Arch Linux

phignuton

Member

Registered: 2008-02-07

Posts: 6

rtl8187b and kernel 2.6.23 oddity

Sorry in advance for the long post...

Despite following directions from the relevant wiki pages,  http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Rtl8187_wireless and http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Wireless, I was unable to get the realtek 8187b interface working properly. The module would install correctly and dmesg|grep rtl8187 would respond with the usbcore message, but  wmaster0 and wlan0 would not show up.

I then checked the rtl-wiki https://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php … _id=652149 and found someone else having a similar problem in fedora. After trying their solution, the interfaces at least show up. I can't test the wireless since I'm at work, but I have high hopes

Here are the steps I took:

1) Made sure the module was loaded properly

 dmesg|grep rtl8187

Output:

usbcore: registered new interface driver rtl8187

2) Then

 lsusb -vv | less

Page through the output until you see a Configuration Descriptor like this:

>snip<

Bus 006 Device 002: ID 0bda:8189 Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
Device Descriptor:
  bLength                18
  bDescriptorType         1
  bcdUSB               2.00
  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)
  bDeviceSubClass         0
  bDeviceProtocol         0
  bMaxPacketSize0        64
  idVendor           0x0bda Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
  idProduct          0x8189
  bcdDevice            2.00
  iManufacturer           1 Manufacturer_Realtek
  iProduct                2
  iSerial                 3 00e04c000001
  bNumConfigurations      1
  Configuration Descriptor:
    bLength                 9
    bDescriptorType         2
    wTotalLength           81
    bNumInterfaces          1
    bConfigurationValue     1
    iConfiguration          4 Wireless Network Card
    bmAttributes         0x80
      (Bus Powered)
    MaxPower              500mA

>snip<

(this goes on for a while)

The lines you need are the following:

idVendor           0x0bda Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
  idProduct          0x8189

3) Given the idVendor and the idProduct, you can now (hopefully) enable the device like so:

echo -n "0x0bda 0x8189" > /sys/bus/usb/drivers/rtl8187/new_id

4) You should then see a message similar to this one at the end of your dmesg

dmesg | grep phy0

Output:

phy0: hwaddr 00:16:44:7c:c8:47, rtl8187 V0 + rtl8225
phy0: RF Calibration Failed! 0

(i'm not sure what the RF calibration message means)

5) iwconfig should now return something like this:

lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wmaster0  no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:"" 
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated   
          Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr=2346 B   
          Encryption key: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

I've been banging my head into this for a couple of hours now, so I hope this helps someone else.

brebs

Member

Registered: 2007-04-03

Posts: 3,742

Re: rtl8187b and kernel 2.6.23 oddity

Use kernel 2.6.24, for many wireless improvements.

RDDO

Member

From: Brazil

Registered: 2008-02-21

Posts: 23

Re: rtl8187b and kernel 2.6.23 oddity

Im having the same problem with this rtl8187 in my Gateway Laptop, gonna try your solution later, and yes, I tried exact same thing of wiki and nothing! thx for posting btw dude

RDDO

Member

From: Brazil

Registered: 2008-02-21

Posts: 23

Re: rtl8187b and kernel 2.6.23 oddity

I've tested your method and it worked, now at least I can get the wlan0 up, but I tried scanning, and it didnt found nothing, when I tried with my psp I've got some results, im gonna test in my work now, but I dont think the card is working properly

another thing Ive noticed, is that in my ifconfig result my eth0 says in the end, "Interrupt: 16 Base address:0xc000"
shouldnt wlan0 says something about Base address like that?

Last edited by RDDO (2008-02-22 02:01:54)

danes

Member

Registered: 2004-11-24

Posts: 48

Re: rtl8187b and kernel 2.6.23 oddity

It Works!!!!

http://clysoftware.blogspot.es/12036563 … uncionar-/

I compiled kernel-2.6-22.14 as he says.

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