AIC8800D80 Linux Driver

This driver is for the AIC8800D80 chipset, supported by devices such as the Tenda U11 and AX913B.

Added support for devices with Vendor ID 368B (tested).

Tested on Linux kernel 6.16 with Ubuntu 25.04 and 6.1.0.27 with Debian 12.

This branch (bluetooth) fully supports both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Disclaimer

I did not develop this software, The code is sourced from the Tenda U11 driver. I only made some modifications to the code to adapt it to newer kernel versions. Apart from compilation issues, I am unable to address other problems.

Attention

Before installing the driver, delete all aic8800-related folders under /lib/firmware. Using an incorrect firmware version may cause the system to freeze.

Installation Steps

Method 1: Quick Installation (Recommended)

Method 2: Manual Installation

Copy udev rules:

Copy the aic.rules file to /lib/udev/rules.d/:

sudo cp aic.rules /lib/udev/rules.d/

Copy firmware:

Copy the aic8800D80 folder from ./fw to /lib/firmware/:

sudo cp -r ./fw/aic8800D80 /lib/firmware/

Navigate to the driver directory:

Change to the drivers/aic8800 directory:

cd ./drivers/aic8800

Compile and Install the Driver:

First, compile the driver:

make

Then, install the driver:

sudo make install

For any kernel updates, you'll need to reinstall the driver:

make clean
make
sudo make install

Load the Driver

After installation, load the driver with the following command:

sudo modprobe aic8800_fdrv

Verify the Module is Active

Check if the module is loaded correctly:

lsmod | grep aic

You should see output similar to:

aic8800_fdrv    536576  0
cfg80211        1146880 1   aic8800_fdrv
aic_load_fw     69632   1   aic8800_fdrv
usbcore         348160  10  xhci_hcd,ehci_pci,usbhid,usb_storage,ehci_hcd,xhci_pci,uas,aic_load_fw,uhci_hcd,aic8800_fdrv

After that, plug in your USB wireless network card.

Verify Wi-Fi Device is Active

To check if the Wi-Fi interface is recognized, run:

iwconfig

If the device is still not active, check the kernel logs for any errors related to the driver:

sudo dmesg

Bluetooth Support

The aic_load_fw module loads the Bluetooth firmware during initialization. After the firmware is correctly uploaded, the standard Linux btusb driver handles the Bluetooth interface — no custom aic_btusb module is needed (see PR #35 for details).

Verify Bluetooth is Working

After loading the driver and plugging in the USB device, check if the Bluetooth HCI device is registered:

hciconfig -a

You should see an HCI device (e.g., hci0) listed. If the device is down, bring it up:

sudo hciconfig hci0 up

You can also use bluetoothctl to scan and connect to Bluetooth devices:

bluetoothctl
# Inside bluetoothctl:
power on
scan on

Bluetooth Troubleshooting

If Bluetooth is not working, run the diagnostic script:

chmod +x diagnose_bt.sh
sudo ./diagnose_bt.sh

Common issues and solutions:

1. Firmware not found: Ensure the firmware files are correctly copied to /lib/firmware/aic8800D80/. Key Bluetooth firmware files include:

   • fw_patch_8800d80_u02.bin
   • fw_patch_table_8800d80_u02.bin
   • fw_adid_8800d80_u02.bin

2. Check kernel logs for Bluetooth-related errors:

   sudo dmesg | grep -iE "aicbt|bluetooth|hci|fw_patch"
   

3. RF-Kill blocking Bluetooth:

   rfkill list bluetooth
   sudo rfkill unblock bluetooth