Does the linux kernel have driver for MSI AXE5400 usb wifi dongle?

I bought a tri-band MSI AXE5400 wifi dongle from Amazon, as it may improve the wifi speed over my built-in wifi in this older computer (Dell Vostro 3470). i can see the device in lsusb. The MSI website for the device has a driver and I downloaded it for linux, unzipped, and set permission on the install.sh script, then ran it, but the make had some errors and it would not install (I sent a support message to MSI about this, since they claim this should easily install for linux with the install script). First, do I need their driver anyway? Is there already a driver in the linux kernel? Second, if not am I screwed since their driver download is not functional? Third, if there is a driver, how can one configure it to be seen in the networking along side or in place of the built in wifi? Techie help appreciated. I guess its not a crisis since the computer has wifi but it is only 40 Mbsp down/20 Mbps up, and I regularly get 5x that on my other computers sitting 3 feet away. I do have a 50 ft Ethernet cable I use sometime, since there is no way for me to get a connection any closerā€“my wife hate the cable strung accross the roomā€¦

Right now, the MSI is in a usb 2.0. There are some 3.0 usb on the back of the machine. Overall, may not even be an advantage, since I see the built in speed looks higher anywayā€¦

 ā•­ā”€bmirtsching@dell in ~
ā•°ā”€Ī» garuda-inxi
System:
Kernel: 6.9.8-zen1-1-zen arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 14.1.1
clocksource: tsc avail: acpi_pm
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen
root=UUID=81ac1306-4541-49aa-af26-ac3ff8f68f92 rw rootflags=subvol=@
quiet rd.luks.uuid=ad3e452f-ed27-44f8-ba88-442176feab7d
rd.luks.uuid=defbb9a9-7b34-47be-b30e-abd2dc691b0a
resume=/dev/mapper/luks-defbb9a9-7b34-47be-b30e-abd2dc691b0a loglevel=3
ibt=off
Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.1.3 tk: Qt v: N/A info: frameworks v: 6.4.0
wm: kwin_wayland vt: 1 dm: SDDM Distro: Garuda base: Arch Linux
Machine:
Type: Desktop System: Dell product: Vostro 3470 v: N/A
serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 3 serial: <superuser required>
Mobo: Dell model: 0Y5FXV v: A00 serial: <superuser required> part-nu: 0869
uuid: <superuser required> UEFI: Dell v: 2.13.0 date: 05/29/2019
Battery:
Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech K850 Performance Wireless Keyboard
serial: <filter> charge: 100% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes
status: discharging
Device-2: hidpp_battery_1 model: Logitech M720 Triathlon Multi-Device
Mouse serial: <filter> charge: 55% (should be ignored) rechargeable: yes
status: discharging
CPU:
Info: model: Intel Core i5-9400 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Coffee Lake
gen: core 9 level: v3 note: check built: 2018 process: Intel 14nm family: 6
model-id: 0x9E (158) stepping: 0xD (13) microcode: 0xFC
Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 6 smt: <unsupported> cache: L1: 384 KiB
desc: d-6x32 KiB; i-6x32 KiB L2: 1.5 MiB desc: 6x256 KiB L3: 9 MiB
desc: 1x9 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 800 min/max: 800/4100 scaling: driver: intel_pstate
governor: powersave cores: 1: 800 2: 800 3: 800 4: 800 5: 800 6: 800
bogomips: 34798
Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Vulnerabilities: <filter>
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel CoffeeLake-S GT2 [UHD Graphics 630] vendor: Dell
driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-9.5 process: Intel 14nm built: 2016-20
ports: active: none empty: DP-1,HDMI-A-1 bus-ID: 00:02.0
chip-ID: 8086:3e98 class-ID: 0380
Device-2: AMD Lexa PRO [Radeon 540/540X/550/550X / RX 540X/550/550X]
vendor: Dell driver: amdgpu v: kernel arch: GCN-4 code: Arctic Islands
process: GF 14nm built: 2016-20 pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s lanes: 8 ports:
active: DP-4 empty: DP-2,DP-3 bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:699f
class-ID: 0300 temp: 55.0 C
Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.13 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.1
compositor: kwin_wayland driver: X: loaded: amdgpu,modesetting
alternate: fbdev,intel,vesa dri: radeonsi,iris gpu: i915,amdgpu
display-ID: 0
Monitor-1: DP-4 res: 1920x1080 size: N/A modes: N/A
API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: intel iris drv: amd radeonsi platforms: device: 0
drv: iris device: 1 drv: radeonsi device: 2 drv: swrast gbm: drv: iris
surfaceless: drv: iris wayland: drv: radeonsi x11: drv: radeonsi
API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: amd mesa v: 24.1.5-arch1.1
glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: AMD Radeon RX 550 / 550 Series
(radeonsi polaris12 LLVM 18.1.8 DRM 3.57 6.9.8-zen1-1-zen)
device-ID: 1002:699f memory: 3.91 GiB unified: no display-ID: :1.0
API: Vulkan v: 1.3.279 layers: 14 device: 0 type: discrete-gpu name: AMD
Radeon RX 550 / 550 Series (RADV POLARIS12) driver: mesa radv
v: 24.1.5-arch1.1 device-ID: 1002:699f surfaces: xcb,xlib,wayland
device: 1 type: integrated-gpu name: Intel UHD Graphics 630 (CFL GT2)
