[SOLVED] RTL8187 usb dongle

chessboxing · 2008-12-18 00:34:16

ASUS M2N32 mobo with a USB dongle (chipset rtl8187).

I just installed archlinux for the first time after using ubuntu for a while. My goal is to install gnome but ofcours internet has to be active. Before installing Arch I wanted to be prepared for my wireless usb dongle to install. So I searched and found a wiki on arch about the rtl8187. But to great to be true.
After modprobe rtl.. I have to rmmod it and modprobe again. Then I wlan0 up it to have my wlan0 show up. Scanning works great then. Then I do
iwconfig wlan0 essid "sdfs sfs sf" key s:key (s: = ascii key)

but dmesg says " authentication timed out" basically

Are these drivers included working, if not why are they in the kernel??? (sorry kinda sick of this usb dongle rtl8187 issue) I got it working in ubuntu 8.04.1 after a hassle, but I had the advantage having gnome default. Archlinux's pacman can't fetch gnome/kde/.. obviously without internet connectivity.
I just want Archlinux + gnome + internet

ok vista at the moment untill I get some helpfull things.

thanks

Last edited by chessboxing (2009-01-06 03:15:42)

quetzyg · 2008-12-18 10:26:03

I've got the same motherboard, but never used Windows. Does the wifi USB dongle work well with it? Any issues?
My only experience is with the Linux drivers, and I can't say that I'm happy with it. The connection gets too slow, and sometimes just disconnects without a warning (specially if I'm using a USB webcam under Skype).

About your auth timeout problem, have you tried using netcfg2, instead of issuing ifconfig bla bla bla, etc, by hand?

What channel are you using on your router? Anything above 11? I had some problem using higher channels.

BTW, I'm using a custom kernel, so I don't know how much difference exists from the Arch one (wifiwise).

Cheers,
Quetzy

chessboxing · 2008-12-18 11:00:37

Wel, in the windows environment the drivers are working as they should, stable and good power. Issues you says... I began to use this dongle piece of crap with ubuntu 7.10 x64 and I had to search for a while till I bumped into the wiki page from aircrack, concerning this chipset. It worked however power wasn't as it was like on the other side. Ubuntu LTS/8.10 the same thing excerpt some line had to be adjusted because it was a wrong link. But eventually it works not so powerful. Archlinux isn't working at the moment, that's what I basically doing here, tryin to figure it out...
It is actually on channel 12, I'll adjust it to 10. And no I didn't try netcfg2, because I thought its the same with cmdline meth, but I'll give it a shot. I guess back to the frontline I mean commandline.

Thanks for responding, much appreciated.

quetzyg · 2008-12-18 11:04:46

Post your results after you try out netcfg and a lower channel

chessboxing · 2008-12-18 16:21:18

same result...
channel to 10 no effect. And after setting up a netcfg profile with settings with wep encryption... It seemed doing it stuff but eventually the dhcp timed out ofcours. Dhcp is properly configured within the router although. Its this bloody driver I think. You sad you had the same motherbord and thus the same chipset usb dongle rtl8187(L, I think). Do you use this hardware and how did you get it working?

quetzyg · 2008-12-18 19:37:13

Yes, I've got the same hardware. For now, I'm using the ethernet LAN port for internet connectivity, but before, I was using the USB wireless dongle.
As I said in my first post, the connection signal wasn't that strong, and ocasionally it disconnected (sometimes without even warning).
You could tell that it disconnected when you tried to load a page in the browser, and it stood there for ages until a timeout (altough, the gnome network monitor showed the connection was OK).

If I connected Skype with a USB webcam and did a video conference call with someone, the connection would fail even quicker! Unpluging the USB camera would improve the wireless connection (if speaking on Skype, other than that, it didn't make any difference), but not that much.

When the connection failed, I (usualy) had to remove the rtl8187 module, and load it back, to establish a new connection to the router.
I even put a better antenna connected to the USB dongle, but the results were the same.

