Wireless on Toshiba A665 (RTL8188) in 11.4 (should help with other versions as well)

English Network/Internet
1

I updated to 11.4 last night (yea, repos are live :smiley: ) but didn’t have wireless. Apparently, 11.4 doesn’t seem to support this wireless yet (there is talk of the driver getting merged in kernel 2.6.38, so I’m sure it’s close). I figured I would post my solution in case anyone needed it.

You should get the driver from Realtek first. I got mine here but remember, my file is for the 8188CE! You may need to get a different one depending on your model and version.

Next, make sure you have the needed build files in Suse. You will need to install kernel-syms, make, gcc, and kernel-default-devel (Note: I am using the standard, default kernel. Yours may be different e.g. kernel-desktop-devel, kernel-pae-devel, etc.)

Just extract the file you downloaded, enter the extracted directory in your terminal, and then “make” and “make install” as superuser. Once this completes, you will have to reboot.

After reboot, you should see your wireless device.

2

On 03/09/2011 10:36 AM, NeoGraven wrote:
>
> I updated to 11.4 last night (yea, repos are live :smiley: ) but didn’t have
> wireless. Apparently, 11.4 doesn’t seem to support this wireless yet
> (there is talk of the driver getting merged in kernel 2.6.38, so I’m
> sure it’s close). I figured I would post my solution in case anyone
> needed it.

The driver for the RTL8192CE/RTL8188CE is in kernel 2.6.38. The driver for the
USB versions of the chip will be in 2.6.39. For the PCIe card, you might want to
get one of the 2.6.38 development kernels, rather than build your own driver.

> You should get the driver from Realtek first. I got mine ‘here’
> (http://tinyurl.com/4npgt3g) but remember, my file is for the 8188CE!
> You may need to get a different one depending on your model and
> version.

I have not had good success with the Realtek web-site drivers on 64-bit systems.
If you are building a driver and you see warnings that say something like “cast
from a pointer to an integer of different size”, it likely will not work.

> Next, make sure you have the needed build files in Suse. You will need
> to install kernel-syms, make, gcc, and kernel-default-devel (Note: I am
> using the standard, default kernel. Yours may be different e.g.
> kernel-desktop-devel, kernel-pae-devel, etc.)
>
> Just extract the file you downloaded, enter the extracted directory in
> your terminal, and then “make” and “make install” as superuser. Once
> this completes, you will have to reboot.

Only the “make install” part needs to be done as the superuser. The make should not.

> After reboot, you should see your wireless device.

Reboot is not really needed after building an out-of-kernel driver. A “sudo
/sbin/modprobe -v driver_name” should do it. If an older version is being
replaced, use “sudo /sbin/modprobe -rv driver_name” first.

3

The driver for the RTL8192CE/RTL8188CE is in kernel 2.6.38. The driver for the
USB versions of the chip will be in 2.6.39. For the PCIe card, you might want to
get one of the 2.6.38 development kernels, rather than build your own driver.

Yup, I got that info from you no less lol

The driver for the RTL8192CE/RTL8188CE is in kernel 2.6.38. The driver for the
USB versions of the chip will be in 2.6.39. For the PCIe card, you might want to
get one of the 2.6.38 development kernels, rather than build your own driver.

11.4 is using 2.6.37 so that doesn’t help folks at the moment.

I have not had good success with the Realtek web-site drivers on 64-bit systems.

This is 32-bit, at least my install is. Probably should have made mention of that

Only the “make install” part needs to be done as the superuser. The make should not.

> your terminal, and then “make” and “make install” as superuser. Once

That’s what was meant, suppose I should be clearer

Reboot is not really needed after building an out-of-kernel driver. A “sudo
/sbin/modprobe -v driver_name” should do it. If an older version is being
replaced, use “sudo /sbin/modprobe -rv driver_name” first.

Keeping it simple :slight_smile:

4

Here is a question, once the 2.6.38 kernel is released will this driver cause any conflicts?

5

On 03/10/2011 07:06 AM, NeoGraven wrote:
>
> Here is a question, once the 2.6.38 kernel is released will this driver
> cause any conflicts?

