Maybe you need to install the firmware from backports.

apt-get -t jessie-backports install firmware-iwlwifi

Thanks @fsmithred for your help, guess what, it worked! That was a good call, thank you for your recommendation.  Now I can set this topic to resolved.

I have learned a lot over this over the past 4 days , it looks like when you add backports to your sources.list, you have to explicitly install each package from backports using "apt-get -t jessie-backports install package_name" which allows you to control which distribution or release the packages will be retrieved from.  I guess it makes sense otherwise you might make you system unstable if you got everything upgraded when you run the usual "apt-get update/upgrade" command, therefore it looks to me that you are in control?

Also learned how to check wireless drivers.  But I think I have a lot more still to learn.  Thank you to @fsmithred, @lazlo, @golinux and @greenjeans for your excellent instructions and feedback.

@hughparker1  The kernel module for the wifi NIC isn't loading.  The firmware and the kernel module are two separate things that work together and both have to be running. 

No wifi driver is listed in your lspci output:

...
01:00.0 Display controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Sun XT [Radeon HD 8670A/8670M/8690M] (rev 81)
    Subsystem: Dell Device 06b2
    Kernel driver in use: radeon
02:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wireless 3160 (rev 83)
    Subsystem: Intel Corporation Dual Band Wireless AC 3160
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 07)
    Subsystem: Dell Device 06b2
    Kernel driver in use: r8169
...

So if the update-initramfs -u and a reboot doesn't fix it try this:

sudo modprobe iwlwifi

If that works there will be no output from the command.  If it doesn't work you'll get a an error and can check the kernel logs for more info.

To see what is keeping it from loading (either with modprobe or on boot) check the kernel log for errors:

dmesg | egrep 'error|iwlwifi'

If you want to keep the latest portion of the kernel log updating in another TTY you can use tail:

tail -f /var/log/dmesg

That would allow you execute a command in one TTY and then switch to the one running tail to see what the kernel just logged into dmesg.  That's handy if the grep command is returning information that is not useful for some reason.

If the module loads then check if the WNIC is running with ifconfig:

sudo ifconfig

If needed do:

sudo ifconfig wlan0 up

Once you can see it listed in the output from ifconfig wicd should be able to handle everything else though.

Good luck!

lazlo

Thanks @lazlo for your feedback and suggestions to resolve my problem with wireless network.

I have ran the commands you suggested and the outputs are below...

EDIT2: forgot to include these ...

$ sudo update-initramfs -u

hugh@DELL-INSP-DEVUAN:~$ sudo update-initramfs -u
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-4.9.0-0.bpo.2-amd64
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8107e-2.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8107e-1.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168h-2.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168h-1.fw for module r8169
live-boot: core filesystems devices utils udev wget blockdev.
hugh@DELL-INSP-DEVUAN:~$ 

    REBOOT but still no wi-fi

so run this command...

$ sudo modprobe iwlwifi

hugh@DELL-INSP-DEVUAN:~$ sudo modprobe iwlwifi
[sudo] password for hugh: 
hugh@DELL-INSP-DEVUAN:~$ 

    no output but also no error messages

    no wi-fi yet so REBOOT but still no wi-fi

first terminal window........

hugh@DELL-INSP-DEVUAN:~$ sudo dmesg | egrep 'error|iwlwifi'
[sudo] password for hugh: 
[    2.364163] tpm_crb: probe of MSFT0101:00 failed with error -16
[    2.539868] i915 0000:00:02.0: Direct firmware load for i915/skl_dmc_ver1_26.bin failed with error -2
[    2.542515] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
[    2.547727] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: firmware: failed to load iwlwifi-3160-17.ucode (-2)
[    2.547731] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: Direct firmware load for iwlwifi-3160-17.ucode failed with error -2
[    2.633304] radeon 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load for radeon/hainan_pfp.bin failed with error -2
[    2.633823] radeon 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load for radeon/hainan_me.bin failed with error -2
[    2.635139] radeon 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load for radeon/hainan_ce.bin failed with error -2
[    2.635350] radeon 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load for radeon/hainan_rlc.bin failed with error -2
[    2.635565] radeon 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load for radeon/hainan_mc.bin failed with error -2
[    2.636201] radeon 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load for radeon/hainan_k_smc.bin failed with error -2
[    2.683163] bluetooth hci0: Direct firmware load for intel/ibt-hw-37.7.10-fw-1.0.1.2d.d.bseq failed with error -2
hugh@DELL-INSP-DEVUAN:~$ 

second terminal window....

