RTL8188CE Unstable When Not Near Router

beebop · 2012-01-28 05:08:41

Hi,

I've been having this problem for a long time now and I just don't have any clue how to fix it. I have a Thinkpad T520 with this wireless card (unfortunately) and I noticed that I have to be inside the same room as the router in order for me to have normal connection. If I'm outside the room even on same level, the connection is just unstable and sometimes would even disconnect completely.

I read that the drivers should be fairly stable starting kernel 3 but that's not the case for me right now. Does anyone have any ideas on how to fix this? It's the only thing stopping me from fully using linux as my main OS.

I'm using the latest kernel by the way.

lspci

03:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8188CE 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter (rev 01)

lsmod

Module                  Size  Used by
cryptd                  8309  0 
aes_x86_64              7508  3 
aes_generic            26138  1 aes_x86_64
ipv6                  288122  46 
fuse                   66858  4 
uvcvideo               64995  0 
videodev               85100  1 uvcvideo
media                  10565  2 uvcvideo,videodev
v4l2_compat_ioctl32     8644  1 videodev
joydev                  9895  0 
snd_hda_codec_hdmi     22821  1 
snd_hda_codec_conexant    47250  1 
i915                  725986  3 
drm_kms_helper         25721  1 i915
drm                   185768  4 i915,drm_kms_helper
i2c_i801                8187  0 
arc4                    1410  2 
rtl8192ce              72695  0 
sdhci_pci               8887  0 
rtl8192c_common        56668  1 rtl8192ce
i2c_algo_bit            5199  1 i915
wmi                     8475  0 
thinkpad_acpi          62600  2 
sdhci                  22510  1 sdhci_pci
i2c_core               20460  6 videodev,i915,drm_kms_helper,drm,i2c_i801,i2c_algo_bit
mmc_core               75853  1 sdhci
snd_hda_intel          22442  8 
snd_hda_codec          81242  3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_conexant,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep               6357  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm                74368  5 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
snd_timer              19544  3 snd_pcm
snd                    58362  24 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_conexant,thinkpad_acpi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_timer
firewire_ohci          29682  0 
tpm_tis                 9311  0 
tpm                    12698  1 tpm_tis
firewire_core          50872  1 firewire_ohci
intel_agp              10904  1 i915
rtlwifi                91668  1 rtl8192ce
ac                      2344  0 
mac80211              221981  3 rtl8192ce,rtl8192c_common,rtlwifi
serio_raw               4294  0 
thermal                 7799  0 
battery                 6453  0 
video                  11164  1 i915
psmouse                55501  0 
processor              24224  0 
button                  4470  1 i915
snd_page_alloc          7153  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
soundcore               6210  1 snd
mei                    31195  0 
tpm_bios                5089  1 tpm
intel_gtt              14455  3 i915,intel_agp
nvram                   5869  1 thinkpad_acpi
pcspkr                  1819  0 
evdev                   9530  11 
e1000e                144612  0 
iTCO_wdt               11789  0 
iTCO_vendor_support     1961  1 iTCO_wdt
crc_itu_t               1363  1 firewire_core
cfg80211              165796  2 rtlwifi,mac80211
rfkill                 15498  2 thinkpad_acpi,cfg80211
vboxnetflt             17159  0 
vboxdrv              1790690  2 vboxnetflt
ext4                  375829  2 
mbcache                 5881  1 ext4
jbd2                   70763  1 ext4
crc16                   1359  1 ext4
sr_mod                 14951  0 
cdrom                  36553  1 sr_mod
sd_mod                 28275  4 
usbhid                 35352  0 
hid                    82435  1 usbhid
ahci                   20005  3 
libahci                19559  1 ahci
libata                166692  2 ahci,libahci
scsi_mod              132826  3 sr_mod,sd_mod,libata
ehci_hcd               40762  0 
usbcore               144240  5 uvcvideo,rtlwifi,usbhid,ehci_hcd

Thank you!

meako · 2012-04-11 23:01:33

Expiriencing same issue.
Tried using both default kernel drivers and drivers downloaded from realtek website with no result.

Laptop: Thinkpad E520
08:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8188CE 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter (rev 01)

Buggi · 2012-04-22 15:15:29

Same issue here on a Thinkpad E525.

05:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8188CE 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter (rev 01)

Any ideas?
It seems that the connection always drops every 10 to 15 minutes regardless of the distance to the router.

