Hi I am running Mageia 2 from live disk at the moment. I would like to install it, but not until I can get a wireless connection.

I have tried with my atheros internal wireless card and also
realtec wireless dongle. There does not appear to be any firmware installed for these devices. I know the driver for the realtec dongle is rtlwifi-firmware1892se. I have tried to find the relevant package in the MCC/software/install but no luck.

Dont know enough about it or the package names. tried putting rtlwifi-firmware in find, but no results.
I have a disc for the drivers for the realtex dongle but im new to linux and I dont think anything can be installed in this way.
Any help much appreciated. thanks

1. Identification
The first thing you're going to want to do is figure out which kernel module (or 'driver') is used by either network card. It sounds like you're already that far but, for the sake of thorough troubleshooting, I'd recommend starting over to be sure. (It won't hurt anything but it may help. Sometimes card manufactures use alternate chipsets.)

IMO, the best place to start is: look up the card's model on the LQ HCL http://www.linuxquestions.org/hcl/ to see what others have to say about it. (If you're like me, you bought the buggiest one made by the manufacturer.) If you find your specific model, chances are someone has already shared their success or woes on the HCL.

Its a good way to get an idea of issues and which module to use but, most-importantly, it will give us the chipset for-sure. Alternatively, your internal card should show up when you type "lspci". You can also try "lsusb" for the external (I assume). That's a good way to look at the card "internally" but it may not offer too much more information about it.
With the chipset and a few minutes on google, you can confirm which module you should be using. I'm not familiar with "rtlwifi-firmware1892se" but they're all functionally the same. Once we know we have the right module loaded, it should just fall together.

2. Load Module
You may already have the wireless network card module loaded. Most common driver modules are included with the kernel these days. (I would be surprised if it isn't but I don't know how Mageia does it.) Once you're certain about the module, you can compare that with "lsmod" to see whether or not your kernel is loading it.

To see if rtlwifi-firmware1892se is already there, do:
If the module isn't loaded, you can try "modprobe" to load it (but first you should confirm which one goes with your card). However, it should be there. Most of the time, this is handled automatically.

3. Profit
If it is loaded, then connecting to the network should be a matter of configuring some software to do it. I'm not familiar with Magela 2's default software packages but I currently use "network-manager" and another popular option is "wicd". Either one should be able to connect once the right module is loaded. If you have something else which isn't working, what does Mageia come with? You might try installing one of these two packages.

#######
I hope this is helpful but I'm afraid I'll need more details to track the specific cause. My guess is the software you're using since both cards are affected. (They probably use two different chipsets with two different modules. If that's the case, the driver may not be the problem.) A liveCD makes it much more difficult to trouble-shoot too. There's only so much we can change and your connection may start working once Mageia's actually installed. If you think Mageia's default configuration is the problem, I recommend trying some other liveCDs to see if they work better for you. But a liveCD doesn't always reflect how the dist will behave one it is installed; keep that in mind.

If you're still having trouble once you've confirmed the module is loaded, you may want to spend some time poking around in /var/log. "dmesg" should help you figure out where the connection is failing. Once you find the hang-up in your system logs, post that here and we should be able to continue troubleshooting. Also, what program does Mageia use to connect?

1 members found this post helpful.

hello. Thanks for your detailed reply and the time & effort taken.

lets stick with the usb dongle first. I used your link and found this:
Realtek rtl8712 rtl8188 rtl8191 and rtl8192su. These appear to come under one chipset.
I should have said in my original post that a message popped up saying that rtlwifi-firmware 8192sefw was required, so im pretty sure this is the correct module/driver/chipset. It should be downloadable from the software centre but I dont know the terminology to look effectively. This dongle works immediately on my desktop pc running Ubuntu 13.04

Sorry but I need the complete code to use the terminal. lsmod | grep rtlw missing parameters. see -h Tried every code in your post all with the same result. Tried inputting the codes in my desktop pc as well, because here they should have a positive output, because we know the dongle works on the desktop.
modprobe = missing parameters see -h /var/log."dmesy" No such file or directory.

