Help with TP-Link USB N150 Adapter. Doesn't show up in iwctl devices

madrafa · 2021-09-17 00:19:03

The TP-Link USB N150 Adapter doesn't show up in devices of iwctl,

Driver installed: 8188eu-dkms [https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/8188eu-dkms], also tried with: https://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8188eu, didn't make any difference.
kernel: 5.10.66-1-lts

lsusb

Bus 003 Device 006: ID 0bda:8179 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8188EUS 802.11n Wireless Network Adapter

ip link show wlan0:

4: wlan0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state DOWN mode DORMANT group default qlen 1000
    link/ether d0:37:45:ec:b5:68 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

I've already ran

sudo ip link set dev wlan0 up

didn't output any error.

From what I understand, it seems like it should work. The interface shows up in ip addr, but the device doesn't show up in iwctl, hence I can't connect to wifi. Also, I did some research before any buying that USB wifi adapter and that specific one always showed up in all places I searched for adapter compatible with linux. At the top of Amazon https://www.amazon.com/linux-compatible … fi+adapter and also a bunch of other websites.

Last edited by madrafa (2021-09-17 00:22:48)

seth · 2021-09-17 06:02:39

The wlan0 device is already up.
Since it's "wlan0", do any devices show up in iwctl? Is iwd actually running?
What else did/do you use to configure the network?

find /etc/systemd -type l -exec test -f {} \; -print | awk -F'/' '{ printf ("%-40s | %s\n", $(NF-0), $(NF-1)) }' | sort -f

Please post your complete system journal ("sudo journalctl -b", you can use the tip in the 1st link below to pipe it into ix.io - please don't copy and paste out of the pager)

Edit, ftr TP-Link wraps random chips into their dongles and calls them all the same. If you only researched the product name, that doesn't mean anything.

Last edited by seth (2021-09-17 06:03:44)

madrafa · 2021-09-17 10:41:18

seth wrote:

Since it's "wlan0", do any devices show up in iwctl?

No, no devices are shown in iwctl with device list

seth wrote:

Is iwd actually running?

Yes, iwd is enabled and running.

seth wrote:

What else did/do you use to configure the network?
find /etc/systemd -type l -exec test -f {} \; -print | awk -F'/' '{ printf ("%-40s | %s\n", $(NF-0), $(NF-1)) }' | sort -f

cronie.service                           | multi-user.target.wants
dbus-org.freedesktop.nm-dispatcher.service | system
dbus-org.freedesktop.timesync1.service   | system
dirmngr.socket                           | sockets.target.wants
display-manager.service                  | system
dnsmasq.service                          | multi-user.target.wants
getty@tty1.service                       | getty.target.wants
gpg-agent-browser.socket                 | sockets.target.wants
gpg-agent-extra.socket                   | sockets.target.wants
gpg-agent.socket                         | sockets.target.wants
gpg-agent-ssh.socket                     | sockets.target.wants
iwd.service                              | multi-user.target.wants
libvirtd-ro.socket                       | sockets.target.wants
libvirtd.service                         | multi-user.target.wants
libvirtd.socket                          | sockets.target.wants
NetworkManager.service                   | multi-user.target.wants
NetworkManager-wait-online.service       | network-online.target.wants
p11-kit-server.socket                    | sockets.target.wants
pipewire-media-session.service           | pipewire.service.wants
pipewire.socket                          | sockets.target.wants
pulseaudio.socket                        | sockets.target.wants
remote-fs.target                         | multi-user.target.wants
sshd.service                             | multi-user.target.wants
syncthing@rafa.service                   | multi-user.target.wants
systemd-timesyncd.service                | sysinit.target.wants
virtlockd.socket                         | sockets.target.wants
virtlogd.socket                          | sockets.target.wants
xdg-user-dirs-update.service             | default.target.wants

seth wrote:

Please post your complete system journal ("sudo journalctl -b", you can use the tip in the 1st link below to pipe it into ix.io - please don't copy and paste out of the pager)

http://ix.io/3z8w

seth wrote:

Edit, ftr TP-Link wraps random chips into their dongles and calls them all the same. If you only researched the product name, that doesn't mean anything.

