Trouble installing drivers for RTL8723be on GB-BXBT-1900

jfhendfg · 06-22-2015, 09:00 AM

Hello all!
I'm relatively new to Linux, so bare with me here, if I leave out any info or anything of the sort please just ask and I will elaborate further!

I'm running crunchbang (I updated the repositories to debian jessie though so I suppose it's actually #! labeled debian?), and on the network applet there are no options for the surrounding wifi access points, they are not listed. I've ran an Ubuntu live disk and the wifi not only detected the access points but was able to connect to them a o k as well.

I'm under the understanding that it's a driver issue, firmware-realtek is intsalled but from what I've researched I need to install the drivers from lwfinger's github, and this is where I'm at:

After cloning the repository via
$ git clone http://github.com/lwfinger/rtlwifi_new.git

Then cd'ing into it, then running 'make' I receive the output:
make -C /lib/modules/3.2.0-4-686-pae/build M=/home/john/rtlwifi_new modules
make[1]: *** /lib/modules/3.2.0-4-686-pae/build: No such file or directory. Stop.
Makefile:53: recipe for target 'all' failed
make: *** [all] Error 2

From what I could find this should be resolved by running:
$ apt-get install -y linux-headers-"`uname -r`"

Instead I am presented with:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package linux-headers-3.2.0-4-686-pae
E: Couldn't find any package by regex 'linux-headers-3.2.0-4-686-pae'

And that's where I'm stuck at, any help will be greatfully appreciated!

I'm also under the assumption that with this driver the modules bluetooth will be able to run as well too? Because when I run "bluetooth-applet" and then choose "Setup new device" it endlessly searches for devices to connect to without ever finding anything (I have several bluetooth devices on discovery mode when running this as well)

Once again, all help is greatfully appreciated!

Head_on_a_Stick · 06-22-2015, 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jfhendfg

I'm running crunchbang (I updated the repositories to debian jessie though so I suppose it's actually #! labeled debian?)

The 3.2 kernel (& headers) is not available in jessie.

Why are you running a wheezy kernel in a jessie system?

You should probably explain exactly how you changed #! to track jessie.

Post the output of:

Code:

apt-cache policy

I think you should install the jessie kernel & headers:

Code:

# apt-get install linux-image-686-pae linux-headers-686-pae

Also, I think we should check the correct drivers -- post the output of:

Code:

lspci -knn|grep -iA2 net

Shadow_7 · 06-22-2015, 03:05 PM

As mentioned you need the headers to compile the driver against the kernel. But the driver should already be in the kernel, just not as new and potentially unstable for your chipset.

# ifconfig wlan0 down
# modprobe -r rtl8723be
# modprobe rtl8723be
# ifconfig wlan0 up

And whatever networking options you use.

$ dmesg

After you modprobe the driver back up. To see if it has any gripes.

# modprobe rtl8723be
# ifconfig wlan0 up
# iwlist wlan0 scanning

And if you get results, it's working. You'll need extras to connect to some wifi networks. Like wpa_supplicant if you have encryption and it's more recent than WEP. I have a need for the lwfinger driver on my hp stream 11. It works (after firmware-realtek) by default. But goes south every couple of hours which requires the firstly mentioned module reload to bring it back without rebooting. With the lwfinger driver I have a mostly hassle free experience.

jfhendfg · 06-22-2015, 08:29 PM

apt-cache policy:

Code:

Package files:
 100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     release a=now
 500 http://www.deb-multimedia.org/ jessie-backports/main i386 Packages
     release o=Unofficial Multimedia Packages,a=stable-backports,n=jessie-backports,l=Unofficial Multimedia Packages,c=main
     origin www.deb-multimedia.org
 500 http://www.deb-multimedia.org/ jessie/non-free i386 Packages
     release o=Unofficial Multimedia Packages,a=stable,n=jessie,l=Unofficial Multimedia Packages,c=non-free
     origin www.deb-multimedia.org
 500 http://www.deb-multimedia.org/ jessie/main i386 Packages
     release o=Unofficial Multimedia Packages,a=stable,n=jessie,l=Unofficial Multimedia Packages,c=main
     origin www.deb-multimedia.org
 500 http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ jessie-updates/non-free Translation-en
 500 http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ jessie-updates/main Translation-en
 500 http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ jessie-updates/contrib Translation-en
 500 http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ jessie-updates/non-free i386 Packages
     release o=Debian,a=stable-updates,n=jessie-updates,l=Debian,c=non-free
     origin ftp.debian.org
 500 http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ jessie-updates/contrib i386 Packages
     release o=Debian,a=stable-updates,n=jessie-updates,l=Debian,c=contrib
     origin ftp.debian.org
 500 http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ jessie-updates/main i386 Packages
     release o=Debian,a=stable-updates,n=jessie-updates,l=Debian,c=main
     origin ftp.debian.org
 500 http://http.debian.net/debian/ jessie/non-free Translation-en
 500 http://http.debian.net/debian/ jessie/main Translation-en
 500 http://http.debian.net/debian/ jessie/contrib Translation-en
 500 http://http.debian.net/debian/ jessie/non-free i386 Packages
     release v=8.1,o=Debian,a=stable,n=jessie,l=Debian,c=non-free
     origin http.debian.net
 500 http://http.debian.net/debian/ jessie/contrib i386 Packages
     release v=8.1,o=Debian,a=stable,n=jessie,l=Debian,c=contrib
     origin http.debian.net
 500 http://http.debian.net/debian/ jessie/main i386 Packages
     release v=8.1,o=Debian,a=stable,n=jessie,l=Debian,c=main
     origin http.debian.net
Pinned packages:

I followed this guide to upgrade to Jessie while in Crunchbang
http://crunchbang.org/forums/viewtopic.php?id=39615

lspci -knn|grep -iA2 net

Code:

02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8723BE PCIe Wireless Network Adapter [10ec:b723]
	Subsystem: AzureWave Device [1a3b:2159]
03:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller [10ec:8168] (rev 0c)
	Subsystem: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd Motherboard [1458:e000]
	Kernel driver in use: r8169

jfhendfg · 06-22-2015, 08:42 PM

When I installed the jessie headers & kernel (3.16), I rebooted, and now my display is behaving strangely. The video output is moving up and down rapidly with some horizontal lines going through the screen. I wish I could describe it better.

Not sure if this output is needed but iwlist wlan0 scanning gave:

Code:

wlan0     Scan completed :
          Cell 01 - Address: 80:37:73:D2:DB:C3
                    Channel:6
                    Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
                    Quality=52/70  Signal level=-58 dBm  
                    Encryption key:on
                    ESSID:"MyCharterWiFic3-2G"
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
                              24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Bit Rates:6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
                    Mode:Master
                    Extra:tsf=000000f137f7b0b3
                    Extra: Last beacon: 3296ms ago
                    IE: Unknown: 00124D79436861727465725769466963332D3247
                    IE: Unknown: 010882840B162430486C
                    IE: Unknown: 030106
                    IE: Unknown: 2A0104
                    IE: Unknown: 2F0104
                    IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
                        Group Cipher : CCMP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (1) : CCMP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
                    IE: Unknown: 32040C121860
                    IE: Unknown: 0B050700190000
                    IE: Unknown: 2D1AAD1917FFFFFF0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
                    IE: Unknown: 3D1606081500000000000000000000000000000000000000
                    IE: Unknown: 4A0E14000A002C01C800140005001900
                    IE: Unknown: 7F080500080000000040
                    IE: Unknown: DD810050F204104A0001101044000102103B000103104700101394FB043297ABCC9EAE4A5C3E990D1C1021000D4E4554474541522C20496E632E10230007523633303076321024000752363330307632104200033637391054000800060050F20400011011000752363330307632100800022008103C0001031049000600372A000120
                    IE: Unknown: DD090010180207001C0000
                    IE: Unknown: DD180050F2020101880003A4000027A400004243BC0062326600
                    IE: Unknown: 46057200010000
          Cell 02 - Address: 08:BD:43:AC:A1:57
                    Channel:11
                    Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
                    Quality=70/70  Signal level=-14 dBm  
                    Encryption key:on
                    ESSID:"smoke meth hail satan"
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s
                              9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
                    Bit Rates:24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Mode:Master
                    Extra:tsf=000001415e55dd01
                    Extra: Last beacon: 3296ms ago
                    IE: Unknown: 0015736D6F6B65206D657468206861696C20736174616E
                    IE: Unknown: 010882848B960C121824
                    IE: Unknown: 03010B
                    IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
                        Group Cipher : CCMP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (1) : CCMP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
                    IE: Unknown: 2A0100
                    IE: Unknown: 32043048606C
                    IE: Unknown: DD180050F2020101830003A4000027A4000042435E0062322F00
                    IE: Unknown: DD1E00904C33CC111BFFFF000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
                    IE: Unknown: 2D1ACC111BFFFF000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
                    IE: Unknown: DD1A00904C340B080800000000000000000000000000000000000000
                    IE: Unknown: 3D160B080800000000000000000000000000000000000000
                    IE: Unknown: 4A0E14000A002C01C800140005001900
                    IE: Unknown: 7F0101
                    IE: Unknown: DD0900037F01010000FF7F
                    IE: Unknown: DD0A00037F04010002004000
                    IE: Unknown: DD7E0050F204104A0001101044000102103B000103104700100000000000001000000008BD43ACA157102100074E65746765617210230008574E445233383030102400025631104200046E6F6E651054000800060050F204000110110017574E445233383030434828576972656C65737320415029100800020086103C000103
          Cell 03 - Address: 44:94:FC:94:AD:B1
                    Channel:3
                    Frequency:2.422 GHz (Channel 3)
                    Quality=42/70  Signal level=-68 dBm  
                    Encryption key:on
                    ESSID:"NETGEAR83"
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s
