Verne: trouble with realtek wireless card; rtl8192ce driver

ldartez · #1 20th March 2012, 07:27 AM

Hello all,

I've recently bought a Lenovo laptop with the Realtek RTL8188CE WiFi Adapter. I'd like to mention, before anything else that this card works beautifully in the Windows 7 that came preloaded on this machine. No problems whatsoever.

The Problem:
This wireless card is able to detect all the networks in the area without a problem. Initially (after boot), it is usually able to connect to the primary AP without consequence. However, after a few minutes the network will just be dropped. I have a network monitor on one of my panels and it shows that the card tries to send data but will suddenly stop receiving. When this occurs the signal strength stays exactly where it was, but when I click on network icon and then click on the network that I want to be connected to it's as if the card needs to begin the connecting process all over again. This re-connection, if successful, will sometimes take up to 5 minutes. I have been able to convince myself that this doesn't happen as often when I keep the connection alive (e.g. while streaming video or music) but I doubt there is any merit to that.

The Set-Up:
output of "lspci -v":

Code:

08:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8188CE 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter (rev 01)

08:00.0 0280: 10ec:8176 (rev 01)
	Subsystem: 10ec:8195
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19
	I/O ports at 3000 [size=256]
	Memory at d1d00000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: rtl8192ce
	Kernel modules: rtl8192ce

Code:

[louis@gallifrey ~]$ iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:"attwifi"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.437 GHz  Access Point: 00:3A:9A:13:7D:30   
          Bit Rate=54 Mb/s   Tx-Power=20 dBm   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr=2347 B   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=47/70  Signal level=-63 dBm  
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:1456   Missed beacon:0

eth0      no wireless extensions.

Code:

uname -a: Linux gallifrey 3.2.10-3.fc16.x86_64 #1 SMP Thu Mar 15 19:39:46 UTC 2012 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Code:

[louis@gallifrey ~]$ lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
ndiswrapper           278515  0 
lockd                  84578  0 
fcoe                   27326  0 
libfcoe                43060  1 fcoe
libfc                 108654  2 fcoe,libfcoe
scsi_transport_fc      53339  2 fcoe,libfc
scsi_tgt               19553  1 scsi_transport_fc
8021q                  24070  0 
garp                   14069  1 8021q
stp                    12823  1 garp
llc                    14090  2 garp,stp
be2iscsi               72362  0 
iscsi_boot_sysfs       15641  1 be2iscsi
bnx2i                  54521  0 
cnic                   58676  1 bnx2i
uio                    19097  1 cnic
cxgb4i                 32909  0 
cxgb4                 102964  1 cxgb4i
cxgb3i                 32972  0 
libcxgbi               56508  2 cxgb4i,cxgb3i
cxgb3                 155441  1 cxgb3i
mdio                   13398  1 cxgb3
ib_iser                38073  0 
rdma_cm                41898  1 ib_iser
ib_cm                  41692  1 rdma_cm
iw_cm                  18176  1 rdma_cm
ib_sa                  28407  2 rdma_cm,ib_cm
ib_mad                 46392  2 ib_cm,ib_sa
ib_core                73791  6 ib_iser,rdma_cm,ib_cm,iw_cm,ib_sa,ib_mad
ib_addr                13748  1 rdma_cm
iscsi_tcp              18333  0 
libiscsi_tcp           23970  4 cxgb4i,cxgb3i,libcxgbi,iscsi_tcp
libiscsi               50527  8 be2iscsi,bnx2i,cxgb4i,cxgb3i,libcxgbi,ib_iser,iscsi_tcp,libiscsi_tcp
scsi_transport_iscsi    51823  8 be2iscsi,bnx2i,libcxgbi,ib_iser,iscsi_tcp,libiscsi
ip6t_REJECT            12939  2 
nf_conntrack_ipv6      14290  1 
nf_conntrack_ipv4      14622  1 
nf_defrag_ipv6         18139  1 nf_conntrack_ipv6
nf_defrag_ipv4         12673  1 nf_conntrack_ipv4
xt_state               12578  2 
nf_conntrack           82331  3 nf_conntrack_ipv6,nf_conntrack_ipv4,xt_state
ip6table_filter        12815  1 
ip6_tables             26976  1 ip6table_filter
snd_hda_codec_hdmi     36277  1 
snd_hda_codec_conexant    70252  1 
snd_hda_intel          33276  3 
snd_hda_codec         114652  3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_conexant,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep              17611  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_seq                64807  0 
snd_seq_device         14129  1 snd_seq
snd_pcm                97170  3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
uvcvideo               71509  0 
videodev               97776  1 uvcvideo
media                  20408  2 uvcvideo,videodev
v4l2_compat_ioctl32    16726  1 videodev
arc4                   12529  2 
rtl8192ce              79487  0 
rtl8192c_common        71836  1 rtl8192ce
rtlwifi               104513  1 rtl8192ce
mac80211              439421  3 rtl8192ce,rtl8192c_common,rtlwifi
cfg80211              194802  2 rtlwifi,mac80211
snd_timer              28815  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
thinkpad_acpi          79395  1 
snd                    74425  18 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_conexant,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm,snd_timer,thinkpad_acpi
r8169                  60789  0 
microcode              23240  0 
snd_page_alloc         18101  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
iTCO_wdt               17948  0 
rfkill                 21410  3 cfg80211,thinkpad_acpi
iTCO_vendor_support    13419  1 iTCO_wdt
joydev                 17412  0 
i2c_i801               17765  0 
mii                    13527  1 r8169
soundcore              14484  1 snd
sunrpc                234999  2 lockd
uinput                 17606  0 
binfmt_misc            17431  1 
sdhci_pci              18777  0 
sdhci                  37779  1 sdhci_pci
mmc_core              100913  1 sdhci
i915                  452930  2 
drm_kms_helper         40141  1 i915
drm                   226004  3 i915,drm_kms_helper
i2c_algo_bit           13156  1 i915
i2c_core               37955  6 videodev,i2c_i801,i915,drm_kms_helper,drm,i2c_algo_bit
video                  18932  1 i915