Now for the good news lspsi & lsusb got positive results. here are the logs from the laptop running mageia.


live@localhost ~]$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0bda:0158 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. USB 2.0 multicard reader
Bus 003 Device 011: ID 0bda:8172 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8191SU 802.11n WLAN Adapter
Bus 003 Device 003: ID 064e:a102 Suyin Corp. Acer/Lenovo Webcam [CN0316]
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 1d57:001d
[live@localhost ~]$


live@localhost ~]$ lspci
00:00.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] Memory Controller (rev a2)
00:01.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation Device 075e (rev a2)
00:01.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] SMBus (rev a1)
00:01.3 Co-processor: nVidia Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] Co-Processor (rev a2)
00:01.4 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] Memory Controller (rev a1)
00:02.0 USB controller: nVidia Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] OHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev a1)
00:02.1 USB controller: nVidia Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] EHCI USB 2.0 Controller (rev a1)
00:04.0 USB controller: nVidia Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] OHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev a1)
00:04.1 USB controller: nVidia Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] EHCI USB 2.0 Controller (rev a1)
00:06.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] IDE (rev a1)
00:07.0 Audio device: nVidia Corporation MCP72XE/MCP72P/MCP78U/MCP78S High Definition Audio (rev a1)
00:08.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] PCI Bridge (rev a1)
00:09.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] SATA Controller (non-AHCI mode) (rev a2)
00:08.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] PCI Bridge (rev a1)
00:09.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] SATA Controller (non-AHCI mode) (rev a2)
00:0a.0 Ethernet controller: nVidia Corporation MCP77 Ethernet (rev a2)
00:0b.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] PCI Express Bridge (rev a1)
00:14.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] PCI Bridge (rev a1)
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 11h Processor HyperTransport Configuration (rev 40)
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 11h Processor Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 11h Processor DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 11h Processor Miscellaneous Control
00:18.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 11h Processor Link Control
02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation C77 [GeForce 8200M G] (rev a2)
07:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x / AR542x Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)
[live@localhost ~]$


Sorry im not familiar enough with the terminal to know the characters that are input immediately prior to the codes you suggested but Im more than willing to try again. many thanks margaret

I'm happy to help! I look at it as my way of paying-forward for all the help I've needed through the years. I'm sorry for the broken commands. That's my fault for not being very specific. (I'm experienced asking for help on forums but not too experienced offering it.)

Don't be intimidated by jargon, its just to scare away newbs.
A quick rundown on the commands:
dmesg - display recent system log (always a good idea for any issue)
sudo - Run as root ...
grep - filter for ...
lspci - list devices on the pci bus
lsusb - list devices connected to the usb controller
lsmod - list the modules currently loaded to the kernel
modprobe - load a specific module (If you uses this successfully, add the driver name (ie. "rtl8192se") to /etc/modprobe.conf to load automatically during boot.)


Its great that you've verified the Realtek works. I agree; let's stick with that one for now. Try: to see what kernel modules are currently loaded. (The "| grep" is a filter; so just try it plain.) If you see "rtl8192se" in that list, we know the module isn't the problem. If its not shown, try and then check again. If that works, then go ahead ahead and try to connect and see what happens. (You may also want to take a look at the debian page for thie family of realtek drivers.)

If modprobe doesn't work, we might be focused on the wrong module. Since "lsusb" is reporting RTL8192SU from the card, I don't know if rtl8192se will support it. As I don't have an rtl8192su on mine, I guess rtl8192se is the one your Ubuntu box uses. The best way to check is to on the Ubuntu box. I assume its going to say "rtl8192se" but its good to confirm that in case I'm wrong.

I hope that fixes it but I'll wait to hear if that helps before tackling the other driver:

hello Multi,

Yes you were absolutel correct its the rtl8192se driver as shown by these logs from the desktop pc running ubuntu:

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo modprobe
Error: missing parameters. See -h.
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo modprobe rtl8192se
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo modprobe rtl8192su
FATAL: Module rtl8192su not found.
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo modprobe rtl8192se
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ lsmod|grep rtl8192
rtl8192se 63284 0
rtlwifi 79673 1 rtl8192se
mac80211 606457 2 rtlwifi,rtl8192se

I also found the details of the message when I was originally trying to get the wifi working on Maggeia 3. ( gave up, no wifi, no sound, bad graphics/flashing screen)

rtlwifi Firmware not available File missing /lib/firmware/rtwifi/rtl8192sefw.bin Try
non free repository, so more confirmation Yes!! This was mageia 3 now using mageia 2