Didn't know that, tough the device didn't show up in ip addr before I installed the mentioned driver. I guess that's a good sign.

seth · 2021-09-17 11:40:07

NetworkManager.service                   | multi-user.target.wants
NetworkManager-wait-online.service       | network-online.target.wants

http://ix.io/3z8w

Sep 16 20:51:31 archos NetworkManager[320]: <info>  [1631836291.5266] wifi-wext: (wlan0): driver supports SSID scans (scan_capa 0x3F).
Sep 16 20:51:31 archos NetworkManager[320]: <info>  [1631836291.5266] wifi-wext: (wlan0): using WEXT for Wi-Fi device control
Sep 16 20:51:31 archos NetworkManager[320]: <info>  [1631836291.5277] manager: (wlan0): new 802.11 Wi-Fi device (/org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Devices/4)
…
Sep 16 20:51:31 archos NetworkManager[320]: <info>  [1631836291.5494] device (wlan0): state change: unmanaged -> unavailable (reason 'managed', sys-iface-state: 'external')
Sep 16 20:51:33 archos kernel: MAC Address = d0:37:45:ec:b5:68
Sep 16 20:51:33 archos kernel: R8188EU: indicate disassoc
Sep 16 20:51:33 archos NetworkManager[320]: <warn>  [1631836293.5477] device (wlan0): set-hw-addr: new MAC address 7E:0E:73:DA:B6:0A not successfully set (scanning)
Sep 16 20:51:33 archos dbus-daemon[318]: [system] Activating via systemd: service name='fi.w1.wpa_supplicant1' unit='wpa_supplicant.service' requested by ':1.4' (uid=0 pid=320 comm="/usr/bin/NetworkManager --no-daemon ")
Sep 16 20:51:33 archos systemd[1]: Starting WPA supplicant...
Sep 16 20:51:33 archos dbus-daemon[318]: [system] Successfully activated service 'fi.w1.wpa_supplicant1'
Sep 16 20:51:33 archos systemd[1]: Started WPA supplicant.
Sep 16 20:51:33 archos audit[1]: SERVICE_START pid=1 uid=0 auid=4294967295 ses=4294967295 msg='unit=wpa_supplicant comm="systemd" exe="/usr/lib/systemd/systemd" hostname=? addr=? terminal=? res=success'
Sep 16 20:51:33 archos wpa_supplicant[2800]: Successfully initialized wpa_supplicant
Sep 16 20:51:33 archos wpa_supplicant[2800]: nl80211: Driver does not support authentication/association or connect commands
Sep 16 20:51:33 archos wpa_supplicant[2800]: nl80211: deinit ifname=wlan0 disabled_11b_rates=0
Sep 16 20:51:33 archos wpa_supplicant[2800]: rfkill: Cannot get wiphy information
Sep 16 20:51:33 archos kernel: audit: type=1130 audit(1631836293.565:86): pid=1 uid=0 auid=4294967295 ses=4294967295 msg='unit=wpa_supplicant comm="systemd" exe="/usr/lib/systemd/systemd" hostname=? addr=? terminal=? res=success'
Sep 16 20:51:33 archos wpa_supplicant[2800]: ioctl[SIOCSIWAP]: Operation not permitted
Sep 16 20:51:33 archos wpa_supplicant[2800]: ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODEEXT]: Invalid argument
Sep 16 20:51:33 archos wpa_supplicant[2800]: ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODEEXT]: Invalid argument
Sep 16 20:51:33 archos wpa_supplicant[2800]: dbus: fill_dict_with_properties dbus_interface=fi.w1.wpa_supplicant1.Interface.P2PDevice dbus_property=P2PDeviceConfig getter failed
Sep 16 20:51:33 archos NetworkManager[320]: <info>  [1631836293.6709] device (wlan0): supplicant interface state: internal-starting -> disconnected
Sep 16 20:51:33 archos NetworkManager[320]: <info>  [1631836293.6709] device (wlan0): state change: unavailable -> disconnected (reason 'supplicant-available', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
Sep 16 20:51:35 archos NetworkManager[320]: <info>  [1631836295.0565] device (wlan0): supplicant interface state: disconnected -> inactive
…

NM and wpa_supplicant are dogging on the chip as well - use NM xor iwd, not both (or try to configure iwd as NM backend, https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Networ … Fi_backend )

madrafa · 2021-09-17 12:27:47

Ok I deleted iwd and trying to set it up with only wpa_supplicant.

