[Solved] Realtek RTL8191/8192SE Wireless Driver!

[Bornabe]

I've recently made the switch out of Windows and into Linux (Although not a Linux Newb) and instantly ran into a problem I'm noticing MANY others are having, their Realtek 8191/8192 Wireless not showing up after first install. I've come across this solution and it works flawlessly, aside from losing WEP / WPA security. You can connect to Unsecure & WPA2 connections just fine with it. The solution for LinuxMint 8 is:

Code: Select all

cd ~
mkdir Realtek
cd Realtek
wget http://launchpadlibrarian.net/33927923/rtl8192se_linux_2.6.0010.1012.2009.tar.gz
tar -xvzf rtl8192se_linux_2.6.0010.1012.2009.tar.gz
cd rtl8192se_linux_2.6.0010.1012.2009
make
sudo su   
make install

modprobe r8192se_pci
iwconfig

The solution for Ubuntu v9.10 is located at: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1329254

I hope this helps those that are having troubles sticking with Linux coming from a Windows system. Linux, specifically LinuxMint, really is an all-you-can-eat buffet. I'm unfortunately dual-booted with Windows 7 on my new Toshiba Qosmio x505-Q870 simply for the gaming, but LinuxMint 8 has replaced my daily desktop in EVERY way. Thank you Linux / LinuxMint... Thank you.

[volosong]

Man, I love you! Works perfectly. Good directions for a novice.

I recently purchased an ASUS Eee PC 1201n and reconfigured it to dual boot the OEM Windows 7 and Mint 8. All works fine except for the wireless, (don't know about microphone or camera, as I don't have a need for those). Even though the 1201n has a RTL8191SE card, your instructions (for the 8192) work great.

Thank you very much. Will the drivers for the Realtek card be part of the next Mint release?

[volosong]

Oh, forgot to mention. I had to boot Windows 7 to download the gz file, then copy it to a thumb drive, re-boot to Mint, copy from the thumb drive to hard drive, and continue with the rest of your instructions as written.

[vandrade89]

Hey thanks a lot! I appreciate this forum. It was real easy to solve my wireless driver problem and now I am so looking forwards towrds using my Asus 1201N with Mint and 7.

Thank you again.

[Dr.U]

A big Thank You from me as well!

I recently purchased a Medion Akoya netbook E1222 and, using the newest rtl8192se driver (version 15 -- version 14 was always dropping the connection and would not reconnect), I am now very pleased with my new computer and Linux Mint 8 LXDE RC1.

Fast, low memory consumption, everything I need just works. I have not tried to use sound or the built-in camera, but those things are not really of interest to me: I use the box for work when not at home (or at home but not at the desktop PC).

Best regards,
-- Dr. U

[rdanner3]

No joy here. Machine sees wlan0 fine. Wireless card refuses to work at all except occasionally in ad-hoc mode with a 10.x.x.x IP addy. This is very bad, for my network (wireless and wired) is based off the 192.168.x.x range. (yes, I have a netmask of 255.255.0.0!)

Have followed all instructions. Am thinking of uninstalling the driver totally, since it's simply not working.

Card reports as "rtl8191se-VA2" in Win7 (works perfectly there) It reports as "rtl8191SEVA2" in Linux Mint 9 and doesn't work worth beans.

Have been looking for a solution across six or seven sites for several days now, too.
Doesn't seem to see my router at all, and (currently) am sitting within easy (Nerf) ball throw of the dang thing. (It's a Netgear DGN2000 Wireless N router with built-in DSL adapter)

This sort of thing is what frustrates efforts to get Linux to bigger market share. Things don't just "work" like they do in Windows or (usually) Mac OSX.

I know the password, and the fact it is WPA/WPA2 dual-mode, so those aren't the issue. WLAN0's not even seeing the SSID of the router. Very puzzling stuff. (On Mint now, on a wired-to-router port.)

[quicky2g]

I have an Acer Veriton Nettop running Debain 6.0.6 with a Realtek RTL8192DE wireless card. I downloaded the Unix/Linux driver from the Realtek website but compiling the module from source kept failing. The README file mentioned using compat-wireless. The versions of compat-wireless seemed to be organized based on kernel versions. Debian is currently running 2.6.32-5. I tried compat-wireless v2.6 but it didn't work. After extracting the tar.bz2 file and going through the README file, there's a command showing the wireless cards it supports:

Code: Select all

./scripts/driver-select

v2.6 didn't have the right driver available. I downloaded v3.5 and it did:

Code: Select all

Supported 802.11 drivers:
        ath5k
        ath9k
        ath9k_ap
        ath9k_htc
        carl9170
        ath6kl
        b43
        zd1211rw
        rt2x00
        wl1251
        wl12xx
        brcmsmac
        brcmfmac

Supported Ethernet drivers:
        atl1
        atl2
        atl1e
        atl1c
        alx

Supported group drivers:
        atheros <  ath5k ath9k carl9170 zd1211rw ath6kl >
        ath <  ath5k ath9k carl9170 ath6kl >
        brcm80211 <  brcmsmac brcmfmac >
        intel <  iwlwifi, iwlegacy >
        rtl818x <  rtl8180 rtl8187 >
        rtlwifi <  rtl8192ce >
        ti <  wl1251 wl12xx (SPI and SDIO)>

Supported group drivers: Bluetooth & Ethernet:
        atlxx <  atl1 atl2 atl1e alx>
        bt <  Linux bluetooth drivers >

gcc, kernel headers, and all the other usual software for compiling packages should be installed. I compiled the driver successfully using the instructions in the README file. Pay attention to output after the scripts finish installing the kernel modules. There are a few extra commands needed to load the drivers into the kernel and reboot, but I can't remember what they are. I'm using the rtlwifi driver with no problems. Hope this helps!