Wi-Fi is down (RTL8187B) [SOLVED?]

Llama · 2010-02-21 20:49:43

Hi,

Somewhere after the upgrade to kernel 2.6.32 I've lost all my Wi-Fi capabilities. It's not hardware because various LiveCDs work. Wicd used to be a trouble free solution; after the upgrade to KDE 4.4 I tried KNetworkManager: the same story. I tried Wiki, NetworkManager and Wireless Setup, but it's just as if my wireless card weren't there. I don't know where to start.

Wired connection presents no problem (Wicd or KNetworkManager)

My Wi-Fi chip is RTL8187B

/etc/rc.conf (presumably configured for KNetworkManager):

#
# /etc/rc.conf - Main Configuration for Arch Linux
#

#
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# LOCALIZATION
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# LOCALE: available languages can be listed with the 'locale -a' command
# HARDWARECLOCK: set to "UTC" or "localtime"
# TIMEZONE: timezones are found in /usr/share/zoneinfo
# KEYMAP: keymaps are found in /usr/share/kbd/keymaps
# CONSOLEFONT: found in /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts (only needed for non-US)
# CONSOLEMAP: found in /usr/share/kbd/consoletrans
# USECOLOR: use ANSI color sequences in startup messages
#
LOCALE="en_US.utf8"
HARDWARECLOCK="localtime"
TIMEZONE="Europe/Moscow"
KEYMAP="us"
CONSOLEFONT=
CONSOLEMAP=
USECOLOR="yes"

#
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# HARDWARE
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# Scan hardware and load required modules at bootup
MOD_AUTOLOAD="yes"
# Module Blacklist - modules in this list will never be loaded by udev
MOD_BLACKLIST=()
#
# Modules to load at boot-up (in this order)
#   - prefix a module with a ! to blacklist it
#
MODULES=(vboxdrv fuse 8139cp 8139too mii rtl8187)
# Scan for LVM volume groups at startup, required if you use LVM
USELVM="no"

#
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# NETWORKING
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
HOSTNAME="rimfirebox"
#
# Use 'ifconfig -a' or 'ls /sys/class/net/' to see all available
# interfaces.
#
# Interfaces to start at boot-up (in this order)
# Declare each interface then list in INTERFACES
#   - prefix an entry in INTERFACES with a ! to disable it
#   - no hyphens in your interface names - Bash doesn't like it
#
# Note: to use DHCP, set your interface to be "dhcp" (eth0="dhcp")
#
#lo="lo 127.0.0.1"
#eth0="eth0 192.168.0.2 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.0.255"
eth0="dhcp"
wlan0="dhcp"
INTERFACES=(!eth0)
#
# Routes to start at boot-up (in this order)
# Declare each route then list in ROUTES
#   - prefix an entry in ROUTES with a ! to disable it
#
#gateway="default gw 192.168.0.1"
ROUTES=(!gateway)
#NETWORKS=(MyWLAN)
#
# Enable these network profiles at boot-up.  These are only useful
# if you happen to need multiple network configurations (ie, laptop users)
#   - set to 'menu' to present a menu during boot-up (dialog package required)
#   - prefix an entry with a ! to disable it
#
# Network profiles are found in /etc/network-profiles
#
#NET_PROFILES=(main)

#
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# DAEMONS
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# Daemons to start at boot-up (in this order)
#   - prefix a daemon with a ! to disable it
#   - prefix a daemon with a @ to start it up in the background
#
DAEMONS=(syslog-ng !network hal networkmanager !net-profiles !portmap !nfslock netfs crond !webmin alsa sensors hddtemp !fam !wicd !openntpd !lisa kdm !entranced mysqld !cups @acpid)

# End of file

lsmod shows rtl8187 driver, ifconfig doesn't show wlan0. What else should I check?

Last edited by Llama (2010-04-09 07:51:30)

ewaller · 2010-02-22 05:56:12

Llama wrote:

lsmod shows rtl8187 driver, ifconfig doesn't show wlan0. What else should I check?

