Trouble with RTL8188CE Wireless network card on Toshiba Satellite Pro C660-2F6

Rooibos · 10-21-2012, 07:50 PM

Hi all, I've been trying to figure this issue out on-and-off for a little while now. I've run out of ideas so any help anyone can offer would be gratefully received.

Problem: Wireless network remains "Unclaimed" and permanently greyed-out in the wireless manager in KDE (I mention this because a brief Gnome installation had the wireless working without issue.)

uname -a output:

Code:

Linux zeroxninety 2.6.32-5-amd64 #1 SMP Sun May 6 04:00:17 UTC 2012 x86_64 GNU/Linux

cat /proc/version output:

Code:

Linux version 2.6.32-5-amd64 (Debian 2.6.32-45) (dannf@debian.org) (gcc version 4.3.5 (Debian 4.3.5-4) ) #1 SMP Sun May 6 04:00:17 UTC 2012

lspci output:

Code:

06:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8188CE 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter (rev 01)

lshw -C network output:

Code:

  *-network               
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller
       vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
       logical name: eth0
       version: 05
       serial: b8:70:f4:d6:2a:ec
       size: 100MB/s
       capacity: 100MB/s
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=2.3LK-NAPI duplex=full firmware=rtl_nic/rtl8105e-1.fw ip=192.168.0.14 latency=0 multicast=yes port=MII speed=100MB/s
       resources: irq:26 ioport:4000(size=256) memory:d0404000-d0404fff(prefetchable) memory:d0400000-d0403fff(prefetchable)

  *-network UNCLAIMED
       description: Network controller
       product: RTL8188CE 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter
       vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:06:00.0
       version: 01
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: bus_master cap_list
       configuration: latency=0
       resources: ioport:2000(size=256) memory:d1500000-d1503fff

ifconfig output:

Code:

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr b8:70:f4:d6:2a:ec  
          inet addr:192.168.0.14  Bcast:192.168.0.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::ba70:f4ff:fed6:2aec/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:147757 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:86740 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:210434697 (200.6 MiB)  TX bytes:6578874 (6.2 MiB)
          Interrupt:26 Base address:0x4000 

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:126 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:126 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:7884 (7.6 KiB)  TX bytes:7884 (7.6 KiB)

iwconfig output:

Code:

lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

pan0      no wireless extensions.

Nothing shows up in "lsmod | grep -i rtl", and a search by eye doesn't turn up any Realtek goodness other than the sound drivers.

However, there is an interesting mention in dmesg.

dmesg | grep rtl output:

Code:

[   22.569106] r8169 0000:01:00.0: firmware: requesting rtl_nic/rtl8105e-1.fw

According to this, the drivers I should be installing are the "rtl8192ce" for the rtl8188ce device. I've followed a few the processes other users have used to rectify similar issues but I've not had the luck they have.

If anyone can help I really would appreciate the assistance.

mdlinuxwolf · 10-22-2012, 11:23 PM

If it works with Gnome, you already have the drivers.

Have you tried using wicd? Its a decent networking application. It isn't installed by default. You'll have to use an ethernet cable with your modem or router if the wireless is down.

Have you tried the knetworking tool in kde?

Rooibos · 10-23-2012, 07:58 PM

I knew I'd forget to mention something. I have Wicd installed & had a fiddle about but had no luck there, the wireless option in the kNetworking GUI is greyed out & inaccessible.

Thanks for replying!