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Old 03-29-2008, 04:58 AM   #1
post_erasmus
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Configuring a rtl8187b wireless card on a Toshiba Satellite A215-s5802 in Ubuntu 7.10


I am entirely new to everything linux, so it's entirely possible that my troubles hinge on what would qualify for common sense to most folks here.

I have successfully installed ubuntu 7.10 in a dual boot with vista, have successfully gotten updates and some great programming apps for java and c++, have even tweaked my ati graphics card to running at full everything in ubuntu, but I have not been able to get my wireless card up and running.

It is recognized as a device in device manager. I have tried (and sometimes succeeded in) loading realtek's windows driver with ndiswrapper, sometimes after adding the line
%RTL8187B.DeviceDesc% = RTL8187B.ndi, USB\VID_0BDA&PID_8197&REV_0200
under the IDs for 98se/me/2k/xp section of that drivers .inf file. When the driver does load, neither iwlist nor iwconfig nor network manager appear to notice my wireless card. I've also tried using the modified driver found at cuervo's datanorth blog, but I get a slew of invalid pointer and other errors when running its initial makedrv script.


I was hoping to keep my first post from sporting that moldy patina of newbie frustration/desperation, but after a week of struggling with it, the only dint I have made is in my liqour cabinet.
Please let me if there's any other information I can post to help you help me, and thank you.
 
Old 03-30-2008, 12:18 PM   #2
pentode
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Welcome to LQ.

What does ndiswrapper -l tell you? It should list your device and driver.

If this looks OK, make sure ndiswrapper module is being loaded (modprobe ndiswrapper).

Check lspci output and look for your wireless NIC and lsmod to verify ndiswrapper is being loaded.

Check ifconfig to see if there is an interface being created for the wireless NIC.
 
Old 03-30-2008, 03:09 PM   #3
post_erasmus
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First off, thanks for taking the time to reply, man, and thank you for the welcome.

ndiswrapper -l yields:
Code:
net8187b : driver installed
device (0BDA:8197) present
modprobe ndiswrapper and sudo modprobe ndiswrapper both give me a new line, which I assume means either success or abject failure.

lspci yields:
Code:
erasmus@librum-mobus:~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS690 Host Bridge
00:01.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS690 PCI to PCI Bridge (Internal gfx)
00:04.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc Unknown device 7914
00:05.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc Unknown device 7915
00:06.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS690 PCI to PCI Bridge (PCI Express Port 2)
00:12.0 SATA controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 Non-Raid-5 SATA
00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI0)
00:13.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI1)
00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI2)
00:13.3 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI3)
00:13.4 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI4)
00:13.5 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB Controller (EHCI)
00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 SMBus Controller (rev 14)
00:14.1 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 IDE
00:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 Azalia
00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 PCI to LPC Bridge
00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridge
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon X1200 Series
08:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 01)
14:06.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C832 IEEE 1394 Controller (rev 05)
14:06.1 Generic system peripheral [0805]: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter (rev 22)
14:06.2 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C843 MMC Host Controller (rev 12)
14:06.3 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C592 Memory Stick Bus Host Adapte
lsmod give me:
Code:
erasmus@librum-mobus:~$ lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
fglrx                 656352  11 
rfcomm                 42136  2 
l2cap                  26240  11 rfcomm
bluetooth              57060  4 rfcomm,l2cap
ppdev                  10244  0 
powernow_k8            16960  1 
cpufreq_conservative     8072  0 
cpufreq_stats           7232  0 
cpufreq_userspace       5280  0 
cpufreq_ondemand        9612  1 
freq_table              5792  3 powernow_k8,cpufreq_stats,cpufreq_ondemand
cpufreq_powersave       2688  0 
button                  8976  0 
video                  18060  0 
dock                   10656  0 
sbs                    19592  0 
ac                      6148  0 
container               5504  0 
battery                11012  0 
sbp2                   24072  0 
parport_pc             37412  0 
lp                     12580  0 
parport                37448  3 ppdev,parport_pc,lp
joydev                 11328  0 
snd_hda_intel         263712  0 
snd_pcm_oss            44672  0 
snd_mixer_oss          17664  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm                80388  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm_oss
snd_seq_dummy           4740  0 
snd_seq_oss            33152  0 
ndiswrapper           185240  0 
snd_seq_midi            9600  0 
psmouse                39952  0 
serio_raw               8068  0 
snd_rawmidi            25728  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event      8448  2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
sdhci                  18828  0 
mmc_core               28420  1 sdhci
snd_seq                53232  6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
k8temp                  6656  0 
pcspkr                  4224  0 
snd_timer              24324  2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device          9228  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
i2c_piix4               9740  0 
i2c_core               26112  1 i2c_piix4
snd                    54660  9 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
soundcore               8800  1 snd
snd_page_alloc         11400  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
ati_agp                10124  0 
agpgart                35016  2 fglrx,ati_agp
shpchp                 34580  0 
pci_hotplug            32704  1 shpchp
evdev                  11136  5 
ext3                  133896  2 
jbd                    60456  1 ext3
mbcache                 9732  1 ext3
ide_cd                 32672  0 
cdrom                  37536  1 ide_cd
sg                     36764  0 
sd_mod                 30336  6 
ata_generic             8452  0 
ahci                   23300  5 
libata                125168  2 ata_generic,ahci
scsi_mod              147084  4 sbp2,sg,sd_mod,libata
ohci1394               36528  0 
ieee1394               96312  2 sbp2,ohci1394
atiixp                  7056  0 [permanent]
ide_core              116804  2 ide_cd,atiixp
ehci_hcd               36492  0 
ohci_hcd               22916  0 
usbcore               138632  4 ndiswrapper,ehci_hcd,ohci_hcd
r8169                  32260  0 
thermal                14344  0 
processor              32072  2 powernow_k8,thermal
fan                     5764  0 
fuse                   47124  5 
apparmor               40728  0 
commoncap               8320  1 apparmor
ifconfig spits out
Code:
erasmus@librum-mobus:~$ ifconfig
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:A0:D1:93:9E:F4  
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
          Interrupt:16 Base address:0xc000 