Now the bad news. Logs from laptop Mageia:

bash: lsmod: command not found
[live@localhost ~]$ sudo modprobe rtl8192se
bash: sudo: command not found
[live@localhost ~]$ su modprobe rtl8192se
su: user modprobe does not exist
[live@localhost ~]$ lsmod | grep rtl8192
bash: lsmod: command not found
[live@localhost ~]$ lsmod|grep rtl8192
bash: lsmod: command not found
[live@localhost ~]$ lsmod|grep rtl8192se
bash: lsmod: command not found
[live@localhost ~]$
Sent this so you can check that I did it correctly. I think Mageia uses su for root so I tried a couple of things but no response. When I go into mageia control centre to bring up the terminal there are 3 to choose from. Perhaps im using the wrong terminal or mageia is just different.

Thanks for the link. I found this:

Binary firmware for Realtek wired and wireless network adapters

This package contains the binary firmware for some Ethernet adapters with the RTL8111/RTL8168 chips supported by the r8169 driver; and wireless network cards with the RTL8188, RTL8192 and RTL8712 chips supported by the r8192_pci, r8192s_usb, r8712u, rtl8192ce, rtl8192cu, rtl8192de and rtl8192se drivers.
This was included in the Binary firmware above:

Realtek RTL8192SE/RTL8191SE firmware (rtlwifi/rtl8192sefw.bin)

So she who know nothing agrees with you wholeheartedly Definately rtl8192se.

Now we have to find it, install it and get it working so over to you. Thanks a million.

Hi Just discovered I was using the wrong terminal. I was clicking Activies/applications/terminal icon. Clicked Activies/applications., instead of scrolling down to click the terminal icon, I clicked MCC/software management/system/open a console as administrator.
Input the codes you gave me and got the desired results. Much the same as the Ubuntu logs and quoting rtl8291se as the driver. BUT had a look in hardware and it has been detected as rtl8191s. Aaaahh.??? The logs definately specified rtl8192se same as Ubuntu.

This type of conflict make things so difficult to understand.

The bad news is This console wont let me copy. I need to copy and paste the logs to a document in my flash drive to copy to you. At the top menu there is File: only option: quit: Options: only option: display logs: which brings up > " A tool to monitor your logs" Tried to operate this tool > select all: this producted a tmp folder but I cant find any access to it to copy the logs to the forum.

Anyway hope al least some of this proves helpful. Cheers M

Did you get similar results (on Mageia 2) for this command? That would mean the linux is talking to the card. If so, the next step is to check out which software you're trying to use to connect...?

If not, what about
...with no error (just a new command prompt)? That should load the module then lsmod should show it. From there, its about your networking software.

That suggests Mageia2 might have some repositories for "non-free" software. The Mageia wiki has a page which will help you configure the package manager but you shouldn't need it if lsmod shows the correct module already. Plus, you will want to install before you do that.


Yes, it looked like you typed these correctly, except 'su'. Nobody ever told me, but I assume "su" stands for "switch user". If you're logged into a command-line interface as bobby and want to switch to suzy, you would type 'su suzy'. Good guess though-- I think of sudo and su as related commands. When I type 'sudo' I think "switch to root to do..."

Also, I don't think you will need the binary. A fully functional live-CD would typically have everything you need for a basic connection. If it doesn't, you're probably going to want to install the OS before you go through the trouble of installing anything at all.

The liveCD loads into memory but lacks a writeable disk to store changes. Essentially, any time you restart the computer, you are erasing any changes. So, if you're certain you want to work with Mageia, you may want to go ahead with the full installation and then continue troubleshooting the issue.

Guessing, by the sounds of it, the live environment is not-quite-fully-functional but I've never used Mageia and couldn't say. Installing may also get the wireless working but it will definitely allow us to make permanent changes. As it works on the Ubuntu, I see no reason we wouldn't be able to make it work with Mageia but if you aren't settled on Mageia, there are a lot of distributions to choose from.

Mageia looks like its community objective is based around the concept of stability; is that why you're trying it? If you have already researched and decided that you definitely want Mageia, it makes sense to proceed with the installation. If you're not sure, www.distrowatch.com is a great place to check out what's out there. My experiences is focused on a few distros but, if you tell me what you're looking for, I might be able to suggest another option.

