Help please to configure a Realtek USB Wifi (SOLVED, thanks)

[BJF]

The Atheros AR5523 dongle that muungwana fixed for me has enjoyed varied success. But above all, the  main problem has been extremely limited range of operation away from the server. At a distance of 10 yards, the connection strength indicates typically 10-20% on start-up, and the connection is lost if anything heavy-duty is asked of it.
I have a Realtek dongle purchased on the expectation of a 300 yard range as advertised. It had been installed as Wlan0 previously through Configure Your Computer>Wireless>> and it worked, but like the Atheros had a limited range and slowly got worse. I suspected that it wasn't properly installed.
Using muungwana's process to make the Atheros dongle go, I started with:

ndiswrapper-1.58rc1.tar.gz, unpacking and doing make and make install. It was already installed, of course. Then I did:

modprobe ndiswrapper and tail -n 20 /var/log/syslog. The results of that are very, very similar to the published Atheros return in that thread. I did:

ndiswrapper -m, replugged the device, and did iwconfig. No result. So I did:

ndiswrapper -a 0dba:8176 net8192.inf (found that on Google), then:

modprobe  -r ndiswrapper, then:

modprobe ndiswrapper.

No activity, so I did:

ifconfig wlan0 up

iwconfig

Nothing. So I shut it down. Next boot, the wifi came up showing 85% signal at 10 yards all on its own, and identified itself as this:

Wlan1:Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI RS100 ACP Bridge [IGP 320M]

And it performed flawlessly while I checked the Forum, watched Flash video, and got my emails. Too good to be true? Yes. It didn't survive reboot.
Did this:

[mdm@localhost ~]$ su root
Password:
[root@localhost mdm]# lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0bda:8176 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8188CUS 802.11n WLAN
[root@localhost mdm]# ndiswrapper -l
airforceone : driver installed
airplus : driver installed
athfmwdl : driver installed
bcmwl5 : driver installed
bcmwl5a : driver installed
lstinds : driver installed
net5211 : driver installed
net5523 : driver installed
net8185 : driver installed
net8192cu : invalid driver!
netathw : invalid driver!
netr33x : driver installed
netrtwlanu : driver installed
   device (0BDA:8176) present (alternate driver: rtl8192cu)
prismnic : driver installed
wlannic : driver installed
wlipnds : driver installed
[root@localhost mdm]#

netrtwlanu is present in both a Windows and Linux version of a driver package from I think AMD (the memory isn't that accurate, I've done a lot of hunter-gathering on this), and the Linux driver has  the rtl8192cu file. This evening on boot the wifi came up but dropped after a few seconds.

Could anyone direct me please in getting either ndiswrapper to drive this thing since when it is working it has way better reception than the Atheros item? Or might it be better driven by the native Linux driver to eliminate the possibility that ndiswrapper has a fault. I have to say that I don't remember the Atheros dongle being a problem in previous installs and it could see a neighbour's router across a street after we first got it going in KDE 2007.

Compaq NX9005 with 2011.06 LXDE fully up to date, and kernel 3.2.18-pclos2.bfs

Thanks.

[sling-shot]

Since you say it is a Realtek thing, would you be willing to get the drivers from here

http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=48&PFid=48&Level=5&Conn=4&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false&Downloads=true#RTL8188CUS

and follow a suitably modified procedure from here

http://www.pclinuxoshelp.com/index.php/Compiling_drivers_for_Realtek_card_reader

and report back the results?
-SS.

[BJF]

Sorry, SS, but I cannot locate the rts_pstor tar in the link or with a search of the site. Am I missing something? I had got both those Windows and Linux .tar's and unpacked them to see if they were applicable before my original post but they don't reference rts_pstor packed or unpacked. 

[Yankee]

The Atheros AR5523 dongle that muungwana fixed for me has enjoyed varied success. But above all, the  main problem has been extremely limited range of operation away from the server. At a distance of 10 yards, the connection strength indicates typically 10-20% on start-up, and the connection is lost if anything heavy-duty is asked of it.
I have a Realtek dongle purchased on the expectation of a 300 yard range as advertised. It had been installed as Wlan0 previously through Configure Your Computer>Wireless>> and it worked, but like the Atheros had a limited range and slowly got worse. I suspected that it wasn't properly installed.