XFCE desktop

What I've Tried
I have spent the better part of the past few days attempting to get the Linux driver for this card to work on my system correctly. The driver that ships with Verne is buggy, as is the driver that Realtek offers on their website.

The thing with their drivers is that they have two Linux drivers for this card: pre (& including) and post kernel 2.6.23. The defective one is more recent one. It has been reported (over and over again) that this problem is present across ALL Linux distributions, not just Fedora. But I'm still at a loss as to what to do next.

I figure I have two directions in which I can proceed at this point; I can try and get ndiswrapper to work with the Windows driver, which we know works like a charm, or I can try to build the pre 2.6.23 version of the Linux driver and give that a go on my system (i'm not sure if this will break anything). I have, in many ways, tried both of these things already, unsuccessfully.

Hence this post.

ndiswrapper

Code:

[louis@gallifrey ~]$ ndiswrapper -v
utils version: '1.9', utils version needed by module: '1.9'
module details:
filename:       /lib/modules/3.2.10-3.fc16.x86_64/extra/ndiswrapper/ndiswrapper.ko
version:        1.57
vermagic:       3.2.10-3.fc16.x86_64 SMP mod_unload

I used yum to install ndiswrapper and kmod-ndiswrapper and then downloaded the windows driver from http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/...true#RTL8188CE.

Most of what I tried as far as ndiswrapper goes is in post1563107.
but I've since implemented stoat's suggestions to no avail.
My main problem is that no matter what I do to activate ndiswraper, the rtl8192ce driver is still shown to be active when I run lspci -v. I've tried adding

Code:

 
blacklist rtl8192ce
blacklist rtlwifi

in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf but this didn't do a thing.
i've also tried running ndiswrapper with the -m, -mi, and -ma options individually and both rebooting and running 'sudo service NetworkManager restart' after each one to no avail. 'modprobe ndiswrapper' doesn't do anything either.

Building the old driver
I tried installing the old kernel headers but yum won't let me since they don't upgrade what I already have installed. And finding pre 2.6.23 kernel headers from source has proven to be quite difficult for me.

At this point I'd be open to any suggestions you'd be willing to throw at me.

Thanks a bunch!

JEO · #2 20th March 2012, 11:04 AM

I would retry your blacklisting effort for the rtl8192ce module. The rtlwifi module is one of the depends of the rtl8192ce module and does not need to be blacklisted.

You posted two lines from /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf but you may want to review the actual file for typos on the "blacklist rtl8192ce" line. Note putting that line there won't immediately do anything, it will only cause the driver to not load after a reboot. A manual modprobe command will still load the that driver even if it is blacklisted, so make sure you haven't added any scripts or aliases that would modprobe it. I usually also issue a "depmod -a" command before the reboot.

ldartez · #3 20th March 2012, 06:50 PM

Hello JEO,

You were right about the blacklisting. I just needed to completely reboot the machine.

