Networkmanager no longer finds 2nd USB WLAN device

English Network/Internet
1

Under openSUSE 42.1 and before, my USB WLAN Stick was usable out-of-the-box; with 42.2 the device is not listed in the networkmanager.

Interestingly, the device is displayed in the greyed-out YaST->Network->Overview dialogue (though this is of no relevance, as the YaST->Network tool does not apply when using the networkmanager-service, and I am getting a corresponding warning when I start that YaST setting, as it should be and has been since a long time).

I am using a Laptop with built-in wifi, so the networkmanager is the way to go and it worked fine before 42.2. In one special location, I can only connect to the net via an external USB-WLAN adapter which is attached to a special directed antenna, while my internal WLAN device is then switched to create a hotspot. This worked flawlessly with 42.1; but after updating to 42.1 it doesn’t any more. I have no clue how to fix it.

I am not sure whether this might be related, but I found another post about this device having a problem on Tumbleweed: https://forums.opensuse.org/showthread.php/523741-RTL8192eu-kernel-4-11-rc-fix but I don’t really understand that post.


# lsusb...
Bus 003 Device 004: ID 0bda:8172 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8191SU 802.11n WLAN Adapter
...

# ifconfig em1       Link encap:Ethernet  Hardware Adresse 34:E6:D7:0A:60:37  
          UP 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 Sendewarteschlangenlänge:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
          Interrupt:20 Speicher:f7100000-f7120000 


lo        Link encap:Lokale Schleife  
          inet Adresse:127.0.0.1  Maske:255.0.0.0
          inet6 Adresse: ::1/128 Gültigkeitsbereich:Maschine
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:65536  Metric:1
          RX packets:862 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:862 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 Sendewarteschlangenlänge:1 
          RX bytes:84062 (82.0 Kb)  TX bytes:84062 (82.0 Kb)


wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  Hardware Adresse 80:19:34:B1:D0:0F  
          inet Adresse:192.168.43.24  Bcast:192.168.43.255  Maske:255.255.255.0
          inet6 Adresse: fe80::8219:34ff:feb1:d00f/64 Gültigkeitsbereich:Verbindung
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:3210 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:2483 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 Sendewarteschlangenlänge:1000 
          RX bytes:2342035 (2.2 Mb)  TX bytes:440852 (430.5 Kb)

The greyed-out info from YaST:


Ethernet Connection I217-LM DHCP em1
RTL8191SU 802.11n WLAN Adapter not configured
Wireless 7260 not configured
2

With the device plugged in, what is reported by

/usr/sbin/hwinfo --wlan

Since you’re using NM, it should be present in the following output

nmcli d
3 
# /usr/sbin/hwinfo --wlan
20: PCI 300.0: 0282 WLAN controller                             
  [Created at pci.378]
  Unique ID: y9sn.KUFv5fzVbVA
  Parent ID: hoOk.vTt8lP++tIF
  SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1c.2/0000:03:00.0
  SysFS BusID: 0000:03:00.0
  Hardware Class: network
  Model: "Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260"
  Vendor: pci 0x8086 "Intel Corporation"
  Device: pci 0x08b1 "Wireless 7260"
  SubVendor: pci 0x8086 "Intel Corporation"
  SubDevice: pci 0x4470 "Dual Band Wireless-AC 7260"
  Revision: 0x73
  Driver: "iwlwifi"
  Driver Modules: "iwlwifi"
  Device File: wlan0
  Features: WLAN
  Memory Range: 0xf7000000-0xf7001fff (rw,non-prefetchable)
  IRQ: 29 (no events)
  HW Address: 80:19:34:b1:d0:0f
  Permanent HW Address: 80:19:34:b1:d0:0f
  Link detected: yes
  WLAN channels: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 100 104 108 112 116 120 124 128 132 136 140
  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 5.18 5.2 5.22 5.24 5.26 5.28 5.3 5.32 5.5 5.52 5.54 5.56 5.58 5.6 5.62 5.64 5.66 5.68 5.7
  WLAN encryption modes: WEP40 WEP104 TKIP CCMP
  WLAN authentication modes: open sharedkey wpa-psk wpa-eap
  Module Alias: "pci:v00008086d000008B1sv00008086sd00004470bc02sc80i00"
  Driver Info #0:
    Driver Status: iwlwifi is active
    Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe iwlwifi"
  Config Status: cfg=no, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown
  Attached to: #9 (PCI bridge)
                                                                                    
