# RTL8187b Wireless trouble

## installer_swan

Hi,

I recently bought a new laptop (Toshiba A215-S7422).  And I'm having trouble setting up my soundcard and wireless.  One main problem is that nowhere on the website could I find detailed specs of my hardware and I had to do most of it by searching, probing my hardware, trial and error etc.  But as it stands now, I am facing the following problem:

2. Wireless

This is much worse actually.  I can't follow the wireless HOWTO because the section on "Network device support ---> Wireless (Non HamRadio) ---> [*] Wireless LAN drivers (non-hamradio) & Wireless Extensions" that they mention is simply not there in my kernel (gentoo-sources 2.6.22-gentoo-r :Cool:   Is this something that has been discontinued in later versions of the kernel??  However, I did compile ndiswrapper, and add the driver for the RTL8187 but when I try to load the ndiswrapper module, I get the following:

```
 # modprobe ndiswrapper

Killed

 # 

```

however, and lsmod shows ndiswrapper as running at this time, and if I try to modprobe ndiswrapper or modprobe -r ndiswrapper the command just hangs and doesn't return me to the shell untill I do a Ctrl-C.  Any help/suggestions on this one?

Thanks,

Shanth

PS: I'm sorry if there's a howto or an earlier post on this, but I wasn't able to find one anywhere.  I followed the gentoo-wiki HOWTO, but it doesn't really talk about this problem anywhere  :Sad: 

----------

## poly_poly-man

what does ndiswrapper -l say? What about lspci? And dmesg?

poly-p man

----------

## installer_swan

```

netrtuw : driver installed

```

My wireless card is a USB device so I'm posting lsusb 

```

Bus 006 Device 001: ID 0000:0000  

Bus 005 Device 001: ID 0000:0000  

Bus 004 Device 001: ID 0000:0000  

Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000  

Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000  

Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0bda:8197 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. 

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000  

```

```

APIC error on CPU1: 40(40)

APIC error on CPU0: 40(40)

ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:14.2[A] -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16

si3054: cannot initialize. EXT MID = 0000

hda-intel: Invalid position buffer, using LPIB read method instead.

APIC error on CPU0: 40(40)

APIC error on CPU1: 40(40)

APIC error on CPU0: 40(40)

APIC error on CPU1: 40(40)

ndiswrapper version 1.48rc1 loaded (smp=yes)

```

The verbose output of lsusb

```

Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0bda:8197 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. 

Device Descriptor:

  bLength                18

  bDescriptorType         1

  bcdUSB               2.00

  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)

  bDeviceSubClass         0 

  bDeviceProtocol         0 

  bMaxPacketSize0        64

  idVendor           0x0bda Realtek Semiconductor Corp.

  idProduct          0x8197 

  bcdDevice            2.00

  iManufacturer           1 Manufacturer_Realtek

  iProduct                2 

  iSerial                 3 00e04c000001

  bNumConfigurations      1

  Configuration Descriptor:

    bLength                 9

    bDescriptorType         2

    wTotalLength           81

    bNumInterfaces          1

    bConfigurationValue     1

    iConfiguration          4 Wireless Network Card

    bmAttributes         0x80

    MaxPower              500mA

    Interface Descriptor:

      bLength                 9

      bDescriptorType         4

      bInterfaceNumber        0

      bAlternateSetting       0

      bNumEndpoints           9

      bInterfaceClass       255 Vendor Specific Class

      bInterfaceSubClass    255 Vendor Specific Subclass

      bInterfaceProtocol    255 Vendor Specific Protocol

      iInterface              2 

      Endpoint Descriptor:

        bLength                 7

        bDescriptorType         5

        bEndpointAddress     0x83  EP 3 IN

        bmAttributes            2

          Transfer Type            Bulk

          Synch Type               None

          Usage Type               Data

        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes

        bInterval               0

      Endpoint Descriptor:

        bLength                 7

        bDescriptorType         5

        bEndpointAddress     0x04  EP 4 OUT

        bmAttributes            2

          Transfer Type            Bulk

          Synch Type               None

          Usage Type               Data

        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes

        bInterval               0

      Endpoint Descriptor:

        bLength                 7

        bDescriptorType         5

        bEndpointAddress     0x05  EP 5 OUT

        bmAttributes            2

          Transfer Type            Bulk

          Synch Type               None

          Usage Type               Data

        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes

        bInterval               0

      Endpoint Descriptor:

        bLength                 7

        bDescriptorType         5

        bEndpointAddress     0x06  EP 6 OUT

        bmAttributes            2

          Transfer Type            Bulk

          Synch Type               None

          Usage Type               Data

        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes

        bInterval               0

      Endpoint Descriptor:

        bLength                 7

        bDescriptorType         5

        bEndpointAddress     0x07  EP 7 OUT

        bmAttributes            2

          Transfer Type            Bulk

          Synch Type               None

          Usage Type               Data

        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes

        bInterval               0

      Endpoint Descriptor:

        bLength                 7

        bDescriptorType         5

        bEndpointAddress     0x89  EP 9 IN

        bmAttributes            2

          Transfer Type            Bulk

          Synch Type               None

          Usage Type               Data

        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes

        bInterval               0

      Endpoint Descriptor:

        bLength                 7

        bDescriptorType         5

        bEndpointAddress     0x0a  EP 10 OUT

        bmAttributes            2

          Transfer Type            Bulk

          Synch Type               None

          Usage Type               Data

        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes

        bInterval               0

      Endpoint Descriptor:

        bLength                 7

        bDescriptorType         5

        bEndpointAddress     0x0b  EP 11 OUT

        bmAttributes            2

          Transfer Type            Bulk

          Synch Type               None

          Usage Type               Data

        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes

        bInterval               0

      Endpoint Descriptor:

        bLength                 7

        bDescriptorType         5

        bEndpointAddress     0x0c  EP 12 OUT

        bmAttributes            2

          Transfer Type            Bulk

          Synch Type               None

          Usage Type               Data

        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes

        bInterval               0

Device Qualifier (for other device speed):

  bLength                10

  bDescriptorType         6

  bcdUSB               2.00

  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)

  bDeviceSubClass         0 

  bDeviceProtocol         0 

  bMaxPacketSize0        64

  bNumConfigurations      1