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
I also ran ndiswrapper -m and lsmod | grep ndiswrapper.

Code:
erasmus@librum-mobus:~$ lsmod | grep ndiswrapper
ndiswrapper           185240  0 
usbcore               138632  4 ndiswrapper,ehci_hcd,ohci_hcd
I think this might show some of the problem, but I don't quite understand it.
Code:
erasmus@librum-mobus:~$ sudo ndiswrapper -m
module configuration contains directive install usb:v0BDAp8187d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper
;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 249.
module configuration contains directive install usb:v0BDAp8189d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper
;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 250.
module configuration contains directive install usb:v0BDAp8197d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip* /sbin/modprobe ndiswrapper
;you should delete that at /usr/sbin/ndiswrapper-1.9 line 790, <MODPROBE> line 251.
module configuration already contains alias directive
Thanks for taking the time, folks.
 
Old 03-30-2008, 06:02 PM   #4
BobNutfield
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Hello, post erasmus,

I just purchased a Toshiba Equium A210 with same internal usb chipset. I, too, am stuggling to get it working, and thus have held off beginning my dual boot with Vista until I am sure I can get wireless working. However, I have come across and extensive thread in the Ubuntu forum dedicated just to this particular wireless chipset. I will be trying some of the things described in this thread. The link is here:


http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...8187B+wireless


Hope this helps

Bob
 
Old 03-30-2008, 06:46 PM   #5
post_erasmus
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Bob, you beautiful bastard.

In reading the posts at the ubuntu forum I realized that the realtek driver I modified was *not* the one for Windows 98. You can find that driver at http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/...=true#RTL8187B.

When you download and extract it, open up the Win98 subdirectory and go to the section that says IDs for 98Se/ME/2K/XP. These two lines should be there
Code:
%RTL8187B.DeviceDesc% = RTL8187B.ndi, USB/VID_0BDA&PID_8187&REV_0200
%RTL8187B.DeviceDesc% = RTL8187B.ndi, USB\VID_0BDA&PID_8189&REV_0200
Add the line
Code:
%RTL8187B.DeviceDesc% = RTL8187B.ndi, USB\VID_0BDA&PID_8197&REV_0200
after them. Load it with ndiswrapper and you ought to have a wlan0 at your disposal.

Now it's time to see if I can see/connect to my actual router.
 
Old 03-30-2008, 07:26 PM   #6
post_erasmus
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I'm not sure if this is a continuation of my driver issues or a separate thiung, but Ubuntu's Network Manager seems to be having some issues with my router's WEP encryption. Network Manager sees the network just fine, but does not want to accept the WEP 64-bit hexadecimal key. Everytime I enter it, Network Manager comes back asking for a 128-bit passphrase.

Is this a driver issue or a Network Manager issue or a user ignorance issue?

Thanks for all the help so far. This is quite a forum.
 
Old 03-31-2008, 05:00 AM   #7
BobNutfield
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Hi

I don't know, but Ubuntu seems to have trouble with wireless of any description. I know there are people galore who have it working with a number of different chipsets, but not me. I have been using the live cd to test every thing on this laptop with Ubuntu. Since I could not get the internal USB wireless recognized, I bought a cheap Belkin USB stick and Ubuntu recognized it and even tried to connect to my home router. It would not. Further, I don't any encryption set so it is set to "key off". Still would not connect.