Ubuntu seems to have similar problems, but drops connection less often.

flockyrocky · 2012-09-16 02:32:22

Same issue on my T420s.
Tried to compile latest driver but it doesn't compile. Got an error saying something about IEEE80211_HW_BEACON_FILTER not defined. Don't really have an idea what it means.
I'm still trying other ways found on internet.
Anyone found a solution please shed me some light. Thanks a lot!

flockyrocky · 2012-09-16 03:28:56

OK it finally seems to be solved by compiling the latest driver. I'll write the steps here in case someone like me spend hours searching.
1. find and download your driver from: http://www.realtek.com/downloads/downlo … loads=true
2. extract the package somewhere. with command:

tar -zxf [filename]

for example mine is:

tar -zxf 92ce_se_de_linux_mac80211_0005.1230.2011.tar.gz

3. go to the extracted folder and compile the driver. here's the error I ran into:
base.c:319:6: error: ‘IEEE80211_HW_BEACON_FILTER’ undeclared (first use in this function)
what I do is, I find the line 319 in base.c and commented it out. from the name I think it's not harmful but I'm not sure. DO IT ON YOUR OWN RISK!
then everything goes well, you need to run:

make

and then:

sudo make install

restart your system. that's all.

Last edited by flockyrocky (2012-09-16 03:31:38)

T.J.S. · 2012-09-17 19:35:13

Have you seen any improvement with these drivers? (or anyone for that matter)
I still have random disconnections, even with these installed, and the modules options (ips=0, fwlps=0).

I can't believe how old this thread is, you'd expect it would be solved by now.

flockyrocky · 2012-09-18 13:21:00

for me yes. I don't get anymore disconnections, not until now.
and I found the same solution in other posts, too. I can't remember where though,dug a lot on internet .

T.J.S. · 2012-09-18 17:56:35

How close to the router are you?
Cause yeah, if you're very near it doesn't have any issues, but if you go with your laptop to another room where you normally have a stable connection with your other OS (Windows), well, you don't with linux.
And this is kinda frustrating, since all the other things can be configured somehow to suit your needs, but this can't, apparently. (I have too dug a lot in the internet)

Ownaginatious · 2012-09-18 21:02:22

Man, I thought I was the only one having issues with this. If I'm in any sort of mesh network (my university's wifi for example, several routers with the same SSID) it takes up to 20 attempts before my computer (Lenovo x120e) will connect to a wifi network. The signal strength measurement literally doesn't work at all (every router will appear with the same percentage, or a random percentage which it definitely isn't). Because of that, my computer tends to often try and connect to the routers which are much further away.

Is this unique to the RTL8188CE card, or is it something to do with the rtl8192ce driver built into the kernel? I swear it worked fine when I had the package from the AUR, but now it runs like pure crap.

It's a shame realtek looks as though they've stopped development of their own driver past version 3.2.x of the kernel...

flockyrocky · 2012-09-19 03:10:54

@T.J.S.
I'm not close to the router, I'm in another room. The point is, before using the new driver, I get a lot of disconnections. And after using it, it's much better when I'm using my laptop at exactly the same position.
I also have a windows installed on the same laptop, and it doesn't have any connectivity issues at all. so I assume it's more or less related to the driver.

ANOKNUSA · 2012-09-19 04:51:59

I've been having a similar problem, but only for the last couple months; my T520 is about a year old (as of this month, I think), and used to connect just fine. For some reason, I can connect without any problem most of the time, but I can't transfer any data (load web pages, run a system update, etc.) unless I ping the router continuously. Strangely, this only happens with my home network. I'll be trying different drivers in the next day or two.

Incidentally, does anyone know if it's alright to just order the Intel wifi card from Lenovo/Newegg/whoever? I seem to recall reading somewhere that the BIOS stores a whitelist unique to each machine's hardware specs, so I'm not sure if I should bother...

Shinto · 2012-09-19 05:41:01

RTL8192CE has the same issue...
It seems that this driver didn't receive an update. Yay.

WonderWoofy · 2012-09-19 05:55:25

ANOKNUSA wrote:

Incidentally, does anyone know if it's alright to just order the Intel wifi card from Lenovo/Newegg/whoever? I seem to recall reading somewhere that the BIOS stores a whitelist unique to each machine's hardware specs, so I'm not sure if I should bother...

That is the one thing I do not like about Thinkpads. I too ordered my machine with the Thinkpad b/g/n thinking it was still broadcom, which was reported to work okay (who would have thought that broadcom would be the preferred option?), but alas it was that crappy realtek.

I was able to get some help (done for me because biod modding scares me) removing the whitelist and I installed an Intel card instead. The differences in the simplest of functionality is like night and day.

For anybody who has an E430 or E530 (or the same bios as noted), I can confirm that this modded bios is safe. You will need to follow the link a couple of posts down.

http://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread-S … st-removal

Edit: It is this bios revision: H0ET32WW (1.14 )..... and spelling fixes

Last edited by WonderWoofy (2012-09-19 05:57:51)

T.J.S. · 2012-09-19 09:33:24

Is it worth sending an e-mail to realtek to let them know about the issue, or they'll just ignore us?
At least we should receive some info on whether there are any plans for an update or not.

