# [SOLVED]Kenel 2.6.23 and rtl8187b don't work

## hadogenes

Hello

I have problem which my wifi card, because it don't work on my linux.

The kernels since 2.6.23 have support for rtl8187, but I can't make it working. 

My lsusb -v (my card is on pseudo-usb)

http://nopaste.com/p/aaNMotMTO

In dmesg there is only a small mention of my card

```
# dmesg | grep rtl8187

usbcore: registered new interface driver rtl8187
```

My .config

http://nopaste.com/p/aS2HFKfFP

And my emerge --info

```
# emerge --info

Portage 2.1.3.16 (default-linux/amd64/2007.0, gcc-4.1.2, glibc-2.6.1-r0, 2.6.23-tuxonice x86_64)

=================================================================

System uname: 2.6.23-tuxonice x86_64 Intel(R) Pentium(R) Dual CPU T2310 @ 1.46GHz

Timestamp of tree: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 21:20:01 +0000

ccache version 2.4 [enabled]

app-shells/bash:     3.2_p17

dev-java/java-config: 1.3.7, 2.0.33-r1

dev-lang/python:     2.4.4-r6

dev-python/pycrypto: 2.0.1-r6

dev-util/ccache:     2.4-r7

sys-apps/baselayout: 1.12.9-r2

sys-apps/sandbox:    1.2.18.1-r2

sys-devel/autoconf:  2.13, 2.61-r1

sys-devel/automake:  1.5, 1.6.3, 1.7.9-r1, 1.8.5-r3, 1.9.6-r2, 1.10

sys-devel/binutils:  2.18-r1

sys-devel/gcc-config: 1.3.16

sys-devel/libtool:   1.5.24

virtual/os-headers:  2.6.22-r2

ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="amd64"

CBUILD="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu"

CFLAGS="-march=nocona -O2 -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer"

CHOST="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu"

CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /usr/share/X11/xkb"

CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/env.d /etc/env.d/java/ /etc/fonts/fonts.conf /etc/gconf /etc/revdep-rebuild /etc/splash /etc/terminfo /etc/udev/rules.d"

CXXFLAGS="-march=nocona -O2 -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer"

DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles"

FEATURES="ccache distlocks metadata-transfer parallel-fetch sandbox sfperms strict unmerge-orphans userfetch"

GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://gentoo.prz.rzeszow.pl http://gentoo.mirror.pw.edu.pl/ http://gentoo.po.opole.pl http://gentoo.zie.pg.gda.pl"

LANG="pl_PL.utf8"

LC_ALL="pl_PL.utf8"

LDFLAGS="-Wl,-O1 -Wl,--sort-common"

LINGUAS="pl"

MAKEOPTS="-j3"

PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages"

PORTAGE_RSYNC_OPTS="--recursive --links --safe-links --perms --times --compress --force --whole-file --delete --delete-after --stats --timeout=180 --exclude=/distfiles --exclude=/local --exclude=/packages --filter=H_**/files/digest-*"

PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp"

PORTDIR="/usr/portage"

PORTDIR_OVERLAY="/usr/portage/local/layman/sunrise /usr/portage/local/layman/philantrop /usr/portage/local/layman/xeffects /usr/local/portage"

SYNC="rsync://rsync.europe.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage"

USE="X aac acl acpi alsa amd64 apm avahi bash-completion berkdb bitmap-fonts branding cdr cjk cli cracklib crypt cups dbus dri dvdr fbcon fbsplash ffmpeg firefox flac fortran gdbm gif gnome gpm gstreamer gtk gtk2 hal iconv isdnlog jpeg libedit libnotify lm_sensors mad midi mime mmx mmxext mp3 mudflap ncurses nfs nls nptl nptlonly ogg opengl openmp pam pcmcia pcre perl pmu png pppd python readline reflection samba sdl session spell spl sse sse2 ssl ssse3 svg symlink tcpd thunderbird tiff truetype truetype-fonts type1-fonts unicode usb userlocales vorbis wifi xorg zlib" ALSA_CARDS="hda-intel" ALSA_PCM_PLUGINS="adpcm alaw copy dshare dsnoop extplug file hooks ladspa lfloat linear meter mulaw multi null rate route share shm" ELIBC="glibc" INPUT_DEVICES="evdev keyboard mouse synaptic joystick" KERNEL="linux" LCD_DEVICES="bayrad cfontz cfontz633 glk hd44780 lb216 lcdm001 mtxorb ncurses text" LINGUAS="pl" USERLAND="GNU" VIDEO_CARDS="i810 vesa apm"

Unset:  CPPFLAGS, CTARGET, EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS, INSTALL_MASK, PORTAGE_COMPRESS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS_FLAGS, PORTAGE_RSYNC_EXTRA_OPTS
```