driver: mesa intel v: 24.1.5-arch1.1 device-ID: 8086:3e98
surfaces: xcb,xlib,wayland device: 2 type: cpu name: llvmpipe (LLVM
18.1.8 256 bits) driver: mesa llvmpipe v: 24.1.5-arch1.1 (LLVM 18.1.8)
device-ID: 10005:0000 surfaces: xcb,xlib,wayland
Audio:
Device-1: Intel Cannon Lake PCH cAVS vendor: Dell Vostro 3470
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel alternate: snd_soc_skl, snd_soc_avs,
snd_sof_pci_intel_cnl bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:a348 class-ID: 0403
Device-2: AMD Baffin HDMI/DP Audio [Radeon RX 550 640SP / 560/560X]
vendor: Dell driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s
lanes: 8 bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:aae0 class-ID: 0403
API: ALSA v: k6.9.8-zen1-1-zen status: kernel-api with: aoss
type: oss-emulator tools: N/A
Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.2.2 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
4: pw-jack type: plugin tools: pactl,pw-cat,pw-cli,wpctl
Network:
Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
vendor: Dell Vostro 3470 driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1
speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: 3000 bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168
class-ID: 0200
IF: enp2s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9565 / AR9565 Wireless Network Adapter
vendor: Dell Vostro 3470 driver: ath9k v: kernel pcie: gen: 1
speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 168c:0036 class-ID: 0280
IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Device-3: Micro Star 802.11ax WLAN Adapter driver: N/A type: USB rev: 2.0
speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 1-7:9 chip-ID: 0db0:991d
class-ID: 0000 serial: <filter>
Info: services: NetworkManager, systemd-timesyncd, wpa_supplicant
Bluetooth:
Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 1.1
speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 1-14:6 chip-ID: 0cf3:e005
class-ID: e001
Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 4.0
lmp-v: 6 status: discoverable: no pairing: no class-ID: 6c0104
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 3.87 TiB used: 2.94 TiB (76.1%)
SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Hitachi model: HUS724040ALE640
size: 3.64 TiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
tech: HDD rpm: 7200 serial: <filter> fw-rev: NS04 scheme: GPT
ID-2: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: SK Hynix model: SC401 SATA 256GB
size: 238.47 GiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 0121 scheme: GPT
Partition:
ID-1: / raw-size: 221.18 GiB size: 221.18 GiB (100.00%)
used: 177.95 GiB (80.5%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/dm-0 maj-min: 254:0
mapped: luks-ad3e452f-ed27-44f8-ba88-442176feab7d
ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%)
used: 728 KiB (0.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sdb1 maj-min: 8:17
ID-3: /home raw-size: 221.18 GiB size: 221.18 GiB (100.00%)
used: 177.95 GiB (80.5%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/dm-0 maj-min: 254:0
mapped: luks-ad3e452f-ed27-44f8-ba88-442176feab7d
ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 221.18 GiB size: 221.18 GiB (100.00%)
used: 177.95 GiB (80.5%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/dm-0 maj-min: 254:0
mapped: luks-ad3e452f-ed27-44f8-ba88-442176feab7d
ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 221.18 GiB size: 221.18 GiB (100.00%)
used: 177.95 GiB (80.5%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/dm-0 maj-min: 254:0
mapped: luks-ad3e452f-ed27-44f8-ba88-442176feab7d
Swap:
Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: no
ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 16.99 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%)
priority: -2 dev: /dev/dm-1 maj-min: 254:1
mapped: luks-defbb9a9-7b34-47be-b30e-abd2dc691b0a
ID-2: swap-2 type: zram size: 15.45 GiB used: 1.07 GiB (6.9%)
priority: 100 comp: zstd avail: lzo,lzo-rle,lz4,lz4hc,842 max-streams: 6
dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 37.0 C pch: 47.0 C mobo: 36.0 C gpu: amdgpu
temp: 55.0 C
Fan Speeds (rpm): fan-1: 1027 gpu: amdgpu fan: 1235
Info:
Memory: total: 16 GiB available: 15.45 GiB used: 4.31 GiB (27.9%)
Processes: 309 Power: uptime: 3h 29m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
avail: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot,
suspend, test_resume image: 6.14 GiB services: org_kde_powerdevil,
power-profiles-daemon, upowerd Init: systemd v: 256 default: graphical
tool: systemctl
Packages: 2081 pm: dpkg pkgs: 0 pm: pacman pkgs: 2075 libs: 593
tools: octopi,paru,yay pm: flatpak pkgs: 6 Compilers: clang: 18.1.8
gcc: 14.2.1 alt: 12 Shell: garuda-inxi default: fish v: 3.7.1
running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.35
Garuda (2.6.26-1):
System install date:     2024-06-11
Last full system update: 2024-08-06 ā†»
Is partially upgraded:   No
Relevant software:       snapper NetworkManager dracut nvidia-dkms
Windows dual boot:       Probably (Run as root to verify)
Failed units:

