Hi everyone!
A while ago I posted about my Wi-Fi randomly disconnecting on my Acer Aspire with a Qualcomm QCA6174 chipset. I temporarily switched from NetworkManager to iwd, and the issue seemed to improve… but after a few days it came back. Sometimes it stays stable for 8–9 hours, sometimes it drops after just a few minutes. When it happens, Bluetooth keeps working, but Wi-Fi completely shuts down and does not recover unless I reboot the system.
I asked ChatGPT for help and it suggested that this might be related to unstable ath10k firmware versions for the QCA6174, which is a common problem on Acer laptops. It provided the following solution to install a different firmware version and add some kernel module options to improve stability:
sudo mkdir -p /lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/backup
# Backup the current firmware
sudo mv /lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/*.bin /lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/backup/ 2>/dev/null
sudo mv /lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/*.txt /lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/backup/ 2>/dev/null
# Download a more stable firmware
sudo curl -L -o /lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/firmware-6.bin \
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/plain/ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/firmware-6.bin
sudo curl -L -o /lib/firmware/ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/board.bin \
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/plain/ath10k/QCA6174/hw3.0/board.bin
# Kernel module tweaks
echo "options ath10k_core skip_otp=y rawmode=1 btcoex_active=1" | \
sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/ath10k-stable.conf
sudo reboot
Before I apply this, I want to make sure it is safe and appropriate for Aurora-DX, since it directly replaces system firmware in /lib/firmware.
Is this recommended on an immutable system like Aurora?
Or is there a better approach that fits the distribution’s model (using layering, package overrides, etc.)?
Any guidance or alternative solutions are very welcome!
Thanks in advance!