Bug#1109268: ath11k_pci may trigger prompt for nonexistent firmware file during installation

[Stefano Corti <iz0bbz@libero.it>]

I can confirm this bug too, it occurred upgrading from bookworm to trixie.

Failure in loading the proper firmware leads to several limitiations in 
the use of the wifi chip in access points mode.
All 5GHZ band channels have the "no initiate radiation" (NO-IR) flag set 
despite the correct country regulatory settings and so preventing the 
use of this band in AP mode, and you cannot set more than one SSID in AP 
mode.

I suspect the bug occurred after this commit in vanilla kernel:
https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/7db88b962f06a52af5e9a32971012e8f3427cec0

On Trixie, manually installing the latest bookworm kernel  (6.1.40) 
fixes the problem.

'dmesg' and 'iw list' extracts following.

#####################################################################
### Debian trixie starting latest trixie kernel 6.12.57-1 (buggy) ###
#####################################################################

DMESG EXTRACT:

[    0.000000] Linux version 6.12.57+deb13-amd64 
(debian-kernel@lists.debian.org) (x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc-14 (Debian 
14.2.0-19) 14.2.0, GNU ld (GNU Binutils for Debian) 2.44) #1 SMP 
PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Debian 6.12.57-1 (2025-11-05)
...
[    7.210134] ath11k_pci 0000:02:00.0: BAR 0 [mem 0xa4000000-0xa41fffff 
64bit]: assigned
[    7.210559] ath11k_pci 0000:02:00.0: MSI vectors: 32
[    7.210567] ath11k_pci 0000:02:00.0: wcn6855 hw2.1
[    7.211946] ath11k_pci 0000:02:00.0: firmware: failed to load 
ath11k/WCN6855/hw2.1/firmware-2.bin (-2)
[    7.211963] ath11k_pci 0000:02:00.0: firmware: failed to load 
ath11k/WCN6855/hw2.1/firmware-2.bin (-2)
[    7.211975] ath11k_pci 0000:02:00.0: firmware: failed to load 
ath11k/WCN6855/hw2.1/firmware-2.bin (-2)
...
[    7.383485] mhi mhi0: Requested to power ON
[    7.383496] mhi mhi0: Power on setup success
[    7.509857] mhi mhi0: Wait for device to enter SBL or Mission mode
...
[    8.170791] ath11k_pci 0000:02:00.0: chip_id 0x2 chip_family 0xb 
board_id 0xff soc_id 0x400c0210
[    8.170807] ath11k_pci 0000:02:00.0: fw_version 0x11088c35 
fw_build_timestamp 2024-04-17 08:34 fw_build_id 
WLAN.HSP.1.1-03125-QCAHSPSWPL_V1_V2_SILICONZ_LITE-3.6510.41
...
[    8.595347] ath11k_pci 0000:02:00.0 wlo1: renamed from wlan0

IW LIST extract:
    valid interface combinations:
         * #{ managed } <= 2, #{ AP, P2P-client, P2P-GO } <= 1, #{ 
P2P-device } <= 1,
           total <= 3, #channels <= 2, STA/AP BI must match

########################################################################
### Debian trixie starting latest bookworm kernel 6.1.0-40 (working) ###
########################################################################

DMESG EXTRACT:

[    0.000000] Linux version 6.1.0-40-amd64 
(debian-kernel@lists.debian.org) (gcc-12 (Debian 12.2.0-14+deb12u1) 
12.2.0, GNU ld (GNU Binutils for Debian) 2.40) #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC 
Debian 6.1.153-1 (2025-09-20)
...
[    7.463799] ath11k_pci 0000:02:00.0: BAR 0: assigned [mem 
0xa4000000-0xa41fffff 64bit]
[    7.464074] ath11k_pci 0000:02:00.0: MSI vectors: 32
[    7.464080] ath11k_pci 0000:02:00.0: wcn6855 hw2.1
[    7.628447] mhi mhi0: Requested to power ON
[    7.628458] mhi mhi0: Power on setup success
[    7.637248] mhi mhi0: firmware: direct-loading firmware 
ath11k/WCN6855/hw2.1/amss.bin
...
[    7.997975] mhi mhi0: Wait for device to enter SBL or Mission mode
...
[    8.648463] ath11k_pci 0000:02:00.0: chip_id 0x2 chip_family 0xb 
board_id 0xff soc_id 0x400c0210
[    8.648478] ath11k_pci 0000:02:00.0: fw_version 0x11088c35 
fw_build_timestamp 2024-04-17 08:34 fw_build_id 
WLAN.HSP.1.1-03125-QCAHSPSWPL_V1_V2_SILICONZ_LITE-3.6510.41
[    8.672778] ath11k_pci 0000:02:00.0: firmware: direct-loading 
firmware ath11k/WCN6855/hw2.1/board-2.bin
[    8.678103] ath11k_pci 0000:02:00.0: firmware: direct-loading 
firmware ath11k/WCN6855/hw2.1/board-2.bin
[    8.689576] ath11k_pci 0000:02:00.0: firmware: direct-loading 
firmware ath11k/WCN6855/hw2.1/board-2.bin
[    8.717806] ath11k_pci 0000:02:00.0: firmware: direct-loading 
firmware ath11k/WCN6855/hw2.1/m3.bin
[    9.017092] ath11k_pci 0000:02:00.0 wlo1: renamed from wlan0

IW LIST extract:

    valid interface combinations:
         * #{ managed } <= 1, #{ AP } <= 16,
           total <= 16, #channels <= 1, STA/AP BI must match, radar 
detect widths: { 20 MHz (no HT), 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, 80+80 MHz, 160 
MHz }