hugh@DELL-INSP-DEVUAN:~$ sudo tail -f /var/log/dmesg
[sudo] password for hugh: 
[    4.288739] lp: driver loaded but no devices found
[    4.292337] ppdev: user-space parallel port driver
[    4.301771] fuse init (API version 7.26)
[    4.675720] RPC: Registered named UNIX socket transport module.
[    4.675721] RPC: Registered udp transport module.
[    4.675722] RPC: Registered tcp transport module.
[    4.675722] RPC: Registered tcp NFSv4.1 backchannel transport module.
[    4.678942] FS-Cache: Loaded
[    4.687961] FS-Cache: Netfs 'nfs' registered for caching
[    4.697357] Installing knfsd (copyright (C) 1996 okir@monad.swb.de).

first terminal window........

hugh@DELL-INSP-DEVUAN:~$ sudo ifconfig
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 84:7b:eb:13:91:2f  
          inet addr:192.168.1.8  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::867b:ebff:fe13:912f/64 Scope:Link
          inet6 addr: fd58:1f28:a661:b500:867b:ebff:fe13:912f/64 Scope:Global
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:16677 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:1531 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:1871547 (1.7 MiB)  TX bytes:167785 (163.8 KiB)

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:65536  Metric:1
          RX packets:33 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:33 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1 
          RX bytes:3466 (3.3 KiB)  TX bytes:3466 (3.3 KiB)

hugh@DELL-INSP-DEVUAN:~$ 

first terminal window........

hugh@DELL-INSP-DEVUAN:~$ sudo ifconfig wlan0 up
wlan0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
hugh@DELL-INSP-DEVUAN:~$ 

Note: no change in second terminal window after the additional commands were run in the first terminal

Wicd Network Manager still says "No wireless networks found"

To be honest I don't know enough about linux to be able to examine the output and diagnose what the problem is so any advice on what I can do would be appreciated. Thanks again for the continued support, very much appreciated.

EDIT:  would it help if i uninstalled and then reinstalled "firmware-iwlwifi"

No wifi driver is listed in your lspci output:

So if the update-initramfs -u and a reboot doesn't fix it try this:

sudo modprobe iwlwifi

If that works there will be no output from the command.  If it doesn't work you'll get a an error and can check the kernel logs for more info.

To see what is keeping it from loading (either with modprobe or on boot) check the kernel log for errors:

dmesg | egrep 'error|iwlwifi'

If you want to keep the latest portion of the kernel log updating in another TTY you can use tail:

tail -f /var/log/dmesg

That would allow you execute a command in one TTY and then switch to the one running tail to see what the kernel just logged into dmesg.  That's handy if the grep command is returning information that is not useful for some reason.

If the module loads then check if the WNIC is running with ifconfig:

sudo ifconfig

If needed do:

sudo ifconfig wlan0 up

Once you can see it listed in the output from ifconfig wicd should be able to handle everything else though.

Good luck!

lazlo

Well i'm not the ninja here obviously, but wondering if maybe you need to run update-initramfs -u?

I would think that would occur as part of the process after installing a new kernel but I could be wrong, thus my suggestion.

Thanks @greenjeans I didn't know if there was any other step  required as I haven't done kerknel upgrade in terminal before.  I'll try it later today when I get home and let you know how I get on. Cheers.

I would think that would occur as part of the process after installing a new kernel but I could be wrong, thus my suggestion.

hughparker1 wrote:

Would it be worth installing the latest testing kernel on Devuan while I still have ascii in my sources.list?

