RTL8192 connection issue...

Have you tested you RAM in memtest in Grub?

Can you provide the output of the following commands, so that it is clear which card and driver as well as which kernel and ubuntu version you are running? This will help people to provide some input into your problem.

To do this, open a terminal with Ctlr+Alt+T, or from the dash search for "terminal".

uname -a
lsb_release -a
lsmod
lspci
lsusb
sudo lshw -C

uname -a
Linux slaptop 3.0.0-14-generic #23-Ubuntu SMP Mon Nov 21 20:34:47 UTC 2011 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 11.10
Release: 11.10
Codename: oneiric
lsmod
Module Size Used by
nls_utf8 12493 1
udf 83826 1
crc_itu_t 12627 1 udf
bnep 17923 2
rfcomm 38408 8
parport_pc 32114 0
ppdev 12849 0
vesafb 13489 1
binfmt_misc 17292 1
joydev 17393 0
snd_hda_codec_hdmi 31426 4
nvidia 10390874 43
uvcvideo 67271 0
videodev 85626 1 uvcvideo
snd_hda_codec_realtek 254125 1
snd_seq_midi 13132 0
snd_rawmidi 25241 1 snd_seq_midi
btusb 18160 2
bluetooth 148839 23 bnep,rfcomm,btusb
snd_hda_intel 24262 3
snd_hda_codec 91754 3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep 13276 1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm 80435 3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
psmouse 73673 0
snd_seq_midi_event 14475 1 snd_seq_midi
serio_raw 12990 0
r8192e_pci 234281 0
rtl8192se 92667 0
rtlwifi 102641 1 rtl8192se
mac80211 393459 2 rtl8192se,rtlwifi
snd_seq 51567 2 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
cfg80211 172392 2 rtlwifi,mac80211
snd_timer 28932 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device 14172 3 snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
snd 55902 16 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_rawmidi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
soundcore 12600 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 14115 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
video 18908 0
lp 17455 0
parport 40930 3 parport_pc,ppdev,lp
ahci 21634 6
libahci 25727 1 ahci
sky2 49317 0
lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor DRAM Controller (rev 12)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor PCI Express x16 Root Port (rev 12)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 06)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio (rev 06)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev 06)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 3 (rev 06)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 4 (rev 06)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 06)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev a6)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 5 Series Chipset LPC Interface Controller (rev 06)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset 4 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 06)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset SMBus Controller (rev 06)
02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GT218 [GeForce 310M] (rev a2)
02:00.1 Audio device: nVidia Corporation High Definition Audio Controller (rev a1)
03:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8192E/RTL8192SE Wireless LAN Controller (rev 01)
07:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. Yukon Optima 88E8059 [PCIe Gigabit Ethernet Controller with AVB] (rev 11)
ff:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture Generic Non-core Registers (rev 02)
ff:00.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture System Address Decoder (rev 02)
ff:02.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Link 0 (rev 02)
ff:02.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Physical 0 (rev 02)
ff:02.2 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved (rev 02)
ff:02.3 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved (rev 02)
lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0ac8:c342 Z-Star Microelectronics Corp.
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 05ac:1293 Apple, Inc. iPod Touch 2.Gen
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 0a5c:219b Broadcom Corp. Bluetooth 2.1 Device
sudo lshw -C
[sudo] password for steveb:
Hardware Lister (lshw) - B.02.15
usage: lshw [-format] [-options ...]
       lshw -version

I could not find anything specific to your particular kernel/driver combination. However, some users report blacklisting the 8192E kernel module and manually building the 8192SE drivers can provide an alternate driver. This may not *fix* your problem, but possibly circumvents it.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/401126

If you go down this route, you will need to pin your kernel version, as your wifi may stop working again after a kernel update (or you can always reboot to the old kernel, download the development headers again and recompile)

I have the Realtek drivers but these will not build for a 3.X kernel - The link you provided only seems to refer to Ubuntu 9 and 10. where I guess the Realtek drivers would work. The reply also seems to imply there is a seperate driver for the SE vs the E versions - Is this correct ? If so should I just blacklist the E version and the SE will pick up the card ?

Best Regards

Steve

>The reply also seems to imply there is a seperate driver for the SE vs the E versions - Is this correct ? If so
>should I just blacklist the E version and the SE will pick up the card ?

There were no major API breaks between the 2.6.39+ and the 3.0 linux kernels. The kernel devs just firefox-ified the version numbering :( .

 I am surprised that this could cause driver breakage (though it could if the realtek drivers assumed that any future major version numbering changes implied an API change, which would not have been unreasonable, and thus just broke intentionally. sigh.) It could be a slight build system problem, but pinging the troubleshoot backwards and forwards on this forum might not be simple.

>The reply also seems to imply there is a seperate driver for the SE vs the E versions - Is this correct ? If so
>should I just blacklist the E version and the SE will pick up the card ?

I am guessing.

As far as I can tell, this is the case, though not having access to your hardware, I have no way to verify this. It is worth a shot, is all I can say. It depends if there are differences between the as-posted 8192SE driver's detection code, and the 8192SE code in the mainline kernel. You can use modinfo rtl8192se to check this, based upon the "alias" field.

The Realtek driver ( latest version ) is incompatible with 3.X kernels - It simply will not compile so this doesnt work for me

I guess I was hoping for some feedback about the driver included in the distro - Is it likely to improve or just be left as is ?

Steve

The driver included in the distro is the driver in the kernel. If you update your kernel to latest, that is the best that is currently available.

Aside from compiling a new kernel, compiling a new driver, or updating to a newer version of ubuntu (eg precise alpha), you won't be able to go much further.

So if the best that is available isn't working should I assume the driver got broken
from 11.04 -> 11.10 ? Sounds like I should just convert this to a bug report then ?

I think Ubuntu 12.04 LTS does not provide a good working driver for the RTL8192 series. Mine will work for quite a while, then quit.

When it does not work, my connection will drop, and I will get a request to enter the password. That request will repeat over and over. A reboot will allow me to reconnect for a variable period of time.

So I found two drivers on the RTL web site, and downloaded the one for more recent kernels. You should be able to find it, there are two drivers. It seems I have to do a make clean, make, make install and reboot every time I get a kernel update. Then it seems after that the wifi is stable.

Links: http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PFid=48&Level=5&Conn=4&ProdID=226&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false&Downloads=true I used Linux driver for kernel 2.6.24 (and later, up to 3.2.x) RTL8192SE

Just did it.. wi fi still holding, though sometimes it will be days before I am sure. Last 2 times I have done this, it kept working thereafter.

Maybe someone can report this as a bug, so that Ubuntu could just properly load a working driver.