Enabling Wireless on Gateway laptop

**icec0ld** · April 23rd, 2013

Hello all,

I'm trying to get Ubuntu working wirelessly on my Gateway laptop. It's a Model w350a t-1630 I believe. I am running Ubuntu 12.04 LTS at the moment. It has a realtek wireless adapter and after trying various fixes on here I'm still at a loss. After reading more through the posts and running a iwconfig I received the following output:

icecold:~$ iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

wlan0 802.11b/g Mode:Managed Frequency=2.422 GHz
Access Point: Not-Associated Bit Rate:11 Mb/s
Retry

n RTS thr

ff Fragment thr

ff
Power Management

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

eth0 no wireless extensions.

I have tried the function key to check that the wireless adapter is on. I see from this output that it isn't. Any terminal commands to enable this? I would imagine I need a wireless extension to even check, for running a scan returns the following:icecold:~$ iwlist scan
lo Interface doesn't support scanning.

wlan0 No scan results

eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

Also, in case it helps I will include the wireless info.

lspci -v results:

icecold:~$ lspci -v
00:00.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI RS690 Host Bridge
Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI Device 1234
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 64

00:01.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI RS690 PCI to PCI Bridge (Internal gfx) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 64
Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=64
I/O behind bridge: 00009000-00009fff
Memory behind bridge: cfd00000-cfefffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000b0000000-00000000bfffffff
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel modules: shpchp

00:05.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI RS690 PCI to PCI Bridge (PCI Express Port 1) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=07, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 00002000-00002fff
Memory behind bridge: c0100000-c02fffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000c0300000-00000000c04fffff
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
Kernel modules: shpchp

00:06.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI RS690 PCI to PCI Bridge (PCI Express Port 2) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=08, subordinate=0d, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 0000a000-0000afff
Memory behind bridge: f0200000-f02fffff
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
Kernel modules: shpchp

00:07.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI RS690 PCI to PCI Bridge (PCI Express Port 3) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=0e, subordinate=13, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 0000b000-0000bfff
Memory behind bridge: f0300000-f03fffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000c0000000-00000000c00fffff
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
Kernel modules: shpchp

00:12.0 SATA controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB600 Non-Raid-5 SATA (prog-if 01 [AHCI 1.0])
Subsystem: Gateway 2000 Device 0565
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 22
I/O ports at 8440 [size=8]
I/O ports at 8434 [size=4]
I/O ports at 8438 [size=8]
I/O ports at 8430 [size=4]
I/O ports at 8400 [size=16]
Memory at f0409000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: ahci

00:13.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB600 USB (OHCI0) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
Subsystem: Gateway 2000 Device 0565
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 16
Memory at f0404000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Kernel driver in use: ohci_hcd

00:13.1 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB600 USB (OHCI1) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
Subsystem: Gateway 2000 Device 0565
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 17
Memory at f0405000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Kernel driver in use: ohci_hcd

00:13.2 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB600 USB (OHCI2) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
Subsystem: Gateway 2000 Device 0565
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 18
Memory at f0406000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Kernel driver in use: ohci_hcd

00:13.3 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB600 USB (OHCI3) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
Subsystem: Gateway 2000 Device 0565
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 17
Memory at f0407000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Kernel driver in use: ohci_hcd

00:13.4 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB600 USB (OHCI4) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
Subsystem: Gateway 2000 Device 0565
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 18
Memory at f0408000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Kernel driver in use: ohci_hcd

00:13.5 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB600 USB Controller (EHCI) (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
Subsystem: Gateway 2000 Device 0565
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 19
Memory at f0409400 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd

00:14.0 SMBus: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SBx00 SMBus Controller (rev 14)
Subsystem: Gateway 2000 Device 0565
Flags: 66MHz, medium devsel
I/O ports at 8410 [size=16]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: piix4_smbus
Kernel modules: sp5100_tco, i2c-piix4

00:14.1 IDE interface: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB600 IDE (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
Subsystem: Gateway 2000 Device 0565
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 16
I/O ports at 01f0 [size=8]
I/O ports at 03f4 [size=1]
I/O ports at 0170 [size=8]
I/O ports at 0374 [size=1]
I/O ports at 8420 [size=16]
Kernel driver in use: pata_atiixp
Kernel modules: pata_atiixp

00:14.2 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)
Subsystem: Gateway 2000 Device 0565
Flags: bus master, slow devsel, latency 64, IRQ 16
Memory at f0400000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

00:14.3 ISA bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB600 PCI to LPC Bridge
Subsystem: Gateway 2000 Device 0565
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0

00:14.4 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridge (prog-if 01 [Subtractive decode])
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 64
Bus: primary=00, secondary=14, subordinate=19, sec-latency=64

00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
Flags: fast devsel
Capabilities: <access denied>