How about:

ifconfig -a
iwconfig
iwlist scan

Llama · 2010-02-22 06:42:54

$ ifconfig -a
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1E:8C:FC:1D:06
inet addr:192.168.1.34 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::21e:8cff:fefc:1d06/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:3358 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:7210 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:768450 (750.4 Kb) TX bytes:5861334 (5.5 Mb)
Interrupt:16 Base address:0x6c00
lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:564 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:564 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:41207 (40.2 Kb) TX bytes:41207 (40.2 Kb)
wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:16:44:89:D8:18
BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

$ iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.
eth0 no wireless extensions.
wlan0 IEEE 802.11bg Mode:Managed Access Point: Not-Associated
Tx-Power=off
Retry long limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:off

$ iwlist scan
lo Interface doesn't support scanning.
eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning.
wlan0 Failed to read scan data : Network is down

ewaller · 2010-02-22 07:22:37

Okay, so you do have a wlan0.

What if you do a "ifconfig wlan0 up" and then try "iwconfig" and "iwlist scan" again.

If nothing interesting happens, try "iwconfig wlan0 txpower on" and then then "iwconfig" and "iwlist scan" again.

My hope is that you will see all of the access points in the region and hopefully associate with one of them.

I use Wicd, so I cannot refer to my system for help. It has been a while since I've used NetworkManager, so bear with me.
Can you verify that NetworkManager is running? Are you using WPA, if so is wpa_supplicant running? For WEP or WPA, are your key files configured?

Llama · 2010-02-22 12:26:42

$ sudo ifconfig wlan0 up
SIOCSIFFLAGS: Unknown error 132

flowheat · 2010-02-22 13:29:30

Llama wrote:

$ sudo ifconfig wlan0 up
SIOCSIFFLAGS: Unknown error 132

You don't have a hardware switch to turn your wireless on/off do you?

I got that same error awhile ago and spent a ridiculous amount of time debugging it to find out I had accidentally bumped the wifi kill switch on the front of my HP laptop to off.

Llama · 2010-02-22 13:59:01

flowheat wrote:

You don't have a hardware switch to turn your wireless on/off do you?

I do .

Once upon a time it didn't matter whether the switch was on or off. Wi-Fi just worked. Something prodded me already, so I tried the switch, but it made no difference. The switch used to be always on, by the way. Maybe I should try rebooting while on and rebooting while off?..

Last edited by Llama (2010-02-22 14:15:17)

xCrucialDudex · 2010-02-22 16:31:55

Llama, so did you figure out the issue? I'm faced with exactly the same one. Interesting, please note, that my issues started this morning. Somewhere around the time of your posts. My wi-fi device works in windows (dualboot), and an interesting detail is that when while Arch is still in the process of booting the WiFi LED is ON but then it gets turned OFF (somewhere around the time KDM is started) and I can't neither turn it ON nor OFF manually by using Fn+WiFi multimedia key.

I have exactly the same problem:

[root@sega ilj]# ip l set wlan0 up
RTNETLINK answers: Unknown error 132

All configs seem OK. In fact, this very configuration used to work tomorrow evening.

[root@sega ilj]# ip a l wlan0
3: wlan0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state DOWN qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:1b:9e:05:ae:5a brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

[root@sega ilj]# iwconfig wlan0
wlan0     IEEE 802.11bg  Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.437 GHz
          Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=off
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off

[root@sega ilj]# cat /etc/rc.conf 
#                                 
# /etc/rc.conf - Main Configuration for Arch Linux
#                                                 

# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# LOCALIZATION                                                           
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#                                                                        
# LOCALE: available languages can be listed with the 'locale -a' command 
# HARDWARECLOCK: set to "UTC" or "localtime", any other value will result
#   in the hardware clock being left untouched (useful for virtualization)
# TIMEZONE: timezones are found in /usr/share/zoneinfo                    
# KEYMAP: keymaps are found in /usr/share/kbd/keymaps                     
# CONSOLEFONT: found in /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts (only needed for non-US)
# CONSOLEMAP: found in /usr/share/kbd/consoletrans                          
# USECOLOR: use ANSI color sequences in startup messages                    
#                                                                           
LOCALE="en_US.UTF-8"                                                        
HARDWARECLOCK="localtime"                                                   
TIMEZONE="Europe/Simferopol"                                                
KEYMAP="us"                                                                 
CONSOLEFONT=                                                                
CONSOLEMAP=                                                                 
USECOLOR="yes"                                                              

# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# HARDWARE                                                               
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#                                                                        
# MOD_AUTOLOAD: Allow autoloading of modules at boot and when needed     
# MOD_BLACKLIST: Prevent udev from loading these modules                 
# MODULES: Modules to load at boot-up. Prefix with a ! to blacklist.     
#                                                                        
# NOTE: Use of 'MOD_BLACKLIST' is deprecated. Please use ! in the MODULES array.
#                                                                               
MOD_AUTOLOAD="yes"                                                              
#MOD_BLACKLIST=() #deprecated                                                   
MODULES=(!snd-pcm-oss)                                                          

# Scan for LVM volume groups at startup, required if you use LVM
USELVM="no"                                                     

# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# NETWORKING                                                             
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#                                                                        
# HOSTNAME: Hostname of machine. Should also be put in /etc/hosts        
#                                                                        
HOSTNAME="sega"                                                          

# Use 'ifconfig -a' or 'ls /sys/class/net/' to see all available interfaces.
#                                                                           
# Interfaces to start at boot-up (in this order)                            
# Declare each interface then list in INTERFACES                            
#   - prefix an entry in INTERFACES with a ! to disable it                  
#   - no hyphens in your interface names - Bash doesn't like it             
#
# DHCP:     Set your interface to "dhcp" (eth0="dhcp")
# Wireless: See network profiles below
#

#Static IP example
wlan0="wlan0 195.88.xxx.xxx netmask 255.255.255.xxx broadcast 195.88.xxx.xxx"
#eth0="dhcp"
INTERFACES=(wlan0)

# Routes to start at boot-up (in this order)
# Declare each route then list in ROUTES
#   - prefix an entry in ROUTES with a ! to disable it
#
gateway="default gw 195.88.xxx.xxx"
ROUTES=(gateway)

# Enable these network profiles at boot-up.  These are only useful
# if you happen to need multiple network configurations (ie, laptop users)
#   - set to 'menu' to present a menu during boot-up (dialog package required)
#   - prefix an entry with a ! to disable it
#
# Network profiles are found in /etc/network.d
#
# This now requires the netcfg package
#
NETWORKS=(wpa_suppl)

# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# DAEMONS
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# Daemons to start at boot-up (in this order)
#   - prefix a daemon with a ! to disable it
#   - prefix a daemon with a @ to start it up in the background
#
DAEMONS=(syslog-ng network crond hal @net-profiles kdm)

netcfg profile

[root@sega ilj]# cat /etc/network.d/wpa_suppl
CONNECTION="wireless"
DESCRIPTION="A wpa_supplicant configuration based wireless connection"
INTERFACE="wlan0"
SECURITY="wpa-config"
WPA_CONF="/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf"
IP="static"

[root@sega ilj]# cat /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
...
# Simple case: WPA-PSK, PSK as an ASCII passphrase, allow all valid ciphers
network={
        ssid="HOBO"
        psk="xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
        priority=5
}

This config used to work just fine tomorrow evening but no more. I'm lost as to why it started acting in such a weird way so I'd be grateful for any piece of information or simply a hint.

Llama · 2010-02-22 17:15:26

xCrucialDudex wrote:

Llama, so did you figure out the issue? I'm faced with exactly the same one. Interesting, please note, that my issues started this morning. Somewhere around the time of your posts. My wi-fi device works in windows (dualboot), and an interesting detail is that when while Arch is still in the process of booting the WiFi LED is ON but then it gets turned OFF (somewhere around the time KDM is started) and I can't neither turn it ON nor OFF manually by using Fn+WiFi multimedia key.

So far I did not .

My LED, being probably software controlled by the driver (as well as the switch) has always been acting crazy. First, with kernel 2.6.27, its 'arming' sequence was on/off; later at some point it became off/on, without breaking anything . So to read the LED correctly, you have to be an insider...

FWIW: my Wi-Fi broke without changing the then normal 'arming' sequence .

xCrucialDudex, will you try and check the list of updates at the time of breakage?

Last edited by Llama (2010-02-22 17:20:25)

xCrucialDudex · 2010-02-22 17:42:15

Llama wrote:

xCrucialDudex, will you try and check the list of updates at the time of breakage?

How do I do that?

And right now I'm using wlan0 to write this post. I figured since somehow I memorized that the issue described has had some relation to KDE set up I decided to try and experiment.

