Can't get Realtek RTL8191SEvB wireless adapter to work

**jindrichm** · December 10th, 2010

Unfortunately, this does not work for me.

However, it produced some changes of the wi-fi behaviour. When I follow your instructions Network Manager indicates that wireless is disabled and when I enable it, it is "disconnected" but, immediately after that wireless is disabled again and keeps disabling automatically.

Do you have an idea what might be the cause of this behaviour?

**jindrichm** · January 1st, 2011

I still haven't solved this issue.

When I unload and load the r8192se_pci driver with the hwwep=0 option:

Code:

rmmod r8192se_pci
modprobe r8192se_pci hwwep=0

And then, when I enable the wireless via the Network Manager, it says that the "device is not ready". I've found some suggestions that this is an issue caused by the rfkill blocking the wireless, so I've unblocked it:

Code:

rfkill unblock all

So that it was unblocked:

Code:

1: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no

After re-enabling the wireless, at first Network Manager reported "disconnected" for the wireless networks, but immediately after that, inspecting the Network Manager the second time, it returned back to "device is not ready" message. I guess something must have been reset back to its original value.

**jindrichm** · January 28th, 2011

*bump*

**jindrichm** · February 11th, 2011

I have news. After I have installed newer Realtek's driver (rtl8192se_linux_2.6.0019.1207.2010), the wi-fi still doesn't work, however it is not disabling itself all the time.

So, when I sudo modprobe r8192se_pci and enable the wireless via the Network Manager's widget, it is "disconnected" with no wi-fi networks found.

Code:

$ iwconfig wlan0 
wlan0     802.11bgn  Nickname:"rtl8191SEVA2"
          Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   Bit Rate:130 Mb/s   
          Retry:on   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off
          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

Code:

$ dmesg
[28912.008580] InitializeAdapter8190(): ==++==> Turn off RF for RfOffReason(1073741824) ----------
[28912.122642] rtl8192_SetWirelessMode(), wireless_mode:10, bEnableHT = 1
[28912.122651] InitializeAdapter8192SE(): Set MRC settings on as default!!
[28912.122656] HW_VAR_MRC: Turn on 1T1R MRC!
[28912.124413] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[28912.291306] rtl8192_SetWirelessMode(), wireless_mode:10, bEnableHT = 1
[28912.291316] InitializeAdapter8192SE(): Set MRC settings on as default!!
[28912.291321] HW_VAR_MRC: Turn on 1T1R MRC!
[28912.930035] GPIOChangeRF  - HW Radio OFF
[28913.002552] ============>sync_scan_hurryup out
[28913.133424] =========>r8192_wx_set_essid():hw radio off,or Rf state is eRfOff, return

Any ideas?

**miikos** · February 16th, 2011

I have given up on trying to make it work, not having the necessary know-how. But I'm still hoping you or someone will work out a solution, because even though windows 7 is better than vista, it's still inferior to Ubuntu.

**zapho** · February 20th, 2011

I recently bought an Edimax 300Mbps Wireless (model #EW-7612PIN) which also uses the RTL8191SEvB chipset for a new build of mine.

I'm running ubuntu 10.10 x64. After a fresh install, I can confirm that this card is working for me!

Kernel is:

Code:

Linux black 2.6.35-25-generic #44-Ubuntu SMP Fri Jan 21 17:40:44 UTC 2011 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Running lshw -class network gives:

Code:

*-network               
       description: Wireless interface
       product: RTL8191SEvB Wireless LAN Controller
       vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
       logical name: wlan0
       version: 10
       serial: 00:1f:1f:fa:2a:23
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rtl819xSE driverversion=0017.0507.2010 firmware=63 ip=192.168.1.24 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=802.11bg
       resources: irq:16 ioport:de00(size=256) memory:fdcfc000-fdcfffff

And running lsmod | grep r8192 gives:

Code:

r8192se_pci           512896  0 
cfg80211              170485  1 r8192se_pci

And iwconfig wlan0 gives:

Code:

wlan0     802.11bg  ESSID:"starbuck"  Nickname:"rtl8191SEVA2"
          Mode:Managed  Frequency=2.412 GHz  Access Point: E0:CB:4E:62:C7:ED   
          Bit Rate=1 Mb/s   
          Retry:on   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=89/100  Signal level=-50 dBm  Noise level=-114 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

I can browse the net which is a little slower compared to my win7 laptop. File transfers over samba seem pretty good, averaging about 1.1MB/s. My wifi network uses WPA2 encryption as well. The only problem is that the bit rate seems to be stuck at 1 Mb/s and running sudo iwconfig wlan0 rate 54M doesn't seem to do anything.

I'm available to run commands for others who are trying to get this card working - so feel free to ask me! (Seems a bit of a fluke that mine worked

-zapho

**mesilikas** · February 26th, 2011

I have exactly the same problem with the same wireless card (RTL 8191 SEvB) in Thinkpad Edge 13 and installed Ubuntu 10.10 64b will be great pleasure if it can work with wireless internet

**Alver** · February 26th, 2011

Originally Posted by zapho

I recently bought an Edimax 300Mbps Wireless (model #EW-7612PIN) which also uses the RTL8191SEvB chipset for a new build of mine.

I'm running ubuntu 10.10 x64. After a fresh install, I can confirm that this card is working for me!

Kernel is:

Code:

Linux black 2.6.35-25-generic #44-Ubuntu SMP Fri Jan 21 17:40:44 UTC 2011 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Running lshw -class network gives:

Code:

*-network               
       description: Wireless interface
       product: RTL8191SEvB Wireless LAN Controller
       vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
       logical name: wlan0
       version: 10
       serial: 00:1f:1f:fa:2a:23
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rtl819xSE driverversion=0017.0507.2010 firmware=63 ip=192.168.1.24 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=802.11bg
       resources: irq:16 ioport:de00(size=256) memory:fdcfc000-fdcfffff

And running lsmod | grep r8192 gives:

Code:

r8192se_pci           512896  0 
cfg80211              170485  1 r8192se_pci

And iwconfig wlan0 gives:

Code:

wlan0     802.11bg  ESSID:"starbuck"  Nickname:"rtl8191SEVA2"
          Mode:Managed  Frequency=2.412 GHz  Access Point: E0:CB:4E:62:C7:ED   
          Bit Rate=1 Mb/s   
          Retry:on   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=89/100  Signal level=-50 dBm  Noise level=-114 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

I can browse the net which is a little slower compared to my win7 laptop. File transfers over samba seem pretty good, averaging about 1.1MB/s. My wifi network uses WPA2 encryption as well. The only problem is that the bit rate seems to be stuck at 1 Mb/s and running sudo iwconfig wlan0 rate 54M doesn't seem to do anything.

I'm available to run commands for others who are trying to get this card working - so feel free to ask me! (Seems a bit of a fluke that mine worked

-zapho

I have the same card on my Toshiba L505-10M with Ubuntu 10.04 64b. It worked well out of the box from day 1 some 10 months ago. I do use an earlier software version however < driver=rtl819xSE driverversion=0015.0127.2010 firmware=62 >. Hope this helps.

Alver

**mesilikas** · February 27th, 2011

Originally Posted by mesilikas

I have exactly the same problem with the same wireless card (RTL 8191 SEvB) in Thinkpad Edge 13 and installed Ubuntu 10.10 64b will be great pleasure if it can work with wireless internet

All problems were solved with the bios update and upgrade of the Linux kernel!

Thank

**wildmanne39** · August 1st, 2012

If a post is older than a year or so and hasn't had a new reply in that time, instead of replying to it, create a new thread. In the software world, a lot can change in a very short time, and doing things this way makes it more likely that you will find the best information. You may link to the original discussion in the new thread if you think it may be helpful.