usb wifi adapter causes freeze and reboot (BO-N1557 = RTL8192CU)

[watari]

Hello

I'm new to Tiny Core Linux which I recently installed on a Dell Latitude C400.  This laptop does not have built-in wifi so I'm attempting to get a usb dongle I already have working which is a Bolse BO-N1557.  lsusb show it as a RTL8192CU.

When I scan for networks the dongle light turns on, I get my list, I select the network I want,  I wait, the computer freezes and then reboots.

The result is the same with both encrypted and open access points being selected.

This same usb dongle functions perfect on another machine I have running Debian Jessie Gnome3.

I've tried (Download & Load):

firmware.tcz
firmware-rt18192ce_se_de.tcz
firmware-rtlwifi.tcz
wifi.tcz
wicd.tcz

Are there any other options I can try before getting a different usb dongle?

Thank You

[coreplayer2]

Welcome watari

I believe you need only these extentions installed

wifi.tcz
firmware-rtlwifi.tcz


Please remove all non related extensions

After installing these two extensions to " OnBoot.lst "
reboot with usb wifi installed and attach the output of dmesg here so we can investigate

dmesg > ~/dmesg.txt

Please also specify which TC version and architecture
 

[watari]

Thanks for the reply.

I've attached the requested file.

This is Core 8.0 i686 which was installed from the Core Plus media (Boot Core with X/GUI (TinyCore) + Installation Extension)

and then installing

wifi.tcz
firmware-rtlwifi.tcz

[coreplayer2]

Great,  but did you try selecting the WiFi icon before connecting to an Ethernet port?

Try disconnecting the Ethernet cable and then select the WiFi icon

Confirm you used APPS to download and install wifi.tcz extension??

Might be better to use coreplus ISO and boot with the GUI and wifi option.  This way will prevent issues with wifi and Ethernet connected simultaneously..?  Because unless I missed some hidden dmesg output the wifi device appears to operating normally

Try to record a dmesg output after the wifi failed please

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[watari]

Yes, I tried with the Ethernet unplugged.  The result is the same.

Since the machine crashes that makes getting a log a little tricky.  A google search gave me this solution.

Code: [Select]

while true; do dmesg -c ; sleep 1 ; done

Which I tried to write the output to my harddrive, but the file was always empty when I checked it so... screenshot ... with smartphone.

These two lines (may have typos) really catch my eyes:

Code: [Select]

rt18192c_common:0xd0c543f3:<0-0> Polling FW ready fail!! REG_MCUFWDL:0x00030006
rt18192c_common:0xd0c5440a:<0-0> Firmware is not ready to run!

screenshot
https://ibb.co/iyKUO5

[coreplayer2]

Disregard the comment about using corplus ISO I just noticed you have persistence via a USB drive??


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[watari]

no usb, it is installed to the hard drive.

I did use a flash drive to get the dmesg.txt off the system though.

[coreplayer2]

This maybe simply an erroneous message

Code: [Select]

rt18192c_common:0xd0c543f3:<0-0> Polling FW ready fail!! REG_MCUFWDL:0x00030006
rt18192c_common:0xd0c5440a:<0-0> Firmware is not ready to run!

Because it's quite clear that the wifi device is working and associating with your router, but there appears to be some kind of hardware conflict.

I suggest I would try tc-7.2 coreplus iso http://tinycorelinux.net/7.x/x86/archive/7.2/ see if you get same results.
Else get another wifi USB device.

I also noticed the manufacturer appears to have a propitiatory driver, maybe we can compile it and try?
Note: maybe this was an erroneous link too..

[watari]

I forgot to mention I got the same results in VirtualBox when I was first trying out Tiny Core 8.0.  At the time I though it was because I was using a virtual machine.

So, I tried 7.2 in Virtualbox and the usb wifi actually connects and doesn't crash the machine but, unfortunately when you try to download anything the connection stalls after a few seconds.

