Realtek rtl8192e wireless not seen

**Dude-PWB-** · November 16th, 2009

Another update of sorts for this chipset.

I replied to realtek with my issues with the last driver they sent me, dated 0106.2009 and included my errors from the terminal, and my research into why that particular driver would not compile.

They have now replied back with a new driver attached dated 1029.2009. Hopefully this one will compile properly and work so that we can get away from ndiswrapper. They seem very eager to help and support this chipset in linux.

I will give this driver a try today and report back with my results.

**Dude-PWB-** · November 16th, 2009

Success!

The new driver from realtek works fine, and better than the windows driver through ndiswrapper.

The file size is too large to upload here so I'm not sure what avenues I can take to get this driver to anyone that needs/wants it. If a mod or admin can tell me where I can/should upload this driver, please reply or send me a PM.

I may just set up a rapidshare link or something if there is no better option.

I will post back later with the link to download, depending on what I figure out.

**Dude-PWB-** · November 16th, 2009

Ok, I have uploaded it to rapidshare for the time being. Unfortunately I don't have a rapidshare account so their site says it can be downloaded 10 times.

Hopefully that will be enough to find somewhere more permanent to host the file for those that need it.

Link: http://rapidshare.com/files/30793587...09.tar.gz.html

MD5: 379F53A4B81A478506A64E49FDBC8126

And, for anyone that would like to know the steps I went through to compile and install the driver, here is what I did. Not sure if I made too many steps or not enough, but my experience is still limited with linux. It worked for me, hopefully it will work for everyone else.

First, I downloaded the file and extracted it to a folder.

Then since I was using the windows wireless driver with ndiswrapper, I opened network manager, and disconnected from my router.

Then I opened ndsiwrapper and removed the windows driver. Then went to synaptic and removed the three entries for ndsiwrapper. I marked them for complete removal so there was no chance of the ndiswrapper driver hanging on to the wireless device.

Then rebooted and and checked to make sure my wireless was no longer detected.

Then open a terminal, and cd to the folder where the driver is extracted.

Then.

Code:

sudo make

then it compiled, but 'sudo make install' gave errors, so i did.

Code:

sudo su

and that gave me a root prompt, then.

Code:

make install

Then rebooted again.

When it rebooted, it didn't detect my wireless, but lspci -vv showed my wireless device using the new driver. So, after a few attempts at trying to start up the wireless, I finally, from a terminal, cd to the driver directory again, then.

Code:

sudo ./wlan0up

And away it went. Connected and working.

Haven't tried another reboot yet to see if it will automatically detect it on subsequent boots, but that will be the next order of business.

Good luck everyone!

**tonyps** · November 17th, 2009

Evening,
Toshiba A505D-S6958
RTL8192e
AMD Turion X2
ATI Radeon
4GB RAM
Ubuntu 9.0.4

Thanks!! I downloaded it, followed your instructions and it seems to be doing well. Ony a few questions though...
1. My RTL8192e is seen as WLAN1 when I run iwconfig:
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

pan0 no wireless extensions.

wlan1 802.11bgn Nickname:"rtl8192E"
Mode:Managed Frequency=2.422 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
Bit Rate:1 Mb/s
Retry

n RTS thr

ff Fragment thr

ff
Encryption key

ff
Power Management

ff
Link Quality=10/100 Signal level=0 dBm Noise level=-100 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

Should I set the wireless config for Ad hoc or Infrastructure? ON my home network it connects with WEP and is set to infrastructure...When I tried it at work, connections were very hard to maintain even thoug there was a strong signal. Our wireless guest network there does not use security but is limited with what you can access...
Thanks again, looking forward to hearing more good news!!
Tony ...

**Dude-PWB-** · November 18th, 2009

Don't have an answer for why it is wlan1 instead of wlan0, but I don't think it really matters as long as it works. It could possibly be that ndiswrapper may still have ahold of wlan0.

I think the ad-hoc/infrastructure setting is more of a router side setting rather than a driver setting, however i'm not completely clear on that.

My wireless wouldn't automatically start on boot and I had to start it manually every time. I have since installed wicd from the repositories and it in turn removes network manager, I'm hoping that will solve my isseue.

**BizCasFri** · November 18th, 2009

I shall try this on my Toshiba u500 later today and give you an update.

**Dude-PWB-** · November 18th, 2009

OK! Figured it out!

Once the driver is installed, to get the wireless to start on boot you need to edit your /etc/modules file.

Code:

sudo gedit /etc/modules

Then simply add r8192e_pci on a line and save the file.

Code:

# /etc/modules: kernel modules to load at boot time.
#
# This file contains the names of kernel modules that should be loaded
# at boot time, one per line. Lines beginning with "#" are ignored.
r8192e_pci

When you reboot, your wireless should start automatically.

**BizCasFri** · November 18th, 2009

So, I'm having some problems with it. The driver installed, following the instructions, and having to do a ./wlan0up each time, but when I do, it doesn't find any networks where I know there are some. Also adding that line to the modules file does not do anything for me, and I have to do a ./wlan0up each time, and it doesn't find any networks anyways.

Back to ndiswrapper for me I guess...

**Dude-PWB-** · November 18th, 2009

I wonder if it has to do with you using 64bit and this is the 32bit driver?

Did you make sure you removed ndiswrapper (complete removal) and reboot so ndiswrapper lets go of the device?

I also removed network manager and installed wicd in an earlier step, wonder of that would help?

You might want to do like me and e-mail realtek and see if they have a 64 bit driver, that might be the issue on its own.

It should work, I'm sure we can find a way.