Enabling the AXE3000 USB 3.0 WiFi Adapter -A8000 (mt7921au chipset) in wlanPi

[timg11]

I'm just starting out with wlanPi. I've installed the OS on a Raspberry Pi 4, and have inserted the Netgear AXE3000 USB 3.0 WiFi Adapter -A8000. I used the lower right USB 3.0 port for the A8000. I'm trying to recognize and configure the A8000 as a WLAN interface.

ip a (subset):

3: usb0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether fe:d5:c6:63:2b:89 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

dmesg has thousands of entries like:
[UFW BLOCK] IN=eth0 OUT= MAC=01:00:5e:00:00:fb:24:6f:28:b1:81:0c:08:00 SRC=192.168.27.212 DST=224.0.0.251 LEN=32 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=1 ID=3 PROTO=2
Firewall block, but given it is eth0, probably unrelated to A8000 on usb0?

 $ sudo lsusb
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0846:9060 NetGear, Inc. Wireless_Device
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 1241:1166 Belkin MI-2150 Trust Mouse
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 413c:2105 Dell Computer Corp. Model L100 Keyboard
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 2109:3431 VIA Labs, Inc. Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Found on Bus 002 Device 002

snip from lshw:

          *-usbhost:1
                product: xHCI Host Controller
                vendor: Linux 6.7.1-v8-wlanpi+ xhci-hcd
                physical id: 1
                bus info: usb@2
                logical name: usb2
                version: 6.07
                capabilities: usb-3.00
                configuration: driver=hub slots=4 speed=5000Mbit/s
              *-usb
                   description: Generic USB device
                   product: Wireless_Device
                   vendor: MediaTek Inc.
                   physical id: 2
                   bus info: usb@2:2
                   version: 1.00
                   serial: 000000000
                   capabilities: usb-3.20
                   configuration: driver=mt7921u maxpower=160mA speed=5000Mbit/s

 $ lsmod | grep "mt79"
mt7921u                12288  0
mt792x_usb             16384  1 mt7921u
mt7921_common          69632  1 mt7921u
mt792x_lib             61440  3 mt792x_usb,mt7921_common,mt7921u
mt76_connac_lib        90112  3 mt792x_lib,mt7921_common,mt7921u
mt76_usb               40960  2 mt792x_usb,mt7921u
mt76                  118784  6 mt792x_lib,mt792x_usb,mt76_usb,mt7921_common,mt76_connac_lib,mt7921u
mac80211             1036288  4 mt792x_lib,mt76,mt7921_common,mt76_connac_lib
cfg80211              991232  4 mt76,mac80211,mt7921_common,mt76_connac_lib
wlanpi@wlanpi-P42G:~ $

So drivers are loaded?

/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf is as follows:

		# WPA3 PSK network sample for 6 GHz (note SAE and PMF is required) - don't unhash this line
		
		network={
		  ssid="six-e-test02"
		  psk="********"
		  priority=10
		  key_mgmt=SAE
		  ieee80211w=2

Still DOWN and no IP on usb0:

3: usb0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether fe:d5:c6:63:2b:89 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

Here is the /etc/network/interfaces file (all of it)

source /etc/network/interfaces.d/*

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# Wired ethernet
allow-hotplug eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

# Wired ethernet
# For boards with 2 eth ifaces
allow-hotplug eth1
iface eth1 inet dhcp

# wlan0 configuration
allow-hotplug wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
#address 192.168.0.100
#netmask 255.255.255.0
#gateway 192.168.0.1
#dns-nameservers 8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4
# Disable power saving on compatible chipsets (prevents SSH/connection dropouts over WiFi)
wireless-power off

# wlan1 configuration
# For second WiFi dongle
allow-hotplug usb0
iface usb0 inet dhcp
wpa-conf /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
# Disable power saving on compatible chipsets (prevents SSH/connection dropouts over WiFi)
wireless-power off

Here is the full output of ip a

$ 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
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether e4:5f:01:7d:38:ae brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.27.183/24 brd 192.168.27.255 scope global dynamic eth0
       valid_lft 86379sec preferred_lft 86379sec
    inet6 2605:a601:affb:2700:e65f:1ff:fe7d:38ae/64 scope global dynamic mngtmpaddr
       valid_lft 86383sec preferred_lft 14383sec
    inet6 fe80::e65f:1ff:fe7d:38ae/64 scope link
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
3: usb0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether fe:d5:c6:63:2b:89 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
4: wlx941865484f80: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 94:18:65:48:4f:80 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.27.222/24 brd 192.168.27.255 scope global dynamic noprefixroute wlx941865484f80
       valid_lft 86381sec preferred_lft 86381sec
    inet6 2605:a601:affb:2700:1035:6085:547a:6b34/64 scope global dynamic noprefixroute
       valid_lft 86384sec preferred_lft 14384sec
    inet6 fe80::5bb5:79cf:9bc:a9ac/64 scope link noprefixroute
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
5: pan0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 6e:fe:31:66:80:87 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

Note that /etc/network/interfaces has a wlan0 interface.
ip a shows a wlx941865484f80: which is working properly.

Is /etc/network/interfaces even being used?
Next steps?

[joshschmelzle]

Hey timg11,

When you created this issue, were you running WLAN Pi OS or Raspberry Pi OS?

usb0

WLAN devices will not use interfaces called usb0 or usb<N>.

Firewall block, but given it is eth0, probably unrelated to A8000 on usb0?

Correct, these UFW dmesg logs have nothing to do with the A8000.

Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0846:9060 NetGear, Inc. Wireless_Device

This is the A8000.

wlx941865484f80

WLAN interfaces should start with the wlan prefix followed by a number because we do not use predictable network interface names in WLAN Pi OS.

Can you run sudo profiler --list_interfaces and share the output?

[timg11]

I am only using WLAN Pi OS. Clean install to sd-card, but I've been through several rounds of attempts with enabling the GUI, which is not working currently.

ip a shows the following interfaces:

lo:
eth0:
usb0:
wlx941865484f80:

Can you run sudo profiler --list_interfaces and share the output?

wlanpi@wlanpi-P42G:~ $ sudo profiler --list_interfaces
Distributor ID: Debian
Description:    Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye)
Release:        11
Codename:       bullseye

Linux wlanpi-P42G 6.7.1-v8-wlanpi+ #1 SMP PREEMPT Mon Jan 22 17:15:38 UTC 2024 aarch64 GNU/Linux

PHY   Interface        Mode     Driver   DriverVersion     FirmwareRev                Chipset

phy0  wlx941865484f80  managed  mt7921u  6.7.1-v8-wlanpi+  ____010000-20240219111038  NetGear Wireless_Device

wlanpi@wlanpi-P42G:~ $

It does appear that the wlx device is connected, but it is using the parameters for iface wlan0, in /etc/network/interfaces.

The only uncommented text in /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf is

network={
  ssid="six-e-test02"
  psk="********"
  priority=10
  key_mgmt=SAE
  ieee80211w=2
}

However, interface wlx941865484f80: has connected to a different SSID with DHCP. I can tell because of the IP address assigned.

I looked in raspi-config, and noticed that the setting / Advanced / Network Config shows "2 Network Manager" as selected. Is that correct for wlanPI?

[joshschmelzle]

Did Network Manager take over the interface? Check output of nmcli.

Does the interface name show up like this before or after attempting to add a desktop environment? What changes did you make post clean install?