Network firmware broken

bruhng · April 21, 2025, 5:12pm

When i updated my nixos networking stopped working. I am on unstable. It looks like a firmware issue and these errors happened during boot: apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: loaded firmware rtw89/rtw8852c_fw-1.bin apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0003) apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: Firmware version 0.27.125.0 (526f84c0), cmd version 0, type 1 apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: Firmware version 0.27.125.0 (526f84c0), cmd version 0, type 3 apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: MAC has already powered on apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fw bin size apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: parse fw header fail apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fwdl 0x1E0 = 0x1 apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fwdl 0x83F0 = 0xdeadbeef apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fw PC = 0x20000308 apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fw PC = 0x2000c1cc apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fw PC = 0x2000c1c8 apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fw PC = 0x2000c1c8 apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fw PC = 0x2000c1c8 apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fw PC = 0x2000c1c8 apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fw PC = 0x2000c1c8 apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fw PC = 0x2000c1c8 apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fw PC = 0x2000c1d4 apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fw PC = 0x2000c1c8 apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fw PC = 0x2000c1c8 apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fw PC = 0x2000c1c8 apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fw PC = 0x2000c1c8 apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fw PC = 0x2000c1c8 apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fw PC = 0x2000c1c8 apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fw bin size apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: parse fw header fail apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fwdl 0x1E0 = 0x1 apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fwdl 0x83F0 = 0xdeadbeef apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fw PC = 0x200002b6 apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fw PC = 0x2000d4cc apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fw PC = 0x2000c1c8 apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fw PC = 0x20005ccc apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fw PC = 0x2000c1c8 apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fw PC = 0x2000c1c8 apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fw PC = 0x2000c1c8 apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fw PC = 0x2000c1c8 apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fw PC = 0x2000c1c8 apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fw PC = 0x2000c1cc apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fw PC = 0x2000dd72 apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fw PC = 0x2000c1c8 apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fw PC = 0x2000c1cc apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fw PC = 0x2000c1c8 apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fw PC = 0x2000c1c8 apr 21 18:28:04 desktop kernel: rtw89_8852ce 0000:06:00.0: [ERR]fw bin siz How would i go about fixing this? Thanks in advance!

fschn90 · May 6, 2025, 4:55pm

Hi, have u solved this in the meantime? I’ve got the same issue and am still working on it. Will post a solution when i find it! best

fschn90 · May 7, 2025, 7:45am

It looks like this is an upstream issue in linux-firmware. There’s an open pull request for it here: Making sure you're not a bot!

github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs

linux-firmware: error on rtw89 wifi hardware

opened 12:48PM - 19 Apr 25 UTC

craigfurman

0.kind: bug

### Nixpkgs version - Unstable (25.05) ### Describe the bug After updating fr…om nixos-unstable revision 2631b0b7abcea6e640ce31cd78ea58910d31e650 to f675531bc7e6657c10a18b565cfebd8aa9e24c14 (which includes an upgrade of linux-firmware 20250311 to 20250410 in https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/commit/5ed6b8e022f560b68f0d5503c42d48eb2f1469d7), wifi drivers do not appear to function, at least on my nixos machine. I see "probe with driver rtw89_8852ce failed with error -22" in dmesg. Rebooting to an older nixos generation resolves the issue. ### Steps to reproduce This is perhaps a weak bug report since I suspect the bug is coupled to particular hardware, and I do not possess a variety of wifi hardware to reproduce this more extensively. See above for package-versions that I suspect might be the proximate cause of this problem. ### Expected behaviour wifi continues to function after updating linux-firmware ### Screenshots _No response_ ### Relevant log output ```console ``` ### Additional context _No response_ ### System metadata - system: `"x86_64-linux"` - host os: `Linux 6.12.22, NixOS, 25.05 (Warbler), 25.05.20250409.f675531` - multi-user?: `yes` - sandbox: `yes` - version: `nix-env (Nix) 2.28.1` - channels(root): `""` - nixpkgs: `/nix/store/zd0x43g1jcav0xy0k6q9pdhy3bvif77n-source` ### Notify maintainers --- **Note for maintainers:** Please tag this issue in your pull request description. (i.e. `Resolves #ISSUE`.) ### I assert that this issue is relevant for Nixpkgs - [x] I assert that this is a bug and not a support request. - [x] I assert that this is not a [duplicate of an existing issue](https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3A%220.kind%3A+bug%22+-label%3A%226.topic%3A+darwin%22+-label%3A%226.topic%3A+nixos%22). - [x] I assert that I have read the [NixOS Code of Conduct](https://github.com/NixOS/.github/blob/master/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md) and agree to abide by it. ### Is this issue important to you? Add a :+1: [reaction] to [issues you find important]. [reaction]: https://github.blog/2016-03-10-add-reactions-to-pull-requests-issues-and-comments/ [issues you find important]: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+sort%3Areactions-%2B1-desc

fschn90 · May 7, 2025, 8:30am

as a work-around i’ll try pinning to the last kernel version where it still worked with:

boot.kernelPackages = pkgs.linuxPackagesFor (pkgs.linux_6_12.override {
    argsOverride = rec {
      src = pkgs.fetchurl {
            url = "mirror://kernel/linux/kernel/v6.x/linux-${version}.tar.xz";
            sha256 = lib.fakeSha256;
      };
      version = "6.12.19";
      modDirVersion = "6.12.19";
      };
  });

but i havent tested it yet. will update soon.

bruhng · May 7, 2025, 8:50am

Hi, i hacked an ugly fix to get it to work. I manually downloaded working firmware and copied it to the current running config.

wget https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/plain/rtw89/rtw8852c_fw.bin -O /lib/firmware/rtw89/rtw8852c_fw.bin
zstd -lv ./rtw8852c_fw.bin.zst
cp rtw8852c_fw.bin /run/current-system/firmware/rtw89/rtw8852c_fw.bin
sudo modprobe -r rtw89_8852ce
sudo modprobe rtw89_8852ce

It was a more than a week ago since I fixed it so it is a bit fussy. But it was something along the lines of that. Hopefully it helps, and thanks for the code holding the kernel back!

arbitraryshenanigans · May 7, 2025, 10:37am

Looks like an upstream fix merged: Revert "rtw89: 8852c: update fw to v0.27.125.0" (!518) · Merge requests · kernel-firmware / Linux Firmware · GitLab

In my config, I’ve just overridden linux-firmware to the previous version without pinning the kernel too: nix-workstations/flake.nix at cc810ea57070aaad90d7e9afa9b187bb23bfb5e1 · craigfurman/nix-workstations · GitHub

Works on my machine, at least…

fschn90 · May 8, 2025, 7:30am

cool, thanks for the info! silly question maybe but whats the most convienient way of finding out if kernel v6.13 is already downstream in nixpkgs?

and thanks for point out the linux-firmware override, i guess thats a much better workaround than pinning the kernel!

arbitraryshenanigans · May 8, 2025, 9:23am

Not a silly question at all! I would look at NixOS Search to check the kernel version. Looks like 6.13 isn’t released in unstable yet.

Disclaimer: I’m a relatively new nixos user and there are always many ways of doing something!

I’ve learned from this thread, maybe I can try unpinning linux-firmware when kernel 6.13 is released, not just when a fixed firmware is released.

fschn90 · May 12, 2025, 4:19pm

thanks, this quick lookup was exactly what i was looking for!

btw: linux-firmware is at 20250509 and thus everything is working just fine again