Before this I had Arch booting into KDM session directly. I !kdm in rc.conf so that Arch ended up in init 3 and voila my WiFi LED is ON, wlan0 interface fully operational. Then I used /etc/rc.d/kdm start, logged in and here we go - WiFi works.

It all looks very weird to me.

Llama · 2010-02-22 18:03:28

xCrucialDudex wrote:

It all looks very weird to me.

Weird indeed! It would have been weirder still, had it worked for me .

Llama · 2010-02-24 16:34:13

Rollback to kernel 2.6.31.5-1 downloaded from Arch Rollback Machine (http://arm.konnichi.com/core/os/i686/) did it.

[rant]
So kernel 2.6.32 has been a disaster all along, through nine releases.
[/rant]

xCrucialDudex · 2010-02-24 16:50:41

Topic was closed. Unfair! :]

So far my wi-fi is working but I've noticed something interesting. When rebooting a computer and init scripts are stopping services, just exactly when network script is doing its business my LED gets turned OFF and I see error messages printed on the display. Bad sign.

I think I've managed to narrow down the scope of diagnosis since after such a reboot LED doesn't get turned ON when BIOS performs its tests. Even when I am presented with a GRUB menu the LED still retains OFF state which abnormal per se. It should've restored its state after a reboot (system reset!) but it haven't. When I boot into Windows, while the OS is still booting the LED changes its state to ON. Kind of an ugly fix.

This requires further scrutiny and I will probably have to do this but not at the present moment.

xCrucialDudex · 2010-02-26 12:31:52

Whoever is reading this thread and is curious about my "issue" here's what I've established so far. The @net-profiles daemon when stopped is switching OFF the led indeed but it switches it back on when the daemon is started back again. What made me so alert was that I've never seen such a behavior before, I still think this isn't actually the way it should work, and at first there were some "inexplicable" quirks, so I rushed to a conclusion that there was a real problem with my wi-fi setup. As it turns out there is none, actually. Except for the LED getting turned off way to early and that once it is turned off by the @net-profiles daemon I can't control by using keyboard key combintaions.

xCrucialDudex · 2010-02-26 12:33:24

I've got Samsung R-20 laptop and the statements made above pertain to this computer only.

Llama · 2010-04-09 07:50:42

Kernel 2.6.33 still doesn't make any difference. It looks like I'll have to use 2.6.31 indefinitely.

Which makes me wonder if there's a subtle something outside kernel package proper. Something I have to take care of.

Arch Linux

#1 2010-02-21 20:49:43

Wi-Fi is down (RTL8187B) [SOLVED?]

#2 2010-02-22 05:56:12

Re: Wi-Fi is down (RTL8187B) [SOLVED?]

#3 2010-02-22 06:42:54

Re: Wi-Fi is down (RTL8187B) [SOLVED?]

#4 2010-02-22 07:22:37

Re: Wi-Fi is down (RTL8187B) [SOLVED?]

#5 2010-02-22 12:26:42

Re: Wi-Fi is down (RTL8187B) [SOLVED?]

#6 2010-02-22 13:29:30

Re: Wi-Fi is down (RTL8187B) [SOLVED?]

#7 2010-02-22 13:59:01

Re: Wi-Fi is down (RTL8187B) [SOLVED?]

#8 2010-02-22 16:31:55

Re: Wi-Fi is down (RTL8187B) [SOLVED?]

#9 2010-02-22 17:15:26

Re: Wi-Fi is down (RTL8187B) [SOLVED?]

#10 2010-02-22 17:42:15

Re: Wi-Fi is down (RTL8187B) [SOLVED?]

#11 2010-02-22 18:03:28

Re: Wi-Fi is down (RTL8187B) [SOLVED?]

#12 2010-02-24 16:34:13

Re: Wi-Fi is down (RTL8187B) [SOLVED?]

#13 2010-02-24 16:50:41

Re: Wi-Fi is down (RTL8187B) [SOLVED?]

#14 2010-02-26 12:31:52

Re: Wi-Fi is down (RTL8187B) [SOLVED?]

#15 2010-02-26 12:33:24

Re: Wi-Fi is down (RTL8187B) [SOLVED?]

#16 2010-04-09 07:50:42

Re: Wi-Fi is down (RTL8187B) [SOLVED?]

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