USB wi-fi adapter not found

[David Harmon]

Trying to get a USB wi-fi adapter recognized... doesn't show up
as /dev/wlan0. Where do I look for the next clue?

david@raspberrypi ~ $ dmesg |grep usb.*2.2
[ 3.932755] usb 1-1.2.2: new high-speed USB device number 6 using dwc_otg
[ 4.064781] usb 1-1.2.2: New USB device found, idVendor=0bda, idProduct=8176
[ 4.092099] usb 1-1.2.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 4.122501] usb 1-1.2.2: Product: 802.11n WLAN Adapter
[ 4.142513] usb 1-1.2.2: Manufacturer: Realtek
[ 4.153621] usb 1-1.2.2: SerialNumber: 00e04c000001
david@raspberrypi ~ $ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0424:9512 Standard Microsystems Corp.
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0424:ec00 Standard Microsystems Corp.
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0409:0058 NEC Corp. HighSpeed Hub
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 1c4f:0002 SiGma Micro Keyboard TRACER Gamma Ivory
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 0bda:8176 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8188CUS 802.11n WLAN Adapter
david@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo apt-get install firmware-realtek
Reading package lists...
Building dependency tree...
Reading state information...
firmware-realtek is already the newest version.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 3 not upgraded.
david@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo ifup -a
Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client 4.2.2
Copyright 2004-2011 Internet Systems Consortium.
All rights reserved.
For info, please visit https://www.isc.org/software/dhcp/

Cannot find device "wlan0"
Bind socket to interface: No such device
Failed to bring up wlan0.
david@raspberrypi ~ $ ls -l /dev/w*
ls: cannot access /dev/w*: No such file or directory

[David Harmon]

On Mon, 18 Nov 2013 01:08:05 +0000 (UTC) in comp.sys.raspberry-pi, Roger Bell_West
<roger+cs...@nospam.firedrake.org> wrote,

>On 2013-11-18, David Harmon wrote:
>>Trying to get a USB wi-fi adapter recognized... doesn't show up
>>as /dev/wlan0. Where do I look for the next clue?
>

># ifconfig -a
>
>just in case it's showing up under some weird name (the RALink devices
>used to do this).

Shows only the eth0 and lo devices.

>Is it in fact an RTL8188CUS? That ought to be supported:
>https://wiki.debian.org/rtl819x

I don't know. As far as I know it is.

># lsusb
>
>should give more information too.

More than I posted? OK, here is -v output from lsusb.
I don't know what any of this means.

Bus 001 Device 006: ID 0bda:8176 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8188CUS 802.11n WLAN Adapter

Device Descriptor:
bLength 18
bDescriptorType 1
bcdUSB 2.00
bDeviceClass 0 (Defined at Interface level)
bDeviceSubClass 0
bDeviceProtocol 0
bMaxPacketSize0 64
idVendor 0x0bda Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
idProduct 0x8176 RTL8188CUS 802.11n WLAN Adapter
bcdDevice 2.00
iManufacturer 1
iProduct 2
iSerial 3
bNumConfigurations 1
Configuration Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 2
wTotalLength 46
bNumInterfaces 1
bConfigurationValue 1
iConfiguration 0
bmAttributes 0xa0
(Bus Powered)
Remote Wakeup
MaxPower 500mA
Interface Descriptor:
bLength 9
bDescriptorType 4
bInterfaceNumber 0
bAlternateSetting 0
bNumEndpoints 4
bInterfaceClass 255 Vendor Specific Class
bInterfaceSubClass 255 Vendor Specific Subclass
bInterfaceProtocol 255 Vendor Specific Protocol
iInterface 0
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x81 EP 1 IN
bmAttributes 2
Transfer Type Bulk
Synch Type None
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0200 1x 512 bytes
bInterval 0
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x02 EP 2 OUT
bmAttributes 2
Transfer Type Bulk
Synch Type None
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0200 1x 512 bytes
bInterval 0
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x03 EP 3 OUT
bmAttributes 2
Transfer Type Bulk
Synch Type None
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0200 1x 512 bytes
bInterval 0
Endpoint Descriptor:
bLength 7
bDescriptorType 5
bEndpointAddress 0x84 EP 4 IN
bmAttributes 3
Transfer Type Interrupt
Synch Type None
Usage Type Data
wMaxPacketSize 0x0040 1x 64 bytes
bInterval 1

[Rob]

David Harmon <sou...@netcom.com> wrote:
> Trying to get a USB wi-fi adapter recognized... doesn't show up
> as /dev/wlan0. Where do I look for the next clue?

