Wifi Adapter Causing Freeze ups?

sonoob · 02-28-2012, 04:36 AM

I have a usb wifi adapter. Its a random chinese make but it has a realtek rtl8192CU chip or whatever is in there or at least thats what the driver is called. After installing latest 64 bit ubuntu, the card was recognized and was working but it often randomly loses connection and won't connect unless I take it out and plug it back in. When im in firefox and wifi disconnects, I become unable to minimize the window, make it smaller or even see the browser tabs when I bring the cursor to the top left, I also can't bring out the thing on the left which holds different software. I can't alb-tab either. I am unable to access the mail, connection, sound, or turn off menu from top right when this happens as well I dont know how my wifi adapter and all this is related but it is somehow. I am able to bring up the menu option with alt+f command but unable to use any of them. Cant minimize with shortcut either. Are there any logs that would provide why thisi s happenning?

edbarx · 02-28-2012, 05:21 AM

Maybe, you can use modprobe to insert the kernel module (driver) by hand to make sure it works. You can get a list of the loaded modules by running:

Code:

lsmod

I think, you can insert the module (driver) by running as root:

Code:

modprobe driver-name

To uninsert a module:

Code:

modprobe -r module-to-be-uninserted

However, it is advised that you uninsert the other driver to prevent both drivers trying to control the same hardware. As root:

Code:

modprobe driver-name

To permanently prevent the previous driver from being loaded automatically at boot you can blacklist it. Search about blacklisting (google keywords blacklist linux ubuntu).

sonoob · 02-28-2012, 06:09 AM

lsmod gives me the following that includes the name on my adapter

Code:

rtl8192cu             103210  0 
rtl8192c_common        75767  1 rtl8192cu
rtlwifi               110972  1 rtl8192cu
mac80211              462046  3 rtl8192cu,rtl8192c_common,rtlwifi
cfg80211              199630  2 rtlwifi,mac80211

which one to uninsert? all of them?

and im not sure if my driver on cd is even insertable.. Ive read that drivers have to be compiled and all I have here after extracting the driver is a bunch of files with extensions "c" and "h" Is there a specific file which will launch all of these small files? What does a compiled linux driver even look like?

Also the more I noticed that when the problem I wrote in 1st post happens and everything gets stuck, if I close all but the last tabs in firefox, I am able to minimize it and restore the work of the language,mail,connection,time,account, and power buttons in top right... At this point, I have no idea what this could be, Im just thinking if I throw out as many signs as possible someone will be able to identify the potential problem.

edbarx · 02-28-2012, 06:29 AM

The .c and .h files are source files meaning that it has to be compiled by a compiler. You can install the basic compiler support files by installing build-essential package. To install it run this command:

Code:

sudo apt-get install build-essential

To help you with the installation procedure you can use module assistant which does everything for you but you need build-essential.

Code:

sudo apt-get install module-assistant

Then run module-assistant to do the installation of the driver.

Code:

sudo m-a -k source_headers_directory --install

For instace, if you expand the files to a directory named wifi-drv in your home directory, the command would be:

Code:

sudo m-a -k ~/wifi-drv --install

Hopefully, this helps.

Note:
Although, I am not an Ubuntu user, I tried to help you. As far as I know, there is a graphical tool that you can use to install drivers but I have no idea as to what capabilities it possesses. So, I gave you the solution which I think should always work.