Trouble with a TL-WN725N( rtl8188e / rtl8188eu)

DouglaGM · November 18, 2017, 4:20pm

Hi,

I am having an issue with my new TP-WN725N as I am unable to see any networks via iwlist and I cannot use the device in Plasma’s Network Manager (I have enabled the Network Manager Service in yast lan).

I am running LEAP 42.3. I believe the chipset of the device is a rtl818e according to dmesg, a google search returns rtl8188eu. Same thing ?

My debug information is as follows:


dmesg
     9368.548019] usb 8-1: new high-speed USB device number 7 using ehci-pci
     9368.680864] usb 8-1: New USB device found, idVendor=0bda, idProduct=8179
     9368.680869] usb 8-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
     9368.680872] usb 8-1: Product: 802.11n NIC
     9368.680877] usb 8-1: Manufacturer: Realtek
     9368.680880] usb 8-1: SerialNumber: 00E04C0001
     9368.681488] Chip Version Info: CHIP_8188E_Normal_Chip_TSMC_D_CUT_1T1R_RomVer(0)


lsusb
    Bus 008 Device 007: ID 0bda:8179 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. 
    Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
    Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
    Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
    Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
    Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
    Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
    Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
    Bus 001 Device 003: ID 046d:c315 Logitech, Inc. Classic Keyboard 200
    Bus 001 Device 004: ID 046d:c077 Logitech, Inc. 
    Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub


ifconfig
    eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr BC:30:5B:BB:0F:F9  
            inet addr:192.168.1.108  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
            inet6 addr: fe80::be30:5bff:febb:ff9/64 Scope:Link
            UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
            RX packets:6532 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
            TX packets:5218 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
            collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
            RX bytes:4243317 (4.0 Mb)  TX bytes:720341 (703.4 Kb)
            Interrupt:21 Memory:f7fe0000-f8000000 


    lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
            inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
            UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:65536  Metric:1
            RX packets:28 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
            TX packets:28 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
            collisions:0 txqueuelen:1 
            RX bytes:2152 (2.1 Kb)  TX bytes:2152 (2.1 Kb)


iwconfig
    lo        no wireless extensions.


    wlan0     unassociated  Nickname:"<WIFI@REALTEK>"
            Mode:Auto  Frequency=2.412 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated   
            Sensitivity:0/0  
            Retry:off   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
            Encryption key:off
            Power Management:off
            Link Quality:0  Signal level:0  Noise level:0
            Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
            Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0


    eth0      no wireless extensions


rfkill list all

rfkill returns nothing

Here is where my issue comes in, the scan returns instantaneously and does not find any networks


iwlist wlan0 scan
    wlan0     No scan results

From my other device, also running 42.3, but using another wireless device:


lo        Interface doesn't support scanning.


wlan0     Scan completed :
          Cell 01 - Address: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
                    Channel:1
                    Frequency:2.412 GHz (Channel 1)
                    Quality=70/70  Signal level=-17 dBm  
                    Encryption key:on
                    ESSID:"xxxxx"
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s
                              9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
                    Bit Rates:24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    .
                    .
                    .
          Cell 02 - Address: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:x                                                                                                                                                                                   
                    Channel:11                                                                                                                                                                                                   
                    Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)                                                                                                                                                                             
                    Quality=25/70  Signal level=-85 dBm                                                                                                                                                                          
                    Encryption key:on                                                                                                                                                                                            
                    ESSID:"xxxxxx"                                                                                                                                                                                              
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s                                                                                                                                                          
                              18 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s                                                                                                                                                                          
                    Bit Rates:6 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s                                                                                                                                                                  
                    .
                    .
                    .
          Cell 03 - Address: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
                    Channel:6
                    Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
                    Quality=29/70  Signal level=-81 dBm  
                    Encryption key:on
                    ESSID:"xxxxx"
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
                              24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Bit Rates:6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
                    .
                    .
                    .


eth0      Interface doesn't support scanning.

The TP-Link does the exact same on the other device from which I posted the visible wireless networks.

I have spend hours search and trying everything I could find, but no luck. Please can I have some assistance ?

Thanks

DouglaGM · November 18, 2017, 5:38pm

Hi,

Some more debug information:


/usr/sbin/hwinfo --wlan
33: USB 00.0: 0282 WLAN controller                               
  [Created at usb.122]
  Unique ID: hhw5.M1BlfozBLm7
  Parent ID: FZIx.9T1GDCLyFd9
  SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.7/usb8/8-1/8-1:1.0
  SysFS BusID: 8-1:1.0
  Hardware Class: network
  Model: "Realtek RTL8188EUS 802.11n Wireless Network Adapter"
  Hotplug: USB
  Vendor: usb 0x0bda "Realtek Semiconductor Corp."
  Device: usb 0x8179 "RTL8188EUS 802.11n Wireless Network Adapter"
  Serial ID: "00E04C0001"
  Driver: "r8188eu"
  Driver Modules: "r8188eu"
  Device File: wlan0
  Features: WLAN
  Speed: 480 Mbps
  HW Address: 7c:8b:ca:1d:82:7e
  Permanent HW Address: 7c:8b:ca:1d:82:7e
  WLAN channels: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
  WLAN frequencies: 2.412 2.417 2.422 2.427 2.432 2.437 2.442 2.447 2.452 2.457 2.462 2.467 2.472
  WLAN bitrates: 1 2 5.5 11
  WLAN encryption modes: TKIP CCMP
  WLAN authentication modes: open wpa-psk wpa-eap
  Module Alias: "usb:v0BDAp8179d0000dc00dsc00dp00icFFiscFFipFFin00"
  Driver Info #0:
    Driver Status: r8188eu is active
    Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe r8188eu"
  Config Status: cfg=no, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown
  Attached to: #32 (Hub)


nmcli d
DEVICE  TYPE      STATE      CONNECTION          
eth0    ethernet  connected  Wired connection 1  
lo      loopback  unmanaged  --


ip link
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast state UP mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
    link/ether bc:30:5b:bb:0f:f9 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
7: wlan0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 7c:8b:ca:1d:82:7e brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

Regards
Gregg

DouglaGM · November 18, 2017, 5:42pm

Hi,

I am making some progress, after running


ip link set wlan0 up

and then


iwlist scan

it is showing wireless networks, however Network Manager still unable to use the device.

Gregg

deano_ferrari · November 18, 2017, 11:04pm

What does the following report?

nmcli g

deano_ferrari · November 19, 2017, 2:00am

I assume the ‘kernel-firmware’ package is installed?

deano_ferrari · November 19, 2017, 2:16am

After some further searching, it seems that the driver itself might be the issue here. The wireless API driver (nl80211) used by by wpa_supplicant is not compatible with the Realtek driver apparently. NetworkManager calls wpa_supplicant with the default nl80211 backend, while the wireless driver relies on an older (and now deprecated) ‘wext’ backend.

https://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8188eu/issues/197
http://www.thelinuxrain.com/articles/getting-realtek-8188eu-wireless-adapters-to-work-in-linux-and-possibly-other-wireless-realtek-chipsets

A similar thread here…
https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/400101/how-to-get-the-wifi-working-with-r8188eu-driver-on-my-raspberry-pi

There are workarounds (not involving NM) to get connected manually (by callig wpa_supplicant and specifying it to use wext backend instead) described in the pages I linked to above.

DouglaGM · November 19, 2017, 2:42pm

Thank-you very much, I thought I was missing the boat totally. I will give the alternate solution a try.