```

Does that give any clues?

----------

## Clad in Sky

Same problem here. I got a USB-Realtek8187 and emerging "rtl8187" throws "CONFIG_NET_RADIO not set when it should be".

I guess I just have to wait for some answer here...

----------

## poly_poly-man

 *Clad in Sky wrote:*   

> Same problem here. I got a USB-Realtek8187 and emerging "rtl8187" throws "CONFIG_NET_RADIO not set when it should be".
> 
> I guess I just have to wait for some answer here...

 

Is CONFIG_NET_RADIO set in kernel config? If not, set it  :Wink: 

But as for the OP, you could either use the "rtl8187" driver, or you should do ndiswrapper differently. It appears that that is the wrong driver, given the lack of "hardware present" in ndiswrapper -l. Make sure that you compiled ndiswrapper with the usb USE flag, and that you get the latest driver for Windows XP for your card directly from Realtek (preferrably)

poly-p man

----------

## PaulBredbury

See comments re RADIO.

----------

## ramnath_r_iyer

Hi,

 *installer_swan wrote:*   

> Hi,
> 
> However, I did compile ndiswrapper, and add the driver for the RTL8187 but when I try to load the ndiswrapper module, I get the following:
> 
> ```
> ...

 

For me, ndiswrapper was working fine until a few days ago when I upgraded the kernel. Now, the module is killed each time I try to load it. I suspect that it is a bug, either in the kernel or in ndiswrapper. I haven't found a solution yet, but the problem may not be specific to your machine.

P.S. Once a module is killed, it remains in the list when you run 'lsmod' and you cannot remove it without a reboot, because the kernel thinks the module is still in use. So your problem is with ndiswrapper getting killed, not with the subsequent stages.

--

Ramnath R Iyer

----------

## installer_swan

 *ramnath_r_iyer wrote:*   

> Hi,
> 
>  *installer_swan wrote:*   Hi,
> 
> However, I did compile ndiswrapper, and add the driver for the RTL8187 but when I try to load the ndiswrapper module, I get the following:
> ...

 This is a problem with the latest version of ndiswrapper.  And I suspect that you probably emerged ndiswrapper as well as switching to a newer kernel.  I think ndiswrapper-1.48 should work for you.  Unfortunately for me, it's still not working even though ndiswrapper loads properly.  Actually when I do ndiswrapper -l

```
# ndiswrapper -l

netrtuw : driver installed
```

I think it should say something like device detected or something, but it doesn't do that for me, and that is my problem

----------

## ramnath_r_iyer

I don't quite understand the problem that you are facing: does a modprobe ndiswrapper still result in a Killed message, or were you able to solve that?

Ndiswrapper does not support all wireless cards. You've probably done this already, but did you check on the ndiswrapper site if your card is supported, and secondly, did you try getting the driver for the card from their website instead of elsewhere?

P.S. You were right, downgrading to 1.48 did solve the problem. Thanks!

----------

## installer_swan

Am still stuck with the same trouble.  I found a [url="http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=571046&page=5"]related thread[/url] on the ubuntu forums, and picked up the drivers from http://www.datanorth.net/~cuervo/rtl8187b/, and compiled them. However when I try to insmod them, I get the following error:

```

# ./wlan0up 

insmod: error inserting 'ieee80211_crypt-rtl.ko': -1 Invalid module format

insmod: error inserting 'ieee80211-rtl.ko': -1 Invalid module format

insmod: error inserting 'r8187.ko': -1 Unknown symbol in module

```

What do these errors mean?  And has anyone on the forums successfully configured RTL 8187b wireless USB networ card?

Thanks

----------

## PaulBredbury

 *installer_swan wrote:*   

> successfully configured RTL 8187b

 

See thread. Try CONFIG_RTL8187=m

----------

## GroovyDude

I have the same laptop and the same problem.  I've tried the 2.6.23 rtl8187 driver to no avail.  I also found a "patched" driver which is supposed to work, but I'm unable to load it without getting "Unknown symbol in module" errors.

Needless to say, I'm frustrated.

http://www.datanorth.net/~cuervo/blog/2007/09/26/no-more-vista/

----------

