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alex_anthony

Member

From: UK

Registered: 2007-09-25

Posts: 344

RTL8192E wireless card seen by NetworkManager as an ethernet device

I have an RTL8192E wireless card (not SE). I'm using the r8192e_pci driver from staging (it's built in the default arch kernel)

I've got the rtl8192se driver blacklisted because that was being loaded at first.

The card is seen by networkmanager as an ethernet device. However, it shows up as expected in iwconfig and iwlist can scan with it. Using iwconfig to set the ESSID, I've managed to get it to connect to an access point and work fine. However, this only seems to work with open access points, I tried with WEP but it didn't work.

cat /var/log/messages.log | grep NetworkManager
Apr 17 20:31:26 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> NetworkManager (version 0.9.4.0) is starting...
Apr 17 20:31:26 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> Read config file /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf
Apr 17 20:31:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> Loaded plugin keyfile: (c) 2007 - 2010 Red Hat, Inc.  To report bugs please use the NetworkManager mailing list.
Apr 17 20:31:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]:    keyfile: parsing Wireless connection 1 ... 
Apr 17 20:31:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]:    keyfile:     read connection 'Wireless connection 1'
Apr 17 20:31:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> trying to start the modem manager...
Apr 17 20:31:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> monitoring kernel firmware directory '/lib/firmware'.
Apr 17 20:31:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <warn> Failed to open plugin directory /usr/lib/NetworkManager: Error opening directory '/usr/lib/NetworkManager': No such file or directory
Apr 17 20:31:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> found WiFi radio killswitch rfkill0 (at /sys/devices/platform/samsung/rfkill/rfkill0) (driver (unknown))
Apr 17 20:31:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> WiFi enabled by radio killswitch; enabled by state file
Apr 17 20:31:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> WWAN enabled by radio killswitch; enabled by state file
Apr 17 20:31:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> WiMAX enabled by radio killswitch; enabled by state file
Apr 17 20:31:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> Networking is enabled by state file
Apr 17 20:31:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <warn> failed to allocate link cache: (-10) Operation not supported
Apr 17 20:31:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> (wlan0): carrier is OFF
Apr 17 20:31:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> (wlan0): new Ethernet device (driver: 'rtl819xE' ifindex: 2)
Apr 17 20:31:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> (wlan0): exported as /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Devices/0
Apr 17 20:31:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> (wlan0): now managed
Apr 17 20:31:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> (wlan0): device state change: unmanaged -> unavailable (reason 'managed') [10 20 2]
Apr 17 20:31:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> (wlan0): bringing up device.
Apr 17 20:31:29 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> (wlan0): preparing device.
Apr 17 20:31:29 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> (wlan0): deactivating device (reason 'managed') [2]
Apr 17 20:31:29 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> Added default wired connection 'Wired connection 1' for /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1c.0/0000:05:00.0/net/wlan0
Apr 17 20:31:29 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <warn> failed to allocate link cache: (-10) Operation not supported
Apr 17 20:31:29 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> (eth0): carrier is OFF
Apr 17 20:31:29 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> (eth0): new Ethernet device (driver: 'sky2' ifindex: 3)
Apr 17 20:31:29 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> (eth0): exported as /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Devices/1
Apr 17 20:31:29 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> (eth0): now managed
Apr 17 20:31:29 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> (eth0): device state change: unmanaged -> unavailable (reason 'managed') [10 20 2]
Apr 17 20:31:29 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> (eth0): bringing up device.
Apr 17 20:31:29 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> (eth0): preparing device.
Apr 17 20:31:29 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> (eth0): deactivating device (reason 'managed') [2]
Apr 17 20:31:29 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> Added default wired connection 'Wired connection 2' for /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1c.2/0000:09:00.0/net/eth0
Apr 17 20:31:29 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <warn> bluez error getting default adapter: The name org.bluez was not provided by any .service files
Apr 17 20:32:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> (wlan0): carrier now ON (device state 20)