Man, I shouldn't go through the hassle of replacing my card just to get some basic functionality. But eventually I think I will.

flockyrocky · 2012-09-19 14:33:10

so the driver downloaded from Realtek website doesn't work for you guys either? strangely it works for me though.
before installing the driver, I had to open a terminal to ping my router continuously. and when I see "destination unreachable", I'll have to move my laptop a bit. the interesting part is, usually I only have to move it a bit or turn the direction a little, then it works again. you can imagine how much trouble I had when I install Arch with pacstrap.
and I also find the signal becomes worse when I use an ipad near the laptop.

WonderWoofy · 2012-09-19 14:44:26

T.J.S. wrote:

Man, I shouldn't go through the hassle of replacing my card just to get some basic functionality. But eventually I think I will.

This is something that I thought too when I was trying to sort out my wifi problems. Ultimately the ips=0 fwlps=0 made it nearly usable. But I installed windows to see how it was supposed to work, and it was pretty good actually. That did not instill confidence, so I started looking at how much Lenovo charges for their wifi cards. It was at that point I started looking into getting a modded bios for myself. I got an Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6235 (ends in 5 because it is the BT combo) on ebay for some $27 while Lenovo wanted well over $100 for an Intel Centrino 2200. I just couldn't stomach that when by whole system was $500.

flockyrocky wrote:

you can imagine how much trouble I had when I install Arch with pacstrap.

My computer also came with a realtek r8168 ethernet card. The standard Arch kernel has a driver for r8169, which it defaults to, but it really doesn't work so well. I didn't discover the r8168 in the repositories for about a week or so. Ergo, I ended up using my rtl8188ce for installation becase it was more dependable. That was a sad moment.

With the realtek r8168 ethernet card and r8169 module, I stopped the downloading of packages after about two hours. With the correct r8168 module, it takes only a couple minutes.

Last edited by WonderWoofy (2012-09-19 14:48:41)

T.J.S. · 2012-09-19 15:15:01

@flockyrocky
Well, it works for me, but I think that the options in the module loading did the trick if I remember correctly. But still, it's not like in Windows. MInd you, I have a different laptop (clevo), there may be other bios issues (?) with the lenovos.
And yeah, I had to use ethernet connection to install arch of course, it was practically impossible with the wireless connection.

A little update:
I installed the new kernel today (3.5.4-1). Major issues with the wireless. I make uninstall the drivers -> make -> make install. Still issues. Changed to ips=0, everything's fine. I'll test it in another room to see the connection, don't expect a lot though. (edit. yep, nothing)
In the meantime, I installed (the same or newer) drivers for Windows 7 from Realtek, and in "Device Manager" I switched to tx power->100%, which had defaulted to auto from the installation apparently. I don't know if it had any effect in the card, probably none whatsoever, but what the hell. It's worth a try.

Last edited by T.J.S. (2012-09-19 15:29:37)

Arch Linux

#1 2012-01-28 05:08:41

RTL8188CE Unstable When Not Near Router

#2 2012-04-11 23:01:33

Re: RTL8188CE Unstable When Not Near Router

#3 2012-04-22 15:15:29

Re: RTL8188CE Unstable When Not Near Router

#4 2012-09-16 02:32:22

Re: RTL8188CE Unstable When Not Near Router

#5 2012-09-16 03:28:56

Re: RTL8188CE Unstable When Not Near Router

#6 2012-09-17 19:35:13

Re: RTL8188CE Unstable When Not Near Router

#7 2012-09-18 13:21:00

Re: RTL8188CE Unstable When Not Near Router

#8 2012-09-18 17:56:35

Re: RTL8188CE Unstable When Not Near Router

#9 2012-09-18 21:02:22

Re: RTL8188CE Unstable When Not Near Router

#10 2012-09-19 03:10:54

Re: RTL8188CE Unstable When Not Near Router

#11 2012-09-19 04:51:59

Re: RTL8188CE Unstable When Not Near Router

#12 2012-09-19 05:41:01

Re: RTL8188CE Unstable When Not Near Router

#13 2012-09-19 05:55:25

Re: RTL8188CE Unstable When Not Near Router

#14 2012-09-19 09:33:24

Re: RTL8188CE Unstable When Not Near Router

#15 2012-09-19 14:33:10

Re: RTL8188CE Unstable When Not Near Router

#16 2012-09-19 14:44:26

Re: RTL8188CE Unstable When Not Near Router

#17 2012-09-19 15:15:01

Re: RTL8188CE Unstable When Not Near Router

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