Arch Linux

shohart

Member

Registered: 2011-05-19

Posts: 39

wlan rtl8187 issue

Hi there, i have common problem with this card:
i plug the usb tail, module loads automaticaly, networkmanager etablishes connection - everything goes well
but in a randrom time connection fails, and does not come back again until the module rtl8187 is reloaded.
i use latest stock arch kernel on x86_64 machine.
i`ve tried to solve this problem by solution posted in wiki - no result.
i`ve also tried compat-wireless-patched from aur - same stuff.
any help please?

R3DKn16h7

Member

Registered: 2010-12-30

Posts: 15

Re: wlan rtl8187 issue

It seems like a problem I had with Networkmanager, the wlan (eth is ok) contantly drops (every 10 minutes) since last kernel update, on every Wireless Lan... Is maybe this post similar?
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=130823

I noticed that system logs doesn't report anything strange: after a disconnection I simply got nothing new i logs...:

[ 1426.457507] cfg80211: Calling CRDA to update world regulatory domain
[ 1430.667814] wlan0: authenticate with 00:12:17:69:2f:c9 (try 1)
[ 1430.673093] wlan0: authenticated
[ 1430.675869] wlan0: associate with 00:12:17:69:2f:c9 (try 1)
[ 1430.678290] wlan0: RX ReassocResp from 00:12:17:69:2f:c9 (capab=0x411 status=0 aid=1)
[ 1430.678294] wlan0: associated

PS: i use

04:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation WiFi Link 5100
08:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM5784M Gigabit Ethernet PCIe (rev 10)

i.e. is not the same module but same kernel/arch/networkmanager stuff

In my honest opinion is a problem of networkmanager with the last kernel and not modules or so on... I should give a try to wicd.

shohart

Member

Registered: 2011-05-19

Posts: 39

Re: wlan rtl8187 issue

Hm, but in my case onboard wireless card b43 with networkmanager and another wireless network works fine with no interruptions, and I`ve noticed that reconnection through rtl8187 fails untill i manualy reload module - this makes me blame the driver.

by the way
dmesg outputbefore breakage:

[ 5135.568652] rtl8187: Customer ID is 0xFF
[ 5135.568807] Registered led device: rtl8187-phy3::radio
[ 5135.568866] Registered led device: rtl8187-phy3::tx
[ 5135.568922] Registered led device: rtl8187-phy3::rx
[ 5135.569388] rtl8187: wireless switch is on
[ 5138.005897] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan1: link is not ready
[ 5143.014213] wlan1: authenticate with 14:d6:4d:35:71:e4 (try 1)
[ 5143.024600] wlan1: authenticated
[ 5143.254153] wlan1: associate with 14:d6:4d:35:71:e4 (try 1)
[ 5143.264660] wlan1: RX AssocResp from 14:d6:4d:35:71:e4 (capab=0x431 status=0 aid=2)
[ 5143.264670] wlan1: associated
[ 5143.269150] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan1: link becomes ready
[ 5143.958696] wlan0: deauthenticating from 14:d6:4d:35:71:e4 by local choice (reason=3)
[ 5148.280357] wlan1: deauthenticating from 14:d6:4d:35:71:e4 by local choice (reason=3)
[ 5148.364247] cfg80211: Calling CRDA to update world regulatory domain
[ 5150.656727] wlan1: authenticate with 5c:d9:98:42:33:71 (try 1)
[ 5150.661418] wlan1: authenticated
[ 5150.881005] wlan1: associate with 5c:d9:98:42:33:71 (try 1)
[ 5150.883273] wlan1: RX AssocResp from 5c:d9:98:42:33:71 (capab=0x411 status=0 aid=1)
[ 5150.883281] wlan1: associated
[ 5161.149523] wlan1: no IPv6 routers present

After:

[ 5476.309812] ieee80211 phy3: wlan1: No probe response from AP 5c:d9:98:42:33:71 after 500ms, disconnecting.
[ 5476.399622] cfg80211: Calling CRDA to update world regulatory domain
[ 5478.637505] wlan1: authenticate with 5c:d9:98:42:33:71 (try 1)
[ 5478.836186] wlan1: authenticate with 5c:d9:98:42:33:71 (try 2)
[ 5479.036172] wlan1: authenticate with 5c:d9:98:42:33:71 (try 3)
[ 5479.236202] wlan1: authentication with 5c:d9:98:42:33:71 timed out

iwconfig output:

disconnected:

wlan1     IEEE 802.11bg  ESSID:off/any 
          Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=20 dBm   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off

connected:

wlan1     IEEE 802.11bg  ESSID:"ncca" 
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.437 GHz  Access Point: 5C:D9:98:42:33:71   
          Bit Rate=2 Mb/s   Tx-Power=20 dBm   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=64/70  Signal level=-46 dBm 
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:2   Missed beacon:0

I`ve got that something makes rtl8187 drop the connection because of no probe response of the AP
but why? as i said b43 passeseverything well with different AP`s and rtl8187 breaks with every AP as well...

i`ve fond that it is most likely opendriver faulture and it is not fixed in any way besides ndiswraper..
i do not want to use ndiswraper so i diceded to make nonstandard solution:
i want to make a script which automaticaly makes rmmodrtl8187 && modprobe rtl8187 everytime when connection times out...
any help with this? i do not know how to make such thing. it should be a deamon to my mind? or can i use cpufreq on something like this as executor of command?

Last edited by shohart (2011-11-25 11:43:18)

d3crypt

Member

Registered: 2011-12-02

Posts: 1

Re: wlan rtl8187 issue

I starting to have the same problem... I'm use wpa_supplicant to connect to wifi... but this should work...
edit you rc.conf file to load the modules
MODULES=(mac80211 rtl8187)

sudo ifconfig wlan0 txpower 0
sudo ifconfig wlan0 rate 5.5M fixed
sudo wpa_supplicant -B -Dwext -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
sudo dhcpcd wlan0

adjusting rts and frag, is also optionally.. but i truelly believe the problem lies in the txpower, and rate..... .. atleast that was my problem.... try and let me know...