                              9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
                    Bit Rates:24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Mode:Master
                    Extra:tsf=0000021345e7b277
                    Extra: Last beacon: 3296ms ago
                    IE: Unknown: 00094E4554474541523833
                    IE: Unknown: 010882848B960C121824
                    IE: Unknown: 030103
                    IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
                        Group Cipher : CCMP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (1) : CCMP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
                    IE: Unknown: 2A0100
                    IE: Unknown: 32043048606C
                    IE: Unknown: DD180050F2020101820003A4000027A4000042435E0062322F00
                    IE: Unknown: DD1E00904C33CC111BFFFF000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
                    IE: Unknown: 2D1ACC111BFFFF000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
                    IE: Unknown: DD1A00904C3403080800000000000000000000000000000000000000
                    IE: Unknown: 3D1603080800000000000000000000000000000000000000
                    IE: Unknown: 4A0E14000A002C01C800140005001900
                    IE: Unknown: 7F0101
                    IE: Unknown: DD0900037F01010000FF7F
                    IE: Unknown: DD0A00037F04010002004000
                    IE: Unknown: DD7C0050F204104A0001101044000102103B00010310470010000000000000100000004494FC94ADB1102100074E65746765617210230008574E445233383030102400025631104200046E6F6E651054000800060050F204000110110015574E44523338303028576972656C65737320415029100800020086103C000103
          Cell 04 - Address: C4:04:15:89:97:24
                    Channel:1
                    Frequency:2.412 GHz (Channel 1)
                    Quality=30/70  Signal level=-80 dBm  
                    Encryption key:on
                    ESSID:"MyCharterWiFi4-2G"
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s
                              9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
                    Bit Rates:24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Mode:Master
                    Extra:tsf=0000000475570839
                    Extra: Last beacon: 3296ms ago
                    IE: Unknown: 00114D794368617274657257694669342D3247
                    IE: Unknown: 010882848B960C121824
                    IE: Unknown: 030101
                    IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
                        Group Cipher : CCMP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (1) : CCMP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
                    IE: Unknown: 2A0100
                    IE: Unknown: 32043048606C
                    IE: Unknown: DD180050F2020101830003A4000027A4000042435E0062322F00
                    IE: Unknown: DD1E00904C33CC111BFFFF000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
                    IE: Unknown: 2D1ACC111BFFFF000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
                    IE: Unknown: DD1A00904C3401080800000000000000000000000000000000000000
                    IE: Unknown: 3D1601080800000000000000000000000000000000000000
                    IE: Unknown: 4A0E14000A002C01C800140005001900
                    IE: Unknown: 7F0101
                    IE: Unknown: DD0900037F01010000FF7F
                    IE: Unknown: DD0A00037F04010002004000
                    IE: Unknown: DD7E0050F204104A0001101044000102103B0001031047001000000000000010000000C40415899724102100074E65746765617210230008574E445233383030102400025631104200046E6F6E651054000800060050F204000110110017574E445233383030434828576972656C65737320415029100800020086103C000103

jfhendfg · 06-22-2015, 08:47 PM

And I'm sorry Head_on_a_Stick I thought I posted the output that you needed but for some reason that post isn't here. I have to go to work and will post that output when I get back.
Because hardware tracking,
because IT WOOOORKEEDDD. :U
Thank you, Shadow 7!

Shadow_7 · 06-23-2015, 06:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jfhendfg

When I installed the jessie headers & kernel (3.16), I rebooted, and now my display is behaving strangely. The video output is moving up and down rapidly with some horizontal lines going through the screen. I wish I could describe it better.

Ati/Amd deprecated some older cards. And the proprietary driver isn't available for kernels > 3.4.x for those cards. So you'll need to use the radeon driver for those select cards. Maybe not your issue, but one possible issue that could be in play.

Although what you describe is the old CRT style monitors and vertical sync refresh rate issue. If it scrolls vertically. If it's just a horizontal line the goes vertically, that's also a refresh rate issue. Horizontal sync + Vertical refresh. Things that you can do the old modeline stuff to force acceptable settings for your display. Using xrandr can let you do that stuff on the fly instead of restarting X with every attempt at a guess for good values. It's not really an issue with modern displays. Although if your signal is out of range on the modern ones, they show nothing at all.

