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Help please, wlan0 doesn't show up

Hello,

I've been trying to solve it by myself via google for few days, but I am really new at linux and I can't seem to solve it.. I tried to search through the topics here too but nothing helped me..

So, I can't get wifi to work. I guess the first problem to solve here is to get wlan0 to show up. Any ideas, please?

Thank you!

Notebook HP 255 G4
Distribution is DEFT 8 - linux 3.5.0-51-generic (x86_64)

Code:

iwconfig

eth0      no wireless extensions.



lo        no wireless extensions.

Code:

lspci -nnk

00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:1566]

        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:80cb]

00:01.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Mullins [Radeon R4/R5 Graphics] [1002:9851]

        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:80cb]

00:01.1 Audio device [0403]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Kabini HDMI/DP Audio [1002:9840]

        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:80cb]

        Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel

        Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

00:02.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:156b]

00:02.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 16h Processor Functions 5:1 [1022:1439]

        Kernel driver in use: pcieport

        Kernel modules: shpchp

00:02.4 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 16h Processor Functions 5:1 [1022:1439]

        Kernel driver in use: pcieport

        Kernel modules: shpchp

00:02.5 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 16h Processor Functions 5:1 [1022:1439]

        Kernel driver in use: pcieport

        Kernel modules: shpchp

00:08.0 Encryption controller [1080]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:1537]

        Subsystem: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:1537]

00:10.0 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB XHCI Controller [1022:7814] (rev 11)

        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:80cb]

        Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd

00:11.0 SATA controller [0106]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SATA Controller [AHCI mode] [1022:7804] (rev 39)

        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:80cb]

        Kernel driver in use: ahci

        Kernel modules: ahci

00:12.0 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB EHCI Controller [1022:7808] (rev 39)

        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:80cb]

        Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd

00:13.0 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB EHCI Controller [1022:7808] (rev 39)

        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:80cb]

        Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd

00:14.0 SMBus [0c05]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SMBus Controller [1022:780b] (rev 42)

        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:80cb]

        Kernel modules: i2c-piix4

00:14.2 Audio device [0403]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH Azalia Controller [1022:780d] (rev 02)

        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:80cb]

        Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel

        Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

00:14.3 ISA bridge [0601]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH LPC Bridge [1022:780e] (rev 11)

        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:80cb]

00:14.7 SD Host controller [0805]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SD Flash Controller [1022:7813] (rev 01)

        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:80cb]

        Kernel driver in use: sdhci-pci

        Kernel modules: sdhci-pci

00:18.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:1580]

00:18.1 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:1581]

00:18.2 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:1582]

00:18.3 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:1583]

00:18.4 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:1584]

00:18.5 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:1585]

02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8723BE PCIe Wireless Network Adapter [10ec:b723]

        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:804c]

03:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101/2/6E PCI Express Fast/Gigabit Ethernet controller [10ec:8136] (rev 07)

        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:80cb]

        Kernel driver in use: r8169

        Kernel modules: r8169

Thank you!

Hi:

Are you trying to connect wireless?

If so this is your wireless nic-

Code:

Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8723BE PCIe Wireless Network Adapter

I'm not familiar with the distribution you are running sorry. You would use the command-line utility to install the driver for your wireless card and reboot your HP.

The kernel is already running a driver for your 'wired' connection if you want that and have an ethernet cable. You could use the wired connection to download the driver.

Code:

Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101/2/6E PCI Express Fast/Gigabit Ethernet controller [10ec:8136] (rev 07)

        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:80cb]

        Kernel driver in use: r8169

        Kernel modules: r8169

http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/u...y-realtek.html
http://askubuntu.com/questions/62300...etwork-adapter

Hi...

Welcome to the forum :)

Thank you for including the command outputs in your initial post, that saves us both time and energy. ;)

I'm not exactly sure how to help you with your particular distribution. From what I see here, I know that native support for your adapter began with kernel version 3.15, whereas yours is 3.5.0-51. You can either change distributions to one that uses kernel 3.15 or newer or if you want to stay with what you have, you try the solutions mentioned here. However, read the entire thread very carefully and use the best solution! I can't guarantee this will work for you, though. You can also try leonsmit's solution below, as another option. ;)

I also found some additional information here and here, in case it is needed.

Let us know how it goes...

Regards...

Looks like your running a Debian/Ubuntu derivitive.

A quick google shows others having problems with this wlan card. Might help checking this post out on the ubuntu forums http://askubuntu.com/questions/59041...n-ubuntu-14-04

Thank you guys for your ideas.

@Ztcoracat
First link is about wifi getting slow but I can't even get it to work. Second link says to do

Code:

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic build-essential git

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

cd rtlwifi_new

make

sudo make install

sudo modprobe rtl8723be

but I sadly wasn't able to do it without errors. But thanks!

