Wifi with rt2800usb dead after 20.04 LTS upgrade

I have a Tenda W322U v2.0 USB Wifi adaptor which worked just fine on an old Edubuntu OS have been running for years. How having upgraded to Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS. Now of course the wifi is dead. I get the following:

lsusb:

Bus 002 Device 003: ID 148f:3072 Ralink Technology, Corp. RT3072 Wireless Adapter
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

sudo lshw -class network:

 *-network description: Wireless interface physical id: 2 bus info: usb@2:2 logical name: wlxc83a35cf5510 serial: c8:3a:35:cf:55:10 capabilities: ethernet physical wireless configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rt2800usb
driverversion=5.8.0-43-generic firmware=0.36 link=no multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11

01-network-manager-all.yaml

network: version: 2 renderer: NetworkManager wifis: wlxc83a35cf5510: optional: true access-points: "mariqLan": password: "password" dhcp4: true

I managed to get the light to go on, on the stick itself by command:

sudo ip link set dev wlxc83a35cf5510 up

ip link:

1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000 link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
2: ens4: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state DOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000 link/ether 00:1c:25:91:e6:33 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff altname enp4s0
4: wls3: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000 link/ether 00:1f:3c:4b:68:5d brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff altname wlp3s0
5: wlxc83a35cf5510: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state DOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000 link/ether c8:3a:35:cf:55:10 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

On the UI, the 'USB Wifi Off' remains so no matter how I try to turn it on via UI.

Also:

sudo dkms status
rtl8192eu, 1.0, 5.8.0-43-generic, x86_64: installed
uname -r
5.8.0-43-generic
lsmod
Module Size Used by
rt2800usb 32768 0
rt2x00usb 24576 1 rt2800usb
rt2800lib 131072 1 rt2800usb
rt2x00lib 65536 3 rt2800usb,rt2x00usb,rt2800lib
dmesg | grep wlxc83a35cf5510
[ 743.635390] rt2800usb 2-2:1.0 wlxc83a35cf5510: renamed from wlan0

Please help! ;-)

1 Answer

In order to reduce or eliminate any possible interference, I suggest that you blacklist the driver for the evidently malfunctioning internal device. From the terminal:

sudo -i
modprobe -r iwl3945
echo “blacklist iwl3945” >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
exit

Remove the USB wireless device.

Next, restore netplan to its default state:

# Let NetworkManager manage all devices on this system
network: version: 2 renderer: NetworkManager

Restart NM:

sudo service NetworkManager restart

Reinsert the USB wireless device. Is there any improvement?