Arch Linux

Foxhead

Member

Registered: 2010-12-23

Posts: 27

[SOLVED] ifconfig wlan0 up crashing computer

Just installed Arch and trying to connect to my wifi network, but, every time i run ifconfig wlan0 up my computer just crashes and i have to restart
My Wi-fi card is a realtek 8185 and from what i can find i don't need any additional drivers for it

Last edited by Foxhead (2011-07-26 06:34:54)

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: [SOLVED] ifconfig wlan0 up crashing computer

Can you post kernel.log?

Foxhead

Member

Registered: 2010-12-23

Posts: 27

Re: [SOLVED] ifconfig wlan0 up crashing computer

Well from what i can tell there isn't one in /var/log/ which is were i know the kernel log is

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: [SOLVED] ifconfig wlan0 up crashing computer

Are you running a logging daemon, like syslog-ng?

Also, ifconfig is deprecated http://www.archlinux.org/news/deprecation-of-net-tools/ Have you tried another way?

Last edited by karol (2011-07-23 03:19:06)

Foxhead

Member

Registered: 2010-12-23

Posts: 27

Re: [SOLVED] ifconfig wlan0 up crashing computer

Well i just did a basic install of arch cause im new to it so no i havn't

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: [SOLVED] ifconfig wlan0 up crashing computer

OK, let's start from the beginning
- which iso image did you use for the install
- is your system up to date or do you need the wireless to get online?

syslog should be running by default.

Foxhead

Member

Registered: 2010-12-23

Posts: 27

Re: [SOLVED] ifconfig wlan0 up crashing computer

i used the core install disc and yes i need wireless to get online as my router is downstairs. I ran syslog-ng as a command and restart and now there is a kernel.log but it only has the text from booting up

karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: [SOLVED] ifconfig wlan0 up crashing computer

i used the core install disc and yes i need wireless to get online as my router is downstairs. I ran syslog-ng as a command and restart and now there is a kernel.log but it only has the text from booting up

So the logging is working. Now crash your system and see if anything interesting is written to the logs.

Foxhead

Member

Registered: 2010-12-23

Posts: 27

Re: [SOLVED] ifconfig wlan0 up crashing computer

nope just the same like 200 lines of bootup messages, also i found some linux drivers for the rtl8185 but being somewhat new to this complex of a linus system im not sure what to do as running make just returns

make: *** /lib/modules/2.6.33-ARCH/build: No such file or directory. Stop.
make: *** [all] Error 2

rednano12

Member

Registered: 2009-10-23

Posts: 56

Re: [SOLVED] ifconfig wlan0 up crashing computer

Oh man, I just had this issue a couple of days back.

Something's bugged about the RTL8185 drivers in the kernel (no, you shouldn't have to install anything extra, just modprobe it).

Check out the Wiki page: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Wireless_Setup

Try following the instructions there (use rtl8180; the drivers for rtl8180 and 8185 are merged).

If that still produces crashes (as it did for me), I finally got it to work using the ndiswrapper driver. ndiswrapper lets you use windows wireless drivers on linux systems, but since wireless on linux now is really  solid, the devs moved it to AUR. However, it still exists as a core package on the install CD.

However, this creates a bit of a problem where the AUR ndiswrapper needs the latest kernel, and to get that you need to go on the internet. However, if you use the ndiswrapper package on the CD, pacman won't let you upgrade your system because ndiswrapper apparently needs the older kernel versions. You're stuck in a loop.

To get out of this, download the latest kernel headers file, the ndiswrapper AUR tarball, and the ndiswrapper latest source on a flash drive. Plug the flash drive into the Arch computer and install the kernel headers with pacman -U. Then install ndiswrapper from AUR, telling it to use the latest source. ndiswrapper your drivers, add it to your modules in /etc/rc.conf and let us know how it goes!

Just a tip, if you get it working, Use the sys/inf files from the Windows 98 folder on your CD, for some reason, it goes faster for me.

Welcome to Arch Linux.

Just out of curiousity, what is the make and model of your wireless card? I have a sinking feeling it's the same model as mine...

Foxhead

Member

Registered: 2010-12-23

Posts: 27

Re: [SOLVED] ifconfig wlan0 up crashing computer

not entirely sure on the model, but i did get it working by downloading the rtl8185 linux drivers form the realtek site http://www.realtek.com/downloads/downlo … s=true#352 as well as installed the kernel headers from the arch install disk to be able to install them. The only problem is after upgrading the kernel i need to reinstall them yet i appear to be lacking gcc...

Foxhead

Member

Registered: 2010-12-23

Posts: 27

Re: [SOLVED] ifconfig wlan0 up crashing computer

Well all is well now. I re installed arch again making sure to install the headers then manually installed the rtl8185 drivers. I then upgraded making sure that no matter what i kept gcc. Then, again installed the rtl8185 drivers. I know have permanently working internet, until i upgrade the kernel again...