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#1 2013-03-07 20:59:45

M0rtiferrimus
Member
Registered: 2013-03-03
Posts: 34

Anyone get RTL8188CE driver working?

I have a Toshiba Satellite L855-S5280P that uses the Realtek RTL8188CE driver for the wifi card. Installing Debian was a nightmare (apparently installing any distro trying to use this card is), but I've heard the RTL8192CE module for the Linux kernel is supposed to work. I searched Google for it, but it looks like up until a few months ago everyone was still having problems with it. I can't find any recent forum posts about this driver. Has anyone been able to get this card to work during the installation? Since my ethernet adapter is also not supported, I can't just install build-essential and compile the driver from the website. Will the kernel module work?

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#2 2013-03-08 01:18:22

frank604
Member
From: BC, Canada
Registered: 2011-04-20
Posts: 1,212

Re: Anyone get RTL8188CE driver working?

What have you tried and what were the errors or behavior?

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#3 2013-03-08 01:32:44

WonderWoofy
Member
From: Los Gatos, CA
Registered: 2012-05-19
Posts: 8,414

Re: Anyone get RTL8188CE driver working?

I had this card, and it was so bad, I eventually just ordered an Intel card.  My machine is a ThinkPad, so this was not a light decision, as I then also had to flash a bios with the whitelist removed (thereby presumably voiding my warranty).  What (kind of) helped was setting options in the module, turning off all power saving as well as using software cypto instead of hw.  Check out the info provided by modinfo.  I believe the necessary parameters I turned off were fwlps (firmware low power state) as well as ips (no idea) and then turned on swc (software crypto).

Good luck... and get a new card... they're not all that expensive.

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#4 2013-03-08 03:59:21

M0rtiferrimus
Member
Registered: 2013-03-03
Posts: 34

Re: Anyone get RTL8188CE driver working?

Frank, I'm looking to see if anyone has had experience with the card. I haven't tried anything yet.
WW, I might get a new card if there continue to be so many problems with it. After doing a full install of Debian, I was able to compile and install Realtek's driver, which seems to work pretty well. I'm not having the issues with disconnects that I used to have after installing it.
However, to get it to work initially, I had to install firmware, which came in a convenient .deb package. Is there a similar package for Arch that I can install?

Some reference to what I did in the past might help. Please see this thread in the Debian forums.

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#5 2013-03-08 04:10:17

WonderWoofy
Member
From: Los Gatos, CA
Registered: 2012-05-19
Posts: 8,414

Re: Anyone get RTL8188CE driver working?

Yeah, there is the linux-firmware package for easy convenient firmware.  For more uncommon hardware there are some individual packages and of course you can likely find thigns in the AUR.

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#6 2013-03-08 04:14:46

frank604
Member
From: BC, Canada
Registered: 2011-04-20
Posts: 1,212

Re: Anyone get RTL8188CE driver working?

Well in that case, here's a thread dated from 2011 up until 2012.  Specifically on the RTL8188CE drivers.  A lot of false-positives in terms of fixed connectivity.  On pg 2, it seems the situation got better.  The other alternative is to get a cheap usb wifi or switch out the card in your laptop if it is reachable easily.  sad

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1016077

Boot up archiso, and test out the stock kernel drivers for your wifi.  Check for signal, package loss, and you can download a file through wget and test the speed.  If stock doesn't work, then you'll have to install arch and see if the realtek drivers work.  You can compile these from source.

If you wish to read more about arch and your wifi here's a search result.
Just keep in mind that most are dated and may not reflect current situations.

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#7 2013-03-08 23:41:34

M0rtiferrimus
Member
Registered: 2013-03-03
Posts: 34

Re: Anyone get RTL8188CE driver working?

I decided to try installing, and it was working at first. The WiFi worked, the correct module loaded, and I was installing the system perfectly fine. But in the middle of downloading the base and base-devel, my laptop's battery died since I forgot to plug it in. Now after I set the WiFi interface up and run wifi-menu $interface-name (it changes from wlan0 after I reload the module), I get an error that no networks were found, and if I retry I get an error saying that the interface is unavailable. Dmesg, lspci, and iwconfig are all showing that the interface has drivers loaded that worked before, so I'm not sure what to do.

edit: actually, ip link is showing the wireless interface to be stuck in "down" mode.

Last edited by M0rtiferrimus (2013-03-08 23:45:29)

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#8 2013-03-08 23:45:12

WonderWoofy
Member
From: Los Gatos, CA
Registered: 2012-05-19
Posts: 8,414

Re: Anyone get RTL8188CE driver working?

That is a whole different issue.  There is a new naming convention for network interfaces as of systemd 197.  If you want the old interface names, you have to mask the udev rule 80-net-name-slot.rules.