Hi there @bmirtsching

According to your garuda-inxi output your WiFi dongle contains the following chip:

See the reference site below for information on your 0db0:991d WiFi chip:

https://usb-ids.gowdy.us/read/UD/0db0/991d

According to the information on the above linked site, your dongle contains a RTL8852cu chip. The driver available for download on your manufacturers website is for the Mediatek MT7612U chip. This is definitely not the MT7612U chip contained in your WiFi dongle. Perhaps during the Covid chip shortages your manufacturer was forced to substitute an alternate chip and they never updated this information on their download page. The other possibility is that the dongle was simply a cheap knock off dongle purchased over the internet where quality control and information on the products sold are very suspect.

I suggest you try installing the following package:

https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/rtl8852cu-dkms-git

This package may be hosted in the Chaotic AUR, but Iā€™m only on my cell so checking isnā€™t that simple ATM. If it is in the Chaotic repository you will not require an AUR helper utility to build it, as Chaotic packages come precompiled.

Good luck with your driver installation.

1 Like

Thanks! Will give it a try!
Barry

Iā€™m not sure I installed this correctly: I git cloned it and then makepkg -si. There was some errors noted. Should I have done something else?

ā•­ā”€bmirtsching@DellT5810 in repo: rtl8852cu-dkms-gitšŸ”’ on ļ˜ master took 65ms
[šŸ”“] Ɨ makepkg -si
==> Making package: rtl8852cu-dkms-git 1.0.0.3.a246437-1 (Thu 08 Aug 2024 11:40:22 AM CDT)
==> Checking runtime dependencies...
==> Installing missing dependencies...
[sudo] password for bmirtsching:
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...

