wifi not getting activated on boot (pogoplug series 4)

[asg1448]

Trying to get pogoplug setup with usb wifi dongle, and it fails to boot to working state. Wifi dongle works, however, when I plug it in after boot is complete. Here's a "good" journalctl fragment (e.g.: plugged in at runtime)

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '
Apr 04 04:23:36 pplug20 kernel: usb 1-1: new high-speed USB device number 4 using xhci_hcd
Apr 04 04:23:36 pplug20 kernel: r8712u: Staging version
Apr 04 04:23:36 pplug20 kernel: r8712u: register rtl8712_netdev_ops to netdev_ops
Apr 04 04:23:36 pplug20 kernel: usb 1-1: r8712u: USB_SPEED_HIGH with 4 endpoints
Apr 04 04:23:36 pplug20 kernel: usb 1-1: r8712u: Boot from EFUSE: Autoload OK
Apr 04 04:23:36 pplug20 kernel: usb 1-1: r8712u: CustomerID = 0x0000
Apr 04 04:23:36 pplug20 kernel: usb 1-1: r8712u: MAC Address from efuse = 00:21:2f:32:0e:81
Apr 04 04:23:36 pplug20 kernel: usb 1-1: r8712u: Loading firmware from "rtlwifi/rtl8712u.bin"
Apr 04 04:23:37 pplug20 systemd-timesyncd[133]: Network configuration changed, trying to establish connection.
Apr 04 04:23:37 pplug20 systemd-timesyncd[133]: Using NTP server 74.117.238.11:123 (2.arch.pool.ntp.org).
Apr 04 04:23:37 pplug20 kernel: r8712u 1-1:1.0 wlp0s1u1: renamed from wlan0
Apr 04 04:23:37 pplug20 systemd-networkd[138]: wlan0 : renamed to wlp0s1u1
')

but at boot time, it fails:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '
Jan 01 00:00:07 pplug20 kernel: ledtrig-cpu: registered to indicate activity on CPUs
Jan 01 00:00:07 pplug20 kernel: r8712u: Staging version
Jan 01 00:00:07 pplug20 kernel: r8712u: register rtl8712_netdev_ops to netdev_ops
Jan 01 00:00:07 pplug20 kernel: usb 1-1: r8712u: USB_SPEED_HIGH with 4 endpoints
Jan 01 00:00:07 pplug20 kernel: usb 1-1: r8712u: Boot from EFUSE: Autoload OK
Jan 01 00:00:07 pplug20 kernel: scsi 1:0:0:0: Direct-Access Generic Flash Disk 8.07 PQ: 0 ANSI: 4
Jan 01 00:00:07 pplug20 kernel: sd 1:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
Jan 01 00:00:07 pplug20 kernel: sd 1:0:0:0: [sda] 3932160 512-byte logical blocks: (2.01 GB/1.87 GiB)
Jan 01 00:00:07 pplug20 kernel: sd 1:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
Jan 01 00:00:07 pplug20 kernel: sd 1:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 23 00 00 00
Jan 01 00:00:07 pplug20 kernel: sd 1:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: disabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
Jan 01 00:00:07 pplug20 kernel: sda: sda1
Jan 01 00:00:07 pplug20 kernel: sd 1:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI removable disk
Jan 01 00:00:07 pplug20 kernel: usb 1-1: r8712u: CustomerID = 0x0000
Jan 01 00:00:07 pplug20 kernel: usb 1-1: r8712u: MAC Address from efuse = 00:**:**:**:**:**
Jan 01 00:00:07 pplug20 kernel: usb 1-1: r8712u: Loading firmware from "rtlwifi/rtl8712u.bin"
Jan 01 00:00:07 pplug20 kernel: usb 1-1: Direct firmware load for rtlwifi/rtl8712u.bin failed with error -2
Jan 01 00:00:07 pplug20 kernel: usbcore: registered new interface driver r8712u
Jan 01 00:00:07 pplug20 kernel: usb 1-1: r8712u: Firmware request failed
Jan 01 00:00:07 pplug20 kernel: gre: GRE over IPv4 demultiplexor driver
Jan 01 00:00:07 pplug20 kernel: TCP: cubic registered
...
Apr 04 04:00:40 pplug20 systemd[1]: Job sys-subsystem-net-devices-wlp0s1u1.device/start timed out.
Apr 04 04:00:40 pplug20 systemd[1]: Timed out waiting for device sys-subsystem-net-devices-wlp0s1u1.device.
Apr 04 04:00:40 pplug20 systemd[1]: Dependency failed for Automatically generated profile by wifi-menu.
')

Basically, wlp0s1u1 does not get started, and the wifi goes dead until I plug dongle out then back in