RTL8191SE won't scan for network

My neighbor bought this Toshiba p505 laptop for his wife’s Christmas present, she wants OpenSUSE 11.2

~> uname -o -r -i2.6.31.5-0.1-desktop x86_64 GNU/Linux
PCI 800.0: 0282 WLAN controller
[Created at pci.318]
UDI: /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/pci_10ec_8172
Unique ID: nts2.cwk4TIVr0N9
Parent ID: HnsE.Gg7kbdesig6
SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1c.5/0000:08:00.0
SysFS BusID: 0000:08:00.0
Hardware Class: network
Model: “Realtek WLAN controller”
Vendor: pci 0x10ec “Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.”
Device: pci 0x8172
SubVendor: pci 0x10ec “Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.”
SubDevice: pci 0x8152
Revision: 0x10
Driver: “rtl819xSE”
Driver Modules: “r8192se_pci”
Device File: wlan4
Features: WLAN
I/O Ports: 0x3000-0x3fff (rw)
Memory Range: 0xb6100000-0xb6103fff (rw,non-prefetchable)
IRQ: 17 (no events)
HW Address: 00:e0:4c:81:92:29
Link detected: no
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 6 9 12 18 24 36 48 54
WLAN encryption modes: TKIP CCMP
WLAN authentication modes: open wpa-psk wpa-eap
Module Alias: “pci:v000010ECd00008172sv000010ECsd00008152bc02sc80i00”
Driver Info #0:
Driver Status: r8192se_pci is active
Driver Activation Cmd: “modprobe r8192se_pci”
Config Status: cfg=no, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown
Attached to: #24 (PCI bridge)

~> dmesg | grep firmware (no result)
~> sudo /usr/sbin/iwlist scan lo Interface doesn’t support scanning.

wlan4 Failed to read scan data : Network is down
The network is working fine, four other PCs connected wirelessly now. Security is WPA2 with SSID broadcasting.

I’m also unable to connect by manually configuring the network.

I’ve tried with both 2.6.31 and 2.6.32 kernels, same outcome ex. that I get kernel freezes with 2.6.32, so I don’t plan to pursue that one.

(Note: wired connection is with Atheros AR8139 that doesn’t work either, but I’ll worry about that later. For now it just means I have to sneaker net files with thumb drive, so I’m hopeful to solve this with a minimum of downloading new software.)

Thanx in advance

On 12/12/2009 04:26 PM, caprus wrote:
>
> My neighbor bought this Toshiba p505 laptop for his wife’s Christmas
> present, she wants OpenSUSE 11.2
>
> ~> uname -o -r -i2.6.31.5-0.1-desktop x86_64 GNU/Linux
> PCI 800.0: 0282 WLAN controller
> [Created at pci.318]
> UDI: /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/pci_10ec_8172
> Unique ID: nts2.cwk4TIVr0N9
> Parent ID: HnsE.Gg7kbdesig6
> SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1c.5/0000:08:00.0
> SysFS BusID: 0000:08:00.0
> Hardware Class: network
> Model: “Realtek WLAN controller”
> Vendor: pci 0x10ec “Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.”
> Device: pci 0x8172
> SubVendor: pci 0x10ec “Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.”
> SubDevice: pci 0x8152
> Revision: 0x10
> Driver: “rtl819xSE”
> Driver Modules: “r8192se_pci”
> Device File: wlan4
> Features: WLAN
> I/O Ports: 0x3000-0x3fff (rw)
> Memory Range: 0xb6100000-0xb6103fff (rw,non-prefetchable)
> IRQ: 17 (no events)
> HW Address: 00:e0:4c:81:92:29
> Link detected: no
> 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 6 9 12 18 24 36 48 54
> WLAN encryption modes: TKIP CCMP
> WLAN authentication modes: open wpa-psk wpa-eap
> Module Alias: “pci:v000010ECd00008172sv000010ECsd00008152bc02sc80i00”
> Driver Info #0:
> Driver Status: r8192se_pci is active
> Driver Activation Cmd: “modprobe r8192se_pci”
> Config Status: cfg=no, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown
> Attached to: #24 (PCI bridge)
>
>
> ~> dmesg | grep firmware (no result)
> ~> sudo /usr/sbin/iwlist scan lo Interface
> doesn’t support scanning.
>
> wlan4 Failed to read scan data : Network is down
> The network is working fine, four other PCs connected
> wirelessly now. Security is WPA2 with SSID broadcasting.
>
> I’m also unable to connect by manually configuring the network.
>
> I’ve tried with both 2.6.31 and 2.6.32 kernels, same outcome ex. that I
> get kernel freezes with 2.6.32, so I don’t plan to pursue that one.

I’m not sure where you got this driver. It was first included in
kernel 2.6.32, but that was the vendor driver, which is of uncertain
quality.

The Reaktek devices do not need external firmware, as confirmed by
your dmesg output. Generally, the network down response from iwlist is
because the network is not being controlled by NetworkManager, or the
ifup command has not been issued.

Pleast refer to
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/401126
which shall support rtl8191se.

Thanks for the info. I’d been following that thread but had missed the most recent posts. I’d had no luck with the file rtl8192se_linux_2.6.0010.1012.2009_64bit.tar.gz , however I’ve just now downloaded rtl8192se_linux_2.6.0010.1211.2009.tar.gz.

Sorry to say I’ve spent so much time on this project recently that I might not be able to get back to it right away. I hope to be able to report my progress soon.

Sorry to report that this file did not perform any differently. I won’t be able to pursue this any further for now, as the owner has reclaimed the PC to get some work done (using Win7). I hope to be able to try again at the end of the week.

Sorry to report that this latest file did not perform any differently. When the PC boots it sometimes detects the card once and sometimes twice. Either way it won’t scan for a network. If if twice, and I delete either wlan0 or wlan1, the remaining one still won’t work. If I then reboot the PC it may display the one I left or the one I removed or both. The more time I try this the more I become convinced that the response is completely random.

Unfortunately I won’t be able to pursue this any further for now, as the owner has reclaimed the PC to get some work done (using Win7). I hope to be able to try again at the end of the week.