Well, it depends on the exact image that you have what else you
need to do. On a standard Raspbian you would need to add this:

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wpa-conf /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

to your /etc/network/interfaces file.

and also make a /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf file like
this:

ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1

network={
ssid="your-ssid-herr"
scan_ssid=1
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
psk="your-wpa-password-here"
}

[David Harmon]

On 18 Nov 2013 09:42:47 GMT in comp.sys.raspberry-pi, Rob
<nom...@example.com> wrote,

>David Harmon <sou...@netcom.com> wrote:
>> Trying to get a USB wi-fi adapter recognized... doesn't show up
>> as /dev/wlan0. Where do I look for the next clue?
>
>Well, it depends on the exact image that you have what else you
>need to do. On a standard Raspbian you would need to add this:
>
>auto wlan0
>iface wlan0 inet dhcp
>wpa-conf /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
>
>to your /etc/network/interfaces file.

Actually, I did that already as shown by the ifup -a output.
But it's not even getting that far. There's no wlan0 in /dev

[The Natural Philosopher]

yes. The generic steps to get to even as far as /dev/wlan0 involve the
kernel recognising the USB device for what it actually is - lsusb is
your friend here - and having a driver to load that understands it, and
possibly some firmware somewhere that can be (presumably) downloaded
into the device itself.

There is some info here

http://askubuntu.com/questions/236617/how-to-install-driver-for-rtl8188cus-wireless-adaptor

which suggest the 'proper' route should be to install at least a 3.6
kernel and 'compat-wireless'

AS I am only a lurker here and don't have a raspberry pi, I cant say
whether or not Raspbian as currently configured has either that kernel
or that package.

http://raspberrypihell.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/rt-5370-packet-injection.html

suggests strongly that this may be a package you have to download and
compile for the Pi - its not in the standard distro.
I am afraid that is as far as I can go. So to summarise:

The standard pi doesn't support that device.
A late model kernel and a hand built 'compat-wireless' package built
from source may.
If you didn't want to get your hands dirty compiling source code you
wouldn't have bought a pi anyway, would you?

:-)
Good luck.



--
Ineptocracy

(in-ep-toc’-ra-cy) – a system of government where the least capable to
lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the
members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are
rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a
diminishing number of producers.

[Theo Markettos]

The Natural Philosopher <t...@invalid.invalid> wrote:
> yes. The generic steps to get to even as far as /dev/wlan0 involve the
> kernel recognising the USB device for what it actually is

Err, there's no such thing as /dev/wlan0. It will either show as an device
in 'ifconfig -a' or it won't if something is missing, but it'll never appear
in /dev

> - lsusb is your friend here - and having a driver to load that understands
> it, and possibly some firmware somewhere that can be (presumably)
> downloaded into the device itself.

Question for the OP: was the dmesg printout you quoted all of the log, or
was there more? We need to know if it's being associated with a driver or
not.

> There is some info here
>
> http://askubuntu.com/questions/236617/how-to-install-driver-for-rtl8188cus-wireless-adaptor

Which is not Pi-specific. AFAIK [1] the drivers are built into recent (2013)
Raspbian distros. Question for the OP: how old is your distro?

[1] http://www.micahcarrick.com/raspberry-pi-wifi.html

> AS I am only a lurker here and don't have a raspberry pi, I cant say
> whether or not Raspbian as currently configured has either that kernel
> or that package.
>
> http://raspberrypihell.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/rt-5370-packet-injection.html
>
> suggests strongly that this may be a package you have to download and
> compile for the Pi - its not in the standard distro.

Err, that's not the RTL8188CUS - it's not even from the same manufacturer!

