[PLUG] Can't See Wireless Router in Gentoo Linux

[Casey Bralla via plug <plug@lists.phillylinux.org>]

Gotta strange one here...

My laptop can't see my girlfriend's Comcast wireless router when I run Gentoo Linux, but it is easily seen when running Windows 10 on the same equipment.

I bought a refurbished Dell laptop on New Egg a few months ago.  It was a good deal, well refurbished with a clean install of Windows 10.  Naturally, I replaced the SSD and installed Gentoo on a replacement SSD (leaving the original Windows SSD in working condition).

I was very surprised to discover the laptop, with the Gentoo system disk installed could not see the Comcast wireless router at my girlfriend's house, even though it sees and connects to other wireless hotspots without difficulty. 

My android phone, my android tablet, her 4K TV, and her Windows 11 laptop all saw and connected to the Comcast router without any difficulties.  But my Gentoo laptop wouldn't even recognize the router was on.  My girlfriend's comcast router would not show up on the list of scanned SSIDs, but the list DID include all of her neighbor's routers.  I even tried explicitly setting the known values for SSID and WPA, and still no good.

Thinking there was something wonky with the laptop, I reinserted the original Windows SSD and booted to Windows 10.  Now the laptop saw the Comcast router also.

So SOMETHING about my Gentoo installation is preventing the router from being recognized.

I plan to try a few live distros on the laptop to see if they work, but have not done so yet.

Here's some relevant data:

• Intel 7265 "dual band wireless-N 7265" interface in the laptop
  
• Router is transmitting 802.11N on Chanel 11 (2.4 GHz)
• I'm using a monolithic kernel with ALL the Intel wireless chips compiled in
  
• I'm loading Intel firmware as required

Anybody got any ideas why this would be?

My theories of what might be wrong:

1. Bad/wrong firmware loaded
   
2. Wrong intel 80211 module in the kernel
3. Sub-space energy dampening field
4. Linux kernel 6.x doesn't recognize 802.11N
   

Thoughts, analysis, and suggestions greatly appreciated!  TIA!

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