27: USB 00.0: 0282 WLAN controller                                                  
  [Created at usb.122]                                                              
  Unique ID: CiZ2.NomXlQ88uo3                                                       
  Parent ID: uIhY.2DFUsyrieMD                                                       
  SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb3/3-3/3-3:1.0                       
  SysFS BusID: 3-3:1.0                                                              
  Hardware Class: network
  Model: "Realtek RTL8191SU 802.11n WLAN Adapter"
  Hotplug: USB
  Vendor: usb 0x0bda "Realtek Semiconductor Corp."
  Device: usb 0x8172 "RTL8191SU 802.11n WLAN Adapter"
  Revision: "2.00"
  Serial ID: "00e04c000001"
  Driver: "r8712u"
  Driver Modules: "r8712u"
  Device File: wlan1
  Features: WLAN
  Speed: 480 Mbps
  HW Address: 00:87:31:35:89:88
  Permanent HW Address: 00:87:31:35:89:88
  WLAN channels: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
  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 2.484
  WLAN bitrates: 1 2 5.5 11
  WLAN encryption modes: TKIP CCMP
  WLAN authentication modes: open wpa-psk wpa-eap
  Module Alias: "usb:v0BDAp8172d0200dc00dsc00dp00icFFiscFFipFFin00"
  Driver Info #0:
    Driver Status: r8712u is active
    Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe r8712u"
  Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown
  Attached to: #26 (Hub)

So it is recognized just fine, but ignored by the networkmanger:


# nmcli d
GERÄT  TYP       STATUS           VERBINDUNG 
wlan0  wifi      verbunden        MyWlan   
em1    ethernet  nicht verfügbar  --         
lo     loopback  nicht verwaltet  --

…another thing I noticed: if the Laptop’s wireless hardware switch was off during boot, then networkmanager ignores switching it on later. This also used to work fine with 42.1. Maybe it is related? (Although the USB WLAN adapter was present during boot.)

4
  1. Open a terminal and run
dmesg --follow

then plug in the device and capture the output. Post the relevant output here.

  1. If you restart NetworkManager with the device already plugged in using
sudo systemctl restart NetworkManager

does that result in the device being reported?

nmcli d

Also…

/sbin/ifconfig

and

/sbin/ifconfig -a
5

Thanks for the reply!
Summary: 2nd device is registered upon plugging in, but missing in all outputs except for “ifconfig -a.” Here we go in detail:

“#dmesg --follow” first produced some lengthy output, which I figured was likely to be irrelevant here. The relevant part, as far as I can tell, happened after unplugging and replugging the device, but looks perfectly fine as far as I can understand it:


  287.989431] usb 3-13.3: USB disconnect, device number 6
  288.217215] usb 3-13.3: new high-speed USB device number 7 using xhci_hcd
  288.307941] usb 3-13.3: New USB device found, idVendor=0bda, idProduct=8172
  288.307944] usb 3-13.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
  288.307945] usb 3-13.3: Product: RTL8191S WLAN Adapter 
  288.307945] usb 3-13.3: Manufacturer: Manufacturer Realtek 
  288.307946] usb 3-13.3: SerialNumber: 00e04c000001
  288.308824] r8712u: register rtl8712_netdev_ops to netdev_ops
  288.308826] usb 3-13.3: r8712u: USB_SPEED_HIGH with 4 endpoints
  288.309118] usb 3-13.3: r8712u: Boot from EFUSE: Autoload OK
  288.633249] usb 3-13.3: r8712u: CustomerID = 0x000a
  288.633251] usb 3-13.3: r8712u: MAC Address from efuse = 00:87:31:35:89:88
  288.633252] usb 3-13.3: r8712u: Loading firmware from "rtlwifi/rtl8712u.bin"
  289.269468] usb 3-13.3: USB disconnect, device number 7
  291.261279] usb 3-13.3: new high-speed USB device number 8 using xhci_hcd
  291.352057] usb 3-13.3: New USB device found, idVendor=0bda, idProduct=8172
  291.352061] usb 3-13.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
  291.352062] usb 3-13.3: Product: RTL8191S WLAN Adapter 
  291.352062] usb 3-13.3: Manufacturer: Manufacturer Realtek 
  291.352063] usb 3-13.3: SerialNumber: 00e04c000001
  291.352987] r8712u: register rtl8712_netdev_ops to netdev_ops
  291.352990] usb 3-13.3: r8712u: USB_SPEED_HIGH with 4 endpoints
  291.353248] usb 3-13.3: r8712u: Boot from EFUSE: Autoload OK
  291.677975] usb 3-13.3: r8712u: CustomerID = 0x000a
  291.677976] usb 3-13.3: r8712u: MAC Address from efuse = 00:87:31:35:89:88
  291.677977] usb 3-13.3: r8712u: Loading firmware from "rtlwifi/rtl8712u.bin"
  292.686516] r8712u 3-13.3:1.0 wlan2: renamed from wlan1

…restarting the networkmanager with the given command did not change anything as far as I could tell (the command caused no output; the icon briefly vanished from the system tray and reappeared as is expected).