I have Ubuntu on my Desktop (does not use wireless) and everything is beautiful, so I had intended to put it on this new laptop as a dual boot, but I don't believe this is going to work for me. I have tried a number of live cd's to test it and the only one I could get this cheap Belkin stick to work on was Mandriva One. Obviously, I cannot try the fixes in the thread I sent until I have something installed.

Also, NO distro seems to like the ATI SB600 Azalia chipset for sound in this laptop as NONE of the more than a dozen I have tried haver produced a single sound. The closet I came was with Fedora 9 Beta Live cd, which correctly ID'd the chipset, but still never produced a note.

Also, I cam curious about the line you said to add in your above post. It is an exact copy of the previous lines. Is this correct?

I am willing to put what work I have to to get all of this up and running, but this may be the first computer I have ever seen that cannot be set up completely with Linux.

Regards

Bob
 
Old 03-31-2008, 09:12 PM   #8
post_erasmus
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I can feel for you on the sound issue, though mine is a realtek.

As for the line addition, they are all very similar, but the last 81xx number of each line is different. The line you add has the permutation 8197, which seems to be part of or all of the identifying number ubuntu gives to this wireless card.

I'm going to fool around with getting my recognized wireless card to successfully chat my wireless router. If/when I figure it out, I'll post it in here.
 
Old 04-01-2008, 07:07 AM   #9
BobNutfield
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UPDATE Thanks for the tip post_rasmus

Thanks forthe tip on the line changes in the win98 .inf file. Loaded it with ndiswrapper (version 1.52), SHAZAAAM! Got wireless on boot! The signel is not as strong as with the cheap USB stick, but at least all the loaded hardware in this laptop now works. As a matter of fact, there is a volume control wheel in the front of the laptop that DID NOT work in Vista, but does in Ubunutu Hardy.

I am now a happy bunny.

Bob
 
Old 04-17-2008, 12:22 PM   #10
rezer
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did the line edit and i works perfectly beutiful thank you guys so much i've been trying to get this to work forever
 
Old 05-03-2008, 09:38 AM   #11
xx-iceman-xx
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hi there ive got the canadian version of the laptop your having trouble with and the only distro ive found to get sound wireless with some configuration is mandriva 2008.1 just figured id let you guys know about it considering its the only thing that works and even the compiz runs perfectly



Quote:
Originally Posted by BobNutfield View Post
Hi

I don't know, but Ubuntu seems to have trouble with wireless of any description. I know there are people galore who have it working with a number of different chipsets, but not me. I have been using the live cd to test every thing on this laptop with Ubuntu. Since I could not get the internal USB wireless recognized, I bought a cheap Belkin USB stick and Ubuntu recognized it and even tried to connect to my home router. It would not. Further, I don't any encryption set so it is set to "key off". Still would not connect.

I have Ubuntu on my Desktop (does not use wireless) and everything is beautiful, so I had intended to put it on this new laptop as a dual boot, but I don't believe this is going to work for me. I have tried a number of live cd's to test it and the only one I could get this cheap Belkin stick to work on was Mandriva One. Obviously, I cannot try the fixes in the thread I sent until I have something installed.

Also, NO distro seems to like the ATI SB600 Azalia chipset for sound in this laptop as NONE of the more than a dozen I have tried haver produced a single sound. The closet I came was with Fedora 9 Beta Live cd, which correctly ID'd the chipset, but still never produced a note.

Also, I cam curious about the line you said to add in your above post. It is an exact copy of the previous lines. Is this correct?

I am willing to put what work I have to to get all of this up and running, but this may be the first computer I have ever seen that cannot be set up completely with Linux.

Regards

Bob
 
Old 04-30-2009, 08:11 PM   #12
jupiter00
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Quote:
Originally Posted by xx-iceman-xx View Post
hi there ive got the canadian version of the laptop your having trouble with and the only distro ive found to get sound wireless with some configuration is mandriva 2008.1 just figured id let you guys know about it considering its the only thing that works and even the compiz runs perfectly
Hi, to everyone.

I must disagree with xx-iceman-xx because I have a TOSHIBA A215 SP4057 and now I'm an Ubuntu 8.10' happy user.

The story begins three weeks ago, when I installed Ubuntu 7.10 and only device that doesn't work was my WiFi net card. I tried the original driver, the driver modified by Cuervo and, finally, ndiswrapper with the Windows XP 64 bits driver.

So, a few days later i upgrade to the next version of Ubuntu (8.04) and then, my wireless card work one day and not the other. Afterwards, I read in Ubuntu forums (I cant' found the thread but is out there) that apparently my WiFi card will work in Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) and when I made a clean install of Intrepid, guess what, the WiFi works seamlessly. And that's true for all the devices installed in my machine.

So folks, you must upgrade your Ubuntu installation to 8.10 and by the way, I will install Debian Lenny (5.0) in a virtual machine to see what happens and then I will post the results of such experiment.
 
  


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