On Mon 22 Mar 2021 at 09:39:54 -0500, David Wright wrote: > On Sun 21 Mar 2021 at 21:48:30 (-0400), Kenneth Parker wrote: > > On Sun, Mar 21, 2021, 9:24 PM Robbi Nespu <robbine...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > On 22/3/2021 6:27 am, Kenneth Parker wrote: > > > > > > > > Both his Lenovo, and my HP Laptop have the same WiFi hardware, found via > > > > a "lspci" command: > > > > > > > > > Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8723DE > > > > 802.11b/g/n PCIe Adapter > > > > > > > > So, to ensure that we can complete the Install, I wanted to test, using, > > > > first a Debian Bullseye Netinst CD and, when it failed, a Debian Buster > > > > 10.3 NetInst CD. > > > > > > > > In both cases, I used my favorite, Text / Expert Install (but also tried > > > > Bullseye with the "normal" Text Install). it gets to the step, to find, > > > > and configure the Network, but only finds the Ethernet Port which, for > > > > the purposes of my test, has no Cable attached. So, obviously, the > > > > Network Configuration fails! > > > > > > > > I was ready for it to Find the WiFi, and had, in advance, populated the > > > > /firmware directory of a USB Thumbdrive, but it never gets to the step, > > > > where it is asking for it. > > > > > > > Does the installer said missing firmware? or nothing at all? > > > > > It sits for, about a minute in the "Detect Network Hardware" step. Then, > > when it continues, only the Ethernet Port is detected. It does not, even > > *ask* about Firmware. So, nothing at all. > > > > So, for my purposes, install without network is the best that I can do. > > And then, in the running system, install the Firmware. > > So I assume that the running system finds the modules, loads them and > also some firmware for them (perhaps even rtl8723defw.bin?), yes? > > If so, then it's worth knowing what the installer found. The file on > your installed system /var/log/installer/hardware-summary has its > lsmod output in the third section, after lspci and usb-list. > > If they're found, then /var/log/installer/syslog (considerably larger) > should show the module (the rtlNNNN one) being loaded, followed by the > firmware. If you saw no messages on the console, then it's perfectly > possible that the module and its firmware were found and loaded > successfully, but they just didn't make the wifi work, which would be > a completely different bug. > > If you've time to spare, you could of course retry the installer > *without* the firmware on a stick, deliberately provoking the module > (if it gets loaded) to complain. These "forensic" observations would > narrow the scope of potential bugs.
All good advice. I think the modules that should be loaded are rtw88_8723de, rtw88_8723d, rtw88_core and rtw88_pci. After doing the "Detect Network Hardware" step the OP could use 'lsmod' in a console. The buster d-i kernel does not have these modules. -- Brian.