00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
Flags: fast devsel

00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
Flags: fast devsel
Kernel modules: amd64_edac_mod

00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
Flags: fast devsel
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: k8temp
Kernel modules: k8temp

01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI RS690M [Radeon X1200 Series] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Subsystem: Gateway 2000 Device 0565
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 64, IRQ 44
Memory at b0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
Memory at cfdf0000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
I/O ports at 9000 [size=256]
Memory at cfe00000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1M]
Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: radeon
Kernel modules: radeon

01:05.2 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI Radeon X1200 Series Audio Controller
Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI Radeon X1200 Series Audio Controller
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 64, IRQ 19
Memory at cfdec000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

08:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8187SE Wireless LAN Controller (rev 22)
Subsystem: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8187SE Wireless LAN Controller
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
I/O ports at a000 [size=256]
Memory at f0200000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: r8180
Kernel modules: r8187se

0e:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 01)
Subsystem: Gateway 2000 Device 0565
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 43
I/O ports at b000 [size=256]
Memory at f0300000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
[virtual] Expansion ROM at c0000000 [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: r8169
Kernel modules: r8169

Thank you so much in advance and I really appreciate any suggestions!

**chili555** · April 23rd, 2013

Please open a terminal and let us have a look at:

Code:

rfkill list all
lsmod | grep r81
sudo iwlist wlan0 scan
nm-tool

Thanks.

**icec0ld** · May 7th, 2013

Thank you for your help, sorry for the long time in replying. The output is as follows:

icecold:~$ rfkill list all
doug@icecold:~$ lsmod | grep r81
r8187se 177422 0
eeprom_93cx6 12767 1 r8187se
r8169 62154 0
doug@icecold:~$ sudo iwlist wlan0 scan
[sudo] password for doug:
wlan0 No scan results

doug@icecold:~$ nm-tool

NetworkManager Tool

State: connected (global)

- Device: eth0 [Wired connection 1] -------------------------------------------
Type: Wired
Driver: r8169
State: connected
Default: yes
HW Address: 00:03:25:5B:79:32

Capabilities:
Carrier Detect: yes
Speed: 100 Mb/s

Wired Properties
Carrier: on

IPv4 Settings:
Address: 192.168.1.110
Prefix: 24 (255.255.255.0)
Gateway: 192.168.1.254

DNS: 192.168.1.254

- Device: wlan0 ----------------------------------------------------------------
Type: 802.11 WiFi
Driver: r8180
State: disconnected
Default: no
HW Address: 00:16:44

5:69:B8

Capabilities:

Wireless Properties
WEP Encryption: yes
WPA Encryption: yes
WPA2 Encryption: yes

Wireless Access Points

What puzzles me about this is that it worked fine on an older version of Ubuntu, believe it was 11 something. Thanks again for your time, I'm really looking forward to getting this up and running.

Doug

**chili555** · May 8th, 2013

Something a little deeper is wrong here. Let's check the message logs:

Code:

dmesg | grep -e r81 -e 08:00
lspci -nn | grep 0280

after trying various fixes on here I'm still at a loss.

What fixes?

**icec0ld** · May 8th, 2013

I initally went through the batch of fixes posted here in the forums for a while. After being unable to do get any of those to work, I did a vanilla reload of 12.04 LTS.

Here's the output:

doug@icecold:~$ dmesg | grep -e r81 -e 08:00
[ 0.000000] PERCPU: Embedded 28 pages/cpu @ffff88010fc00000 s83136 r8192 d23360 u1048576
[ 0.000000] pcpu-alloc: s83136 r8192 d23360 u1048576 alloc=1*2097152
[ 0.202688] pci_root PNP0A08:00: host bridge window [mem 0x000a0000-0x000bffff] (ignored)
[ 0.202693] pci_root PNP0A08:00: host bridge window [mem 0x000d0000-0x000d1fff] (ignored)
[ 0.202696] pci_root PNP0A08:00: host bridge window [mem 0x000d2000-0x000d3fff] (ignored)
[ 0.202699] pci_root PNP0A08:00: host bridge window [mem 0x000d4000-0x000d5fff] (ignored)
[ 0.202703] pci_root PNP0A08:00: host bridge window [mem 0x000d6000-0x000d7fff] (ignored)
[ 0.202706] pci_root PNP0A08:00: host bridge window [mem 0x000d8000-0x000d9fff] (ignored)
[ 0.202709] pci_root PNP0A08:00: host bridge window [mem 0x000da000-0x000dbfff] (ignored)
[ 0.202712] pci_root PNP0A08:00: host bridge window [mem 0x000dc000-0x000ddfff] (ignored)
[ 0.202716] pci_root PNP0A08:00: host bridge window [mem 0x000de000-0x000dffff] (ignored)
[ 0.202719] pci_root PNP0A08:00: host bridge window [mem 0x000e0000-0x000e1fff] (ignored)
[ 0.202722] pci_root PNP0A08:00: host bridge window [mem 0x000e2000-0x000e3fff] (ignored)
[ 0.202726] pci_root PNP0A08:00: host bridge window [mem 0xb0000000-0xdfffffff] (ignored)
[ 0.202729] pci_root PNP0A08:00: host bridge window [mem 0xf0000000-0xffffffff] (ignored)
[ 0.202733] pci_root PNP0A08:00: host bridge window [io 0x0000-0x0cf7] (ignored)
[ 0.202736] pci_root PNP0A08:00: host bridge window [io 0x0d00-0xffff] (ignored)
[ 0.204644] pci 0000:08:00.0: [10ec:8199] type 0 class 0x000280
[ 0.204659] pci 0000:08:00.0: reg 10: [io 0xa000-0xa0ff]
[ 0.204670] pci 0000:08:00.0: reg 14: [mem 0xf0200000-0xf0203fff]
[ 0.204752] pci 0000:08:00.0: supports D1 D2
[ 0.204754] pci 0000:08:00.0: PME# supported from D0 D1 D2 D3hot
[ 0.204759] pci 0000:08:00.0: PME# disabled
[ 0.306293] pci 0000:08:00.0: Signaling PME through PCIe PME interrupt
[ 1.434318] r8169 Gigabit Ethernet driver 2.3LK-NAPI loaded
[ 1.434345] r8169 0000:0e:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 19 (level, low) -> IRQ 19
[ 1.434383] r8169 0000:0e:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
[ 1.434453] r8169 0000:0e:00.0: irq 43 for MSI/MSI-X
[ 1.434995] r8169 0000:0e:00.0: eth0: RTL8101e at 0xffffc90000610000, 00:03:25:5b:79:32, XID 94200000 IRQ 43
[ 9.200548] r8187se: module is from the staging directory, the quality is unknown, you have been warned.
[ 9.201959] r8180: Initializing module
[ 9.201960] r8180: Wireless extensions version 22
[ 9.201963] r8180: Initializing proc filesystem
[ 9.202135] r8180: Configuring chip resources
[ 9.202157] r8180 0000:08:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 18 (level, low) -> IRQ 18
[ 9.202168] r8180 0000:08:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
[ 9.204520] r8180: Channel plan is 1
[ 9.204528] r8180: MAC controller is a RTL8187SE b/g
[ 9.206623] r8180: usValue is 0x100
[ 9.248605] r8180: EEPROM version 104
[ 9.252801] r8180: WW:**PLEASE** REPORT SUCCESSFUL/UNSUCCESSFUL TO Realtek!
[ 9.253421] r8180: IRQ 18
[ 9.254228] r8180: Driver probe completed
[ 9.406860] input: Video Bus as /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/LNXSYBUS:00/PNP0A08:00/device:1a/LNXVIDEO:00/input/input5
[ 18.409171] r8180: Bringing up iface
[ 18.607665] r8180: Card successfully reset
[ 19.342863] r8180: WIRELESS_MODE_G
[ 19.363408] r8169 0000:0e:00.0: eth0: link down
[ 437.428853] r8169 0000:0e:00.0: eth0: link up
doug@icecold:~$ lspci -nn | grep 0280
08:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8187SE Wireless LAN Controller [10ec:8199] (rev 22)

**chili555** · May 8th, 2013

r8187se: module is from the staging directory, the quality is unknown, you have been warned.

r8180: Initializing module

Do you have two competing modules trying to load? May we see:

Code:

modinfo r8187se | grep 8199
modinfo r8180 | grep 8199
lsmod

If any command produces an error, please post it as it may be informative.

Usually, I try to find out these details myself, but I don't currently have a 12.04 installation.

**icec0ld** · May 14th, 2013

Running the modinfo r8180 command produced the following error:
ERROR: modinfo: could not find module r8180

If you need, I can post the lsmod output too, but that was the only glaring error, so for brevity I will leave it out for now. Thanks again for all your help!

**chili555** · May 14th, 2013

I am suspicious that this is not actually a driver error, but a hardware issue; here's my clue:

I have tried the function key to check that the wireless adapter is on.

Can you please confirm that the wireless switch is set to enable the wireless radio? Please see attached. Next, does the wireless LED turn on or off? Does it change when you press the FN+F2 key combination?

**icec0ld** · May 21st, 2013

That seems to have done it. Seems it had been jostled just enough to turn it off. No red was showing, but a couple of tries with it and the function key and the wireless LED is on and I am now able to search for networks. Thanks for your patience with my completely moronic mistake.

Looking forward to really getting into this now!