My AT&T DSL wifi modem gateway has a configuration option regulating
transmit strength.   Presently it's operating about 40% of capable output.
I think if I turned it up to 100% it would transmit throughout the whole
building.   Nothing to do with the desktop hardware, just the wifi modem
transmit signal strength setting in it's configuration settings menu.   How
to do that depends on the modem, you have to enter a password and then
find the right menu.

Hope that might help.

FF

[BJF]

F.F: I probably can discount that because M'lady's laptop and my EeePC show good signal strengths in the dining room 10 paces from the router, and the Realtek dongle has registered high eighties percent when it goes. Both her laptop and the Eeep can see the router at about 20% in her office, 50 yards away and through 3 walls. My laptop gets under 20% at 10 yards with the Atheros and the wrongly installed Realtek. It's the dongle installs, not the router at this point. But good call. Thanks.

[muungwana]

10 paces? 10 yards?  
i had to google these units in meters to get an idea of the ranges you are talking about. Strange units of distance

You have two modules that can handle your Realtek card, "rtl8192cu" and "ndiswapper".

You may need to block one module and load another if you want to use one or the other.Leaving both could give different behavior depending on which one is loaded and you may see inconsistent behavior.

can you use the dongle on other laptops around? does it work at long distances in other systems other than pclinuxos?

[BJF]

muungwana: Sorry for the confusion over distances. I tend to think PCLOS=States, and forget that some of us don't speak Imperial (!) measures. We went metric in 1967 in NZ, and we're still in the Empire too. I shall hence-forth measure in my native tongue. So it's 10m and 50m, give or take.
We only have Tex's fine product in our house, LXDE on the lappies and MiniMe on one and Hootie's .iso on the other geriatric desktops. M'lady won't let me near her laptop unless it's for a bi-annual reinstall, and do you seriously think that with my inexperience and record of breaking things I should be experimenting with any computer that I love? 
Could we try putting a fence around ndiswrapper and trialling rtl8192cu?

[muungwana]

add "rtl8192cu" at a new line in "/etc/modprobe.preload"

All entries in the text file are module names and they are auto loaded at boot time.

add "ndiswrapper" to "/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist"

The kernel will block an attempt at loading a module in the above text file at boot time.

Those two above changes will make sure the first driver will be auto loaded at boot time and will not compete with ndiswrapper module if it also want to autoload at boot time.

[BJF]

Slingshot: found the rls_pstor.tar and did the install as per your direction without error. Nothing. The dongle doesn't light, no connection shows.

Muungwana: Teamviewer-a-go-go.
Did the homework and again, got a start-up showing 98% strength at 10 pac.. sorry, 10m which survived a reboot but not Hibernate, and never came back.    What puzzles me is what does the rtl8192cu in modprobe.preload now point to? I don't appear to have a clear file named that on the machine. There is a Realtek Linux .tar which when unpacked has apparently enough bits to make install that driver but no equivalent of the netXXXX.inf file as in ndiswrapper.
Have you any more homework assignments for me?

Thanks again.

[rekabe]

I found this thread interesting because I am having trouble using a Airlink AWLL5088 USB wifi dongle with the 3.2.18 kernel. The driver rtl8192.cu was downloaded from the Realtek website,installed and is working perfectly with the 2.6.38 kernel. The rtl8192.cu module is included in the 3.2.18 kernel but is not working with the donge. Searches via google seems to point to trouble with this module with later kernels.

[muungwana]

Slingshot: found the rls_pstor.tar and did the install as per your direction without error. Nothing. The dongle doesn't light, no connection shows.

Muungwana: Teamviewer-a-go-go.
Did the homework and again, got a start-up showing 98% strength at 10 pac.. sorry, 10m which survived a reboot but not Hibernate, and never came back.    What puzzles me is what does the rtl8192cu in modprobe.preload now point to? I don't appear to have a clear file named that on the machine. There is a Realtek Linux .tar which when unpacked has apparently enough bits to make install that driver but no equivalent of the netXXXX.inf file as in ndiswrapper.
Have you any more homework assignments for me?

Thanks again.

only ndiswrapper uses those .inf windows files.

rtl8192cu is a native kernel module,it already contains all the info it needs for devices it supports and thats why it doesnt need .inf files.

The module comes preinstalled, its at:
/lib/modules/3.2.18-pclos2.bfs/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rtlwifi/rtl8192cu/rtl8192cu.ko.gz

If it does not survive hibernate then try to unload and then reload the driver and try again and see if it will work.

you do that running these commands
modprobe -r rtl8192cu
modprobe rtl8192cu

[muungwana]

I found this thread interesting because I am having trouble using a Airlink AWLL5088 USB wifi dongle with the 3.2.18 kernel. The driver rtl8192.cu was downloaded from the Realtek website,installed and is working perfectly with the 2.6.38 kernel. The rtl8192.cu module is included in the 3.2.18 kernel but is not working with the donge. Searches via google seems to point to trouble with this module with later kernels.

thanks for the comment,getting the module from their website could improve things BJF

[Yankee]

@BJF

How's the older kernel working with it ?    Those USB wifi plugins are
only about $15-$20.   I'd take it back to the store and get another one,
some other brand.   One that's proven to work with PCL default drivers
and/or downloaded drivers, or whatever workaround.   Could be defective,
or unhappy with a certain memory address it's forced to use on that hardware, etc..

Your USB port works OK otherwise ?   

The dongle(s) works OK on other computer(s) ?

I'd still turn up the transmit signal from the modem a little bit,
just a few db can mean a world of difference, give and take.

I hope I don't have this problem if I upgrade to a 4G Clear CityWide dongle.

Just brainstorming.   

FF

[BJF]

muungwana: Note, I can't get the thing to come up any more so I did:

[mdm@localhost ~]$ su root
Password:
[root@localhost mdm]# modprobe -r rtl8192cu
WARNING: /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist line 4: ignoring bad line starting with 'ndiswrapper'
[root@localhost mdm]# modprobe rtl8192cu
WARNING: /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist line 4: ignoring bad line starting with 'ndiswrapper'
[root@localhost mdm]#

This is my /etc/modprob.d/blacklist:

blacklist ssb

blacklist ssb
ndiswrapper

Something else that might be pertinent to this discussion is that the ethernet connection from laptop to router shows a red "I'm not connected" light on the Belkin router while plainly it is (I'm posting from it), but it shows a connection green light from boot right to the point where the connection appears on the desktop, then goes red. Curious...
OK, if you wouldn't mind, could we go back to the last known trouble-free kernel that the Forum knows of, and walk through installing the Realtek driver? I have it.
Is it just me, or are there dongle faults linked to the latest kernel that weren't there before?

FF: You are right. USB dongles aren't expensive. But finding a vendor that speaks Gnome convincingly in NZ is hard work. "It isn't Windows? Ummm....." This dongle seems to make signal strength out of thin air when it's going, and on that basis is a keeper. I just need the assistance of a bunch of very clever people I know to make it do it. That's you guys!

Thank you all again,
John.

[muungwana]

WARNING: /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist line 4: ignoring bad line starting with 'ndiswrapper'

my bad, you were supposed to add:

blacklist ndiswrapper

if you the system is already running, run "modprobe -r ndiswrapper" to remove the module before doing "modprobe -r rtl8192cu" followed by "modprobe rtl8192cu"

The trouble free kernel you had was the one in pclinuxos2007? you can ask if somebody still has an rpm for it, it might be installable, but i doubt it.

new kernels may improve things and they may also make things worse. You cant really say anything about. If newer ones do not work then you may go to old ones but which ones? It will become a trial and error if you do that.