Disable the ascii repo.  Add the Devuan backports repo and try that kernel first.  I think it's at least 4.9 something.

Thanks @golinux and @fsmithred for advice and continued support

I installed latest kernel ...

$ apt-get -t jessie-backports install linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.2-amd64

and now boots to Desktop without 'nomodeset' in linux line.     Success!

Also Redshift is working perfectly now at sunset                Success!

And my Brightness function keys are working now            Success!

Only one small problem, no wi-fi detected which was working before I installed new kernel, very strange.

When I click on Wicd Network Manager is just says 'No wireless network found'

I plugged in a network cable and tried installing the non-free package I normally use for Debian install...

$ sudo apt install firmware-iwlwifi

hugh@DELL-INSP-DEVUAN:~$ sudo apt install firmware-iwlwifi
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
firmware-iwlwifi is already the newest version.
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  grub-pc-bin libelfg0 libgeoclue0 libnm-glib4 libnm-util2 libuuid-perl
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
hugh@DELL-INSP-DEVUAN:~$ 

... so it looks like it's already installed but it's not working. Has anyone encountered this before?

this is the output for '$ lspci -k'

hugh@DELL-INSP-DEVUAN:~$ lspci -k
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Device 1904 (rev 08)
	Subsystem: Dell Device 06b2
	Kernel driver in use: skl_uncore
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Device 1916 (rev 07)
	Subsystem: Dell Device 06b2
	Kernel driver in use: i915
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Device 9d2f (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Dell Device 06b2
	Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd
00:14.2 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Device 9d31 (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Dell Device 06b2
	Kernel driver in use: intel_pch_thermal
00:15.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Device 9d60 (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Dell Device 06b2
	Kernel driver in use: intel-lpss
00:15.1 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Device 9d61 (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Dell Device 06b2
	Kernel driver in use: intel-lpss
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Device 9d3a (rev 21)
	Kernel driver in use: mei_me
00:17.0 SATA controller: Intel Corporation Device 9d03 (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Dell Device 06b2
	Kernel driver in use: ahci
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 9d10 (rev f1)
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 9d14 (rev f1)
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 9d15 (rev f1)
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Device 9d48 (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Dell Device 06b2
00:1f.2 Memory controller: Intel Corporation Device 9d21 (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Dell Device 06b2
00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation Device 9d70 (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Dell Device 06b2
	Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
00:1f.4 SMBus: Intel Corporation Device 9d23 (rev 21)
	Subsystem: Dell Device 06b2
	Kernel driver in use: i801_smbus
01:00.0 Display controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Sun XT [Radeon HD 8670A/8670M/8690M] (rev 81)
	Subsystem: Dell Device 06b2
	Kernel driver in use: radeon
02:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wireless 3160 (rev 83)
	Subsystem: Intel Corporation Dual Band Wireless AC 3160
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 07)
	Subsystem: Dell Device 06b2
	Kernel driver in use: r8169
hugh@DELL-INSP-DEVUAN:~$ 

Is there something else I can do to get wi-fi working again?  I checked and wi-fi still works with live USB and on other partitions.

Thanks for all the help received so far, it is much appreciated.  Just one little hurdle to overcome.

Would it be worth installing the latest testing kernel on Devuan while I still have ascii in my sources.list?

Disable the ascii repo.  Add the Devuan backports repo and try that kernel first.  I think it's at least 4.9 something.

I have this feeling that it might be related to the fact I needed to add nomodeset to linux boot line in grub

Trust the Force, Luke. You are correct.
I just booted with 'nomodeset' and redshift no longer works. Neither does my brightness script that I've been using.

Thanks for feedback.  I was wondering if the problem I'm having is something to do with the kernel I am using in Devuan which is a lot older than the other two OS I use on my laptop which I bought just last year ...