I have read this thread, but I couldn't see their .configs and couldn't compare with my, so it didn't help me.

I make a link from /etc/init.d/net.lo to /etc/init.d/net.wlan0

But I get this message:

```
# /etc/init.d/net.wlan0 start

 * Starting wlan0

 *   Bringing up wlan0

 *     dhcp

 *       network interface wlan0 does not exist

 *       Please verify hardware or kernel module (driver)
```

And my /etc/conf.d/net

```
modules=( "wpa_supplicant" "dhcpcd" )

# Ethernet

config_eth0=( "dhcp" )

dhcpcd_eth0="-t 5"

# Wireless

config_wlan0=( "dhcp" )

dhcpcd_wlan0="-t 30 -R -G"

mode_wlan0="managed"

wpa_supplicant_wlan0="-Dwext -c /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant_RTL8187.conf" 
```

Thanks in advance for all your help HadogenesLast edited by hadogenes on Tue Feb 24, 2009 10:56 pm; edited 5 times in total

----------

## hadogenes

*bump*

Could somebody help me, because now I have to work on Windows Vista when I go study with my laptop (I'm not telling that vista is better or worse, but I prefer Linux than Windows)

----------

## PaulBredbury

Use the commands I specified - modprobe, iwconfig, etc. You need to show a meaningful error message. Look in /var/log/messages, or wherever your logger file is.

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## hadogenes

It don't work on my computer, this is what I get:

```
# /etc/init.d/net.wlan start

 * Starting wireless ...

Error for wireless request "Set Bit Rate" (8B20) :

    SET failed on device wlan ; No such device.                                                                                      [ !! ]

wlan: unknown interface: Nie ma takiego urządzenia                                                                                   [ !! ]

ioctl[SIOCSIWPMKSA]: No such device

ioctl[SIOCSIWMODE]: No such device

Could not configure driver to use managed mode

ioctl[SIOCGIFFLAGS]: No such device

Could not set interface 'wlan' UP

ioctl[SIOCGIWRANGE]: No such device

ioctl[SIOCGIFINDEX]: No such device

ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODEEXT]: No such device

ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODE]: No such device

ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODEEXT]: No such device

ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODE]: No such device

ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODEEXT]: No such device

ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODE]: No such device

ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODEEXT]: No such device

ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODE]: No such device

ioctl[SIOCSIWAUTH]: No such device

WEXT auth param 7 value 0x0 - Failed to disable WPA in the driver.

ioctl[SIOCSIWAUTH]: No such device

WEXT auth param 5 value 0x0 - ioctl[SIOCSIWAUTH]: No such device

WEXT auth param 4 value 0x0 - /etc/init.d/net.wlan: line 9:  8974 Naruszenie ochrony pamięci   /sbin/wpa_supplicant -B -c /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant_RTL8187.conf -i wlan
```

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## tarpman

 *hadogenes wrote:*   

> It don't work on my computer, this is what I get:
> 
> ```
> # /etc/init.d/net.wlan start
> ```
> ...

 

wlan, or wlan0?  Only one of those will work.  Look at the output of /sbin/ifconfig -a to determine which one you should be using.

