[Help]: probe with driver mt7925e failed with error -12 [solved, this is on a RasPi5b with RasPiOS]

[travlytle]

Checklist

• I acknowledge that support is provided on a best-effort basis.
• I acknowledge that the authors and contributors to this repository cannot be held responsible for the results of my use of any information contained in or linked from this repository.

uname

Linux bench-4cc.local 6.18.0-rc2-v8-16k+ #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed Oct 22 12:16:20 EDT 2025 aarch64 GNU/Linux

lsusb

$ sudo lspci
0001:00:00.0 PCI bridge: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM2712 PCIe Bridge (rev 21) 
0001:01:00.0 Network controller: MEDIATEK Corp. MT7925 (RZ717) Wi-Fi 7 160MHz 
0002:00:00.0 PCI bridge: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM2712 PCIe Bridge (rev 21) 
0002:01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Raspberry Pi Ltd RP1 PCIe 2.0 South Bridge

rfkill

$ sudo rfkill list all 
0: hci0: Bluetooth 	Soft blocked: no 	Hard blocked: no 
1: hci1: Bluetooth 	Soft blocked: no 	Hard blocked: no

dkms

sudo: dkms: command not found

iw

nothing returned

What happened?

When using 7925 pci m.2 on raspberry pi 5 with 6.18 kernel I'm getting probe error -12.

$ dmesg | grep "0001:01:00.0"
[ 0.526446] pci 0001:01:00.0: [14c3:0717] type 00 class 0x028000 PCIe Endpoint
[ 0.526492] pci 0001:01:00.0: BAR 0 [mem 0x00000000-0x001fffff 64bit]
[ 0.526499] pci 0001:01:00.0: BAR 2 [mem 0x00000000-0x00007fff 64bit]
[ 0.526578] pci 0001:01:00.0: PME# supported from D0 D3hot D3cold
[ 0.534421] pci 0001:01:00.0: ASPM: DT platform, enabling L0s-up L0s-dw L1 ASPM-L1.1 ASPM-L1.2 PCI-PM-L1.1 PCI-PM-L1.2
[ 0.534429] pci 0001:01:00.0: ASPM: DT platform, enabling ClockPM
[ 0.534450] pci 0001:01:00.0: BAR 0 [mem 0x1b80000000-0x1b801fffff 64bit]: assigned
[ 0.534461] pci 0001:01:00.0: BAR 2 [mem 0x1b80200000-0x1b80207fff 64bit]: assigned
[ 0.534498] pci 0001:01:00.0: Max Payload Size set to 256/ 256 (was 128), Max Read Rq 512
[ 4.035577] mt7925e 0001:01:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
[ 4.053342] mt7925e 0001:01:00.0: ASIC revision: 79250000
[ 4.126811] mt7925e 0001:01:00.0: probe with driver mt7925e failed with error -12

[morrownr]

Hi @travlytle

What distro are you using?

I see you are using kernel 6.18-rc2. I guess you are rolling your own.

[travlytle]

@morrownr I'm using Raspberry Pi OS Lite, so just debian trixie with no desktop gui. I did recompile the kernel on target to see if it would fix it. Same issue with 6.12, 6.14, and 6.18. Do you know where I can find the error code reasons for probe driver?

[morrownr]

@travlytle

I'm using Raspberry Pi OS Lite, so just debian trixie with no desktop gui.

I have a RasPi4B that runs the latest RasPiOS so I am familiar. Right now my RasPi4B is testing a Netgear A9000, mt7925u based adapter, in AP mode. Are you running in managed mode? Or AP?

One problem with Debian and RasPiOS is that they do a really bad job of keeping wireless firmware up to date. The need to frequently updating firmware has grown greatly since WiFi 6/7 came on the scene and made things much more complicated.

To update your firmware:

https://github.com/morrownr/USB-WiFi

That is the site Main Menu. You can scroll down to menu item 7 Firmware and follow the guidance for mt7925. That should update your firmware files.

