No wireless interface on Debian 10 (Asus X502C)

Question

I just installed Debian 10 on a Asus X502C laptop. It previously had a Win/Ubuntu dual boot and the WiFi worked fine.

uname -a

Linux debian 4.19.0-9-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 4.19.118-2+deb10u1 (2020-06-07) x86_64 GNU/Linux

ifconfig

enp3s0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        inet 192.168.1.89  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 192.168.1.255
        inet6 2600:1700:5390:5ca0:76d0:2bff:fe08:d3d6  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x0<global>
        inet6 fe80::76d0:2bff:fe08:d3d6  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>
        ether 74:d0:2b:08:d3:d6  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 7082  bytes 3361747 (3.2 MiB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 3080  bytes 366769 (358.1 KiB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0
        device interrupt 19  

lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING>  mtu 65536
        inet 127.0.0.1  netmask 255.0.0.0
        inet6 ::1  prefixlen 128  scopeid 0x10<host>
        loop  txqueuelen 1000  (Local Loopback)
        RX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor DRAM Controller (rev 09)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller (rev 09)
00:04.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core Processor Thermal Subsystem (rev 09)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI Host Controller (rev 04)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 04)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev c4)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev c4)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 4 (rev c4)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation HM76 Express Chipset LPC Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series Chipset Family 6-port SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 04)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 04)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Qualcomm Atheros AR8161 Gigabit Ethernet (rev 10)

lsusb

Bus 003 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 13d3:5188 IMC Networks 
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 005: ID 048d:1167 Integrated Technology Express, Inc. 
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

cat /proc/bus/input/devices | grep -A7 -i wire

N: Name="Asus Wireless Radio Control"
P: Phys=asus-wireless/input0
S: Sysfs=/devices/LNXSYSTM:00/LNXSYBUS:00/ATK4001:00/input/input12
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=kbd event5 rfkill 
B: PROP=0
B: EV=3
B: KEY=80000000000000 0 0 0

And if I rmmod the following modules and modprobe them, ASUS Wireless Radio Control does indeed respond in dmesg and I see the network LED light up, but ifconfig still doesn't show a wireless interface: asus_nb_wmi, asus_wmi, asus_wireless.

[ 1629.041392] asus_wmi: ASUS WMI generic driver unloaded
[ 1652.334217] asus_wmi: ASUS WMI generic driver loaded
[ 1652.336408] asus_wmi: Initialization: 0x1
[ 1652.336450] asus_wmi: BIOS WMI version: 7.9
[ 1652.336497] asus_wmi: SFUN value: 0x4a0877
[ 1652.337772] input: Asus WMI hotkeys as /devices/platform/asus-nb-wmi/input/input20
[ 1652.353731] asus_wmi: Number of fans: 1
[ 1656.385098] input: Asus Wireless Radio Control as /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/LNXSYBUS:00/ATK4001:00/input/input21

And rfkill list shows nothing, rfkill unblock all appears to do nothing.

Please help! Thanks!

Answer 1

After already investing hours into this, I decided to use a Wifi USB adapter. There are tons on the market, but the one I'm using specifically is the Edimax N150 Wi-Fi Nano USB Adapter EW-7811Un, which costs $10. It uses the rtl8192cu module, which is opensource and already loaded in the kernel.

I know this may not directly answer the question, but it solves the problem nonetheless and saves a lot of time.