Also, when you're running commands and intend to paste the output here, please set the locale to C - so instead of /etc/init.d/net.wlan0 start you would run LC_ALL=C /etc/init.d/net.wlan0 start - so that messages will appear in English for the benefit of those of us who don't speak Polish, or post in the Polish forum instead.

----------

## hadogenes

Sorry. I asked first on the polish forum, but nobody has answered me.

```
# LC_ALL=C /etc/init.d/net.wlan start

 * Starting wireless ...

Error for wireless request "Set Bit Rate" (8B20) :

    SET failed on device wlan ; No such device.                           [ !! ]

wlan: unknown interface: No such device                                   [ !! ]

ioctl[SIOCSIWPMKSA]: No such device

ioctl[SIOCSIWMODE]: No such device

Could not configure driver to use managed mode

ioctl[SIOCGIFFLAGS]: No such device

Could not set interface 'wlan' UP

ioctl[SIOCGIWRANGE]: No such device

ioctl[SIOCGIFINDEX]: No such device

ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODEEXT]: No such device

ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODE]: No such device

ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODEEXT]: No such device

ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODE]: No such device

ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODEEXT]: No such device

ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODE]: No such device

ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODEEXT]: No such device

ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODE]: No such device

ioctl[SIOCSIWAUTH]: No such device

WEXT auth param 7 value 0x0 - Failed to disable WPA in the driver.

ioctl[SIOCSIWAUTH]: No such device

WEXT auth param 5 value 0x0 - ioctl[SIOCSIWAUTH]: No such device

WEXT auth param 4 value 0x0 - /etc/init.d/net.wlan: line 9:  5907 Segmentation fault      /sbin/wpa_supplicant -B -c /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant_RTL8187.conf -i wlan
```

And my ifconfig -a

```
# LC_ALL=C /sbin/ifconfig -a

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:1D:60:F1:55:A2  

          inet addr:192.168.0.3  Bcast:192.168.0.255  Mask:255.255.255.0

          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1492  Metric:1

          RX packets:392 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0

          TX packets:486 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 

          RX bytes:302135 (295.0 Kb)  TX bytes:85417 (83.4 Kb)

          Interrupt:16 Base address:0xac00 

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  

          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0

          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1

          RX packets:4080 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0

          TX packets:4080 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 

          RX bytes:440269 (429.9 Kb)  TX bytes:440269 (429.9 Kb)

tunl0     Link encap:IPIP Tunnel  HWaddr   

          NOARP  MTU:1480  Metric:1

          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0

          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 

          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
```

----------

## tarpman

I would check the instructions Paul posted above again, and make sure you've followed them exactly.  In particular, have you added the line he specified to your udev config, and then unplugged and re-plugged the wireless stick (or rebooted if it's not actually a stick)?  Also, Paul's setup has r8187 as a module - I would try that and see if it works better than building it into your kernel.  Until you see a 'wlan' section in the ifconfig -a output you won't get anywhere...

----------

## hadogenes

Unfortunately I receive always the same messages no matter what I do (turn on/off switch or change name of those files and udev option: net.wlan -> net.wlan0).

But I am have a question: because I have Toshiba satellite l45 (l45-s70409), I have a fn-key and combination fn+F7 turn on/off wireless (I have also a switch under my laptop) and I don't know does it work (but combination fn+F6/F7 works for brightness).

And one I have also one thing the led of wifi card didn't shine ever (on windows it shine not before when I log in).

----------

## hadogenes

*BUMP*

Please could somebody help me. I don't know what to do and think that without your help I won't have wifi on my Linux.

BTW I have a question when you turn your switch of rtl8187 on, the led shines immediately (even when your computer is loading bios) or it don't shine until you load your drivers (e.g. with modprobe).

----------

## GroovyDude

I have the same problem and from what I've been able to determine, the driver included in the 2.6.23 kernel only support the Realtek 8187 chipset and not the 8187B chipset we have.  

You could try this link to see if these drivers work for you.  They didn't work for me, but you never know.. Perhaps you'll get lucky.