On the other hand... None of the ndiswrapper options are working. I'm using the WinXP driver.

The only thing that I can think of is that ndiswrapper is is writing everything to /etc/modules.conf
... Is this what it should be doing?

Tapatalk

JEO · #4 20th March 2012, 07:27 PM

The /etc/modules.conf file is a bug with ndiswrapper not being updated to handle 3.X kernels. I usually move that file to /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper.conf.

Are you using the 64bit version of the WinXP driver? I have had very bad luck with ndiswrapper on 64 bit linux (its never worked for me, usually crashes the kernel as soon as you modprobe it). It has worked fairly well on 32 bit linux with the normal 32 bit XP driver.

ldartez · #5 20th March 2012, 07:34 PM

Hello JEO,

I will try this right away. I'm using the XP 32bit driver on my 64bit Fedora....do you think this will work?

JEO · #6 20th March 2012, 07:38 PM

No it won't work. The only thing that can work on 64 bit linux is the 64 bit version of the XP driver.

ldartez · #7 20th March 2012, 08:05 PM

Okay. I removed the 32XP version and installed the 64b.

Code:

[louis@gallifrey WinX64]$ sudo ndiswrapper -m
adding "alias wlan0 ndiswrapper" to /etc/modules.conf ...
[louis@gallifrey WinX64]$ sudo cp /etc/modules.conf /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper.conf
[louis@gallifrey WinX64]$ ls /etc/modprobe.d
blacklist.conf  dist.conf      ndiswrapper.conf  udlfb.conf
dist-alsa.conf  dist-oss.conf  openfwwf.conf
[louis@gallifrey WinX64]$ sudo modprobe ndiswrapper

no crash...yet... running lspci -v after this modprobe showed that the rtl8192ce is still working...i'm going to reboot now...if that doesn't work then i'll try again with the '-mi' and '-ma' options moving the file to the modprobe.d directory each time.

---------- Post added at 02:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:46 PM ----------

well....again, none of the ndiswrapper options worked for me....even with the 64bXP driver....not sure if it's because I'm doing something wrong

JEO · #8 20th March 2012, 10:38 PM

Make sure the rtl8192ce is not loaded then try:

rmmod ndiswrapper
modprobe ndiswrapper

tail -n 100 /var/log/messages

look for messages that appear right after you modprobe it.

ldartez · #9 21st March 2012, 05:10 PM

JEO,

Good call.
So, it's complaining about the symbols IoWMIQueryAllData and IoWMIOpenBlock. Could this be because I used the wrong driver to begin with?

Code:

Mar 21 10:50:12 gallifrey kernel: [  127.916474] usbcore: deregistering interface driver ndiswrapper
Mar 21 10:50:28 gallifrey systemd[1]: Startup finished in 2s 104ms 546us (kernel) + 3s 895ms 669us (initrd) + 2min 18s 241ms 929us (userspace) = 2min 24s 242ms 144us.
Mar 21 10:50:37 gallifrey kernel: [  152.713272] ndiswrapper version 1.57 loaded (smp=yes, preempt=no)
Mar 21 10:50:37 gallifrey kernel: [  152.722732] ndiswrapper (import:232): unknown symbol: ntoskrnl.exe:'IoWMIQueryAllData'
Mar 21 10:50:37 gallifrey kernel: [  152.722745] ndiswrapper (import:232): unknown symbol: ntoskrnl.exe:'IoWMIOpenBlock'
Mar 21 10:50:37 gallifrey kernel: [  152.722938] ndiswrapper (load_sys_files:199): couldn't prepare driver 'net8192ce'
Mar 21 10:50:37 gallifrey loadndisdriver: loadndisdriver: load_driver(364): couldn't load driver net8192ce
Mar 21 10:50:37 gallifrey kernel: [  152.723931] ndiswrapper (load_wrap_driver:102): couldn't load driver net8192ce; check system log for messages from 'loadndisdriver'
Mar 21 10:50:37 gallifrey kernel: [  152.724043] usbcore: registered new interface driver ndiswrapper
Mar 21 10:50:41 gallifrey dbus-daemon[996]: ** Message: No devices in use, exit

Edit:

The output above is from using the WinXP 64b driver. If i try using either the Win7 or Vista 64bit drivers the 'unknown symbol' errors get much much worse.