Now when I connect the dongle, it doesn't show up as 'wlan0', but it's now 'wlp7s0f3u3'

$ ip link show dev wlp7s0f3u3
5: wlp7s0f3u3: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state DOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
    link/ether d0:37:45:ec:b5:68 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

I followed the wiki of wpa_supplicant and I get this when running: sudo wpa_supplicant -B -i wlp7s0f3u3 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

Successfully initialized wpa_supplicant
nl80211: Driver does not support authentication/association or connect commands
nl80211: deinit ifname=wlp7s0f3u3 disabled_11b_rates=0
wlp7s0f3u3: Failed to initialize driver interface

Does it mean there's something wrong with the driver ?

Also, while trying to solve this. I ended installing 8188eu-aircrack-dkms-git by recommendation of someone else who apparently got it working with that, which kinda broke my system so I had to restore to the fallback img where that package and 8188eu-dkms were not installed. Now if I install 8188eu-dkms again, the interface doesn't show up when doing ip addr. So, now I don't have any of those drivers installed but the interface still shows up. And it seems like the modules are still there.

$ lsmod | grep 8188
r8188eu               483328  0
lib80211               16384  1 r8188eu
cfg80211              983040  1 r8188eu

$ zcat /proc/config.gz | grep 8188
CONFIG_RTL8188EE=m
CONFIG_R8188EU=m

Here's journalctl -b again in case is useful: http://ix.io/3z99

seth · 2021-09-17 12:39:44

it doesn't show up as 'wlan0', but it's now 'wlp7s0f3u3'

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Networ … face_names - udev before likely failed on this because a service was already using the chip.

I followed the wiki of wpa_supplicant and I get this when running: sudo wpa_supplicant

Stop that. NM will remote-control wpa_supplicant for you. If you want to use NM, enable NM and configure the device through NM. You *must* not enable or use any other service or you're recreating a variant of the original problem.

Sep 17 09:10:42 archos kernel: 8188eu: version magic '5.10.64-1-lts SMP mod_unload ' should be '5.10.66-1-lts SMP mod_unload '

This doesn't seem to be the dkms module?

madrafa · 2021-09-17 13:13:45

Stop that. NM will remote-control wpa_supplicant for you. If you want to use NM, enable NM and configure the device through NM. You *must* not enable or use any other service or you're recreating a variant of the original problem.

Ok, thanks. Now I'm just following the NetworkManager wiki. The wifi adapter shows as disconnected:

$ nmcli device show
  18   │ GENERAL.DEVICE:                         wlp7s0f3u3
  19   │ GENERAL.TYPE:                           wifi
  20   │ GENERAL.HWADDR:                         D0:37:45:EC:B5:68
  21   │ GENERAL.MTU:                            1500
  22   │ GENERAL.STATE:                          30 (disconnected)
  23   │ GENERAL.CONNECTION:                     --
  24   │ GENERAL.CON-PATH:                       --

When using the nmtui, in the 'activate connection' section, the wifi interface doesn't show up, only ethernet.

Sep 17 09:10:42 archos kernel: 8188eu: version magic '5.10.64-1-lts SMP mod_unload ' should be '5.10.66-1-lts SMP mod_unload '

This doesn't seem to be the dkms module?

I have no idea, I think that log is because I originally was installing the drivers with a kernel version that didn't match with the latest kernel that was downloaded (but not installed) in my system. I was getting some errors that went away once I upgraded.

Last edited by madrafa (2021-09-17 13:21:29)

madrafa · 2021-09-17 13:29:10

Here some log I got from dmesg -w. I don't think it says anything useful but you never know.

[    4.220794] r8188eu: module is from the staging directory, the quality is unknown, you have been warned.
[    4.312533] Chip Version Info: CHIP_8188E_Normal_Chip_TSMC_D_CUT_1T1R_RomVer(0)
[    4.389563] usbcore: registered new interface driver r8188eu
[    4.456016] r8188eu 3-3:1.0 wlp7s0f3u3: renamed from wlan0
[    6.890405] R8188EU: indicate disassoc

seth · 2021-09-17 13:32:08

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Networ … i_examples

madrafa · 2021-09-17 13:43:19

Ok I know I'm being annoying, but as I said that's the wiki I'm following and I get nothing when doing nmcli device wifi list

seth · 2021-09-17 14:07:28

You didn't say anything about wifi list, but nmtui.
Let's see whether the NIC works and if not, why.
Stop networkmanager and walk through https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Networ … ireless#iw - post all I/O.