• .......................            Kernel version
  Devuan Xfce               3.16.43-2
  Linux Mint Xfce           4.10.0-20
  Debian Stretch Xfce    4.9.18-1

Would it be worth installing the latest testing kernel on Devuan while I still have ascii in my sources.list?  ( EDIT: then maybe I wouldn't need to add nomodeset to linux boot line)

I had a look at what is currently available....

hugh@DELL-INSP-DEVUAN:~$ apt-cache search linux-image
linux-image-3.16.0-4-amd64 - Linux 3.16 for 64-bit PCs
linux-image-3.16.0-4-amd64-dbg - Debugging symbols for Linux 3.16.0-4-amd64
linux-image-amd64 - Linux for 64-bit PCs (meta-package)
linux-image-amd64-dbg - Debugging symbols for Linux amd64 configuration (meta-package)
linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.2-amd64-dbg - Debugging symbols for Linux 4.9.0-0.bpo.2-amd64
linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.2-amd64-unsigned - Linux 4.9 for 64-bit PCs
linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.2-rt-amd64-dbg - Debugging symbols for Linux 4.9.0-0.bpo.2-rt-amd64
linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.2-rt-amd64-unsigned - Linux 4.9 for 64-bit PCs, PREEMPT_RT
linux-image-4.9.0-2-grsec-amd64 - Linux 4.9 for 64-bit PCs, Grsecurity protection
linux-image-grsec-amd64 - Linux image meta-package, grsec featureset
linux-image-rt-amd64 - Linux for 64-bit PCs (meta-package), PREEMPT_RT
linux-image-rt-amd64-dbg - Debugging symbols for Linux rt-amd64 configuration (meta-package)
linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.2-amd64 - Linux 4.9 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
linux-image-4.9.0-0.bpo.2-rt-amd64 - Linux 4.9 for 64-bit PCs, PREEMPT_RT (signed)
linux-image-4.9.0-2-amd64-unsigned - Linux 4.9 for 64-bit PCs
linux-image-4.9.0-2-rt-amd64-unsigned - Linux 4.9 for 64-bit PCs, PREEMPT_RT
linux-image-4.9.0-2-amd64 - Linux 4.9 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
linux-image-4.9.0-2-rt-amd64 - Linux 4.9 for 64-bit PCs, PREEMPT_RT (signed)
hugh@DELL-INSP-DEVUAN:~$ 

... and I thought Linux 4.9+79 for 64-bit PCs (signed) looks like the latest...

hugh@DELL-INSP-DEVUAN:~$ apt show linux-image-4.9.0-2-amd64
Package: linux-image-4.9.0-2-amd64
Source: linux-signed (4.4)
Version: 4.9.18-1
Installed-Size: 189 MB
Maintainer: Debian Kernel Team <debian-kernel@lists.debian.org>
Replaces: linux-image-4.9.0-2-amd64-unsigned
Depends: kmod, linux-base (>= 4.3~), initramfs-tools (>= 0.120+deb8u2) | linux-initramfs-tool
Recommends: firmware-linux-free, irqbalance
Suggests: linux-doc-4.9, debian-kernel-handbook, grub-pc | grub-efi-amd64 | extlinux
Conflicts: linux-image-4.9.0-2-amd64-unsigned
Breaks: initramfs-tools (<< 0.120+deb8u2), xserver-xorg-input-vmmouse (<< 1:13.0.99)
Homepage: https://www.kernel.org/
Built-Using: linux (= 4.9.18-1)
Section: kernel
Priority: optional
Download-Size: 39.1 MB
APT-Sources: http://auto.mirror.devuan.org/merged/ ascii/main amd64 Packages
Description: Linux 4.9 for 64-bit PCs (signed)

hugh@DELL-INSP-DEVUAN:~$ 

Would I just need to run following command to install...

$ sudo apt-get install linux-image-4.9.0-2-amd64

.. or is there more steps required?  I've never upgraded kernel from the terminal before so don't know if there is more to this than a single command.

the other option I suppose is to do full ascii upgrade except I remember what @golinux said the other day....

So I'm wondering if it's worth a try.  I could just follow the steps I found in this link https://talk.devuan.org/t/upgrading-dev … -ascii/363  do those instructions looks OK?

Since Devuan isn't my daily driver at the moment (especially with no redshift for late evening work) I wonder if a full upgrade would be worth considering.  At the moment I mainly use Debian Stretch and haven't come across any problems since since installing late last year.  That's why I was thinking that Devuan testing might be worth considering. I do realise there is always some risk.  Any advice/guidance would be appreciated.

I have this feeling that it might be related to the fact I needed to add nomodeset to linux boot line in grub

Trust the Force, Luke. You are correct.
I just booted with 'nomodeset' and redshift no longer works. Neither does my brightness script that I've been using.

There is no randr package. Sorry. But you can run 'xrandr' on the command line to see your display settings. You should be able to change settings with xrandr, too, but maybe it's not working. Run it with no arguments to get the display name (maybe VGA-1, DVI-something, or maybe it's just called 'default').
Then try

xrandr --output <the display name> --brightness 0.7

and see if it decreases the brightness to 70%.

You might be able to use one of the other methods listed. There's a line for it in the config file. Mine says "adjustment-method=randr". You could try replacing randr with the other methods (vidmode, drm or dummy). That's my best guess. I don't really know anything about it.

Make sure randr is installed. Check in synaptic. You can also see what methods are available to redshift with

redshift -m list

I can start 'redshift-gtk' on the command line if I give it my latitude and longitude. It works, it puts an icon in the system tray, and I can get an information window from that.

thanks for feedback, I opened terminal and ran 'redshift -m list'...

hugh@DELL-INSP-DEVUAN:~$ redshift -m list
Available adjustment methods:
  drm
  randr
  vidmode
  dummy

Specify colon-separated options with `-m METHOD:OPTIONS'.
Try `-m METHOD:help' for help.
hugh@DELL-INSP-DEVUAN:~$ 

Not sure what the output means to be honest, any advice would be appreciated.

I also tried opening terminal and running command with my my latitude and longitude....

$ redshift-gtk -l 55.82:-4.42 -t 6500:3400

but same happens as before, icon appears and error message window popped up...

• Failed to run Redshift
  Gamma ramp size too  small: 0
  Failed to start adjustment method randr.
  (B) Close

then icon disappears again when I click OK

This is the same error that appears when I start redshift from the menu

I also opened synaptic package manager and searched for 'randr' and following packages were returned .....

• libxcb-randr0   
  libxrandr2   
  x11-xserver-utils
  xserver-xorg-video-nouv

I didn't see a separate package specifically called 'randr'

Then I checked the same packages/versions in my other two partitions Debian and Linux Mint where redshift is working OK, and compared them with Devuan...

                                     Debian            Mint          Devuan         
libxcb-randr0               1.12-1              1.11.1      1.10-3+b1
libxrandr2                    2:1.5.1-1          2:1.5.0-1  2:1.4.2-1+b1
x11-xserver-utils          7.7+7+b           1 7.7+7     7.7+3+b1   
xserver-xorg-video-nouv1:1.0.13-3    1:1.0.12    1:1.0.11-1

I noticed there are slightly older versions for the four packages in Devuan

Also noticed there is a slightly different package name in Devuan for package 'xserver-xorg-video-nouveau'

So I upgraded the four packages to latest versions by re-enabling testing suite 'ascii' in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/devuan-ascii.list

reboot but still redshift no different from before.

not sure what else I can try.  I have this feeling that it might be related to the fact I needed to add nomodeset to linux boot line in grub, since redshift works in both Debian and Mint partitions so the hardware seems to be OK.  And I don't need to have 'nomodeset' in the linux boot line in grub for Debian and Mint partitions.  So maybe that's the problem? Just a wild guess as I'm not too technical with linux yet.

redshift -m list

I can start 'redshift-gtk' on the command line if I give it my latitude and longitude. It works, it puts an icon in the system tray, and I can get an information window from that.