USB WiFi adapter problem

Question

Just installed Ubuntu 18.10 today n I figured my USB WiFi adapter is not working. My internal adapter is not powerful enough to be used since my room is quite far from the router (university student problem). Can anyone help me? I wasted almost 15 hours already googling n trying to solve this problem. Details: Model: Comfast CF-926AC V2.0 Chip: MT7612U (i googled it n not sure whether its correct or not)

lsusb result

Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:8000 Intel Corp. 
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 005: ID 04f2:b3f6 Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd HD WebCam (Acer)
Bus 002 Device 006: ID 04ca:300b Lite-On Technology Corp. Atheros AR3012 Bluetooth
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 040b:2212 Weltrend Semiconductor 
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0d8c:0012 C-Media Electronics, Inc. 
Bus 002 Device 010: ID 0e8d:2870 MediaTek Inc. 
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

dmeg

[13629.216531] usb 3-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[13629.216533] usb 3-1: Product: 802.11ac WLAN
[13629.216535] usb 3-1: Manufacturer: MediaTek Inc.
[13629.216536] usb 3-1: SerialNumber: 000000000
[13631.420164] usb 3-1: USB disconnect, device number 3
[13636.459839] usb 3-1: new SuperSpeed Gen 1 USB device number 4 using xhci_hcd
[13636.480781] usb 3-1: New USB device found, idVendor=0781, idProduct=5591, bcd

sudo lshw -C network

  *-network                 
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: NetXtreme BCM57786 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe
       vendor: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
       logical name: enp1s0f0
       version: 01
       serial: 20:1a:06:e6:e0:11
       capacity: 1Gbit/s
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm vpd msi msix pciexpress bus_master cap_list rom ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=tg3 driverversion=3.137 firmware=sb latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=twisted pair
       resources: irq:18 memory:c0410000-c041ffff memory:c0420000-c042ffff memory:9fb00000-9fb007ff
  *-network
       description: Wireless interface
       product: QCA9565 / AR9565 Wireless Network Adapter
       vendor: Qualcomm Atheros
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
       logical name: wlp2s0
       version: 01
       serial: 28:e3:47:9e:81:a7
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list rom ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ath9k driverversion=4.18.0-15-generic firmware=N/A ip=192.168.43.178 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11
       resources: irq:19 memory:c0600000-c067ffff memory:c0680000-c068ffff

inxi -Fxz

System:
  Host: Light Kernel: 4.18.0-15-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc 
  v: 8.2.0 Desktop: Gnome 3.30.1 Distro: Ubuntu 18.10 (Cosmic Cuttlefish) 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Acer product: Aspire E1-572G v: V2.13 
  serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: Acer model: EA50_HW v: V2.13 serial: <filter> UEFI: Insyde v: 2.13 
  date: 11/21/2013 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT1 charge: 24.7 Wh condition: 24.7/37.0 Wh (67%) 
  model: SANYO AL12A32 status: Full 
CPU:
  Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Core i7-4500U bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
  arch: Haswell rev: 1 L2 cache: 4096 KiB 
  flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 19154 
  Speed: 798 MHz min/max: 800/3000 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 798 2: 799 
  3: 798 4: 799 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics driver: i915 v: kernel 
  bus ID: 00:02.0 
  Device-2: AMD Opal XT [Radeon R7 M265/M365X/M465] driver: radeon v: kernel 
  bus ID: 03:00.0 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.1 driver: radeon resolution: 1366x768~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Haswell Mobile v: 4.5 Mesa 18.2.2 
  direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Haswell-ULT HD Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
  bus ID: 00:03.0 
  Device-2: Intel 8 Series HD Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
  bus ID: 00:1b.0 
  Device-3: C-Media type: USB driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid 
  bus ID: 2-2:2 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.18.0-15-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Broadcom and subsidiaries NetXtreme BCM57786 Gigabit Ethernet 
  PCIe 
  driver: tg3 v: 3.137 port: N/A bus ID: 01:00.0 
  IF: enp1s0f0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9565 / AR9565 Wireless Network Adapter 
  driver: ath9k v: kernel bus ID: 02:00.0 
  IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter> 
  Device-3: Lite-On Atheros AR3012 Bluetooth type: USB driver: btusb 
  bus ID: 2-5:6 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 931.51 GiB used: 17.10 GiB (1.8%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Western Digital model: WD10JPVX-22JC3T0 
  size: 931.51 GiB temp: 42 C 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 915.40 GiB used: 17.10 GiB (1.9%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 44.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: radeon temp: 42 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Info:
  Processes: 258 Uptime: 6h 48m Memory: 7.67 GiB used: 2.13 GiB (27.8%) 
  Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 8.2.0 Shell: bash v: 4.4.19 
  inxi: 3.0.24 

Answer 1

We can test a MT7612U module, check mokutil --sb-state to see if Secure Boot is disabled. If Secure Boot is enabled, reboot and disable in BIOS settings but do not remove or delete any Secure Boot keys, then in terminal do

sudo apt install git dkms build-essential
git clone https://github.com/jeremyb31/mt7612u.git
cd mt7612u
make sudo make installfw
sudo cp mt7612u.ko /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/drivers/net/wireless
sudo depmod -a

Reboot