JEO · #10 21st March 2012, 08:23 PM

If the two missing functions aren't very important sometimes you can get away with adding dummy functions and compiling ndiswrapper from source. Here is an example of a dummy fuction that does not take any parameters:

Code:

wstdcall void WIN_FUNC(ExEventObjectType,0)
	(void)
{
	TODO();
}

You would replace ExEventObjectType with one the unknown symbol names you saw, and so on. I usually add the dummy functions to the source file ntoskernel.c around line 2455 just after the following function:

Code:

wstdcall ULONG WIN_FUNC(ExSetTimerResolution,2)
	(ULONG time, BOOLEAN set)
{
	/* why a driver should change system wide timer resolution is
	 * beyond me */
	return time;
}

ldartez · #11 21st March 2012, 10:09 PM

Hello JEO,

Thank you very much for these suggestions.

I added the following lines at line 2455:

Code:

stdcall void WIN_FUNC(IoWMIQueryAllData,0)
        (void)
{
        TODO();
}
stdcall void WIN_FUNC(IoWMIOpenBlock,0)
        (void)
{
        TODO();
}

I then ran sudo make and got the following messages:

Code:

[louis@gallifrey ndiswrapper-1.57]$ sudo make
make -C utils
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/louis/Desktop/ndiswrapper-1.57/utils'
make[1]: Nothing to be done for `all'.
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/louis/Desktop/ndiswrapper-1.57/utils'
make -C driver
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/louis/Desktop/ndiswrapper-1.57/driver'
make -C /usr/src/kernels/3.2.10-3.fc16.x86_64 M=/home/louis/Desktop/ndiswrapper-1.57/driver
make[2]: Entering directory `/usr/src/kernels/3.2.10-3.fc16.x86_64'
  CC [M]  /home/louis/Desktop/ndiswrapper-1.57/driver/ntoskernel.o
In file included from /home/louis/Desktop/ndiswrapper-1.57/driver/ntoskernel.c:21:0:
/home/louis/Desktop/ndiswrapper-1.57/driver/ntoskernel_exports.h:337:1: error: ‘IoWMIOpenBlock’ undeclared here (not in a function)
/home/louis/Desktop/ndiswrapper-1.57/driver/ntoskernel_exports.h:338:1: error: ‘IoWMIQueryAllData’ undeclared here (not in a function)
/home/louis/Desktop/ndiswrapper-1.57/driver/ntoskernel_exports.h:467:2: warning: cast to pointer from integer of different size [-Wint-to-pointer-cast]
/home/louis/Desktop/ndiswrapper-1.57/driver/ntoskernel_exports.h:467:2: error: initializer element is not constant
/home/louis/Desktop/ndiswrapper-1.57/driver/ntoskernel_exports.h:467:2: error: (near initialization for ‘ntoskernel_exports[36].func’)
/home/louis/Desktop/ndiswrapper-1.57/driver/ntoskernel_exports.h:468:2: warning: cast to pointer from integer of different size [-Wint-to-pointer-cast]
/home/louis/Desktop/ndiswrapper-1.57/driver/ntoskernel_exports.h:468:2: error: initializer element is not constant
/home/louis/Desktop/ndiswrapper-1.57/driver/ntoskernel_exports.h:468:2: error: (near initialization for ‘ntoskernel_exports[37].func’)
/home/louis/Desktop/ndiswrapper-1.57/driver/ntoskernel.c:2455:9: error: expected ‘=’, ‘,’, ‘;’, ‘asm’ or ‘__attribute__’ before ‘void’
/home/louis/Desktop/ndiswrapper-1.57/driver/ntoskernel.c:2460:9: error: expected ‘=’, ‘,’, ‘;’, ‘asm’ or ‘__attribute__’ before ‘void’
make[3]: *** [/home/louis/Desktop/ndiswrapper-1.57/driver/ntoskernel.o] Error 1
make[2]: *** [_module_/home/louis/Desktop/ndiswrapper-1.57/driver] Error 2
make[2]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/kernels/3.2.10-3.fc16.x86_64'
make[1]: *** [modules] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/louis/Desktop/ndiswrapper-1.57/driver'
make: *** [driver] Error 2

I will now see what I can do in ntoskernel_exports.h and report back....

any suggestions would be appreciated

---------- Post added at 03:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:29 PM ----------

scratch that....syntax error above...I forgot the 'w' in front of stdcall on both of those lines

dumb mistake

---------- Post added at 04:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:56 PM ----------

Okay....

