# After Installing Firmware, Device is still not Detected

## Rahu X

First off, I'd like to apologize for any stupidity you may see from me, as I'm new to Gentoo.

Next, as the title says, I installed the firmware for my wireless USB device, yet iwconfig still does not detect it.

The device in question is the Rosewill RNX-n180-UBE, which uses the rtl8192su firmware.

I obtained the firmware from the official gentoo package database (net-wireless/rtl8192su-firmware).

So, any suggestions for a total newbie?

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## BradN

Is there any related output when you run dmesg (check the end of the output) after having inserted the card?

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## Rahu X

 *BradN wrote:*   

> Is there any related output when you run dmesg (check the end of the output) after having inserted the card?

 This is the only bit I can find relating to the device:

```
[    1.979629] usb 1-6: default language 0x0409

[    1.980878] usb 1-6: udev 2, busnum 1, minor = 1

[    1.980880] usb 1-6: New USB device found, idVendor=0bda, idProduct=8172

[    1.981255] usb 1-6: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3

[    1.981628] usb 1-6: Product: RNX-180UBE

[    1.981981] usb 1-6: Manufacturer: Manufacturer Realtek 

[    1.982354] usb 1-6: SerialNumber: 00e04c000001

[    1.982837] usb 1-6: usb_probe_device

[    1.982840] usb 1-6: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice

[    1.983772] usb 1-6: adding 1-6:1.0 (config #1, interface 0)

```

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## BradN

Hmm, I would expect more output than that.  Are you sure you've got a driver for it compiled into the kernel (or as a module)?  The firmware by itself isn't enough to run the device - it's just the code that the kernel driver loads into the device for the device to operate itself.

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## Rahu X

I did not see a driver option for rtl8192su or related devices in the kernel, only rtl8192se which is meant for PCI devices and not USB. But even then, I compiled that in the kernel anyway.

I'm actually starting to wonder if my device is somehow not supported.

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## BradN

I think the kernel driver is very new and likely to have problems.  If you want to use the kernel driver, it would probably be smart to use the newest kernel available.

It might be in the staging drivers section of the kernel config (I forget where it is, not at my gentoo machine to check).  But another post I found mentioned something like this.

You're looking for driver name r8712u if this stuff is correct:  https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=902508

You may have more luck using ndiswrapper and a copy of the windows driver until they get the problems worked out.

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## wrc1944

I've got the same adapter- it works great with Linux mint, Magia Linux, Opensuse, all using the r8712u driver with usbcore, detects and works out of the box.  Also works fine with windows.

However, I still can't figure gentoo out- been going around for days now with newest kernels, staging drivers, firmware, many,many recompile of kernels trying different things.

Tried wicd, which usually is great, then NetworkManager- read all the docs on how to set them up in Gentoo- nothing works.  Tried manually editing in all the net settings-- still not working.

This seems to be the problem:  

```
gentoo wrc # dmesg | grep r8712u

r8712u: module is from the staging directory, the quality is unknown, you have been warned.

r8712u: DriverVersion: v7_0.20100831

r8712u: register rtl8712_netdev_ops to netdev_ops

r8712u: USB_SPEED_HIGH with 4 endpoints

r8712u: Boot from EFUSE: Autoload OK

r8712u: CustomerID = 0x0000

r8712u: MAC Address from efuse = 00:1a:ef:1a:23:ca

usbcore: registered new interface driver r8712u

r8712u: Loading firmware from "rtlwifi/rtl8712u.bin"

r8712u: Unable to load firmware

r8712u: Install latest linux-firmware

r8712u: Loading firmware from "rtlwifi/rtl8712u.bin"

r8712u: Unable to load firmware

r8712u: Install latest linux-firmware

r8712u: Loading firmware from "rtlwifi/rtl8712u.bin"

r8712u: Unable to load firmware

r8712u: Install latest linux-firmware
```

Is there anywhere to download this firmware? The staging driver loads automatically, but no firmware is found, or avavilable.  Has anyone got any more insight into this, and have a working wireless using r8712u?  This adapter was a major improvement for my wireless setup, and works great with other distros.  I've looked at the modules/ firmware they use, but nothing I've learned there has so far helped in Gentoo.   :Rolling Eyes: 

EDIT  I think the rtl8192su firmware mentioned is no longer used- the r8712u replaces it (supposedly).  I never got it to work but if someone else has, please advise ASAP.  I can't belive the other distros are using the new driver/firmware with great success, but Gentoo isn't???    :Shocked: 

Look at this?  https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-6485969-highlight-r8712u.html#6485969

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## wrc1944

I've made some progress.  I made a /lib/firmware/rtlwifi directory, and copied over all the *.bins from an identical directory from Linux Mint-11, including the r8712u firmware.