madrafa · 2021-09-17 14:25:31

I stopped NetworkManager and the first thing in the link to do is iw dev , I get nothing...

the output of lspci -k: http://ix.io/3z9X

seth · 2021-09-17 14:29:28

"lsusb", but the chip showed up in your journals so far.
Can you please post a "clean" journal (reboot) to document the status quo (because of "installing 8188eu-aircrack-dkms-git by recommendation of someone else who apparently got it working with that, which kinda broke my system so I had to restore to the fallback img where that package and 8188eu-dkms were not installed. Now if I install 8188eu-dkms again, the interface doesn't show up when doing ip addr")

madrafa · 2021-09-17 14:47:11

the ouput of journalctl was way to big. The only service that allowed me to upload part of the file was github: https://gist.githubusercontent.com/rafa … tfile1.txt

EDIT 1: that output is just after I rebooted

Last edited by madrafa (2021-09-17 14:47:55)

seth · 2021-09-17 14:48:48

The journal segment starts "Sep 16 21:58:14"…

sudo journalctl -b

madrafa · 2021-09-17 14:51:40

$ sudo journalctl -b

http://ix.io/3za4

seth · 2021-09-17 14:55:35

Sep 17 11:39:10 archos kernel: 8188eu: version magic '5.10.64-1-lts SMP mod_unload ' should be '5.10.66-1-lts SMP mod_unload '

And that is all about the module.
Install https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/8188eu-dkms/ and make sure it gets build for the present kernel, https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Dynami … ld_modules

madrafa · 2021-09-17 15:35:19

Ok I installed 8188eu-dkms again, and this was part of the output: dkms install --no-depmod -m 8188eu -v v4.3.0.8_13968 -k 5.10.66-1-lts, my kernel version is: 5.10.66-1-lts

So it seems like it was build for the correct kernel version. And to make the interface show up again in ip addr I had to run sudo modprobe 8188eu. That fixed the issue, and the interface shows up again as 'wlan0'

 
$ ip link show dev wlan0
4: wlan0: <NO-CARRIER,BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state DOWN mode DORMANT group default qlen 1000
    link/ether d0:37:45:ec:b5:68 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

I still get nothing with iw dev or nmcli device wifi list

seth · 2021-09-17 15:38:06

reboot and post the updated journal.

madrafa · 2021-09-17 15:43:54

http://ix.io/3zaG

madrafa · 2021-09-17 15:45:52

maybe this is the problem ?

Sep 17 12:41:35 archos kernel: 8188eu: module verification failed: signature and/or required key missing - tainting kernel

seth · 2021-09-17 15:57:59

No.
But networkmanager is running (again) and controlling the NIC, so iw can't.
Stop NM first.

Edit: though this is bad

Sep 17 12:41:37 archos wpa_supplicant[466]: Successfully initialized wpa_supplicant
Sep 17 12:41:37 archos wpa_supplicant[466]: nl80211: Driver does not support authentication/association or connect commands
Sep 17 12:41:37 archos wpa_supplicant[466]: nl80211: deinit ifname=wlan0 disabled_11b_rates=0
Sep 17 12:41:37 archos wpa_supplicant[466]: rfkill: Cannot get wiphy information
Sep 17 12:41:37 archos wpa_supplicant[466]: ioctl[SIOCSIWAP]: Operation not permitted
Sep 17 12:41:37 archos kernel: RTL871X: set bssid:00:00:00:00:00:00
Sep 17 12:41:37 archos kernel: [72B blob data]
Sep 17 12:41:37 archos audit: BPF prog-id=31 op=UNLOAD
Sep 17 12:41:37 archos wpa_supplicant[466]: ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODEEXT]: Invalid argument
Sep 17 12:41:37 archos wpa_supplicant[466]: ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODEEXT]: Invalid argument
Sep 17 12:41:37 archos wpa_supplicant[466]: dbus: fill_dict_with_properties dbus_interface=fi.w1.wpa_supplicant1.Interface.P2PDevice dbus_property=P2PDeviceConfig getter failed
Sep 17 12:41:37 archos NetworkManager[330]: <info>  [1631893297.9376] device (wlan0): supplicant interface state: internal-starting -> disconnected
Sep 17 12:41:37 archos NetworkManager[330]: <info>  [1631893297.9377] device (wlan0): state change: unavailable -> disconnected (reason 'supplicant-available', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
Sep 17 12:41:37 archos wpa_supplicant[466]: ioctl[SIOCGIWSCAN]: Resource temporarily unavailable

