Problem with a new USB Wifi device: Device detected, but the network do not exist.

Escain · April 13, 2014, 12:09am

Hello,

I have a new USB wifi device, but i am unable to make it to work. My level with linux is not very high, so forgive me for a probably foolish question.

I have followed the next tutorial until the step 4: http://forums.opensuse.org/showthread.php/391535-My-wireless-doesn-t-work-a-primer-on-what-I-should-do-next
(And tried other pages also, without any better result)


# lsusb
...
Bus 001 Device 011: ID 0bda:8179 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. 
...


#dmesg | less
...
  191.712028] usb 1-7: new high-speed USB device number 8 using ehci-pci
  191.826919] usb 1-7: New USB device found, idVendor=0bda, idProduct=8179
  191.826925] usb 1-7: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
  191.826929] usb 1-7: Product: 802.11n NIC
  191.826932] usb 1-7: Manufacturer: Realtek
  191.826935] usb 1-7: SerialNumber: 00E04C0001
...

But, when I use iwconfig, there is not any wireless device:


#iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
enp1s0    no wireless extensions.

What should I do? Any step that i miss?

I have OpenSuse 13.1 installed with KDE.
If you require any other information for this question, please ask me.

Thanks you very much for any help.

Adrian M.

deano_ferrari · April 13, 2014, 3:40am

This is a relatively new device. (FWW, I have a similar Realtek device reported as 0bda:8176 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8188CUS 802.11n WLAN Adapter and is supported by the rtl8192cu driver). Anyway, this thread is pertinent:

http://forums.opensuse.org/showthread.php/490013-Problem-with-TL-WN725n-v2-OpenSUSE-12-3

There is is mentioned by Larry (one of our wireless gurus):

That device is not yet supported in any kernel on openSUSE. To get a driver for it, you will need to build one yourself. You get code that will build on any kernel using the command
Code:
git clone http://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8188eu.git
The command will download the code into a new directory named rtl8188eu. You will then need to be able to compile an out-of-kernel driver.

This driver will be in the 3.12 kernel. For 3.12-rc1 and later (not yet released), the device recognition will be automatic.

So, you may want to upgrade the kernel and gain the support that way.

lwfinger · April 13, 2014, 6:47am

On 04/12/2014 08:46 PM, deano ferrari wrote:
>
> This is a relatively new device. (FWW, I have a similar Realtek device
> reported as 0bda:8176 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8188CUS 802.11n
> WLAN Adapter and is supported by the rtl8192cu driver). Anyway, this
> thread is pertinent:
>
> http://tinyurl.com/o5qlkcg
>
> There is is mentioned by Larry (one of our wireless gurus):
>> That device is not yet supported in any kernel on openSUSE. To get a
>> driver for it, you will need to build one yourself. You get code that
>> will build on any kernel using the command
>> Code:
>> git clone http://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8188eu.git
>> The command will download the code into a new directory named
>> rtl8188eu. You will then need to be able to compile an out-of-kernel
>> driver.
>>
>> This driver will be in the 3.12 kernel. For 3.12-rc1 and later (not yet
>> released), the device recognition will be automatic.
>
> So, you may want to upgrade the kernel and gain the support that way.

Yes, that device is supported by kernel 3.12 and newer. You will also need the
firmware, which is not yet in any of the 13.1 packages. To get the needed file,
do the following:


sudo zypper install git
git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/dwmw2/linux-firmware.git
sudo cp linux-firmware/rtlwifi/rtl8188eufw.bin /lib/firmware/rtlwifi/.
rm -rf linux-firmware/

If you do not wish to upgrade the kernel, there is a way to build a stand-alone
version of the driver for your current kernel, but it is a lot more work on your
part. If you wish to go that route, please tell us.

Escain · April 13, 2014, 1:35pm

Thanks you a lot to both of you, I am currently connected with this TP-LINK wifi usb device.

Steps I have done, for possible other users:


sudo su
#<password>
zypper install git
.... <all is ok>
git clone http://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8188eu.git
cd rtl8188eu
make
#... <all is ok>
make install
#... <all is ok>
git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/dwmw2/linux-firmware.git 
cp linux-firmware/rtlwifi/rtl8188eufw.bin /lib/firmware/rtlwifi/. 

rm -rf linux-firmware
rm rtl8188eu

#CAUTION: Following line restart the computer
shutdown -r now

The USB is now recognized.

Adrian M.

lwfinger · April 13, 2014, 5:05pm

On 04/13/2014 06:36 AM, Escain wrote:
>
> Thanks you a lot to both of you, I am currently connected with this
> TP-LINK wifi usb device.
>
> Steps I have done, for possible other users:
>
>
> Code:
> --------------------
>
> sudo su
> #<password>
> zypper install git
> … <all is ok>
> git clone http://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8188eu.git
> cd rtl8188eu
> make
> #… <all is ok>
> make install
> #… <all is ok>
> git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/dwmw2/linux-firmware.git
> cp linux-firmware/rtlwifi/rtl8188eufw.bin /lib/firmware/rtlwifi/.
>
> rm -rf linux-firmware
> rm rtl8188eu
>
> #CAUTION: Following line restart the computer
> shutdown -r now
>
>
> --------------------
>
>
> The USB is now recognized.

The only comment is that I would NEVER build anything as root. Do it as the
normal user and “sudo” for the ‘make install’ and the ‘cp’ of the firmware. The
reason for this precaution is to prevent an error in the make file from
destroying your system. I few years ago, the kernel build had an error that
caused it to delete /dev/null when running as root. After that, the system could
not boot.

I have seen a noted kernel and openSUSE developer state that he would like to
modify kbuild to remove everything in the / partition if anyone does a kernel
build as root. A bit drastic, perhaps, but you never know when the writer of a
make file is malicious!

As the desk sergeant on the TV program “Hill Street Blues” about police said as
he ended the daily roll call, “Be careful out there”.