Apr 17 20:32:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> (wlan0): device state change: unavailable -> disconnected (reason 'carrier-changed') [20 30 40]
Apr 17 20:32:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> Auto-activating connection 'Wired connection 1'.
Apr 17 20:32:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> Activation (wlan0) starting connection 'Wired connection 1'
Apr 17 20:32:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> (wlan0): device state change: disconnected -> prepare (reason 'none') [30 40 0]
Apr 17 20:32:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 1 of 5 (Device Prepare) scheduled...
Apr 17 20:32:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 1 of 5 (Device Prepare) started...
Apr 17 20:32:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) scheduled...
Apr 17 20:32:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 1 of 5 (Device Prepare) complete.
Apr 17 20:32:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) starting...
Apr 17 20:32:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> (wlan0): device state change: prepare -> config (reason 'none') [40 50 0]
Apr 17 20:32:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) successful.
Apr 17 20:32:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 3 of 5 (IP Configure Start) scheduled.
Apr 17 20:32:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) complete.
Apr 17 20:32:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 3 of 5 (IP Configure Start) started...
Apr 17 20:32:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> (wlan0): device state change: config -> ip-config (reason 'none') [50 70 0]
Apr 17 20:32:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Beginning DHCPv4 transaction (timeout in 45 seconds)
Apr 17 20:32:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> dhcpcd started with pid 966
Apr 17 20:32:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Beginning IP6 addrconf.
Apr 17 20:32:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 3 of 5 (IP Configure Start) complete.
Apr 17 20:32:27 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> (wlan0): DHCPv4 state changed nbi -> preinit
Apr 17 20:32:33 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> (wlan0): DHCPv4 state changed preinit -> bound
Apr 17 20:32:33 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info>   address 10.42.0.60
Apr 17 20:32:33 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info>   prefix 24 (255.255.255.0)
Apr 17 20:32:33 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info>   gateway 10.42.0.1
Apr 17 20:32:33 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info>   hostname 'alex-netbook'
Apr 17 20:32:33 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info>   nameserver '10.42.0.1'
Apr 17 20:32:33 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 5 of 5 (IPv4 Configure Commit) scheduled...
Apr 17 20:32:33 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 5 of 5 (IPv4 Commit) started...
Apr 17 20:32:34 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> (wlan0): device state change: ip-config -> activated (reason 'none') [70 100 0]
Apr 17 20:32:34 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> Policy set 'Wired connection 1' (wlan0) as default for IPv4 routing and DNS.
Apr 17 20:32:34 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> Activation (wlan0) successful, device activated.
Apr 17 20:32:34 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 5 of 5 (IPv4 Commit) complete.
Apr 17 20:32:47 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> (wlan0): IP6 addrconf timed out or failed.
Apr 17 20:32:47 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 4 of 5 (IPv6 Configure Timeout) scheduled...
Apr 17 20:32:47 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 4 of 5 (IPv6 Configure Timeout) started...
Apr 17 20:32:47 localhost NetworkManager[439]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 4 of 5 (IPv6 Configure Timeout) complete.

lspci | grep Network
05:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8192E/RTL8192SE Wireless LAN Controller (rev 01)

In messages.log, there are also some small kernel messages about network, but nothing fail-like

Is this all just the fault of a bad staging driver? Any reasonable workarounds? Find an older kernel?
From what I can tell the driver went through some big changes at the end of last year.

See also this: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=128222
However, I have the module seemingly loading fine (no complaints in dmesg). Also, the workaround apparently doesn't build on 3.x kernels.

alex_anthony

Member

From: UK

Registered: 2007-09-25

Posts: 344

Re: RTL8192E wireless card seen by NetworkManager as an ethernet device

Downgraded to the last 2.6 kernel, wireless works as expected now. I suppose I'll just have to wait for the driver cleanup to progress a bit. Oh well, I have low expectations of staging drivers' stability.

Strike0

Member

From: Germany

Registered: 2011-09-05

Posts: 1,429

Re: RTL8192E wireless card seen by NetworkManager as an ethernet device

I had the same thing (realtek wifi stick shown as wired device) in networkmanager 0.9.4.0 and problems of connecting, but that went away with the last update (to 0.9.4.0-4). Using the R8712u (staging-)driver, not yours. Still your one issue might be caused by NM also,thats the point I am getting at.