You may want to try https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/8188eu-dkms-git/

Last edited by seth (2021-09-17 16:02:12)

madrafa · 2021-09-17 16:02:45

Just disabled networkmanager, I ran iw dev, still nothing...

progandy · 2021-09-17 16:11:49

That driver is probably a a deprecated "wext" driver instead of the modern standard "nl80211". iw does not support the old driver api anymore, you'd have to use the tools from the wireless_tools package like iwconfig.
iwd does not support that api either, so wpa_supplicant is the only option (plus a network manager that uses it)

Last edited by progandy (2021-09-17 16:19:56)

seth · 2021-09-17 16:19:18

prograndy wrote:

driver is probably a a deprecated "wext" driver

D'oh - is.
Doesn't explain NM/wpa_supplicantfailure, but https://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8188eu suggests issues w/ wifi.scan-rand-mac-address

Arch Linux

#1 2021-09-17 00:19:03

Help with TP-Link USB N150 Adapter. Doesn't show up in iwctl devices

#2 2021-09-17 06:02:39

Re: Help with TP-Link USB N150 Adapter. Doesn't show up in iwctl devices

#3 2021-09-17 10:41:18

Re: Help with TP-Link USB N150 Adapter. Doesn't show up in iwctl devices

#4 2021-09-17 11:40:07

Re: Help with TP-Link USB N150 Adapter. Doesn't show up in iwctl devices

#5 2021-09-17 12:27:47

Re: Help with TP-Link USB N150 Adapter. Doesn't show up in iwctl devices

#6 2021-09-17 12:39:44

Re: Help with TP-Link USB N150 Adapter. Doesn't show up in iwctl devices

#7 2021-09-17 13:13:45

Re: Help with TP-Link USB N150 Adapter. Doesn't show up in iwctl devices

#8 2021-09-17 13:29:10

Re: Help with TP-Link USB N150 Adapter. Doesn't show up in iwctl devices

#9 2021-09-17 13:32:08

Re: Help with TP-Link USB N150 Adapter. Doesn't show up in iwctl devices

#10 2021-09-17 13:43:19

Re: Help with TP-Link USB N150 Adapter. Doesn't show up in iwctl devices

#11 2021-09-17 14:07:28

Re: Help with TP-Link USB N150 Adapter. Doesn't show up in iwctl devices

#12 2021-09-17 14:25:31

Re: Help with TP-Link USB N150 Adapter. Doesn't show up in iwctl devices

#13 2021-09-17 14:29:28

Re: Help with TP-Link USB N150 Adapter. Doesn't show up in iwctl devices

#14 2021-09-17 14:47:11

Re: Help with TP-Link USB N150 Adapter. Doesn't show up in iwctl devices

#15 2021-09-17 14:48:48

Re: Help with TP-Link USB N150 Adapter. Doesn't show up in iwctl devices

#16 2021-09-17 14:51:40

Re: Help with TP-Link USB N150 Adapter. Doesn't show up in iwctl devices

#17 2021-09-17 14:55:35

Re: Help with TP-Link USB N150 Adapter. Doesn't show up in iwctl devices

#18 2021-09-17 15:35:19

Re: Help with TP-Link USB N150 Adapter. Doesn't show up in iwctl devices

#19 2021-09-17 15:38:06

Re: Help with TP-Link USB N150 Adapter. Doesn't show up in iwctl devices

#20 2021-09-17 15:43:54

Re: Help with TP-Link USB N150 Adapter. Doesn't show up in iwctl devices

#21 2021-09-17 15:45:52

Re: Help with TP-Link USB N150 Adapter. Doesn't show up in iwctl devices

#22 2021-09-17 15:57:59

Re: Help with TP-Link USB N150 Adapter. Doesn't show up in iwctl devices

#23 2021-09-17 16:02:45

Re: Help with TP-Link USB N150 Adapter. Doesn't show up in iwctl devices

#24 2021-09-17 16:11:49

Re: Help with TP-Link USB N150 Adapter. Doesn't show up in iwctl devices

#25 2021-09-17 16:19:18

Re: Help with TP-Link USB N150 Adapter. Doesn't show up in iwctl devices

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