Might I gently suggest sticking to things you've done yourself or at least
can research before posting? :)

Theo

[Declaration of experience: I've had the struggle to get the RTL8188CUS
running on Ubuntu on a PC, but not on a Pi. My original reason for choosing
this model is that it was supported by the Pi so drivers were available
- what got me in the end was trying to make it robust over kernel updates
when using the vendor's driver source (if it broke, I couldn't remote into
the machine to fix it). Never did succeed in the end.]

[The Natural Philosopher]

it was however instructions on how to build the wireless-compat package
which allegedly includes drivers for that chip.

> Might I gently suggest sticking to things you've done yourself or at least
> can research before posting? :)
>

Read what I wrote. That was as far as research got me.

> Theo
>
> [Declaration of experience: I've had the struggle to get the RTL8188CUS
> running on Ubuntu on a PC, but not on a Pi. My original reason for choosing
> this model is that it was supported by the Pi so drivers were available

well it seems they are in fact not.

> - what got me in the end was trying to make it robust over kernel updates
> when using the vendor's driver source (if it broke, I couldn't remote into
> the machine to fix it). Never did succeed in the end.]
>

[David Harmon]

On 18 Nov 2013 18:07:45 +0000 (GMT) in comp.sys.raspberry-pi, Theo Markettos <theom...@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote,

>Err, there's no such thing as /dev/wlan0. It will either show as an device
>in 'ifconfig -a' or it won't if something is missing, but it'll never appear
>in /dev

Thanks for the correction. My device is showing in neither ifconfig nor
iwconfig. They both show only eth0 and lo.

>Question for the OP: was the dmesg printout you quoted all of the log, or
>was there more? We need to know if it's being associated with a driver

There was a ton more, but nothing I could identify as having anything to do
with that device. Here is the tail of the messages

[ 3.791498] hid-generic 0003:1C4F:0002.0002: input,hidraw1: USB HID v1.10 Device [USB USB Keykoard] on usb-bcm2708_usb-1.3/input1
[ 3.902574] usb 1-1.2.2: new high-speed USB device number 6 using dwc_otg
[ 4.034868] usb 1-1.2.2: New USB device found, idVendor=0bda, idProduct=8176
[ 4.053423] usb 1-1.2.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 4.067666] usb 1-1.2.2: Product: 802.11n WLAN Adapter
[ 4.089235] usb 1-1.2.2: Manufacturer: Realtek
[ 4.100352] usb 1-1.2.2: SerialNumber: 00e04c000001
[ 4.882888] udevd[122]: starting version 175
[ 10.072544] EXT4-fs (mmcblk0p2): re-mounted. Opts: (null)
[ 12.907792] mmc0: missed completion of cmd 18 DMA (512/512 [1]/[1]) - ignoring it
[ 12.922007] mmc0: DMA IRQ 6 ignored - results were reset
[ 12.944480] mmc0: missed completion of cmd 18 DMA (512/512 [1]/[1]) - ignoring it
[ 12.958765] mmc0: DMA IRQ 6 ignored - results were reset
[ 18.962592] Adding 102396k swap on /var/swap. Priority:-1 extents:1 across:102396k SS

That's the end.

>Raspbian distros. Question for the OP: how old is your distro?

I'm thinking now probably too old. I don't really know how to tell.
Since I have a really slow internet connection, I bought a SD card
from Element14 pre-loaded with raspbian. How do I list what drivers
it includes? The first few messages after boot are:

[ 0.000000] Booting Linux on physical CPU 0
[ 0.000000] Initializing cgroup subsys cpu
[ 0.000000] Linux version 3.6.11+ (dc4@dc4-arm-01) (gcc version 4.7.2 20120731 (prerelease) (crosstool-NG linaro-1.13.1+bzr2458 - Linaro GCC 2012.08) ) #362 PREEMPT
Tue Jan 22 14:52:21 GMT 2013
[ 0.000000] CPU: ARMv6-compatible processor [410fb767] revision 7 (ARMv7), cr=00c5387d
[ 0.000000] CPU: PIPT / VIPT nonaliasing data cache, VIPT nonaliasing instruction cache
[ 0.000000] Machine: BCM2708

I guess I had better give in and download a fresh SD image.

