Unable to use RTL8187L USB wifi adapter.

Message

camarokid201 · #1 Post by **camarokid201** » Mon 07 Jun 2010, 18:21

Here's some general information of what I am starting with.

Computer: Toshiba Satellite Pro 480cdt
4gb HD
32mb Ram
333mhz processor
Dumped Windows ME for Puppy linux version 4.1.2 Retro.

Wifi: G-Sky Wireless USB adapter with Realtek RTL8187L chipset

I was running Windows ME when I first receiver this laptop and ran the drivers just fine, no problem with install except for some error messages and some boot and shutdown issues that would constantly freeze the computer. So I figured that because Windows ME is such a bad operating system I would try a version of linux, after spending a few days researching I finally got Puppy installed to my Hard Drive. Everything has been working fine but I just can't seem to figure out how to configure my USB Wifi adapter.

At first I looked for my driver to see if it was preinstalled on puppy and this was not the case. So I attempted to download the drivers and install using ndiswrapper. I had my two .sys and .inf in a directory named (WinXP.inf). However upon attempting to install the driver I sometimes get an invalid driver or sometimes it works but fails to recognize my Wifi adapter. I'm using the same drivers for Windows ME except made for Windows XP so I'm not quite sure where I have gone wrong or where to go from here, even with extensive research on the internet and google.

Keep in mind that I am a begginner with Linux.

Also a little off topic I can't seem to get Puppy to be full screen on my laptop, and it sometimes hinders my use with applications, still looking for a fix on this.

rcrsn51 · #2 Post by **rcrsn51** » Mon 07 Jun 2010, 20:13

For wifi support, you would be better off with a more recent Puppy than 4.1.2 retro. But with only 32MB of RAM, you are well below the minimum recommended memory for Puppy.

Have you done a forum search for "RTL8187L"?

camarokid201 · #3 Post by **camarokid201** » Mon 07 Jun 2010, 20:40

Yea I've done quite a bit of searching over the past few days and can't find anyone who had a similar issue as me, do you have a recommendation for a different operating system that would fit my needs or should I go on teh search for more ram?

jemimah · #4 Post by **jemimah** » Mon 07 Jun 2010, 20:54

It might be cheaper and a better investment to buy a new usb network card that is known to work.

camarokid201 · #5 Post by **camarokid201** » Mon 07 Jun 2010, 21:02

Well according to this it schould work on 4.2

generic USB Wireless-G Adapter+Antenna
Puppy versions tested:
Interface: USB
Chipset:
Device Driver (name & source): Realtek RTL8187L driver
WiFi Protocols that work (A, B, G, N):
Security Protocols confirmed working (WEP, WPA, WPA2):
Configured with (Wizard, Ndiswrapper, Manual, Other?):
Posted by & date: Aitch on August 28, 2009
Posted: http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 193#336193
Notes & Issues: one that's listed & works, & is cheap, US $17.44/offers/freepost [ebay], uses Realtek RTL8187L driver, and has an aerial to boost weak signals! - you still need to configure security settings though....[

So I shall try upgrading and see what happens.

jemimah · #6 Post by **jemimah** » Mon 07 Jun 2010, 21:45

It might be worth your time to check out 2.14X too. It has a retro kernel and Xorg, but Ttuuxxx has updated just about everything else. So despite the number, it's actually a bit newer than 4.3 in a lot of ways. Also Ttuuxxx supports it and may be able to help with stuff like this.

looseSCREWorTWO · #7 Post by **looseSCREWorTWO** » Tue 08 Jun 2010, 13:44

When I tested 2.14X it didn't handle USB Wireless at all.

tempestuous · #8 Post by **tempestuous** » Tue 08 Jun 2010, 14:16

Your wifi device is supported by the rtl8187 Linux driver, but this driver was often unstable and failed to support the most recent "B" versions of the Realtek RTL8187 chipset until the 2.6.30.5 kernel. So you probably just need to move up to Puppy 4.3.x (not 4.3-retro) which has this kernel.

looseSCREWorTWO wrote:When I tested 2.14X it didn't handle USB Wireless at all.

Your particular wifi device doen't represent all USB wireless devices.
Generally, 2.14X handles USB wifi well.

camarokid201 · #9 Post by **camarokid201** » Tue 08 Jun 2010, 18:33

Well last night the computer went into a frenzy and wouldn't start when trying to use 2.14 rc5, so I figure I would leave it and just boot up tomorrow and today it seems to be good. I'm trying it now to see if it worked, also upgrading to 4.2.1 did nothing.

tempestuous- I can't move up to 4.3.x because that is the first one I tried installing on my laptop, it would get to a certain part on boot up while loading and said it was looking for the pup431-.sfs file and it would never be found and I couldn't get it to boot, I had looked up the problem and found htat older computers needed the older kernel to run, that is why I went with the retro.

tempestuous · #10 Post by **tempestuous** » Wed 09 Jun 2010, 03:42

If you need to stick with an earlier kernel, I compiled an updated (but not entirely stable) r8187 driver
for Puppy 4.1/4.2 (not retro) with the 2.6.25.15 kernel -
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 339#252339

or for Puppy 2.12-2.16 with the 2.6.18.1 kernel, get the rtl8187B-k2.6.18.1.pet from
http://dotpups.de/dotpups/Wifi/drivers- ... 2-to-2.14/

camarokid201 · #11 Post by **camarokid201** » Wed 09 Jun 2010, 21:18

So i added the rtl8187B-k2.6.18.1.pet and it says that the driver has installed successfully. Then a text file comes up explaining that my device should be recognized but it still doesn't seem to be and when I try to load it manually I can't find it under the modules list. Where do I go from here?

Also it says you can do it manually but where exactly do I type those codes in?

tempestuous · #12 Post by **tempestuous** » Thu 10 Jun 2010, 13:38

Some manual configuration of the r8187 driver is necessary because I compiled it back in the days before Puppy's current Network Wizard

... but wait. We still don't know the exact brand/model of your device, and more importantly its USB device ID, so much of what we're discussing is speculation.
I need you to positively identify your device ID. Please plug in your USB device, then run this command (in rxvt) -

Code: Select all

cat /proc/bus/usb/devices

then report the "Vendor" and "ProdID" values for your wifi device.

camarokid201 · #13 Post by **camarokid201** » Thu 10 Jun 2010, 19:08

I had 2 different vendors and Prod id showes up, this is what came up.

First sectoin

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Vendor=0000
ProdID=0000

Second section,

Code: Select all

Vendor=Obda
ProdID=8187

tempestuous · #14 Post by **tempestuous** » Fri 11 Jun 2010, 00:15

USB device ID 0bda:8187 is one of the earlier Realtek USB chipsets, probably not the "B" version,
but since you have already installed "B" dotpet, let's try it.

The instructions were launched when you installed the dotpet, and you can find them at /root/my-applications/rtl8187B-README.txt

but I now realise the instructions are not quite right. The r8187 driver may have automatically loaded without the other sub-modules it relies upon.
So the first thing to do is unload the driver, as such -

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rmmod r8187

Now load all related modules, and the main driver, like this -

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modprobe ieee80211_crypt-rtl
modprobe ieee80211_crypt_wep-rtl
modprobe ieee80211_crypt_tkip-rtl
modprobe ieee80211_crypt_ccmp-rtl
modprobe ieee80211-rtl
modprobe r8187

now check if an interface has successfully been created -

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ifconfig -a

If you don't see "wlan0" (your wifi interface) listed, then you probably need to install the other (non-"B") driver -
http://dotpups.de/dotpups/Wifi/drivers- ... 6.18.1.pet
reboot, and start again.
But if you do see "wlan0" listed, go ahead and bring up the interface -

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ifconfig wlan0 up

then you can run the Network Wizard to configure your wifi connection.

camarokid201 · #15 Post by **camarokid201** » Sun 13 Jun 2010, 16:21

Everything seemed to work up until I went to the networking wizard, I setup my wireless internet connection and it says that the connection fails even when moving right next to my router so it's not a range issue. Also the driver never stays installed after shutdown so I have to load it each time I boot the computer. Any command to keep it from doing this?

camarokid201 · #16 Post by **camarokid201** » Tue 22 Jun 2010, 00:38

Been searching and tried changing from unsecured to wep, using s: before entering my WEP passphrase, to trying to manual enter my device in recognizing my router(forget exactly what I did but I believe I found it on this forum. But so far I have found nothing that works for me, any suggestions?

camarokid201 · #17 Post by **camarokid201** » Sun 27 Jun 2010, 02:06

So after I couldn't find answers with this wifi device so I tried my friends Linky's wifi usb and his chipset wasn't preloaded either onto Puppy. So as of right now without spending any money I'm out of options.

camarokid201 · #18 Post by **camarokid201** » Sun 04 Jul 2010, 00:14

So I've had some spare time to work on it so I tried to setup my wifi through the command line. While entering my Wep key I kept getting messages even with trying the S:. So I entered "dmesg l grep orinoco" as well as dmesg and I kept getting error messages saying that ieeemodprobe8187_crypt_wep and the kernel is tainted. Also I kept getting other messages saying "error for wireless 'Set Encode' (8b2a). I will get a full mode list tomorrow for more information on my situation.

tempestuous · #19 Post by **tempestuous** » Wed 14 Jul 2010, 01:16

In response to a private message from camarokid201:

First I need to repeat my earlier assertion in this forum thread that the r8187 driver for older kernel versions, such as the one in Puppy 2.14, is generally unstable and unreliable. You would be better off trying to get your device working with Puppy 4.2.x (not 4.2-retro).
But if you still want to persist with 2.14X ...
First install the correct driver version. As I understand it, you have rtl8187B-k2.6.18.1.pet installed, which is wrong because yours is not the "B" version of chipset.
Install rtl8187-k2.6.18.1.pet
from http://dotpups.de/dotpups/Wifi/drivers- ... 2-to-2.14/
This will overwrite the other version of the driver.
Now unplug your USB wifi device, and reboot. Once rebooted, you can plug in your USB device again.
There's a fair chance that Puppy will automatically load the correct driver, but it's worth going through the process manually just to be sure. Load the relevant modules, in this order -

Code: Select all

modprobe ieee80211_crypt-rtl
modprobe ieee80211_crypt_wep-rtl
modprobe ieee80211_crypt_tkip-rtl
modprobe ieee80211_crypt_ccmp-rtl
modprobe ieee80211-rtl
modprobe r8187

If there are any error messages, you should report them. Obviously, I need to know exactly which command yielded the error, and the exact details of the error message.

Now you can try to connect to a wifi access point, using the Network Wizard. It would make common sense to configure your wifi router for NO encryption, and attempt a connection in this unencrypted state. This is common practice with all operating systems, not just Linux.

Once you know this works, you can re-enable encryption at the router, and reconfigure the Network Wizard to connect using encryption. Bear in mind that WEP encryption is more likely to successful with this driver than WPA encryption.

camarokid201 · #20 Post by **camarokid201** » Wed 14 Jul 2010, 22:03

I am useing the rtl8187 driver.

When using the command (ifconfig wlan0 up) it made everything not work for me so I didn't include it this time. It recognizes the live network and everything. So i tried it with no encryption and it worked great but was super slow, (100 times slower than Windows ME!) this allowed me to access the internet. Then I tried it with WEP encryption and it recognizes the live network but won't connect to the internet still.

(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Unable to use RTL8187L USB wifi adapter.

Unable to use RTL8187L USB wifi adapter.