And yes, that is normal output for iwlist when your driver is working.

jfhendfg · 06-23-2015, 08:24 AM

Okay well I'm having trouble setting the correct resolution and I honestly don't know how to use xrandr.
Especially since it's very hard to read right now.
I am using a CRT so it may be the sync issue.
arandr won't let me change it from 1024x768, it's the only option, and when I use the same command in my autostart that sets it to 800x600 I get the error cannot find mode 800x600

Shadow_7 · 06-23-2015, 10:11 AM

$ xrandr 2>&1 | tee logfile.txt

from an xterm, then exit X. Which should let you examine your default options on a readable display.

There's EDID information with most displays, but many displays report the wrong information. So when assumptions are made they can tend to be wrong. Most displays work with a 60Hz vertical refresh. Google on the display and google on modeline generators, the old xorg.conf route probably doesn't work much these days. So having a script that passes xrandr the commands and parameters that it needs help to compensate and helps to keep things usable when flying almost blind.

Option B, get/use a different display.

Option C, use a distro that gets it right. And maybe use it's conf setup to make the other one work if you don't want to use the other distro.

$ xvidtune -show 2>&1 | tee logfile.txt

Should show you the current mode and it's modeline information.

jfhendfg · 06-23-2015, 07:42 PM

Oh I also meant to state that this happened after the kernel change you recommended, before there were no display issues.
And just to confirm:
Alt+F2 xterm
Then run xrandr 2>&1 | tee logfile.txt in xterm
Then set the correct modeline
Then reboot?

Shadow_7 · 06-24-2015, 10:14 AM

You can use xrandr to set a modeline and switch to it. No need to reboot. Rebooting will actual undo manually done settings, so best not to until you need to. And take notes so you can repeat your steps if you find one that works.

If the kernel is to blame, you can do a custom kernel. With the kernel-package package and make-kpkg (in debian). Which will create a .deb of the new kernel to dpkg -i kernel.deb to install it. Lots of options and ways to "make it work".

More likely to be a video driver issue. If you previously used a propriety driver installed by non-distro means that can leave artifacts that get in the way. Like the ati/amd driver that replaces libGL.so. Of course most of those types of issues go away with a fresh install.

jfhendfg · 06-24-2015, 12:20 PM

Like I said I'm relatively new to Linux, so creating a custom kernel is out of the question.

xrandr was giving me too many errors, I would give it the modeline given from cvt and then I'd get a failed gamma message, I saw that I could ignore that so I did and proceeded but when trying to set the new mode I'd get a different error, would go back and find said error, but I managed a poor, stupid, solution.

I know this is going to make people mad I'm sure, but I got desperate and ran sudo apt-get dist upgrade, and now everything is working, wifi still working too. According to synaptic I'm still following jessie repositories so somehow I suppose it's still under jessie, I'm not sure, like I said I feel like that was stupid of me so let's not even go into that. I'll clean up that mess on my own.

If you're still ok with helping me, any suggestions on bluetooth?
After the dist upgrade command I now have gnome-control-center, don't know why, but in it's bluetooth section it says no adapters found. Which is not true because as you know I'm using the rtl8723be module which is wifi and bluetooth enabled.

Head_on_a_Stick · 06-24-2015, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jfhendfg

I followed this guide to upgrade to Jessie while in Crunchbang
http://crunchbang.org/forums/viewtopic.php?id=39615

That "guide" was written by somebody who doesn't know how to use Debian and was attempting to provide an "upgrade" script to install the sub-alpha version of a new distribution (BunsenLabs) on top of wheezy/Waldorf.

It is not recommended to use the sub-alpha release of BunsenLabs for important systems even if it is installed as the developer intended (ie, download & run an install script in a fresh Debian jessie minimal netinstall).

I would recommend installing Debian jessie instead.

Shadow_7 · 06-25-2015, 01:06 PM

$ lsmod | grep -i bt

btusb, bluetooth, btcoexist, along with rtl_pci, rtl8723be, and rtlwifi get mentioned with that which afaik is the drivers for bluetooth on my hp stream 11. But I have no bluetooth devices to test with or know of any gui frontends (yet). The package "bluez" seems to provide a bluetoothd daemon and a bluetoothctl executable. Running bluetoothctl seems to put one into a command line ftp type client that handles the bluetooth bits. help to list the options while in that interface. Otherwise the bluetoothd is probably what the gnome-control-center needs to see and use bluetooth. Or I could be wrong.

jfhendfg · 06-26-2015, 08:47 AM

Since the wifi problem was solved with the new kernel and enabling the nonfree debian repository I went ahead and just installed Debian Jessie.

I installed blueman and it presents no errors, not even the adapter not found errror, however when searching for devices, nothing comes up. And there are several devices with discovery mode enabled in the proximity.

The output of that command is:

Code:

btcoexist              48679  1 rtl8723be
btusb                  25417  0 
bluetooth             340064  24 bnep,btusb,rfcomm
usbcore               170994  3 btusb,usbhid,xhci_hcd