Network card vs network controller

Support Network
1

I’m wondering if network card and network controller are different things. I ran lspci -k expecting to see the module iwlwifi being used by my network card, Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 9560. Instead I get this output:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Coffee Lake HOST and DRAM Controller (rev 0c)
        DeviceName: Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 9560 802.11 AC 2x2 WiFi + BT 5 Combo Adapter
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8514
        Kernel driver in use: skl_uncore
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation UHD Graphics 620 (Whiskey Lake) (rev 02)
        DeviceName:  Onboard IGD
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8514
        Kernel driver in use: i915
        Kernel modules: i915
00:04.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v5/E3-1500 v5/6th Gen Core Processor Thermal Subsystem (rev 0c)
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8514
        Kernel driver in use: proc_thermal
        Kernel modules: processor_thermal_device
00:12.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Cannon Point-LP Thermal Controller (rev 30)
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8514
        Kernel driver in use: intel_pch_thermal
        Kernel modules: intel_pch_thermal
00:13.0 Serial controller: Intel Corporation Cannon Point-LP Integrated Sensor Hub (rev 30)
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8514
        Kernel driver in use: intel_ish_ipc
        Kernel modules: intel_ish_ipc
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Cannon Point-LP USB 3.1 xHCI Controller (rev 30)
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8514
        Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd
        Kernel modules: xhci_pci
00:14.2 RAM memory: Intel Corporation Cannon Point-LP Shared SRAM (rev 30)
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8514
00:14.3 Network controller: Intel Corporation Cannon Point-LP CNVi [Wireless-AC] (rev 30)
        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 0034
        Kernel driver in use: iwlwifi
        Kernel modules: iwlwifi
00:15.0 Serial bus controller [0c80]: Intel Corporation Cannon Point-LP Serial IO I2C Controller #0 (rev 30)
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8514
        Kernel driver in use: intel-lpss
        Kernel modules: intel_lpss_pci
00:15.1 Serial bus controller [0c80]: Intel Corporation Cannon Point-LP Serial IO I2C Controller #1 (rev 30)
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8514
        Kernel driver in use: intel-lpss
        Kernel modules: intel_lpss_pci
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Cannon Point-LP MEI Controller #1 (rev 30)
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8514
        Kernel driver in use: mei_me
        Kernel modules: mei_me
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 9dba (rev f0)
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Cannon Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #5 (rev f0)
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:1d.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Cannon Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #13 (rev f0)
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Cannon Point-LP LPC Controller (rev 30)
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8514
00:1f.3 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation Cannon Point-LP High Definition Audio Controller (rev 30)
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8514
        Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
        Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel, snd_soc_skl, snd_sof_pci
00:1f.4 SMBus: Intel Corporation Cannon Point-LP SMBus Controller (rev 30)
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8514
        Kernel driver in use: i801_smbus
        Kernel modules: i2c_i801
00:1f.5 Serial bus controller [0c80]: Intel Corporation Cannon Point-LP SPI Controller (rev 30)
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8514
01:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS525A PCI Express Card Reader (rev 01)
        DeviceName: Realtek PCIE CardReader
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8514
        Kernel driver in use: rtsx_pci
        Kernel modules: rtsx_pci
02:00.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation JHL6540 Thunderbolt 3 Bridge (C step) [Alpine Ridge 4C 2016] (rev 02)
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport
03:00.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation JHL6540 Thunderbolt 3 Bridge (C step) [Alpine Ridge 4C 2016] (rev 02)
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport
03:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation JHL6540 Thunderbolt 3 Bridge (C step) [Alpine Ridge 4C 2016] (rev 02)
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport
03:02.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation JHL6540 Thunderbolt 3 Bridge (C step) [Alpine Ridge 4C 2016] (rev 02)
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport
03:04.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation JHL6540 Thunderbolt 3 Bridge (C step) [Alpine Ridge 4C 2016] (rev 02)
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport
04:00.0 System peripheral: Intel Corporation JHL6540 Thunderbolt 3 NHI (C step) [Alpine Ridge 4C 2016] (rev 02)
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8514
        Kernel driver in use: thunderbolt
        Kernel modules: thunderbolt
38:00.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation JHL6540 Thunderbolt 3 USB Controller (C step) [Alpine Ridge 4C 2016] (rev 02)
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 8514
        Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd
        Kernel modules: xhci_pci
6d:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd NVMe SSD Controller SM981/PM981/PM983
        Subsystem: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd Device a801
        Kernel driver in use: nvme

Also, running$ inxi -Fazy gave me this output:

System:
  Kernel: 5.4.72-1-MANJARO x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.0 
  parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.4-x86_64 
  root=UUID=887be998-7f17-49ea-9742-c5c2b674ad3f rw quiet udev.log_priority=3 
  Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.19.5 tk: Qt 5.15.1 wm: kwin_x11 dm: SDDM 
  Distro: Manjaro Linux 
Machine:
  Type: Convertible System: HP product: HP Spectre x360 Convertible 13-ap0xxx 
  v: N/A serial: <filter> Chassis: type: 31 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: HP model: 8514 v: 09.68 serial: <filter> UEFI: AMI v: F.34 
  date: 10/08/2019 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 33.5 Wh condition: 56.2/56.2 Wh (100%) volts: 16.9/15.4 
  model: HP Primary type: Li-ion serial: N/A status: Charging 
  Device-1: hid-0018:04F3:2811.0001-battery model: ELAN2514:00 04F3:2811 
  serial: N/A charge: N/A status: N/A 
CPU:
  Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Core i7-8565U bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
  arch: Kaby Lake family: 6 model-id: 8E (142) stepping: C (12) microcode: D6 
  L2 cache: 8192 KiB 
  flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx 
  bogomips: 32012 
  Speed: 1000 MHz min/max: 400/4600 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 948 2: 932 
  3: 995 4: 950 5: 930 6: 928 7: 995 8: 931 
  Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: Split huge pages 
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected 
  Type: mds status: Not affected 
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected 
  Type: spec_store_bypass 
  mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp 
  Type: spectre_v1 
  mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Enhanced IBRS, IBPB: conditional, RSB filling 
  Type: srbds mitigation: TSX disabled 
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel UHD Graphics 620 vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: i915 
  v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:3ea0 
  Device-2: Quanta HP Wide Vision FHD Camera type: USB driver: uvcvideo 
  bus ID: 1-5:2 chip ID: 0408:5251 serial: <filter> 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.9 compositor: kwin_x11 driver: intel 
  unloaded: modesetting alternate: fbdev,vesa display ID: :0 screens: 1 
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3840x2160 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 1016x571mm (40.0x22.5") 
  s-diag: 1165mm (45.9") 
  Monitor-1: eDP1 res: 3840x2160 hz: 60 dpi: 336 size: 290x170mm (11.4x6.7") 
  diag: 336mm (13.2") 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 620 (WHL GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 20.1.8 
  direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Cannon Point-LP High Definition Audio 
  vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
  alternate: snd_soc_skl,snd_sof_pci bus ID: 00:1f.3 chip ID: 8086:9dc8 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.72-1-MANJARO 
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Cannon Point-LP CNVi [Wireless-AC] driver: iwlwifi v: kernel 
  port: 3000 bus ID: 00:14.3 chip ID: 8086:9df0 
  IF: wlp0s20f3 state: up mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 476.94 GiB used: 16.27 GiB (3.4%) 
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required. 
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Samsung model: MZVLB512HAJQ-000H1 
  size: 476.94 GiB block size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 31.6 Gb/s 
  lanes: 4 serial: <filter> rev: EXA73H1Q scheme: GPT 
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw size: 250.38 GiB size: 245.45 GiB (98.03%) 
  used: 16.27 GiB (6.6%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p4 
Swap:
  Alert: No Swap data was found. 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 64.0 C mobo: N/A 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Info:
  Processes: 223 Uptime: 26m Memory: 15.30 GiB used: 1.24 GiB (8.1%) 
  Init: systemd v: 246 Compilers: gcc: 10.2.0 Packages: pacman: 1254 lib: 387 
  Shell: Zsh v: 5.8 running in: konsole inxi: 3.1.05

Is everything in order or is something afloat with this?

2

Both show iwlwifi being used for your card.
Your card is being recognized as an Intel Corporation Cannon Point-LP CNVi [Wireless-AC] (rev 30).

For “Network card” vs “Network controller”, see:

1 Like
3

To answer your question

The AC 9560 family of wireless (Wi-Fi + Bluetooth) modules are the first generation of CNVi modules. Instead of the traditional scheme of exposing Wi-Fi through PCI-E and Bluetooth through USB, CNVi puts both into one CNVio link.

So it’s actually seen as a CNVi adapter and hide the WiFi module behind it. CNVio is an Intel interface.

1 Like
4

So there is nothing wrong, just a bit tricky to understand, i see. Thank you for answer!

5

yes that’s the drawback of using the same hardware interface (M.2) that can have different protocols on it… (CNVi, mSata, PCI-E, etc) and not all controller can accept all those… so the AC-9560 CNVI is only compatible on cerain intel CPU/chipset)

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