# RTL8188SU not seen as wireless in nm-applet [WORKAROUND]

## phalaxy

hi,

i want to use a LogiLink WL0085 Wireless N USB Adapter (http://www.logilink.com/showproduct/WL0085.htm) and lsusb gave that response back in terminal ...

```

Bus 002 Device 004: ID 0bda:8171 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8188SU 802.11n WLAN Adapter

```

i have already set my kernel with the needed staging driver and firmware up but in nm-applet under the cinnamon desktop it is seen as a !!! wired !!! (yes, not wireless!) network interface.

is this a known bug ?

anyway : any ideas how to fix this strange problem ? currently i am unable to use this device in any form except as a door blocker  :Sad: 

by the way : months ago (i think it was around end of spring 2012) it was already seen as a wireless network interface in nm-applet but always crashing the kernel when it was unplugged.

currently i am using these network related packages

```

net-wireless/wireless-tools-30_pre9  USE="-multicall"

net-wireless/wpa_supplicant-1.1  USE="ap dbus eap-sim gnutls p2p readline ssl wps -fasteap (-ps3) -qt4 (-selinux) -wimax"

net-misc/networkmanager-0.9.6.4  USE="avahi bluetooth connection-sharing dhcpcd gnutls introspection modemmanager ppp resolvconf vala -dhclient -doc -nss -systemd -wext -wimax"

sys-kernel/vanilla-sources-3.7.1:3.7.1  USE="symlink -build -deblob"

gnome-extra/nm-applet-0.9.6.4  USE="bluetooth gconf"

```

and of course the cinnamon-1.6.7-r1 desktop ui

----------

## DONAHUE

which firmware? 

Does 

```
ifconfig -a
```

 show the interface? If so, does 

```
ifconfig
```

 show the interface? If not, will 

```
ifconfig wlan0 up
```

 bring it up? Will it scan?

```
emerge wireless-tools

iwlist wlan0 scan
```

or

```
emerge iw

iw wlan0 scan
```

----------

## _______0

can you paste dmesg output?

Sometimes happens that wireless interfaces are named like ethN. If you look with iwconfig you'll see that lists eth1 as wireless interface. I think the culprit here is udev.

The performance issue might have to do with something else. Find online more about 'your device + linux' and see what others are saying. Anything in staging is likely not to be very stable, else wouldn't be there.

----------

## phalaxy

thanks guys for your help....

because of my /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules file the wlan usb stick is recognized as interface wlan1. eth0 and wlan0 are internal network devices of my notebook. 

```

# USB device 0x0bda:0x8171 (usb)

SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTR{address}=="00:13:33:xx:xx:xx", ATTR{dev_id}=="0x0", ATTR{type}=="1", KERNEL=="wlan*", NAME="wlan1"

```

i am using this udev implementation:

```

sys-fs/udev-197-r1  USE="acl gudev hwdb introspection keymap openrc -doc -kmod (-selinux) -static-libs"

```

this is the dmesg output but before this i had to shut down the networkmanager service:

```

r8712u: Staging version

r8712u: register rtl8712_netdev_ops to netdev_ops

[107478.335191] r8712u: USB_SPEED_HIGH with 4 endpoints

[107478.335699] r8712u: Boot from EFUSE: Autoload OK

[107478.878666] r8712u: CustomerID = 0x0000

[107478.878671] r8712u: MAC Address from efuse = 00:13:33:xx:xx:xx

[107478.878673] r8712u: Loading firmware from "rtlwifi/rtl8712u.bin"

```

i have blanked the last 24 bits of the mac address for security reasons.

iwconfig output after the "ifconfig wlan1 up" command:

```

wlan1     unassociated  Nickname:"rtl_wifi"

          Mode:Auto  Access Point: Not-Associated   Sensitivity:0/0  

          Retry:off   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off

          Encryption key:off

          Power Management:off

          Link Quality:0  Signal level:0  Noise level:0

          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0

          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

```

EDIT:

the usb stick scans after the "iwlist wlan1 scan" command (with deactivated networkmanager service) with no results because i have currently no antenna attached and not available until tomorrow evening middle european time.

----------

## DONAHUE

Have you tried  *Quote:*   

> <M>   RealTek RTL8192U Wireless LAN NIC driver

  instead of  *Quote:*   

> <M>   RealTek RTL8192U Wireless LAN NIC driver

 

----------

## phalaxy

donahue, could you please name the new specific kernel module you speak of? i am currently using the r8712u kernel module.

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> <M> RealTek RTL8192U Wireless LAN NIC driver	
> 
> instead of
> ...

 

i think you made a mistake by naming 2 exactly the same designation names of the staging drivers

----------

## DONAHUE

Have you tried  *Quote:*   

> <M>   RealTek RTL8192U Wireless LAN NIC driver

  instead of [quote] <M>   RealTek RTL8712U (RTL8192SU) Wireless LAN NIC driver

I've seen a couple of places where both are listed as supporting your NIC

----------

## phalaxy

```

usb 2-1.2: new high-speed USB device number 5 using ehci_hcd

```

is the only response i got from the r8192u_usb kernel module in conjunction with my wireless usb nic.

this nic stays currently unusable with networkmanager and nm-applet.

best workaround up to now:

1. tell networkmanager to ignore the interface completely (ban the mac-address) of this wireless nic

2. use the r8712u kernel module with the rtl8712u.bin (size: 129.304 bytes) firmware

3. use the nic the classical way via console commands or gentoo configuration scripts at your discretion

4. cross the fingers  :Smile:  everything including encryption should be working as expected

hopefully networkmanager and nm-applet will learn that this is a real wireless usb nic WITH NO WIRELESS CABLE INCLUDED some day  :Smile: 

----------

