Direct firmware load failed with error 2

[cmckay at abineau.com]

Hi,
 
I'm attempting to add a Silex PCEAC or Compex WLE900VX (both QCA9880) mini PCIe card to a Toradex Apalis iMX6 SOM on their Ixora card. I added a BSP layer to Toradex's standard build, simply adding the ath10k and noting more.
I keep running into the following error:
 
[ 7.063663] ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: BAR 0: assigned [mem 0x01000000-0x011ff]
[ 7.172118] ath10k: pci irq MSI 
[ 7.198024] ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load failed with error 2
[ 7.209646] ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: Falling back to user helper 
[ 8.626488] ath10k: could not fetch board data (-2) 
[ 8.648471] ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: Direct firmware load failed with error 2
[ 8.693701] ath10k_pci 0000:01:00.0: Falling back to user helper 
[ 8.712302] ath10k: could not fetch board data (-2) 
[ 8.722757] ath10k: could not fetch firmware files (-2) 
[ 8.781868] ath10k: could not probe fw (-2) 
[ 8.781874] ath10k: failed to register driver core: -2 
[ 8.782041] ath10k_pci: probe of 0000:01:00.0 failed with error -2
 
I've tried the firmware-2, firmware-5 and Candella firmware. I can't find any information on what this error means or how to debug this issue. And the vendors are struggling to get me a solution. 
Any help would be greatly appreciated.  
 
Colin McKay