot+), MSI 00
        Capabilities: [80] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit-
        Capabilities: [90] Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 7270
        Capabilities: [a0] Power Management version 3
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport

00:1e.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP Serial IO UART Controller #0 (rev 21)
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 7270
        Flags: fast devsel, IRQ 11
        Memory at df62b000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [disabled] [size=4K]
        Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 3
        Capabilities: [90] Vendor Specific Information: Len=14 <?>

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Device 9d50 (rev 21)
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 7270
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0

00:1f.2 Memory controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PMC (rev 21)
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 7270
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
        Memory at df624000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]

00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio (rev 21)
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 7270
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 32, IRQ 11
        Memory at df620000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
        Memory at df600000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
        Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 3
        Capabilities: [60] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+

00:1f.4 SMBus: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP SMBus (rev 21)
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 7270
        Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 11
        Memory at df62a000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
        I/O ports at f040 [size=32]

01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation I211 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 03)
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 0000
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
        Memory at df500000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=128K]
        I/O ports at e000 [size=32]
        Memory at df520000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
        Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
        Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable+ 64bit+
        Capabilities: [70] MSI-X: Enable+ Count=5 Masked-
        Capabilities: [a0] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
        Kernel driver in use: igb

02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation I211 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 03)
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 0000
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
        Memory at df400000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=128K]
        I/O ports at d000 [size=32]
        Memory at df420000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
        Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
        Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable+ 64bit+
        Capabilities: [70] MSI-X: Enable+ Count=5 Masked-
        Capabilities: [a0] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
        Kernel driver in use: igb

03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation I211 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 03)
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 0000
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
        Memory at df300000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=128K]
        I/O ports at c000 [size=32]
        Memory at df320000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
        Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
        Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable+ 64bit+
        Capabilities: [70] MSI-X: Enable+ Count=5 Masked-
        Capabilities: [a0] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
        Kernel driver in use: igb

04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation I211 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 03)
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 0000
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19
        Memory at df200000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=128K]
        I/O ports at b000 [size=32]
        Memory at df220000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
        Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
        Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable+ 64bit+
        Capabilities: [70] MSI-X: Enable+ Count=5 Masked-
        Capabilities: [a0] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
        Kernel driver in use: igb

05:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation I211 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 03)
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 0000
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
        Memory at df100000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=128K]
        I/O ports at a000 [size=32]
        Memory at df120000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
        Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
        Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable+ 64bit+
        Capabilities: [70] MSI-X: Enable+ Count=5 Masked-
        Capabilities: [a0] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
        Kernel driver in use: igb

06:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation I211 Gigabit Network Connection (rev 03)
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 0000
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
        Memory at df000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=128K]
        I/O ports at 9000 [size=32]
        Memory at df020000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
        Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
        Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable+ 64bit+
        Capabilities: [70] MSI-X: Enable+ Count=5 Masked-
        Capabilities: [a0] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
        Kernel driver in use: igb

Do i have to enable something on the bios?

mk24 · March 15, 2019, 1:07am

The "PCIe" slot in those actually does not have a live PCIe bus. It only works with USB interface cards which fit into PCIe sockets. Typically those are 3G / 4G modems.

There is a special ath9k 2 GHz only wifi card sold by the PfSense people for this machine, which is a USB chip on a PCIe card. It would offer little advantage over simply using a USB wifi dongle in one of the USB ports.

It's a hardware limitation. They used all of the bus lanes available on the chipset for the Ethernet ports and other things.

Keltere · March 16, 2019, 8:24am

The seller finally responded to me. You where right but based on the seller it could be solved with a bios upgrade but that will disable 1 of the Ethernet ports.

Keltere · March 19, 2019, 7:38pm

They have sent to me the bios. At the cost of 1 lan port i can now use the wifi card but i've discovered it support just 2.4 or 5ghz at time, can't use both simultaneously.
For this problem i was thinking to use the internal for 5ghz and an external usb card for 2.4ghz so i could resolve without using another AP.
Thanks again for your help.

slh · March 19, 2019, 8:00pm

There are no USB wlan cards which can be considered to work reliably in AP mode or 24/7.

Keltere · March 19, 2019, 8:30pm

Rly? Not even on just 2.4ghz?