Package (1)         New Version     Net Change  Download Size

core/linux-headers  6.10.2.arch1-2  131.46 MiB      25.92 MiB

Total Download Size:    25.92 MiB
Total Installed Size:  131.46 MiB

:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] y
:: Retrieving packages...
linux-headers-6.10.2.arch1-2-x86_64                 25.9 MiB  16.0 MiB/s 00:02 [----------------------------------------------] 100%
(1/1) checking keys in keyring                                                  [----------------------------------------------] 100%
(1/1) checking package integrity                                                [----------------------------------------------] 100%
(1/1) loading package files                                                     [----------------------------------------------] 100%
(1/1) checking for file conflicts                                               [----------------------------------------------] 100%
(1/1) checking available disk space                                             [----------------------------------------------] 100%
:: Running pre-transaction hooks...
(1/2) Rejecting pacman transaction if running in snapshot...
(2/2) Performing snapper pre snapshots for the following configurations...
==> root: 119
:: Processing package changes...
(1/1) installing linux-headers                                                  [----------------------------------------------] 100%
:: Running post-transaction hooks...
(1/9) Arming ConditionNeedsUpdate...
(2/9) Updating module dependencies...
(3/9) Install DKMS modules
==> ERROR: Missing 6.10.2-arch1-2 kernel modules tree for module nvidia/555.58.02.
==> ERROR: Missing 6.10.2-arch1-2 kernel modules tree for module v4l2loopback/0.13.2.
==> ERROR: Missing 6.10.2-arch1-2 kernel modules tree for module vboxhost/7.0.20_OSE.
(4/9) Refreshing PackageKit...
(5/9) Foreign/AUR package notification
glibc-eac-debug 2.40-1
glibc-eac-locales 2.40-1
snapd 2.63-1
(6/9) Orphaned package notification...
autoconf-archive 1:2023.02.20-2
esbuild 0.23.0-1
freealut 1.1.0-9
ftgl 2.4.0-3
gcab 1.6-2
go 2:1.22.5-1
go-tools 4:0.23.0-1
libsmbios 2.4.3-7
python-docutils 1:0.21.2-1
python-pyrate-limiter 3.6.0-2
python-toolz 0.12.1-2
qt5-quickcontrols 5.15.14-1
qtkeychain-qt5 0.14.3-1
(7/9) Checking for .pacnew and .pacsave files...
.pac* files found:
/etc/ananicy.d/ananicy.conf.pacnew
/etc/locale.gen.pacsave
/etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.pacnew
Please check and merge
(8/9) Performing snapper post snapshots for the following configurations...
==> root: 120
(9/9) Syncing all file systems...
==> Checking buildtime dependencies...
==> Retrieving sources...
-> Cloning rtw8852cu git repo...
Cloning into bare repository '/home/bmirtsching/rtl8852cu-dkms-git/rtw8852cu'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 1065, done.
remote: Counting objects: 100% (1065/1065), done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (834/834), done.
remote: Total 1065 (delta 243), reused 1038 (delta 228), pack-reused 0
Receiving objects: 100% (1065/1065), 5.86 MiB | 6.94 MiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (243/243), done.
-> Found dkms.conf
==> Validating source files with sha256sums...
rtw8852cu ... Skipped
dkms.conf ... Passed
==> Extracting sources...
-> Creating working copy of rtw8852cu git repo...
Cloning into 'rtw8852cu'...
done.
==> Starting pkgver()...
==> Updated version: rtl8852cu-dkms-git 1.0.0.12.d256c2a-1
==> Entering fakeroot environment...
==> Starting package()...
==> Tidying install...
-> Removing libtool files...
-> Purging unwanted files...
-> Removing static library files...
-> Stripping unneeded symbols from binaries and libraries...
-> Compressing man and info pages...
==> Checking for packaging issues...
==> Creating package "rtl8852cu-dkms-git"...
-> Generating .PKGINFO file...
-> Generating .BUILDINFO file...
-> Generating .MTREE file...
-> Compressing package...
==> Leaving fakeroot environment.
==> Finished making: rtl8852cu-dkms-git 1.0.0.12.d256c2a-1 (Thu 08 Aug 2024 11:41:03 AM CDT)
==> Installing package rtl8852cu-dkms-git with pacman -U...
loading packages...
resolving dependencies...
looking for conflicting packages...