I not sure that I understand the question. Only drivers that have been built
against the same set of kernel headers as the kernel itself can even be loaded
into that kernel. If you are worried that a driver built for 2.6.37 will
interfere with 2.6.38, no problem.

6

Thanks NeoGraven! It’s amazing how simple it was to do this now that I have the proper packages installed. It should probably be noted that the make install takes a little while for us noobs who don’t know.

7

Nice procedure!
My old Toshiba Satellite Pro is now connected to the internet using a RTL8188CUS USB dongle.

Thanks!

8

I have a Toshiba Satellite running a 64-bit AMD processor and RTL8188 wireless NIC. After install Suse Linux 11.4 I did not see the wireless NIC, and after many searches came upon this post.

The following was the output from lspci -vnn:

02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8188CE 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter [10ec:8176] (rev 01)
Subsystem: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device [10ec:8181]
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 7
I/O ports at 7000 [size=256]
Memory at f3100000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16]
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
Capabilities: [70] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
Capabilities: [140] Virtual Channel
Capabilities: [160] Device Serial Number 01-91-81-fe-ff-4c-e0-00

I have followed the steps you’ve provided but cannot get the driver to install. When I type ./autorun.sh (the file provided by RealTek and recommended in the README) I get:
Check old driver and unload it.
Build the module and install
Depending module. Please wait.
load module r8168 Completed.

Typing /sbin/modprobe -v r8168 returns nothing.
Typing /sbin/modprobe -rv r8168 returns:
rmmod /lib/modules/2.6.37.1-1.2-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/r8168.ko

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Tim[/size][/size]

9

On 08/09/2011 03:16 AM, TimGlass wrote:
>
> I have a Toshiba Satellite running a 64-bit AMD processor and RTL8188
> wireless NIC. After install Suse Linux 11.4 I did not see the wireless
> NIC, and after many searches came upon this post.
>
> The following was the output from lspci -vnn:
>
> 02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
> RTL8188CE 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter [10ec:8176] (rev 01)
> Subsystem: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device [10ec:8181]
> Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 7
> I/O ports at 7000 [size=256]
> Memory at f3100000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16]
> Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
> Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
> Capabilities: [70] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
> Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
> Capabilities: [140] Virtual Channel
> Capabilities: [160] Device Serial Number 01-91-81-fe-ff-4c-e0-00
>
> I have followed the steps you’ve provided but cannot get the driver to
> install. When I type ./autorun.sh (the file provided by RealTek and
> recommended in the README) I get:
> Check old driver and unload it.
> Build the module and install
> Depending module. Please wait.
> load module r8168 Completed.
>
> Typing /sbin/modprobe -v r8168 returns nothing.
> Typing /sbin/modprobe -rv r8168 returns:
> rmmod /lib/modules/2.6.37.1-1.2-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/r8168.ko

I have no idea what r8168 is, but from context I guess it is a vendor driver. My
experiences with them are not good. The driver to use is rtl8192ce, which
handles both the RTL8192CE and RTL8188CE chips. That driver did not appear in
the kernel until 2.6.38, which is why it is not automatic. It is found in the
compat-wireless package, and I suggest you get it from there.

Using YaST, add the repository at

http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/driver:/wireless/openSUSE_11.4/

and then add the packages

compat-wireless-kmp-XXX, where XXX matches your running kernel (default or
desktop) and kernel-firmware. It is also likely that once the repository is
enabled, YaST will automatically select the correct packages.

Once thise packages are installed, then ‘sudo /sbin/modprobe -v rtl8192ce’ and
your device should work. Make sure your wireless switch is on.
[/size][/size]

10

Thank you - that was what it needed. I was simply determined to make the drivers from RealTek work. Also, it took sometime to figure out how to add a repository to YaST. Last night I was using YaST from a terminal window, and having some trouble making it work. I didn’t know there was a gui version. I took a LInux class over 6 years ago, and it was only one class. I obviously have LOADS to learn. Thankfully, a few Google searches and my computer wireless is now working!

Again, many thanks.
Tim