No Realtek connection

I have a new Toshiba Satellite L450D-13X with Windows 7 that can access my home LAN through both the Ethernet wired and the wireless controllers. I tried installing the 10.04 LTS version of Ubuntu, but couldn’t access the Internet, though NetworkManager claimed that both wireless and Ethernet controllers were connected, and my router DHCP server registered the notebook as a client. I was advised to try openSUSE, and installed 11.2. I can now access the Internet though the Ethernet connection, but the wireless shows no sign of any life at all.
lspci shows Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device 8172 (rev 10), so I downloaded from Realtek rtl8192se_linux_2.6.0015.0127.2010.tar.gz, which I extracted to /usr/src.
Using YaST > Online Update, over a long time I was only aware of failing with one file where the checksum had changed out of all recognition. If anybody thinks that could be significant, and can tell me where the failure would be logged, and how to access it, I’ll be happy to pass on the information. My YaST2/y2log shows a number of errors, but no mention of that failure, faillog shows nothing at all, and Online Update now shows nothing available.
Using YaST > Software Management/r I installed kernel-source, gcc and make. I then ran
sudo cp -rf firmware/RTL8192SE /lib/firmware
sudo make
sudo make install
The last ran for hours with intermittent messages suggesting that something had failed. At the end it called depmod -a, which resulted in a string of
WARNING: Can’t read module /lib/modules/2.6.31.12-0.2-desktop/build;4bfa61f4/drivers/???.ko: Cannot allocate memory
followed by
Segmentation fault>:(
By then I had thousands of files under /lib/modules/2.6.31.12-0.2-desktop, and had lost an even more astonishing 3.5 GB of disk space. Finally I ran
sudo cp HAL/rtl8192/r8192se_pci.ko /lib/modules/2.6.31.12-0.2-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/
sudo depmod -a
The latter had the same result as when called by make install.:’(
At the end, I’ve lost an astonishing amount of disk space that is many times even what’s occupied by the thousands of files under /lib/modules/2.6.31.12-0.2-desktop (129.1 MB) and everything under /lib/firmware, and NetworkManager still seems oblivious to the existence of the wireless controller. I’ll be most grateful for any help sorting out the dependencies, connecting to the Internet by the wireless router, or recovering my lost disk space.rotfl!

I thought I’d given all the information relevant to my problem, but not a single reply after 46 views may imply that I was mistaken, so, after a lot more work, these are the answers requested by deltaflyer44/Andy and Iwfinger/Larry. I’ve ignored whether or not they seemed to me to be relevant to my particular problem, but did stop when I started repeating in response to Getting Your Wirless to Work. If there’s anything else anybody needs to know, I’ll be more than happy to provide whatever information I can.
lspci -v
0e:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device 8172 (rev 10)
Subsystem: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device 8181
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 5
I/O ports at a000 [size=256]
Memory at f0200000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16]
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
Capabilities: [70] Express Legacy Endpoint, MSI 00
Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
Capabilities: [140] Virtual Channel <?>
Capabilities: [160] Device Serial Number 88-55-22-fe-ff-4c-e0-00
lspci -n
0e:00.0 0280: 10ec:8172 (rev 10)
dmesg
I’ve searched 672 lines repeatedly and in detail, but can find no mention of wlan, or even lan, but Realtek does appear in lines 619 and 620:
7.396456] ALSA /usr/src/packages/BUILD/kernel-desktop-2.6.31.12/linux-2.6.31/sound/pci/hda/patch_realtek.c:1284: realtek: No valid SSID, checking pincfg 0x40168a2d for NID 0x1d
7.396461] ALSA /usr/src/packages/BUILD/kernel-desktop-2.6.31.12/linux-2.6.31/sound/pci/hda/patch_realtek.c:1300: realtek: Enabling init ASM_ID=0x8a2d CODEC_ID=10ec0272
iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.
eth0 no wireless extensions.
iwlist scan
lo Interface doesn’t support scanning.
eth0 Interface doesn’t support scanning.
YaST => Hardware => Hardware Information doesn’t report Wireless LAN but does report Network Card, Network Interface and PCI. Under the last it reports Realtek Network controller with, among other things, UDI: /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/pci_10ec_8172
boot.msg
no firmware, radio, kill or switch
dmesg | grep firmware
nothing at all
iwlist scan
See above. Need I go on?
Please help.[/size][/size]

IMO you have already done a lot of things, that could interfere with any solution I’d give. By now no interface is available for the wireless from what I read.
I know the card is supported in kernel 2.6.34, you could install that from the Kernel:HEAD repo. It should be supported in 11.3 anyway.