…and here is the rest: nmcli does not list the 2nd device…


# nmcli dGERÄT  TYP       STATUS           VERBINDUNG 
wlan0  wifi      nicht verbunden  --         
em1    ethernet  nicht verfügbar  --         
lo     loopback  nicht verwaltet  --

…and neither does ifconfig without option a:


# ifconfig 
em1       Link encap:Ethernet  Hardware Adresse 34:E6:D7:0A:60:37  
          UP 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 Sendewarteschlangenlänge:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
          Interrupt:20 Speicher:f7100000-f7120000 


lo        Link encap:Lokale Schleife  
          inet Adresse:127.0.0.1  Maske:255.0.0.0
          inet6 Adresse: ::1/128 Gültigkeitsbereich:Maschine
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:65536  Metric:1
          RX packets:1054 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:1054 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 Sendewarteschlangenlänge:1 
          RX bytes:101374 (98.9 Kb)  TX bytes:101374 (98.9 Kb)


wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  Hardware Adresse 80:19:34:B1:D0:0F  
          UP 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 Sendewarteschlangenlänge:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

…but it is shown with option a:


# ifconfig -a
em1       Link encap:Ethernet  Hardware Adresse 34:E6:D7:0A:60:37  
          UP 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 Sendewarteschlangenlänge:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
          Interrupt:20 Speicher:f7100000-f7120000 


lo        Link encap:Lokale Schleife  
          inet Adresse:127.0.0.1  Maske:255.0.0.0
          inet6 Adresse: ::1/128 Gültigkeitsbereich:Maschine
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:65536  Metric:1
          RX packets:1118 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:1118 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 Sendewarteschlangenlänge:1 
          RX bytes:107166 (104.6 Kb)  TX bytes:107166 (104.6 Kb)


wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  Hardware Adresse 80:19:34:B1:D0:0F  
          UP 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 Sendewarteschlangenlänge:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)


wlan2     Link encap:Ethernet  Hardware Adresse 00:87:31:35:89:88  
          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 Sendewarteschlangenlänge:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

…so what does this mean?

Shouldn’t the networkmanager grab and control all network devices automagically, like it did before 42.2 came along?

6

The dmesg output is encouraging, although I notice the output shows that you are attached to a USB 3 port.

  1. Do you have a USB 2 port available that you can use?

  2. What happens if you do the following?

sudo ifup wlan1

Does it then appear here?

/sbin/ifconfig
7

  1. No, but all the same hardware in exact the same setup worked perfectly fine for more than 2 years with previous openSUSE versions.

  2. I substituted wlan1 with wlan2 according to the output of ifconfig -a, but the command just tells that it ignores it anyway:

# ifup wlan2<13>Mar 23 06:56:16 jost: Network is managed by 'NetworkManager.service' -> skipping

# cat /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf 
[main]
plugins=ifcfg-suse,keyfile


[connectivity]
uri=http://conncheck.opensuse.org
8

Okay, I’m out of ideas. Perhaps a bug report is needed.

9

…and

# nmcli connection up ifname wlan2Fehler: Unbekanntes Gerät »wlan2«,.

just says that the device is unknown, but I verified that “ifconfig -a” still shows the same output as above (wherein wlan2 is the device that I want to use).

Note that even wlan0 ceases to work with NetworkManager if I switch the laptop’s wireless switch off and then on again.

So where should I file a bug report now?

10

EDIT: The built-in wireless does work if switched on and off, but it does not work if it was switched-off during booting. This was not the case with 42.1, where I could boot with the wireless switch off and switching it on later just fine.

So I guess the entire problem seems to be that NetworkManager does not feel responsible for devices that are added after booting somehow, because something else takes over?

11

I’m not sure of the reasons behind this behaviour. I would expect an available network device to be available for NM to

Can you try the following?

sudo ifconfig wlan2 up

nmcli d

I would hope/expect to observe something like

nmcli d
DEVICE  TYPE      STATE         CONNECTION 
eth0    wifi  disconnected  --         
lo      loopback  unmanaged     --

So where should I file a bug report now?[/QUOTE]
https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/index.cgi

If you need advice on submitting a report, read
https://en.opensuse.org/openSUSE:Submitting_bug_reports

12

Here is the result, nothing changed, no errors:


#  ifconfig wlan2 up
# nmcli d                                                                                    
DEVICE  TYPE      STATE        CONNECTION                                                             
wlan0   wifi      connected    MyNetwork
em1     ethernet  unavailable  --                                                                     
lo      loopback  unmanaged    --                                                                     
# ifconfig -a                                                                                
em1       Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 34:E6:D7:0A:60:37                                               
          UP 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)                                                      
          Interrupt:20 Memory:f7100000-f7120000                                                       
                                                                                                                    
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:65536  Metric:1                                                                  
          RX packets:58 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0                                                       
          TX packets:58 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1 
          RX bytes:11226 (10.9 Kb)  TX bytes:11226 (10.9 Kb)


wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 80:19:34:B1:D0:0F  
          inet addr:192.168.43.24  Bcast:192.168.43.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::8219:34ff:feb1:d00f/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:3400 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:2427 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:2902931 (2.7 Mb)  TX bytes:460097 (449.3 Kb)


wlan2     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:87:31:35:89:88  
          UP 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)


# ifup wlan2
<13>Mar 28 19:24:44 jost: Network is managed by 'NetworkManager.service' -> skipping
13

Ok, report it as a bug.

14

Reported as Bug 1031400, so that other with the same problem might track this as well.

@deano_ferrari: Thanks for the help nonetheless! :slight_smile: