Trouble installing drivers for RTL8723be on GB-BXBT-1900

jfhendfg · 07-03-2015, 04:22 AM

Just an update,
So far I've still not found a solution to enable bluetooth.
Tried installing troy-tan's BT driver but still nothing.

JaseP · 07-03-2015, 04:50 AM

If your BT drivers are installed and you're not getting Blue-tooth, it's most likely that the firmware for the chipset is not being loaded (i.e.: proper firmware isn't on the system)...

Please give the output for the commands lsusb and lspci.

jfhendfg · 07-03-2015, 06:09 AM

lsusb gives command not found?

lspci

Code:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series SoC Transaction Register (rev 0e)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Graphics & Display (rev 0e)
00:13.0 SATA controller: Intel Corporation Device 0f23 (rev 0e)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series USB xHCI (rev 0e)
00:1a.0 Encryption controller: Intel Corporation Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Trusted Execution Engine (rev 0e)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series High Definition Audio Controller (rev 0e)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 0f48 (rev 0e)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 0f4a (rev 0e)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 0f4c (rev 0e)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Device 0f4e (rev 0e)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Power Control Unit (rev 0e)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation Device 0f12 (rev 0e)
02:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8723BE PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 0c)

JaseP · 07-04-2015, 02:37 AM

It's what I suspected, most likely,...

Look at this Ubuntu forum discussion. The last comment is a user who created a PPA for that chipset. You might be able to get that working, as it looks like it was built against DKMS:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/60733...-does-not-work

If not,... you might be able to get the necessary files for a manual install by downloading the files from that PPA...

jfhendfg · 07-04-2015, 03:30 AM

I ran

Code:

git clone -b troy https://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8723au_bt.git
cd rtl8723au_bt
make
sudo make install

Because when performing apt-get update after adding the ppa you were talking about I got some 404's and then when attempting to install the necessary packages I got the Unable to locate packages error.

So I tried rebooting with just the new lwfinger driver, on startup I ran

Code:

 sudo service bluetooth start

Then started blueman-manager, anddd same thing. Nothing works. When choosing to setup new device I get the adapter not found error again.

Head_on_a_Stick · 07-04-2015, 10:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jfhendfg

ppa

If you want to use software from a PPA in Debian, follow this guide:

https://wiki.debian.org/CreatePackageFromPPA

jfhendfg · 07-04-2015, 08:14 PM

I had added it via add-apt-repository and it didn't present any problems until I tried to install the packages. But I'll try that when I get home from work thanks

jfhendfg · 07-05-2015, 08:43 AM

The error was actually not because of my method of adding the repository but because the repository is ubuntu only, so add-apt-repository defaulted it to look for a jessie section that it didn't have. Installed the ubuntu trusty version instead, then installed the necessary packages, rebooted, and still blueman-manager doesn't let me do anything and when choosing to setup a new device from the menu it says no adapter found.

Sorry for all the problems guys and I really appreciate the help, I hope you all aren't as frustrated as I am about this.

JaseP · 07-05-2015, 10:50 AM

You are going to need to be running the proprietary driver for the wireless chipset, and manually install the firmware packages... That's what the BT issue is (it's what an issue with BT always is)...

See if you can extract the firmware files from the debs in that PPA I referenced...

jfhendfg · 07-05-2015, 11:16 AM

From the ppa (no need for manual downloading as I said I managed to add the ppa successfully) I installed rtl-bt-firmware and rtl8723au-bt-dkms via synaptic. When attempting to install the linux-firmware package I get the error

Code:

 E: /var/cache/apt/archives/linux-firmware_1.144+ar3012_all.deb: trying to overwrite '/lib/firmware/cis/SW_7xx_SER.cis', which is also in package firmware-linux-free 3.3

I apologize but what exact package are you talking about?
Because I think all the others in that ppa aside from linux-firmware are for other realtek modules. Right?

Shadow_7 · 07-05-2015, 06:34 PM

For debian:

# apt-get install firmware-realtek

$ apt-cache search --names-only 'firmware'

And various other means to an end. And I think bluez does the bluetooth handling. Which exists in the debian jessie repos. But I don't have anything bluetooth to know how to use it (yet). My chipset is rtl8723be where be == bluetooth enabled.

jfhendfg · 07-05-2015, 08:15 PM

I already have bluez and firmware-realtek but I'll check for others

jfhendfg · 07-10-2015, 01:29 PM

bump

Still haven't found any solutions

JaseP · 07-12-2015, 12:49 AM

You are NOT going to find solutions to this in standard repositories,... Sorry to say. I explained what you need to do, above, but you have ignored it, in favor of other posters, who have (apparently!?) been using Linux a whole lot shorter a time than I have been...

You need to research that specific chipset (for that module)!!! THAT is where your answer lies!!! I've done this before (several times). Each time, it came down to exactly what I said,... Research the specific chipset for the specific proprietary driver (you absolutely cannot use open source drivers for this, unfortunately). Install THAT driver (preferably a DKMS based package that can automagically reconfigure, each time you do a kernel upgrade). Also,... (and this cannot be emphasized enough). Install MANUALLY the specific firmware for that USB chipset (It CANNOT vary, and naming and placement of the packages is extremely important)!

Then,... And only then... will that module work correctly...

PS: I am typing this message from just such a machine that I got to work correctly,... Not 6 mos. ago. So I am not spinning a bunch of BS,... or blowing smoke up any openings...

Shadow_7 · 07-12-2015, 02:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JaseP

Research the specific chipset for the specific proprietary driver (you absolutely cannot use open source drivers for this, unfortunately).

About the closest I can come to the "proprietary" driver is git from the kernel.org maintained firmwares. The realtek site itself is horrid to navigate with no mention of the 8723be or any a/c wireless chip-sets. And it doesn't seem like english is a primary language for that company.

$ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/dwmw2/linux-firmware.git linux-firmware

And oddly the rtl8723befw.bin does not match (number of bytes) the distro version in /lib/firmware/rtlwifi/. Although many of the others do match.

$ dmesg | grep -i 8723
[ 12.629416] Using firmware rtlwifi/rtl8723befw.bin

So I should try the git'd firmware myself. My wifi works (mostly) as it is, but I have no bluetooth devices as of yet. The wifi does get sluggish after a while, but restarting wpa_supplicant and releasing and getting a fresh dhcp lease (dhclient) seems to bring it back to speed. Which I seem to need to do daily (or twice a day). The newer my kernel and the fresher the lwfinger github driver the more well behaved my rtl8723be wireless seems to be. But it's far from an ideal wifi device with limited range that is easily overpowered by other wifi devices in proximity. It does however work (mostly).

$ git clone https://github.com/lwfinger/rtlwifi_new rtlwifi_new_20150712

That plus sources from kernel.org and debians make-kpkg helps to keep me current. Even on debian jessie/stable. I need a 3.19+ kernel anyway for the clickpad on my hp stream 11. Kernels before that have undesirable behaviors when you click said clickpad.