@ardvark71
You are right, the native support doesn't exist so far on my distribution.. :(
I was following the second link you gave me

Code:

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic build-essential git

git clone http://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8723be

cd rtl8723be

git checkout 604aa9058fb9e5bb1cf571c99989d081f8fc8b9

make

sudo make install

sudo modprobe rtl8723be

and installed older version from repository.

Now I CAN see the wlan0 interface but sadly I can't see any wifi networks around. I am sure my wifi network is visible and working. I were googling and there were similiar problems. They seem to repair it by creating rtl8723be.conf in /etc/modprobe.d/ with line

Code:

options rtl8723be fwlps=0

but it doesn't seem to help.
Tried to disable/enable modprobe rtl8723be (thanks @leonsmit for that link) but nothing changed.

Any other ideas?

Code:

iwconfig

eth0      no wireless extensions.



lo        no wireless extensions.



wlan0    IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:off/any  

          Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated  Tx-Power=20 dBm  

          Retry  long limit:7  RTS thr=2347 B  Fragment thr:off

          Power Management:off

Thank you once more,

Adam

Maybe try another distribution like Slackware, Fedora, or CentOS.
Since your new to Linux give Fedora a go:-

https://getfedora.org/
http://www.slackware.com/getslack/
https://www.centos.org/download/

@Ztcoracat Thats sadly not an option. Well, unless there is another good forensic linux distribution working that well (except that wifi thing).. But thanks for your input :)
Adam

Have you installed the firmware-realtek package? That's where the realtek drivers are. If you have that package then they are installed automatically.
jdk

Quote:

Originally Posted by poky (Post 5490409)

@Ztcoracat Thats sadly not an option. Well, unless there is another good forensic linux distribution working that well (except that wifi thing).. But thanks for your input :)
Adam

Kali Linux is designed for working with digital forensic's, penetration testing and the like.
https://www.kali.org/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali_Linux

Most members that I have discussed Kali Linux with have found that running it via a LIVE CD is most efficient.
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...archid=8303913

-::-If you decide to run Kali Linux you would need to start another thread for that particular distribution so it will get the assistance it deserves.-::-

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdkaye (Post 5490417)

Have you installed the firmware-realtek package? That's where the realtek drivers are. If you have that package then they are installed automatically.

Hi...

From what I understand, this package isn't available in Ubuntu but in Debian. I'm not sure how this would translate to the OP's distribution and kernel version (if necessary) but I guess it is possible...

Regards...

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardvark71 (Post 5490429)

Your right-
I found it here:
https://packages.debian.org/jessie/a...altek/download

I'm not sure if a .deb pkg could be installed on DEFT 8 or not as I am not familiar with this distro it's package management system or what commandline utility it uses. In fact DEFT 8 doesn't exist in Distrowatch's database.

I found this for his chip set and linux It has a what look nice step by step section on the wifi it has to do with Ubuntututu but that is a derivative of Debian. it just might work... its all about the same

Realtek wireless chipset: install the right driver

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ztcoracat (Post 5490434)

In fact DEFT 8 doesn't exist in Distrowatch's database.

Hi Ztcoracat...

It's there, just that the name is slightly different. :)

According to the page, DEFT is based on Debian and Lubuntu.

Regards...

@Ztcoracat
Thanks. I was trying to find differences DEFT vs KALI and it seems like Kali is more oriented in penetration testing. Deft is all about forensic testing. My work is all about forensic analysis - but I guess better something than nothing - if we don't manage to make wifi work, I will for sure give it a try. Thanks!

@BW_userx
That link tells me to do the exact steps I did ( make rtl8723.conf in /etc/modprobe.d and write in it one line) but it still refuses to see any wifi networks around.. Thanks anyway!

Any other ideas how to make it work?

Thank you guys for help,

Adam

EDIT: I forgot to tell you guys that LIVE CD / USB is not enough for me as I need to constantly update or change parts of programs. I tried to make writable USB work but it ended up not working for me.

My hp stream 11's have that device. Caveats of course.

needs a github kernel module for stabilitiy (does work out of the box in debian jessie/stable, for a short time). And needs firmware from July 2015 or later.

# apt-get install firmware-realtek
# ifconfig -a
# ifconfig wlan0 up
# iwconfig

Just to check if it's not already working. By default it works for me, but dies after two hours, and then even less uptime if I don't reboot to reload it. With the below updates it's pretty darn stable.

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

For the kernel module above. And the traditional build/install steps.

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

For the more recent firmware. You'll have to manually copy/move the /lib/firmware/rtlwifi/ parts to there. I think it's the rtl8723befw.bin that's different (in size) from the distro supplied one. There's also a broadcom driver for it which you might need to use for the bluetooth(and wifi) I don't recall the name of it as I've never used it(bcmwl???/sta???).

$ dmesg

Should let you know if it's missing some firmware. When it was new I also needed a 3.19 or newer kernel for the touchpad on the hp stream 11, but that is backported to the debian stable 3.16 kernel it seems.