See what that does and let me know. I am currently working with a couple of other mt7925e card users to optimize AP mode so that issue might be helpful to you also. I can give you the link if needed.

[morrownr]

Here is the link to another issue where two persons are using mt7925e cards:

#603 (comment)

In that issue, it appears to me to mostly be an issue with configuration and not a problem with the driver or card. AP mode can be very complicated. There are a lot more issue here with users with mt7925e based cards so you might search. I have a mt7925e card myself and I have not seen what you are seeing so try the new firmware first and then we can dig deeper if that does not solved the issue.

[travlytle]

Sadly the driver isn't loading so I'm not even seeing it in 'iw dev'.

I have updated the firmware from
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git

But I finally did get it working after adding the following to /boot/firmware/config.txt

dtoverlay=pcie-32bit-dma-pi5
dtparam=pciex1_gen=3

[morrownr]

That is interesting. Glad you figured it out.

Do you have a WiFi 7 router/AP? I'm working on an example WiFi 7 hostapd.conf file for the Main Menu. I only have two usb adapters that are WiFi 7 capable. I'm using the mt7925u based adapter as the AP. I cannot get a WiFi 7 connect and do not know whether it is the AP or the client that is the problem. Any information you can provide about whether mt7925 is working with WiFi 7 would be appreciated.

[travlytle]

I do have a wifi 7 router. I'm able to connect to it ok it seems, but I did have to move it closer to the AP for it to stick to 6ghz.

$ iw dev
phy#0
	Unnamed/non-netdev interface
		wdev 0x2
		addr aa:3b:76:36:c6:69
		type P2P-device
		txpower 3.00 dBm
	Interface wlan0
		ifindex 3
		wdev 0x1
		addr a8:3b:76:36:c6:69
		ssid #####
		type managed
		channel 37 (6135 MHz), width: 160 MHz, center1: 6185 MHz
		txpower 3.00 dBm
		multicast TXQ:
			qsz-byt	qsz-pkt	flows	drops	marks	overlmt	hashcol	tx-bytes	tx-packets
			0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0

[morrownr]

but I did have to move it closer to the AP for it to stick to 6ghz.

What I do and recommend to others is that you use a different name (SSID) for each band in your router/AP so that you can control which band you are connected to. 6 GHz simply does not have the range that 5 GHz and especially 2 GHz does.

Can I get you to run and paste the results of the following command?

Ctrl+Alt+t
$ iw dev wlan0 link

[travlytle]

$ iw dev wlan0 link
Connected to 8c:30:66:72:50:08 (on wlan0)
	SSID: #####
	freq: 6135.0
	RX: 50664 bytes (208 packets)
	TX: 6916 bytes (48 packets)
	signal: -39 dBm
	rx bitrate: 6.0 MBit/s
	tx bitrate: 1921.5 MBit/s 160MHz EHT-MCS 9 EHT-NSS 2 EHT-GI 0
	bss flags: short-slot-time
	dtim period: 3
	beacon int: 100

I don't sort SSID's out into frequencies, but do based on role. Like I will have a xxxxx-IOT for IOT devices. I know some iot devices don't play well when 5ghz is available but lately I've had no issues when switching to unifi stuff. If I had issues I would make -IOT only 2.4ghz.

I think in Wifi 7 with MLO all the SSID's need to be the same, but I could be wrong.

Happy to test anything else or provide information. I do enjoy playing with wifi.

[morrownr]

As of this morning, new firmware for the mt7925 is available:

My site Main Menu:

https://github.com/morrownr/USB-WiFi

Scroll down to menu item 7 and click. Following the instructions for mt7925.

No information about what has changed is ever provided for firmware by any company so who knows, it might help.

I think in Wifi 7 with MLO all the SSID's need to be the same, but I could be wrong.

That does not seem correct but I am still learning WiFi 7.