Missing wifi driver on old laptop

malaterre · October 11, 2018 at 8:02 PM

Hi there,

Thanks a lot for this fantastic piece of work. LibreElec works just fine on my RPi2/RPi3 boxes.

I'd like to setup libreelec on a old laptop. After installation it turns out that the network interface is not brought up. I am guessing the wifi driver is missing. If I install Debian/stable on it here is what lspci reveals:

Code

0c:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] Network Connection (rev 02)
...
Kernel driver in use: iwl3945
Kernel modules: iwl3945

Is there an easy way to fix this ? Or should I recompile the whole LibreElec myself adding the missing wifi driver ?

Sorry I could not find no definite answer (only found: Libreelec does not detect Wi-Fi networks).

Thanks much

**Iridium** · October 12, 2018 at 6:51 PM Official Post

As a starter I would try the latest release 8.90.006 but I think the chances are limited.

If the driver is old, it's unlikely to be included in any further releases.

You could try and compile the kernel yourself but if you have issues that would require a new thread in the appropriate section.

**chewitt** · October 16, 2018 at 6:44 AM Official Post

Old laptops have never been target hardware for the project so we'll probably skip the opportunity to add support. Self build and figure out the changes; then push them to a GitHub repo so we can see what's required. Best case if it's simple we might consider adding it. Worst case anyone else who ever needs the same driver and find this thread can go see how it's done .. or they know who to beg an image from

malaterre · October 19, 2018 at 10:59 AM

chewitt How do I access some kind of shell from the libreelec installation ?

All I could find is:

Opening a terminal on the LibreElec/Kodi computer

and eventually I found:

Access local console

Is there a more detailed answer ? In particular where does this file '/flash/syslinux.conf' live ?

**chewitt** · October 19, 2018 at 11:10 AM Official Post

If you're using the current alpha release CTRL+ALT+F3 should switch you to a local console. On older releases you might need to add "tty" to the boot params in either syslinux.conf or extlinux.conf (whichever is being used) in the first partition on the USB stick.

malaterre · October 19, 2018 at 11:26 AM

chewitt I guess I am missing the obvious here is what I have:

Code

$ df /dev/sdb1
Filesystem     1K-blocks   Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/sdb1         524008 220488    303520  43% /media/mathieu/LIBREELEC

and then

Code

$ cat /media/mathieu/LIBREELEC/syslinux.cfg
SAY Wait for installer to start or press <TAB> for more options (live, run)
DEFAULT installer
TIMEOUT 50
PROMPT 1

LABEL installer
KERNEL /KERNEL
APPEND boot=UUID=1304-3842 installer quiet tty vga=current

LABEL live
KERNEL /KERNEL
APPEND boot=UUID=1304-3842 live quiet tty vga=current

LABEL run
KERNEL /KERNEL
APPEND boot=UUID=1304-3842 disk=UUID=f7a323bf-c792-4eb7-b814-325c6a305469 tty portable quiet

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malaterre · October 19, 2018 at 11:30 AM

chewitt nevermind I did not pay attention there was also a file ./EFI/BOOT/syslinux.cfg.

sorry for the noise

malaterre · October 19, 2018 at 12:22 PM

Just for historical reference. I could not get it ever work. The cursor was simply blinking (tried F2 and F3). Gave up and I am not trying the alpha release:

LibreELEC (Leia) v8.90.006 ALPHA – LibreELEC

**chewitt** · October 19, 2018 at 12:26 PM Official Post

Put the alpha release on a USB stick and test-boot without touching the existing install.

malaterre · October 19, 2018 at 12:30 PM

chewitt Just confirmed with current alpha (LibreELEC 9.0 Alpha 006 (Kodi 18 Beta 3)) the combo CTRL+ALT+F3 does not give me a local console. Just a blinking cursor.

malaterre · October 19, 2018 at 12:33 PM

So steps are:

dd 9.0 Alpha 006 onto USB
reboot
type 'live'
CTRL+ALT+F3

**chewitt** · October 19, 2018 at 12:57 PM Official Post

"run" gets you a persistent install on the USB and "live" gives you a non-persistent install

malaterre · October 19, 2018 at 1:36 PM

chewitt thanks for the clarification. Only "live" gives me a console after CTRL+ALT+F3. So I'll debug from this read-only system for now. Thanks for your kind help.

**chewitt** · October 19, 2018 at 1:41 PM Official Post

Edit the syslinux.conf entries and add "tty" to the boot params of the "run" option.

malaterre · October 19, 2018 at 1:49 PM

For historical reference:

* linux - Missing wlan0 interface for iwl3945 - Unix & Linux Stack Exchange

malaterre · October 19, 2018 at 1:51 PM

chewitt the 'tty' parameter is already there in the "run":

Code

$ cat syslinux.cfg
SAY Wait for installer to start or press <TAB> for more options (live, run)
DEFAULT live
TIMEOUT 50
PROMPT 1

LABEL installer
KERNEL /KERNEL
APPEND boot=UUID=0710-1617 installer quiet tty vga=current

LABEL live
KERNEL /KERNEL
APPEND boot=UUID=0710-1617 live quiet tty vga=current

LABEL run
KERNEL /KERNEL
APPEND boot=UUID=0710-1617 disk=UUID=66c36368-97cd-4ba9-979e-b8feea2f3e8c tty portable quiet

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Missing wifi driver on old laptop

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