Package (1)         New Version         Net Change

rtl8852cu-dkms-git  1.0.0.12.d256c2a-1   34.16 MiB

Total Installed Size:  34.16 MiB

:: Proceed with installation? [Y/n] y
(1/1) checking keys in keyring                                                  [----------------------------------------------] 100%
(1/1) checking package integrity                                                [----------------------------------------------] 100%
(1/1) loading package files                                                     [----------------------------------------------] 100%
(1/1) checking for file conflicts                                               [----------------------------------------------] 100%
(1/1) checking available disk space                                             [----------------------------------------------] 100%
:: Running pre-transaction hooks...
(1/2) Rejecting pacman transaction if running in snapshot...
(2/2) Performing snapper pre snapshots for the following configurations...
==> root: 121
:: Processing package changes...
(1/1) installing rtl8852cu-dkms-git                                             [----------------------------------------------] 100%
:: Running post-transaction hooks...
( 1/10) Arming ConditionNeedsUpdate...
( 2/10) Install DKMS modules
==> dkms install --no-depmod rtl8852cu/1.0.0.12.d256c2a -k 6.10.2-zen1-2-zen
Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel: 6.10.2-zen1-2-zen (x86_64)
Consult /var/lib/dkms/rtl8852cu/1.0.0.12.d256c2a/build/make.log for more information.
==> WARNING: `dkms install --no-depmod rtl8852cu/1.0.0.12.d256c2a -k 6.10.2-zen1-2-zen' exited 10
==> ERROR: Missing 6.10.2-arch1-2 kernel modules tree for module rtl8852cu/1.0.0.12.d256c2a.
( 3/10) Updating initramfs...
:: Building initramfs for linux-zen (6.10.2-zen1-2-zen)
:: Building fallback initramfs for linux-zen (6.10.2-zen1-2-zen)
( 4/10) Updating linux initcpios...
( 5/10) Refreshing PackageKit...
( 6/10) Foreign/AUR package notification
glibc-eac-debug 2.40-1
glibc-eac-locales 2.40-1
rtl8852cu-dkms-git 1.0.0.12.d256c2a-1
snapd 2.63-1
( 7/10) Orphaned package notification...
autoconf-archive 1:2023.02.20-2
esbuild 0.23.0-1
freealut 1.1.0-9
ftgl 2.4.0-3
gcab 1.6-2
go 2:1.22.5-1
go-tools 4:0.23.0-1
libsmbios 2.4.3-7
python-docutils 1:0.21.2-1
python-pyrate-limiter 3.6.0-2
python-toolz 0.12.1-2
qt5-quickcontrols 5.15.14-1
qtkeychain-qt5 0.14.3-1
( 8/10) Checking for .pacnew and .pacsave files...
.pac* files found:
/etc/ananicy.d/ananicy.conf.pacnew
/etc/locale.gen.pacsave
/etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist.pacnew
Please check and merge
( 9/10) Performing snapper post snapshots for the following configurations...
==> root: 122
(10/10) Syncing all file systems...

Try installing the linux-lts kernel and linux-lts-headers, then reboot. At your grub boot prompt select the linux-lts kernel. Once in the linux-lts kernel check your WiFi connection and post your garuda-inxi output once more.

I would also uninstall the linux-zen kernel and linux-zen-headers while on the LTS kernel. After doing this, reinstall the linux-zen kernel and linux-zen-headers packages again. Then reboot again.

Thanks, I may try those steps, but Iā€™m a bit leary of trying to do all the steps you suggest with my limited knowledge and for the fact the existing wifi does work, just maybe not as fast as I would like. Iā€™ve only been in grub once after a crash some years ago, and it didnā€™t end well for me, since I didnā€™t have the knowledge of how it worked to be able to recover my system. (I have contacted MSI about either updating the available driver on their website, or I will likely just return and get a refund, buy a product that has support. That said, how can I know what is supported before a purchaseā€¦I havenā€™t run into that much in Windows. )

I did find this alternative on github. Maybe it will work? Guess not. GitHub - lwfinger/rtw8852cu. It does say it fixed builds through kernel 6.9.

I did try to install with yay: warnings during the process and finally then errors resulted in failure:

make[2]: *** [/usr/lib/modules/6.10.2-zen1-2-zen/build/Makefile:1932: /home/bmirtsching/.cache/paru/clone/rtl8852cu-git/src/rtw8852cu] Error 2
make[1]: *** [Makefile:240: __sub-make] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory '/usr/lib/modules/6.10.2-zen1-2-zen/build'
make: *** [Makefile:709: modules] Error 2
==> ERROR: A failure occurred in build().
Aborting...
error: failed to build 'rtl8852cu-git-1.0.0.3.a246437-1':
error: packages failed to build: rtl8852cu-git-1.0.0.3.a246437-1

Probably back to the original and your suggestions.

Upon further consideration, too much grief. Amazon returns are too easy!
Still how can I know if kernel support is available before a purchase?

Most companies produce drivers for Linux as an afterthought. Many Linux WiFi drivers are just not quite as performant as their Windows counterparts.

Unfortunately, Linux WiFi drivers for a particular WiFi model may be great at the time of recommendation, but changes to the driver or kernel can either reduce performance or break Linux connectivity completely.

I generally avoid making WiFi recommendations. WiFi reliability can change, whereas the forum info is permanent, so recommendations are best found on a current online recommendation list.

Such as:

2 Likes

Nice. Iā€™ll start there. Nice info Thanks!
Barry

1 Like

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