The new naming convention is meant so that there is some consistency when a machine has more than one of a given type of network interface.  If all you have is a single ethernet and single wireless, going back to the old naming convention is perfectly fine if you prefer it.

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#9 2013-03-08 23:47:28

M0rtiferrimus
Member
Registered: 2013-03-03
Posts: 34

Re: Anyone get RTL8188CE driver working?

Yes, it had used the new naming format on virtualbox, which is why I was confused when the CD gave me the wlan0 name. Now that I've reloaded the module a couple of times, its staying as wlp2s0f0.

So, after I type in wifi-menu wlan0 (rebooted again) it loses two things (flags?) in the part between the <...>. One is the NO-CARRIER flag, and one is the UP flag.

Last edited by M0rtiferrimus (2013-03-08 23:57:13)

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#10 2013-03-08 23:53:32

WonderWoofy
Member
From: Los Gatos, CA
Registered: 2012-05-19
Posts: 8,414

Re: Anyone get RTL8188CE driver working?

So the module is working well for you then?  I was always able to connect, and stay connected, unlike some others, but I experienced some serious latency whenever I would try to do anything.  One to two seconds after it connected and started loading a page or whatever it would usually start to load at normal speed, unless I was doing something like a large download.  I hope that you might be able to avoid these issues, but I just want to warn you that connecting in itself is no guarantee that it is working right.  I too tried the realtek provided module, and it was no better than the in tree module.  But hoepfully things have improved.

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#11 2013-03-09 00:04:15

M0rtiferrimus
Member
Registered: 2013-03-03
Posts: 34

Re: Anyone get RTL8188CE driver working?

The module isn't working. Running wifi-menu wlp2s0f0 still gives me an "interface unavailable" error. I don't get why it would work at first and not now. I guess Ill keep rebooting and trying...

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#12 2013-03-09 05:25:17

WonderWoofy
Member
From: Los Gatos, CA
Registered: 2012-05-19
Posts: 8,414

Re: Anyone get RTL8188CE driver working?

You know instead of continually rebooting you can simply use modprobe to load (or unload) the module?  I believe udev uses insmod on boot, but modprobe will handle module dependencies for you.

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#13 2013-03-09 14:37:22

M0rtiferrimus
Member
Registered: 2013-03-03
Posts: 34

Re: Anyone get RTL8188CE driver working?

Reloading the module gives a new interface named wlp2s0f0. When I run "iwlist wlp2s0f0 scan", it says that the interface is not capable of scanning. Is there another way to try to bring the interface up?

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#14 2013-03-09 14:40:09

HalosGhost
Forum Moderator
From: Twin Cities, MN
Registered: 2012-06-22
Posts: 2,089
Website

Re: Anyone get RTL8188CE driver working?

Looks like it got the new naming scheme from systemd. And bringing an interface up is easy:

# ip link set <interface> up

Though, I don't think that's actually what you're trying to do.

All the best,

-HG

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#15 2013-03-09 14:47:50

M0rtiferrimus
Member
Registered: 2013-03-03
Posts: 34

Re: Anyone get RTL8188CE driver working?

That is exactly what I'm trying to do, but the problem is that the interface remains down after that command.

Edit: I tried again after cold booting this morning, and it (sort of) worked! It's a very strange card, though. This morning I ran the exact same command as before (ip link set wlan0 up) and the interface remained down, but somehow wifi-menu was able to bring it up and connect to my network. Pinging google, then my router's ip didn't work at first, but wifi-menu wlan0 brought the menu up again. After reconnecting, I have a working network connection.
It would be nice to know what was wrong, though.

Last edited by M0rtiferrimus (2013-03-09 14:55:34)

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#16 2013-03-09 15:35:06

bgc1954
Member
From: Edmonton, AB, Canada
Registered: 2006-03-14
Posts: 1,160

Re: Anyone get RTL8188CE driver working?

Not that it's going to help you much but I've had the rtl8188ce card working in my hp mini netbook for well over a year, I believe.  It seems to be a hit and miss for a number of people which leads me to believe some work and others are problematic.  I don't have any dropout but my speeds are not the best always.  It is a rather inconsistent card but, for me, it's not a big issue.  I start mine using netcfg with the net-auto-wireless.service from systemd.


Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils ... - Louis Hector Berlioz

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#17 2013-03-10 02:10:33

M0rtiferrimus
Member
Registered: 2013-03-03
Posts: 34

Re: Anyone get RTL8188CE driver working?

Still having some issues, and my other message got deleted when I pressed "preview" and the wifi wasn't working. However, I was able to get the system installed, and I would like to thank everyone who helped out here. I'll post how I was able to install after I get my wifi stable.

