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Network and Resume Problems

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jerrymares edited this page Jul 22, 2026 · 1 revision

Network and resume problems

“Wi-Fi is broken” can mean the PCI/firmware device disappeared, the interface is down, association failed, DHCP/gateway/DNS failed, a captive portal intervened, or only Steam is offline. DeckDoc currently covers the first three best.

Capture the failed state

sudo ./deckdoc.sh

Record whether the issue started after wake, whether the Wi-Fi icon is misleading, whether other devices can reach the same network, and whether local IP/gateway traffic works even when DNS/Steam does not.

Read module_wifi.log and module_acpi.log. If audio also disappeared after the same wake, inspect module_audio.log; upstream reports show that both failures can share a resume window without proving they share one root cause.

module_wifi.log searches the current boot for bounded ath11k, ath12k, iwlwifi, rtw88, b43, and brcmfmac names, reports available firmware-version lines, and emits a coupled Wi-Fi/SOF signature when both classes of failure exist. That signature is a prompt to compare timestamps with one resume—not a claim that Wi-Fi caused the audio failure or vice versa.

Interpret the signals

No wlanN interface

This is stronger than “not connected.” Correlate PCI device presence and driver/firmware errors. A missing interface after resume can indicate failed reinitialization, but model/driver coverage is not complete.

Interface DOWN

DOWN may be administrative (airplane mode, service action) or a failure. Look for a matching firmware crash, resume failure, or device disappearance before escalating severity.

Driver names are matched at token boundaries. Text that merely contains the characters b43—for example part of an unrelated identifier—must not be classified as a Broadcom driver error.

Interface present and linked

DeckDoc does not currently separate DHCP, gateway, DNS, captive portal, router, or Steam service faults. Useful read-only checks include:

ip address show
ip route
resolvectl status

Do not post full addresses, SSIDs, or BSSIDs without redaction.

Recovery order

After preserving evidence:

  1. Toggle Wi-Fi off/on in SteamOS and recheck interface/link state.
  2. Test another known-good network if available.
  3. Use a normal restart if the device/firmware is missing.
  4. Only reload a specific wireless driver after identifying the actual adapter and module.

DeckDoc does not yet ship Wi-Fi remediation. Never copy a hard-coded modprobe -r ath11k_pci command onto a model using a different driver. Driver removal may disrupt the current SSH connection and can leave the device unavailable until reboot.

Suspend/resume interpretation

module_acpi.log counts PM: suspend entry and PM: suspend exit/resume messages, then searches for selected PM/PCI/fan warnings. A completed resume does not guarantee every device resumed. Conversely, a wireless error somewhere in a boot with a suspend is not automatically caused by that suspend; timestamps must align.

Fan failure after resume

If the fan reads 0 RPM while APU temperature rises after wake, stop the workload and move to Power, thermal and battery. SteamOS issue #2475 documents a charge-limit/sleep case; treat it as a pattern to test, not a universal cause.

Escalation evidence

Include model, adapter/driver/firmware line, interface presence/state, exact wake time, PM transition, audio co-failure, network scope (one AP/all APs), and recovery outcome.

References

DeckDoc records evidence before action. Preserve the incident, change one variable at a time, verify the result, and use Steam Support for safety, warranty, and hardware concerns.

DeckDoc diagnostic center

Problems

Recovery and reference

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