On reboot, I can get a normal list of available wireless networks, and apparently the r8712u driver from staging (same one that is reported in Mint) is registered correctly, and the firmware I copied over now loads. 

```
wrc@gentoo ~ $ dmesg | grep r8712u

r8712u: module is from the staging directory, the quality is unknown, you have been warned.

r8712u: DriverVersion: v7_0.20100831

r8712u: register rtl8712_netdev_ops to netdev_ops

r8712u: USB_SPEED_HIGH with 4 endpoints

r8712u: Boot from EFUSE: Autoload OK

r8712u: CustomerID = 0x0000

r8712u: MAC Address from efuse = 00:1a:ef:1a:23:ca

usbcore: registered new interface driver r8712u

r8712u: Loading firmware from "rtlwifi/rtl8712u.bin"

r8712u: 1 RCR=0x153f00e

r8712u: 2 RCR=0x553f00e

wrc@gentoo ~ $
```

However while trying to connect, all connections drop out immediately (after trying to connect 15-20 secs).  I have no /etc/init.d/net.* links, as instructed, and have the /etc/rc.conf line RC_PLUG_SERVICES="!net.eth* !net.wlan*" as instructed.  I know the hardware is good, as other distros on this box work great, and i moved the box to within 3 feet of the router.  Other distros report 100% signal strength.  What's weird is I can't even connect to a local unsecured network that is very close and has a very strong signal (used it before in a pinch to emerge a needed package when mine fails).  That would indicate it's nothing in my configs.  I've tried dhcpcd and manually enting all the addresses- nothing works.

I know this r8712u driver and firmware work on this box, as they are also used in the other distros.  It has to be a problem unique to my gentoo setup gentoo.

I can get a net connection by plugging in an ethernet cable from the router, and using /etc/init.d/net.eth0 start, even though I have no /etc/init.d/net.eth0 link to net.lo.    :Shocked: 

```
gentoo wrc # /etc/init.d/net.eth0 start

 * Bringing up interface eth0

 *   Loaded modules: apipa arping bonding tuntap ccwgroup macchanger macnet wpa_supplicant ssidnet ifconfig pppd system dhcpcd ip6to4

 *   Changing MAC address of eth0 ...               [ ok ]

 *     changed to 00:19:66:a1:b4:8d

 *   Configuring eth0 for MAC address 00:19:66:a1:b4:8d ...                                                   [ ok ]

 *   dhcp ...

 *     Running dhcpcd ...

dhcpcd[2792]: sending commands to master dhcpcd pro [ ok ]

 *     received address 192.168.1.100/24            [ ok ]

gentoo wrc #
```

Rahu X:  Maybe if you put "r8712u wireless driver" in the thread title, we might get more responses to this problem.

EDIT:  After an emerge --sync, and emerge -uD world, and more reading, I put udev in sysinit runlevel instead of boot.  Then I went back to wicd, and configured my wireless manually (no dhcpcd), and now I can connect to my router.  However, no other unsecured AP's I can see listed are dhcpcd accessible, so all I can figure out is it must be something weird with wireless dhcpcd on my Gentoo system (wired dhcpcd works normally).  On the other hand, dhcpcd is working fine with wireless with other distros to access the unsecured networks I can see.   :Rolling Eyes: 

Bottom line, in my case since this is a desktop box from my office placed in another part of the house where ethernet cable isn't installed, I can just use my static addresses and be done with it.

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## Angrychile

http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/dwmw2/linux-firmware.git;a=tree;f=rtlwifi;h=11251e0c39e90a9b1999bbd9097bf958a7331735;hb=HEAD

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## klz

http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/dwmw2/linux-firmware.git;a=tree;f=rtlwifi

I downloaded : http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/dwmw2/linux-firmware.git;a=blob_plain;f=rtlwifi/rtl8712u.bin;hb=HEAD  ('raw' of rtl8712u.bin)

and put this in : /lib64/firmware/rtlwifi/

Now my rtl8188 works  :Wink: 

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## jannis

I've got exactly the same problem here. Using the driver from staging mainline works, but only when you download the firmware manually.

I'll write a bug later so we can get an ebuild similar to "net-wireless/rt2860-firmware" and "net-wireless/rt2870-firmware" but I have to leave home right now. Just wanted you to know  :Smile: 

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## jannis

Bug report is here:

https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=430928

(feel free to vote  :Wink: 

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## chithanh

Note that you can install the sys-kernel/linux-firmware package which includes firmware for your device. If you don't want all firmware, then USE="savedconfig" allows you to exclude unwanted files from being installed.

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## jannis

Strange, I looked for exactly that package (containing everything from linux-firmware git-repo) but overlooked it in the search results ... So actually we don't need the other firmware-packages that install files also found in the git repo?

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