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#18 2013-03-10 03:12:02

WonderWoofy
Member
From: Los Gatos, CA
Registered: 2012-05-19
Posts: 8,414

Re: Anyone get RTL8188CE driver working?

bgc1954 wrote:

Not that it's going to help you much but I've had the rtl8188ce card working in my hp mini netbook for well over a year, I believe.  It seems to be a hit and miss for a number of people which leads me to believe some work and others are problematic.  I don't have any dropout but my speeds are not the best always.  It is a rather inconsistent card but, for me, it's not a big issue.  I start mine using netcfg with the net-auto-wireless.service from systemd.

Yeah this card has been great for me but only since I discovered the r8168 package/module. When I first got this computer, the first thing I did was install arch, and it was so spotty, it took a couple hours to download base. Once I discovered the solution it was a-okay. Though I have seen many others with different revisions of this card who report that the in kernel module works perfectly fine.

Again, sorry that doesn't really help you OP.  Have you looked into its rfkill status?

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#19 2013-03-10 03:20:02

cfr
Member
From: Cymru
Registered: 2011-11-27
Posts: 7,130

Re: Anyone get RTL8188CE driver working?

(ip link set wlan0 up

Note that this should not work inconsistently - if you are using the new naming scheme, it should not work at all. It makes no sense that that would work with wifi-menu given that your previous post showed that you are using the new scheme.


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#20 2013-03-10 20:55:24

M0rtiferrimus
Member
Registered: 2013-03-03
Posts: 34

Re: Anyone get RTL8188CE driver working?

Wifi's better now. "ip link set $interface up" will not work for this card, even with the old naming scheme. Wifi-menu will set the card up, and if it gives you an error about "no networks found," and the next time you try it gives you an error that says, "device not available," then you will have to shut down completely and cold boot. After the system is installed, you will be able to just reboot.
Reloading the module will not work. For me, reloading the rtl8192ce module gave me a new interface under the new naming scheme that had less functionality that the actual card before reloading the module.
To clarify, cfr, I booted into the installation CD, and iwconfig returned with two interfaces: lo and wlan0. When wlan0 would stop working, I would try reloading the module. After I reloaded the module, I would have a new wireless interface that was named wlp2s0f0. That interface would never work with ip link nor with wifi-menu. Now that I have installed Arch, I have been using wifi-menu successfully with my wireless interface named wlp2s0. However, I am going to switch to wicd because of its convenient daemon so I won't have to manually connect every time I reboot.
Wonderwoofy, can you clarify on how I can check the rfkill status? My understanding was that rfkill was just a command that stopped the radio.

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#21 2013-03-10 21:06:54

WonderWoofy
Member
From: Los Gatos, CA
Registered: 2012-05-19
Posts: 8,414

Re: Anyone get RTL8188CE driver working?

You know that fi you are using wifi-menu, you already have a "convenient daemon so (you) won't have to manually connect every time (you) reboot".  Wifi-menu is part of the netcfg package, and that includes net-auto-wireless (for roaming) as well as netctl and netctl@ services.  There is a pretty thorough wiki page describing usage of this stuff.  Keep in mind though that this does not give you a taskbar icon, or gui, though I don't really find these things necessary.

If you are connecting, then your interface is no being blocked by rfkill.  There are mechanisms that allow your system, or you, to take down or bring up the interface through software or hardware switches.  Just install the rfkill package and learn how to use it.

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#22 2013-03-10 21:49:22

M0rtiferrimus
Member
Registered: 2013-03-03
Posts: 34

Re: Anyone get RTL8188CE driver working?

I had seen the part about the net-auto-wireless service in the beginners' guide, but it has not been persistent for me. I can try starting the service again now that I have installed the system (the first time I started it in chroot). As for rfkill, yes, it is not being blocked, if that's all there is to the rfkill status.

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#23 2013-03-10 22:51:44

cfr
Member
From: Cymru
Registered: 2011-11-27
Posts: 7,130

Re: Anyone get RTL8188CE driver working?

For future reference:

rfkill list

will show you the basics.


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#24 2013-03-10 23:02:04

WonderWoofy
Member
From: Los Gatos, CA
Registered: 2012-05-19
Posts: 8,414

Re: Anyone get RTL8188CE driver working?

With net-auto-wireless, did you install the optional dependencies it requires?

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#25 2013-03-12 21:17:09

M0rtiferrimus
Member
Registered: 2013-03-03
Posts: 34

Re: Anyone get RTL8188CE driver working?

What optional dependencies does it have? There is no net-auto-wireless package, but I am assuming that it is part of netcfg, which does not show any optional dependencies.

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