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[SOLVED] WiFi on new laptop not working,

PostPosted: Nov 5th, '13, 22:39
by tkmm
Hello all! i just got a Toshiba S55-A5295 and installed Mageia 3 from live DVD.

lspci shows:
Code: Select all
02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device [10ec:8179] (rev 01)


I've read extensively online and it appears that this device is supported in kernel 3.10 though I'm not confident in attempting a kernel upgrade. I've tried some drivers with ndiswrapper per instructions from the web, but nothing has worked so far. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks,

-tkmm

Re: WiFi on new laptop not working,

PostPosted: Nov 5th, '13, 22:54
by doktor5000
Maybe you could try with http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/ ... -2.tar.bz2 to just rebuild the newer drivers against the older kernel.

EDIT: Our kernel guy says try with kernel 3.10.18 from updates_testing :D
You can provide feedback about the general function of the kernel update candidate via https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=11463 but not about your particular driver issue

Re: WiFi on new laptop not working,

PostPosted: Nov 6th, '13, 02:53
by tkmm
This is a little bit over my head. I've got the folder with the source for the driver in question: rtl8188ee

The Makefile in the directory contains:
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rtl8188ee-objs :=      \
      dm.o      \
      fw.o      \
      hw.o      \
      led.o      \
      phy.o      \
      pwrseq.o   \
      pwrseqcmd.o   \
      rf.o      \
      sw.o      \
      table.o      \
      trx.o

obj-$(CPTCFG_RTL8188EE) += rtl8188ee.o

ccflags-y += -I$(backport_srctree)/drivers/net/wireless/rtlwifi -D__CHECK_ENDIAN__


If I simply type 'make' I get:
Code: Select all
make: *** No targets.   Stop.


If I try something like 'make rtl8188ee' I get:
Code: Select all
make:  *** No rule to make target `rtl8188ee'.   Stop.


I presume that if I can get it to compile then I can 'install' it with the current kernel. I welcome any insight you may have.

Note that I'm running the x86_64 Gnome distro.

Re: WiFi on new laptop not working,

PostPosted: Nov 6th, '13, 06:09
by jiml8
Did you get your driver from the realtek site? I will note that mageia packages drivers for rtl8187 and rtl8180. You might try them.

In any event, to compile that driver, you must be in the same directory as the makefile, which must be named Makefile. Then make will find the makefile. You have to be root to do the make install.

Re: WiFi on new laptop not working,

PostPosted: Nov 6th, '13, 23:19
by doktor5000
doktor5000 wrote:EDIT: Our kernel guy says try with kernel 3.10.18 from updates_testing :D
You can provide feedback about the general function of the kernel update candidate via https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=11463 but not about your particular driver issue

Re: WiFi on new laptop not working,

PostPosted: Nov 8th, '13, 02:31
by pete910
doktor5000 wrote:
doktor5000 wrote:EDIT: Our kernel guy says try with kernel 3.10.18 from updates_testing :D
You can provide feedback about the general function of the kernel update candidate via https://bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=11463 but not about your particular driver issue


I'll try that on the Mrs laptop, it has one of those crap realtek chips too. Pita it is!

Re: WiFi on new laptop not working,

PostPosted: Nov 13th, '13, 17:41
by pete910
Well it certainly works now! :mrgreen:

No drop outs or disconnects 8-)

3.10.18 kernel that is in testing.

Pete.

Re: WiFi on new laptop not working,

PostPosted: Nov 13th, '13, 21:35
by doktor5000
Then please also provide positive feedback into the bugreport ;)

Re: WiFi on new laptop not working,

PostPosted: Nov 14th, '13, 03:59
by tkmm
jiml8 wrote:Did you get your driver from the realtek site? I will note that mageia packages drivers for rtl8187 and rtl8180. You might try them.

In any event, to compile that driver, you must be in the same directory as the makefile, which must be named Makefile. Then make will find the makefile. You have to be root to do the make install.


I downloaded the driver from the realtek site. I unpacked the folder and and as root:
Code: Select all
]# make
make -C /lib/modules/3.8.13.4-desktop-1.mga3/build M=/home/wasenshi/tmp/rtl_92ce_92se_92de_8723ae_88ee_linux_mac80211_0012.0207.2013 modules
make: *** /lib/modules/3.8.13.4-desktop-1.mga3/build: No such file or directory.  Stop.
make: *** [all] Error 2


I have no idea how to upgrade the kernel or build new drivers into the current one. This will be a new learning experience for me.

Re: WiFi on new laptop not working,

PostPosted: Nov 14th, '13, 07:56
by doktor5000
tkmm wrote:
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make: *** /lib/modules/3.8.13.4-desktop-1.mga3/build: No such file or directory.  Stop.



You are missing kernel-devel or kernel-source packages suitable to your running kernel. You can check for that easily:
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[doktor5000@Mageia3 ~]$ ls -al /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 38 Sep 28 21:15 /lib/modules/3.8.13.4-desktop-1.mga3/build -> /usr/src/linux-3.8.13.4-desktop-1.mga3/




Apart from that, you don't want to try the kernel update candidate from updates_testing? You just need to enable that media and install the kernel updates and reboot.

Re: WiFi on new laptop not working,

PostPosted: Nov 14th, '13, 16:18
by tkmm
Ok! I think I understand now. I can either build the drivers from source or just enable the proper media and install the new kernel.

I did not find any matches for kernel-dev using rpmdrake, but I found a kernel-source package.

Skipping all that mess with the driver and trying the new kernel...

Re: [SOLVED]WiFi on new laptop not working,

PostPosted: Nov 14th, '13, 16:28
by tkmm
Thank you both so much! After installing the new kernel via rpmdrake I rebooted, configured the device with drakconnect, and am here using the onboard wifi!!!

Re: [SOLVED] WiFi on new laptop not working,

PostPosted: Nov 14th, '13, 23:30
by doktor5000
As mentioned before, please also provide positive feedback into the bugreport ;)