Could I get  a recommendation for a supported usb dongle currently on the market (like Amazon or Newegg)?

Thanks

[curaga]

Anything with Atheros.

[coreplayer2]

Both these N300 wifi dongles have been working fine for the last 24 hours each OOB on TC-8 using wifi.tcz & firmware-rtlwifi.tcz

0846:9021 NetGear, Inc. WNA3100M(v1) Wireless-N 300 [Realtek RTL8192CU]
and
2001:330d D-Link DWA 131 802.11n Wireless N300 Adapter (revision B1)

Beware, different revisions may require other drivers

http://wiki.tinycorelinux.net/wiki:list_of_supported_wifi_devices

[coreplayer2]

Both these N300 wifi dongles have been working fine for the last 24 hours each OOB on TC-8 using wifi.tcz & firmware-rtlwifi.tcz

0846:9021 NetGear, Inc. WNA3100M(v1) Wireless-N 300 [Realtek RTL8192CU]
and
2001:330d D-Link DWA 131 802.11n Wireless N300 Adapter (revision B1)

Beware, different revisions may require other drivers

http://wiki.tinycorelinux.net/wiki:list_of_supported_wifi_devices

UPDATE!!   Please disregard these recommendations for wireless devices.  I discovered a glitch in my test hardware rendering the blacklist useless.. my bad, sorry


@ watari
I found your dmesg errors were related to Hardware Encryption, however modprobing the driver to use Software Encryption ( swenc=Y ) did resolve the dmesg errors but not to resolve the hardware conflict,  I'll keep looking..

[coreplayer2]

OK good news...

After compiling the latest rtlwifi kernel modules for most realtek hardware,  rtl8192cu devices now function as intended on TC-8.x

Code: [Select]

tc@box:~$ lsusb
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 2001:330d D-Link Corp.


Code: [Select]

tc@box:~$ lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by    Tainted: G 
ccm                    12288  2
cpufreq_userspace      12288  0
cpufreq_powersave      12288  0
cpufreq_conservative    12288  0
rtl8192cu              57344  0
rtl8192c_common        36864  1 rtl8192cu
rtl_usb                16384  1 rtl8192cu
rtlwifi                81920  3 rtl8192cu,rtl8192c_common,rtl_usb
mac80211              229376  3 rtl8192cu,rtl_usb,rtlwifi
cfg80211              139264  2 rtlwifi,mac80211
mxm_wmi                12288  0
fjes                   20480  0
video                  28672  0
backlight              12288  1 video
squashfs               24576 115
jmb38x_ms              16384  0
acpi_cpufreq           12288  1
battery                16384  0
memstick               12288  1 jmb38x_ms
lpc_ich                16384  0
r8169                  53248  0
mii                    12288  1 r8169
loop                   20480 230
wmi                    12288  1 mxm_wmi
ac                     12288  0
sdhci_pci              16384  0
sdhci                  24576  1 sdhci_pci
pcspkr                 12288  0
mmc_core               61440  2 sdhci_pci,sdhci
serio_raw              12288  0


Code: [Select]

...
[   63.846748] usb 2-4: new high-speed USB device number 2 using ehci-pci
[   64.014033] rtlwifi: loading out-of-tree module taints kernel.
[   64.017199] rtl8192cu: Chip version 0x11
[   64.097071] rtl8192cu: Board Type 0
[   64.097324] rtl_usb: rx_max_size 15360, rx_urb_num 8, in_ep 1
[   64.097354] rtl8192cu: Loading firmware rtlwifi/rtl8192cufw_TMSC.bin
[   64.097380] usb 2-4: Direct firmware load for rtlwifi/rtl8192cufw_TMSC.bin failed with error -2
[   64.097383] usb 2-4: Falling back to user helper
[   64.097576] ieee80211 phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'rtl_rc'
[   64.097891] usbcore: registered new interface driver rtl8192cu
[   97.499218] rtl8192cu: MAC auto ON okay!
[   97.532483] rtl8192cu: Tx queue select: 0x05
[  106.214744] wlan0: authenticate with 50:6a:03:b3:c9:e1
[  106.237234] wlan0: send auth to 50:6a:03:b3:c9:e1 (try 1/3)
[  106.268997] wlan0: authenticated
[  106.270081] wlan0: associate with 50:6a:03:b3:c9:e1 (try 1/3)
[  106.283635] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 50:6a:03:b3:c9:e1 (capab=0x411 status=0 aid=4)
[  106.285279] wlan0: associated