[nev young]

On 19/11/13 01:46, David Harmon wrote:
> On 18 Nov 2013 18:07:45 +0000 (GMT) in comp.sys.raspberry-pi, Theo Markettos <theom...@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote,
>> Err, there's no such thing as /dev/wlan0. It will either show as an device
>> in 'ifconfig -a' or it won't if something is missing, but it'll never appear
>> in /dev
>
> Thanks for the correction. My device is showing in neither ifconfig nor
> iwconfig. They both show only eth0 and lo.
>
>

This may be a dumb question but I am late to the conversation.

Do you have the driver file loaded in /lib/firmware/

I'm not sure but I think you may be looking for directories named
RTL8192E and RTL8192SU for that particular chipset.

I know I had to load the firmware file manually for my early Pis to get
my realtek wifi dongle to work and appear in ifconfig.

--
nev
getting the wrong stick end since 1953

[David Harmon]

On Tue, 19 Nov 2013 08:43:52 +0000 in comp.sys.raspberry-pi, nev young <newsforpa...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote,

>Do you have the driver file loaded in /lib/firmware/
>I'm not sure but I think you may be looking for directories named
>RTL8192E and RTL8192SU for that particular chipset.

Thanks for that clue.

Not the exact match, but yes I do maybe appear to have some matches for
that as shown below. But first some questions: how in the world was
I supposed to know to look there? The books I am reading say
nothing about that. How am I supposed to guess that RTL8192 files
are to be used with my RTL8188 device? For that matter, how is
Linux supposed to know that? And last, are the files I list below
what they ought to be?

>I know I had to load the firmware file manually for my early Pis to get
>my realtek wifi dongle to work and appear in ifconfig.

I would gladly load the firmware file manually if I knew how and
where to find it. http://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads has only complete
SD card images, no driver updates. Most instructions assume the RPi
is connected to the internet and don't work so well when I am stuck
downloading on a windows machine.

What I found:

david@raspberrypi ~ $ ls -l /lib/firmware/r*
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8192 Jun 12 2012 /lib/firmware/rt2561.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8192 Jun 12 2012 /lib/firmware/rt2561s.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8192 Jun 12 2012 /lib/firmware/rt2661.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8192 Jun 12 2012 /lib/firmware/rt2860.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8192 Jun 12 2012 /lib/firmware/rt2870.bin
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Jun 12 2012 /lib/firmware/rt3070.bin -> rt2870.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 Jun 12 2012 /lib/firmware/rt3071.bin
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 Jun 12 2012 /lib/firmware/rt3090.bin -> rt2860.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2048 Jun 12 2012 /lib/firmware/rt73.bin

/lib/firmware/rtl_nic:
total 36
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2076 Jun 12 2012 rtl8105e-1.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1492 Jun 12 2012 rtl8168d-1.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1324 Jun 12 2012 rtl8168d-2.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5500 Jun 12 2012 rtl8168e-1.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3920 Jun 12 2012 rtl8168e-2.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3872 Jun 12 2012 rtl8168e-3.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3136 Jun 12 2012 rtl8168f-1.fw
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1232 Jun 12 2012 rtl8168f-2.fw

/lib/firmware/rtlwifi:
total 272
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 13540 Jun 12 2012 rtl8192cfw.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 16014 Jun 12 2012 rtl8192cufw.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 20526 Jun 12 2012 rtl8192defw.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 88856 Jun 12 2012 rtl8192sefw.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 129304 Jun 12 2012 rtl8712u.bin

[Rob Morley]

On Tue, 19 Nov 2013 21:06:13 -0800
David Harmon <sou...@netcom.com> wrote:

> But first some questions: how in the world
> was I supposed to know to look there? The books I am reading say
> nothing about that. How am I supposed to guess that RTL8192 files
> are to be used with my RTL8188 device?

I just Googled "linux hardware compatibility RTL8188" and the fifth
result was http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/rtl819x which
says "rtl8192cu is a USB driver for RTL8192CU/RTL8188CU devices"
So search for "install rtl8192cu" and the second result is
https://wiki.debian.org/rtl819x which says "RTL8192U-based devices only:
firmware is required to be manually supplied:" followed by instructions
to install it. Could be what you need.