I also think it's a driver problem.
BTW, our chipset is 8187, not 8187L.

Last edited by quetzyg (2008-12-18 19:38:45)

chessboxing · 2008-12-19 00:11:51

Sunday or Monday or next week anyway, I will try this guide (which I used to get it working with ubuntu) http://aircrack-ng.org/doku.php?id=r8187. Maybe you can test it because I'm not with this pc at the moment... Some other considiration is about the wireless stack usage. Because from 2.6.22 kernel, it uses mac80211 instead of ieee80211. The guide discribes ieee80211. pfff trouble trouble. Tip read troubleshouting tips

btw: iwconfig wlan0 txpower <value of 0 to 35>
to increase the transmit power

iwlist wlan0 txpower

too see current power setting.

5 is default, and to go higher you must activate high power transmition

iwpriv wlan0 highpower 1

Last edited by chessboxing (2008-12-19 00:16:34)

quetzyg · 2008-12-19 01:00:01

I also set the rate to 5.5M, like the wiki entry suggests, but it didn't work.

I'll try the power transmission thing this weekend.

Cheers

chessboxing · 2009-01-06 03:13:09

I can't believe I just used Links to surf on the net!
OK, what you eventually have to do, to get this piece of sh*t working is:

- Install a Archlinux with kernel 2.6.27.
- modprobe rtl8187
- ifconfig wlan0 up
- iwconfig wlan0 rate 5.5M fixed
- iwconfig wlan0 essid xxx key xxx
- dhcpcd wlan0

ping www.google.be

I first did it without the rate option and this failed the connection so just do the rate option and it will be alright. Now trying to install xorg, nvidia for my Geforce 8800GT card and KDEmod.

quetzyg · 2009-02-04 01:10:48

OK, so the only problem that I have now, is the signal strength.
The Gnome Network Manager applet displays values between 12% and 18%. Other than that, it seems that the new kernel (2.6.28.3) really fixed some issues.

Even though, I can download at max speed (normaly), i don't like to have less than 50% of signal strenght.

The AP (with a 8dbi omni exterior antenna) is not really that far (5 meters?), and I've got a 6dbi omni interior antenna connected to the USB dongle. The computer doesn't have LOS to the AP, but the signal strength should be enough. My laptop has a good signal in the same room.

Any ideas?

Cheers,
Quetzy Garcia

chessboxing · 2009-02-17 20:11:46

You could try this tutorial: http://forums.remote-exploit.org/showth … p?p=114188, if you try report please.

quetzyg · 2009-02-17 20:44:17

chessboxing wrote:

You could try this tutorial: http://forums.remote-exploit.org/showth … p?p=114188, if you try report please.

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Arch Linux

#1 2008-12-18 00:34:16

[SOLVED] RTL8187 usb dongle

#2 2008-12-18 10:26:03

Re: [SOLVED] RTL8187 usb dongle

#3 2008-12-18 11:00:37

Re: [SOLVED] RTL8187 usb dongle

#4 2008-12-18 11:04:46

Re: [SOLVED] RTL8187 usb dongle

#5 2008-12-18 16:21:18

Re: [SOLVED] RTL8187 usb dongle

#6 2008-12-18 19:37:13

Re: [SOLVED] RTL8187 usb dongle

#7 2008-12-19 00:11:51

Re: [SOLVED] RTL8187 usb dongle

#8 2008-12-19 01:00:01

Re: [SOLVED] RTL8187 usb dongle

#9 2009-01-06 03:13:09

Re: [SOLVED] RTL8187 usb dongle

#10 2009-02-04 01:10:48

Re: [SOLVED] RTL8187 usb dongle

#11 2009-02-17 20:11:46

Re: [SOLVED] RTL8187 usb dongle

#12 2009-02-17 20:44:17

Re: [SOLVED] RTL8187 usb dongle

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