Code: [Select]

tc@box:~$ ping www.google.com
PING www.google.com (172.217.4.100): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 172.217.4.100: seq=0 ttl=48 time=381.780 ms
64 bytes from 172.217.4.100: seq=1 ttl=48 time=74.823 ms
64 bytes from 172.217.4.100: seq=2 ttl=48 time=74.259 ms
64 bytes from 172.217.4.100: seq=3 ttl=48 time=74.740 ms
64 bytes from 172.217.4.100: seq=4 ttl=48 time=76.875 ms
64 bytes from 172.217.4.100: seq=5 ttl=48 time=76.704 ms
64 bytes from 172.217.4.100: seq=6 ttl=48 time=74.070 ms
64 bytes from 172.217.4.100: seq=7 ttl=48 time=76.743 ms
64 bytes from 172.217.4.100: seq=8 ttl=48 time=75.245 ms
^C
--- www.google.com ping statistics ---
9 packets transmitted, 9 packets received, 0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 74.070/109.471/381.780 ms

I'll continue testing other rtl8192cu devices and submit the new extension asap.

let me know if anyone needs the extension sooner

[coreplayer2]

So far I have only one yet successful solution for this issue which effects both TC7 and TC8,  to that end we have now an extension with the latest rtlwifi kernel modules complete with thier cfg80211 and mac80211 wireless extensions which replaces wireless-4.8.17-tinycore.tcz for those who are using Realtek rtlwifi devices. This new extention has been under test for the last couple of weeks.    During install of this new rtlwifi extension a startup script removes wireless-4.8.17-tinycore.tcz dependency from wireless-tools.tcz extension.   After initial install a reboot will be required.  firmware-rtlwifi.tcz will be required.

RTLWIFI required extensions  (which includes a set of modules for the most commonly used rtl8192cu USB WiFi devices)

Code: [Select]

wifi.tcz  (plus deps)
rtlwifi-4.8.17-tinycore.tcz
firmware-rtlwifi.tcz

So far only modules for TC-8.x x86 have been compiled, tested and to be submitted today,  but x86_64 and TC-7.x x86 and x86_64 to follow asap
rtlwifi modules for the following are included

Code: [Select]

btcoexist 
rtl8188ee
rtl8192c
rtl8192ce
rtl8192cu
rtl8192de
rtl8192ee
rtl8192se
rtl8723ae
rtl8723be
rtl8723com
rtl8821ae
rtl_pci 
rtl_usb 
rtlwifi

While the issue was reported to be a fault of the driver requesting incorrect firmware, I have my suspicions that's not the only reason..   Anyhow so far the new modules work great

[coreplayer2]

rtlwifi-4.8.17-tinycore.tcz has been uploaded to TC-8.x x86 repo

These Realtek module/drivers resolve this issue of freezing and rebooting and have been running great on my notebook for more than a month.   AFAIK these new modules are included in latest upstream kernel modules.

Note:  As noted in the info file this extension conflicts with wireless-4.8.17-tinycore.tz.   However,  loading rtlwifi-4.8.17-tinycore.tcz removes wireless-4.8.17-tinycore.tz dependency from wireless-tools.tcz.dep.   All required wireless components are included with wireless-4.8.17-tinycore.tz extension, at worst you may need to reboot to avoid wireless-4.8.17-tinycore.tz from loading.


TC-8.x x86_64 still on todo list :|