Hiya. Wow thanks !!! well just for everything, but it seem a bit inadequate somehow.

OK lsmod|grep rtl8192 on mageia output:

rtl8192se 92453 0
rtlwifi 95034 1 rtl8192se
mac80211 384735 3 rtlwifi,rtl8192se,ath5k

lsmod | grep rtlw output:

rtlwifi 95034 1 rtl8192se
mac 80211 384735 3 rtlwifi,rtl1892se,ath5k
cfg 80211 169030 4 rtlwifi,mac80211,ath,ath5k
usbcore 177104 10 ohci_hcd_ehci_hcd_usb_storage,ums_realtec,uas,rtlwifi,usbhid,r8712,uvcvideo

So it looks like the driver & system are on speaking terms Yes?

What would the next steps be please:???

Tried several distros over the past couple of days. none of them picked up any wirless adaptors, pci card or usb, operating from the live disc. All of then responded immediately to wired connection. looks like you are right, functionality running from the live disk is limited and possibly effects the terminal as well, although that is not the case with desktop Ubuntu which recognised the RTL usb immediately although its also running on a live disk, (for 5 months now)

I would like to continue this as far as possible for future use please, but I will not be installing mageia.

Thank you for the link: I have about 10 linux distros that I have bought over the past 3 months so I researched distro watch to choose from one of them. Lubuntu.
Ideal low resources, suitable for an older PC/laptop. tried it loved it.

Before installing perhaps you could advise please. laptop was preinstalled with vista. New HDD.about 9 months ago. Installed winXP. Removed XP & reinstalled vista
Installed mageia 3. lots of problems so formatted mag 3 to install Ubuntu 12.04, 12.10 13.04 All had the same graphic,sound & wifi problems. Tried to install Mint but this crashed when half way through. So I think the disk is in a bit of a mess and I would like to remove and clean the linux partition before installing another OS. If you agree please advise the best way to approach this. Thanks. cheers M

The next step for connecting would be: using some wifi software to tell it to connect. We know that linux can talk to your wireless card now. Magei's wiki has some instructions for configuring the connection but I would assume that method is intended for a full installation (as per the first line).

If their instructions don't work, I'm not sure that it is going to work running from the CD. I imagine its still possible but I'm afraid it might be beyond my scope. You might be able to find more information about the specific problem in /var/log/syslog but I recommend either trying another live-CD or proceeding with the installation.


Your Disk:
Your typical installation is going to over-write pre-existing data on the disk. You shouldn't have too-much left over from Windows or previous installs. If you've repartitioned and reformatted the drive as part of the installation, any remaining data should be over-written (or close-enough to it). Any repartitioning tool, like 'fdisk' will let you clear the old partitions and start fresh.


Other Distributions:
Lubuntu sounds like a good choice for you. Xubuntu and Bodhi Linux might also be good options. (I am a big fan of Ubuntu-based distributions as a matter of convenience.) Knoppix (and any variants) are known to have excellent hardware support, but I haven't used any of those for a while. Any distribution should work well but some will require more configuring than others.

I suggest delving into as many distribution-reviews as possible, downloading a few different images, randomly picking one, fully installing it, and trying it out for a few days. (Worst case scenario: it doesn't work and you try another.) You're definitely going to see improved performance over the liveCD and you'll probably find a few extra features that weren't active on the liveCD.

hi just wanted to say thank you for your help. Installed Lubuntu. all went ok. rebooted ok rebooted choose windows ok. Then pop up software manager. 335 updates. choose install. all ok for about 90% then lot & lots of problems.

Relieved to quickly find out it was not my incompetence but a failing graphics card,and I also think the CPU is overheating. Anyway 1st step new laptop. 2nd step my 1st attempt at opening up a laptop. Should be fun.

Dont want to encounter the same wireless problems with a new laptop so just wondered if you knew of the pci wireless cards most compatible with Linux please.

I would like a toshiba or fujitsu laptop, dualcore 2.6GHz 4GBram 200HDD with intergrated graphics: nvidia seems to be popular in linux. Is there anything I should be careful about, or avoid because of the possibility of causing problems with Linux.

Is there anything in particular that you would recommend. just a middle of the road laptop would be best suited for me.

thanks again for everything. I learned a lot and the problematic laptop definately did not help our endeavours.