I think Realtek calls this an RTL8192SE. There is a staging driver in
2.6.34 that supposedly handles this chip, but that driver does not have
these IDs included. No current kernel handles your device.

The only driver for Linux that I know about is
rtl8192se_linux_2.6.0015.0127.2010, which I downloaded from
http://www.realtek.com/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=48&PFid=48&Level=5&Conn=4&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false&Downloads=true#RTL8192SE.

Although the above driver compiled with only 2 minor warnings on my
x86_64 system, there are lots of Google entries about it failing to
work. I did not look at any of them to check on validity or for fixes. I
do not have the hardware to be able to check on such things.

My experience is that Realtek drivers are of uncertain quality. For
example, their driver for the DLink DWA-130 (RTL8192SU - a USB device
that probably has the same chip) works reliably for 32-bit architecture,
but immediately crashes on a 64-bit machine. I have fixed the crash
problem and the device scans OK but still cannot connect with the 64-bit
version. On i386, my revised driver still works.

Undoubtedly, an in-kernel driver will be available some day for your
device, but it may take a long time. My suggestion is that you get a USB
device that works without any problems. My favorite in this category is
the Netgear WG111V2, which is available for $9.99 at Ebay. It does not
require anything but the standard kernel for openSUSE 11.2 or later. Be
careful not to get a V3 - that is a different beast.

Many thanks for your research and advice; if it’s true that 11.3 can be expected in a few weeks, and it would support my device, I’d be tempted to resolve both the driver issue and my astonishing loss of disk space by starting again from scratch then. Unfortunately, it didn’t occur to me to check on the reputation of the device Toshiba had installed before buying its computer, and, as nobody has commented on the disappearing space, Knurpht seems to be suggesting that I’ve done more harm than good in other ways, and Iwfinger seems to doubt that 11.3 will solve the problem, perhaps I should re-install 11.2 now, and follow your advice to use another device.

On 05/27/2010 10:26 AM, peterichardavis wrote:
> in other ways, and Iwfinger seems to doubt that 11.3 will solve the
> problem, perhaps I should re-install 11.2 now, and follow your advice to
> use another device.

There is no doubt. I scanned the 2.6.34 source code for your PCI ID, AND
IT WAS NOT THERE!! If no driver has the codes, no driver will respond.

Really thankful to you, i also faced the same problem 2 weeks ago and didn’t got any results. While i am searching on net, i saw your post which is really useful information for me.

Having recovered my massive loss of disk space (and undone whatever damage Knurpht thought I’d done) by reinstalling the operating system, and before investing in the Netgear WG111V2, I decided to try reinstalling RTL8192SE with two modifications. Instead of ‘sudo make’ I tried
sudo su
make
and I ignored make install. After that ‘depmod -a’ worked fine, and I’m using the wireless connection to post this message. I suppose I could yet find out what I’ve lost with the thousands of files created the first time, but I’ve regained the lost space, and have a working wireless connection.

Not sure why you elected to do all the things you have done with the copying of firmware files and putting things in /lib/firmware

The driver can be compiled and installed right from the directory that you download without doing anything fancy.

Right click the tar.gz extract here

go into the directory created

Just a simple

make

followed by

su

make install

The latest driver is extremely reliable and much better then the one included in the kernels.

I’m a relative beginner who was trying to synthesise advice I’d found posted in different places, and was hoping somebody could explain why I created so many files consuming so much space. Having discovered that I must repeat the procedure after I do a kernel update, I was pleased to be able to try your version. What now ineterests me is why you recommend make install when I found that I could dispense with it.