The code compiled after adding those two functions that you told me about....i went back and installed the winxp64b driver and jumped right ahead to using the 'ma' option with ndiswrapper.

I then used your rmmod ndiswrapper; modprobe ndiswrapper suggestion and here is the output:

Code:

Mar 21 15:58:36 gallifrey kernel: [ 8612.653633] usbcore: deregistering interface driver ndiswrapper
Mar 21 15:58:40 gallifrey kernel: [ 8617.203202] ndiswrapper version 1.57 loaded (smp=yes, preempt=no)
Mar 21 15:58:40 gallifrey kernel: [ 8617.205169] usbcore: registered new interface driver ndiswrapper

So it seems like it was able to successfully load the ndiswrapper this time....
but running lspci -v shows that the rtl8192ce driver is still dominant...

now i'm going to reboot (since rtl8192ce driver is blacklisted) and hope that ndiswrapper works

---------- Post added at 04:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:02 PM ----------

rebooted and ndiswrapper didn't work....ran rmmod ndiswrapper and modprobe ndiswrapper again:

Code:

Mar 21 16:05:50 gallifrey kernel: [  159.970312] usbcore: deregistering interface driver ndiswrapper
Mar 21 16:05:57 gallifrey kernel: [  166.696592] ndiswrapper version 1.57 loaded (smp=yes, preempt=no)
Mar 21 16:05:57 gallifrey kernel: [  166.703947] ndiswrapper: driver net8192ce (Realtek Semiconductor Corp.,12/22/2011,1005.31.1222.2011) loaded
Mar 21 16:05:57 gallifrey kernel: [  166.704278] ndiswrapper 0000:08:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 19 (level, low) -> IRQ 19
Mar 21 16:05:57 gallifrey kernel: [  166.844747] ndiswrapper (NdisMMapIoSpace:817): ioremap failed
Mar 21 16:05:57 gallifrey kernel: [  166.844751] ndiswrapper (NdisWriteErrorLogEntry:188): log: C0001388, count: 1, return_address: ffffffffa04ec33f
Mar 21 16:05:57 gallifrey kernel: [  166.844753] ndiswrapper (NdisWriteErrorLogEntry:191): code: 0x601
Mar 21 16:05:57 gallifrey kernel: [  166.844951] ndiswrapper (mp_init:211): couldn't initialize device: C0000001
Mar 21 16:05:57 gallifrey kernel: [  166.844954] ndiswrapper (pnp_start_device:395): Windows driver couldn't initialize the device (C0000001)
Mar 21 16:05:57 gallifrey kernel: [  166.844960] ndiswrapper (mp_halt:254): device ffff8801ac35b780 is not initialized - not halting
Mar 21 16:05:57 gallifrey kernel: [  166.844962] ndiswrapper: device eth%d removed
Mar 21 16:05:57 gallifrey kernel: [  166.844981] ndiswrapper 0000:08:00.0: PCI INT A disabled
Mar 21 16:05:57 gallifrey kernel: [  166.845063] ndiswrapper: probe of 0000:08:00.0 failed with error -22
Mar 21 16:05:57 gallifrey kernel: [  166.845104] usbcore: registered new interface driver ndiswrapper
Mar 21 16:06:09 gallifrey dbus-daemon[976]: ** Message: No devices in use, exit

any ideas?

JEO · #12 21st March 2012, 10:26 PM

"ndiswrapper (NdisMMapIoSpace:817): ioremap failed"

The above error might indicate that the missing functions are not able to be replaced with dummy functions. (The ones you listed both had "Io" in the names).

I don't know how to fix it. You could report it to the ndiswrapper maintainer I seem to remember seeing a bug report forum or system for that.

ldartez · #13 21st March 2012, 11:07 PM

okay...I will look into it...and if I find a fix I will post it here.

Thank you so very much for all your help, JEO

aleph · #14 23rd March 2012, 07:50 AM

Have you tried the recent kernel 3.3.0-4 using native (not ndiswrapper) driver? It should fix your problem. Mine's also an RTL8188CE (supported by the rtl8192ce kernel driver) and it works pretty well with this new kernel. Prior to that I had some similar problem.

ldartez · #15 23rd March 2012, 09:07 AM

i haven't...did you simple 'sudo yum -y update' to get the 3.3 kernel?