Dear all,

I upgraded my Windows machine to Mint and it works sublime. Since a few days however, I am at a loss with my Realtek WiFi card. After a hibernate that went haywire, it doesn't work anymore. It is now hard blocked (and there is no switch on my laptop), my BIOS has no relevant settings which I can alter, rfkill unblock does not work and if I “modprobe -r rtl8192se” and modprobe it again, it comes online only for a very short while (I can see the available WiFi networks in the NetworkManager) after which (according to syslog) wpa_supplicant/rfkill hard blocks it again by radio killswitch. It does not seem to be a driver/kernel issue (anymore) as a Mint live boot does not help, and I reinstalled the kernel. There is a key combination (Fn-F11) with a symbol on my keyboard suggesting to be the hardware switch, but it never worked (under Windows) and does not result in a reaction in syslog. For now, a very long ethernet cable is running through my house... Does somebody know how to restore my WiFi? Help would be much appreciated! I am no Linux professional, so apologies if this is a dumb newbie question.

Regards, Koen de Heer

inxi -Fxz

System: Host: xxodd Kernel: 3.11.0-12-generic x86_64 (64 bit, gcc: 4.8.1) Desktop: Gnome Distro: Linux Mint 16 Petra
Machine: Mobo: CLEVO model: W760/M770CU Bios: Phoenix version: CALPELLACRB.86C.0000.X.0000000000 date: 09/22/2009
CPU: Quad core Intel Core i7 CPU Q 820 (-HT-MCP-) cache: 8192 KB flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 13831.9
Clock Speeds: 1: 1199.00 MHz 2: 1199.00 MHz 3: 1199.00 MHz 4: 1199.00 MHz 5: 1199.00 MHz 6: 1199.00 MHz 7: 1199.00 MHz 8: 1199.00 MHz
Graphics: Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] RV710/M92 [Mobility Radeon HD 4530/4570/545v] bus-ID: 02:00.0
X.org: 1.14.3 drivers: ati,radeon (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) tty size: 80x24 Advanced Data: N/A for root
Audio: Card-1: Intel 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
Card-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] RV710/730 HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 4000 series] driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 02:00.1
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture ver: k3.11.0-12-generic
Network: Card-1: Realtek RTL8191SEvB Wireless LAN Controller driver: rtl8192se port: 4000 bus-ID: 06:00.0
IF: wlan0 state: down mac: <filter>
Card-2: JMicron JMC250 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
driver: jme ver: 1.0.8 ports: 5400 5000 bus-ID: 07:00.5
IF: eth0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives: HDD Total Size: 320.1GB (79.8% used) 1: id: /dev/sda model: ST9320423AS size: 320.1GB temp: 40C
Partition: ID: / size: 286G used: 238G (88%) fs: ext4 ID: swap-1 size: 8.58GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap
RAID: No RAID devices detected - /proc/mdstat and md_mod kernel raid module present
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 75.0C mobo: N/A gpu: 100.0
Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info: Processes: 229 Uptime: 14:56 Memory: 1399.0/7974.0MB Runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.8.1 Client: Shell inxi: 1.8.4

Boot to another live cd/dvd/usb maybe to decide if the current OS is at fault??

Not a dumb question, an unusual problem. If anyone else has a guess, chime in.

try the rfkill command as root in a terminal

thanks a lot for thinking with me!
@jefro, I booted an old Knoppix live CD which shows the same problems as my native OS
I does not seem to be a problem due to an incompatible update thus
until the hibernate the native OS also worked fine
@colorpurple21859, that is what I tried, over and over again
the strange thing is, it makes a connection with my LAN for half a second, after which it decides it enough
it is not simply broke
the most pertinent entries in syslog are I think

Dec 24 19:11:15 xxodd dhclient: Listening on LPF/wlan0/00:01:38:fc:b8:5a
Dec 24 19:11:15 xxodd dhclient: Sending on LPF/wlan0/00:01:38:fc:b8:5a
Dec 24 19:11:15 xxodd dhclient: Sending on Socket/fallback
Dec 24 19:11:15 xxodd dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 3 (xid=0x660ad1a)
Dec 24 19:11:15 xxodd kernel: [ 346.071222] userif-3: sent link down event.
Dec 24 19:11:15 xxodd kernel: [ 346.071229] userif-3: sent link up event.
Dec 24 19:11:16 xxodd avahi-daemon[540]: Joining mDNS multicast group on interface wlan0.IPv6 with address fe80::201:38ff:fefc:b85a.
Dec 24 19:11:16 xxodd avahi-daemon[540]: New relevant interface wlan0.IPv6 for mDNS.
Dec 24 19:11:16 xxodd avahi-daemon[540]: Registering new address record for fe80::201:38ff:fefc:b85a on wlan0.*.
Dec 24 19:11:17 xxodd wpa_supplicant[851]: rfkill: WLAN hard blocked
Dec 24 19:11:17 xxodd NetworkManager[831]: <info> WiFi now disabled by radio killswitch
Dec 24 19:11:17 xxodd NetworkManager[831]: <info> (wlan0): device state change: ip-config -> unavailable (reason 'none') [70 20 0]
Dec 24 19:11:17 xxodd NetworkManager[831]: <info> (wlan0): deactivating device (reason 'none') [0]
Dec 24 19:11:17 xxodd kernel: [ 347.933092] wlan0: deauthenticating from 98:f5:37:56:39:fc by local choice (reason=3)
Dec 24 19:11:17 xxodd wpa_supplicant[851]: wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED bssid=98:f5:37:56:39:fc reason=3

can it have something to do with the avahi-daemon?

see if this fixes the problem. Run this before bringing wlan0 back up

unfortunenately:

xxodd koen # iwconfig wlan0 power off
Error for wireless request "Set Power Management" (8B2C) :
SET failed on device wlan0 ; Operation not supported.
xxodd koen # ifconfig wlan0 up
SIOCSIFFLAGS: Operation not possible due to RF-kill
xxodd koen # ifconfig wlan0
wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:01:38:fc:b8:5a
BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:6 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:14 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:1170 (1.1 KB) TX bytes:3039 (3.0 KB)
xxodd koen # iwconfig wlan0
wlan0 IEEE 802.11bgn ESSIDff/any
Mode:Managed Access Point: Not-Associated Tx-Power=off
Retry long limit:7 RTS thr=2347 B Fragment thrff
Encryption keyff
Power Managementff

You wouldn't happen to have windows still installed. If so try connecting from windows then reboot and try mint.

No, i don't have Windows anymore on my laptop, would winpe do the job?
Merry Christmas btw!

merry Christmas to you too. If it has the drivers for the wireless card it should if this fixes the problem. I have a laptop that windows sometimes will set something on the wireless card when I disable the card in windows that will cause problems within linux that I can only fix by using the wifi card in windows first before using it in linux.

I wonder if ndiswrapper would work as an alternative to using windows? Ndiswrapper requires the Windows driver and it might be able to set up the card if it is needed. You can also see if the wifi card will work better with the Windows driver under ndiswrapper vs the linux driver.

1 members found this post helpful.

I've looked around on the net and it appears this wifi card is causing a lot of people who use both Linux and FreeBSD a lot of grief. Looks like ndiswrapper might be out as an option as it seems there are two driver files needed to make this card work under Windows. Ndiswrapper generally works with one driver file. The last posting here might have a solution:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1635892

Also per this thread changing from Network Manager to Wicd might be another solution if you are using Network Manager:

https://ask.fedoraproject.org/questi...ora-15-and-16/

This driver could be of help if you are not already using it:

http://218.210.127.131/search/defaul...eyword=rtl8192

@colorpurple21859, unfortunately i could not find a live bootable windows configuration (because i dont have my windows system anymore) on the internet but the windows 8 dvd which you can download freely offers a command line; wmic could not detect my network cards (it saw neither one), but that might be me, i have no windows command line skills...

@arcosanti, i will try your suggestions tomorrow, thanks!

@Arcosanti, I tried your suggestions

- the first still my card hard blocked

- wcid also only recognizes the ethernet card, it was not easy to install however (first DBus problem, and I even though it got an IP-address I was not able to surf the internet)

- I am not able to install the Realtek driver, the download needs to be compiled as I understand it, running make results in an error

My guess is that you would need to run 'make config' first and then 'make'. Before doing that though, you might want to check with the Linux Mint community to see if you are using this driver already. Also check to see if this driver is possibly already available in the Mint repositories. This would save you from having to compile this. If you do have to compile and you get some errors, be sure to start another thread in the software section of this forum with the error message. Another thing that I find helpful in compiling software is to Google the error messages and see if there is a solution to the problem posted somewhere on the net.

If you are not able to fix this and nobody's suggestions work, the only other thing I can recommend is to look around for another compatible min PCI wifi card that uses another chipset (assuming that you are using a laptop). As a temporary fix look for a router that is DD-WRT compatible and put DD-WRT on it. And then configure the router as a Client Bridge. That will allow you to connect wirelessly to your wifi router through your ethernet port. I was forced to do that recently, using an old Linksys Router with DD-WRT on it,when my laptop's BroadCom wifi couldn't keep a connection to a NetGear internal antenna wifi router. I just changed that BroadCom to an Intel wifi card. Works much better now. Other temporary fixes you could try are USB and PCMCIA/Cardbus wifi.

I'm not saying this is the case but this is possible.
Just trying to help--

I found out that if the kernel list's 2 different drivers for the same device it can cause the device not to work: if drivers conflict or wrong driver is loades first.

In some cases folks have reconfigured the kernel to get things working but not sure if you should try that.

Look in on the output of lsmod and see if the rtl8192se is the only driver for you NIC-

lspci -k will tell you what PCI/AGP/PCIe devices are being claimed by what modules.
Most modules are device drivers but not all-

Hope that helps