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

----------

## GroovyDude

Okay, after a full week of experimenting with this, I've finally figured it out.  Here's what you need to do to get the Realtek wireless working on the Toshiba Satellite A215-7422.  

1.  If you don't already have it installed, emerge ndiswrapper

2.  Download the RTL8187B Windows drivers from the Realtek Site.  

http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=24&PFid=1&Level=6&Conn=5&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false&Downloads=true

3.  type unzip <downloaded filename>

4.  Browse to Win98 folder

5.  type nano net8187b.inf, search for 8189.  Replace both instances of 8189 with 8197.  Save the file and exit.  

6.  type ndiswrapper -i net8187b.inf

7.  type ndiswrapper -m

8.  type modprobe ndiswrapper

If you've done everything correctly, you should now be able to use the normal iwconfig commands to configure a working wlan0.  I've tested this with Gentoo-Sources-2.6.23-r1, ndiswrapper 1.49rc3, and wep.  I'm having some trouble getting wpa_supplicant to function properly, but that's a different story.  Hope this helps.

----------

## hadogenes

Unfortunately I use amd64 so I cannot use drivers for win98, so I used x64 drivers, but it still don't work.

My computer sees my wifi card, because it show me the mac address of this card, but when Linux is starting it stops at wlan0 and until I use ctrl+c key combination it won't go through.

And my kernel sometimes hangs on (I don't know is it because of my rtl8187b)

```
Initializing USB Mass storage driver
```

----------

## hadogenes

I have a good news: the driver from http://www.datanorth.net/~cuervo/rtl8187b/ is working.

It was updated at 11 October 2007 and it is working on my Toshiba l45-s7409 (after few tries of course).

But I have a question how can I start this driver with system.

----------

## GroovyDude

 *hadogenes wrote:*   

> I have a good news: the driver from http://www.datanorth.net/~cuervo/rtl8187b/ is working.
> 
> It was updated at 11 October 2007 and it is working on my Toshiba l45-s7409 (after few tries of course).
> 
> But I have a question how can I start this driver with system.

 

 :Very Happy:  LOL

I was just coming back here to update my post.  yes, the "modifed" drivers from cuervo's site do compile under amd64.  They will not, however, work on a 32bit system.

I decided to reinstall my Gentoo 64bit and ran into this snafu.  Was just about to tear my hair out and decided to give those drivers another shot.. bikity bam, they worked like a champ!

....and we wonder why linux isn't as widely accepted.   :Rolling Eyes: 

GENTOO ROCKS!!!!

----------

## hadogenes

Do you know how to install those drivers to start them with system?

Edit:

I have solved it

I had to copy those modules to /lib/modules/`uname -r`/misc/ and add path of this modules to /lib/modules/`uname -r`/modules.dep

and add all of them to /etc/modules.autostart.d/kernel-2.6

----------

## AmonAmarth

do anybody know how to compile the modified driver from http://www.datanorth.net/~cuervo/rtl8187b/ for a 2.6.24 kernel? on 2.6.22-gentoo-r9 it works nearly perfect!

i have tried to patch the modified source manually with kdiff3 with help of these thread and posted sources (rtl-wifi svn + patch for kernel 2.6.24)

https://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1935188&forum_id=652149

but i get compile errors anyway. 

if anybody have a suggestion so solve this issue i would be glad.

----------

## gentoofu

 *AmonAmarth wrote:*   

> do anybody know how to compile the modified driver from http://www.datanorth.net/~cuervo/rtl8187b/ for a 2.6.24 kernel? on 2.6.22-gentoo-r9 it works nearly perfect!
> 
> i have tried to patch the modified source manually with kdiff3 with help of these thread and posted sources (rtl-wifi svn + patch for kernel 2.6.24)
> 
> https://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1935188&forum_id=652149
> ...

 

rtl8187b-modified-jadams-2-1-2008.tar.gz works for me in kernel 2.6.25. Had to chmod makedrv, wlan0up, and wlan0down though. Thing is, my a215-s7422 freezes whenever I try to do WEP  :Sad: .

----------

