10ec:8176 Unreliable wireless connectivity with Realtek 8188ce

[timdaman]

I have an Lenovo X220 Laptop. It has the following wireless card (as shown by lshw)

                description: Wireless interface
                product: RTL8188CE 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter
                vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
                physical id: 0
                bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
                logical name: wlan0
                version: 01
                serial: ec:55:f9:c0:a1:e5
                width: 64 bits
                clock: 33MHz
                capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
                configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rtl8192ce driverversion=3.2.0-38-generic firmware=N/A ip=192.168.11.10 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bgn
                resources: irq:17 ioport:5000(size=256) memory:d2400000-d2403fff

I am running kernel 3.2.0-38-generic.

Recently (in the last week or two) I noticed long dropouts in my internet connectivity. At first I assumed the unreliability was due to my ISP. We often have problems during seasons changing but then I noticed the following details, times are estimated:
1) I would have fairly random dropouts several times (5-20) an hour. Each would last somewhere around 1-4 minutes.
2) The network manager still showed strong signal (3-4 "bars")
3) My other devices (iPod, other computers, etc) in the house were able to use the internet fine during these times.
4) I found my laptop unable to ping my network gateway, a router in my house.

These lead me to suspect the problem was with my laptop as nothing else was having troubles. The logs showed no messages that appeared to relevant. In the end I downloaded the latest driver. Support for the "rt8188ce" is provided by the rt8192ce driver from realtek's website
http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PFid=48&Level=5&Conn=4&ProdID=272&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false&Downloads=true

The version I downloaded was 0012.0207.2013
Here is a direct link to the driver package. I know it looks sketchy but it is what "US2" points to.
ftp://WebUser:wK9xBuD5@207.232.93.28/cn/wlan/linux_mac80211_0012.0207.2013.tar.bz2

I compiled and installed it with the following commands

make
make install

and my networking has not shown dropouts over the last 12 hours, a vast improvement.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: linux-image-3.2.0-38-generic 3.2.0-38.61 [modified: lib/modules/3.2.0-38-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rtlwifi/rtl8192ce/rtl8192ce.ko lib/modules/3.2.0-38-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rtlwifi/rtl8192de/rtl8192de.ko lib/modules/3.2.0-38-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rtlwifi/rtl8192se/rtl8192se.ko lib/modules/3.2.0-38-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rtlwifi/rtlwifi.ko]
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-38.61-generic 3.2.37
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-38-generic x86_64
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24.
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu17.2
Architecture: amd64
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: CONEXANT Analog [CONEXANT Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: tim 2170 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA:
 country EC:
  (2402 - 2482 @ 40), (N/A, 20)
  (5170 - 5250 @ 20), (3, 17)
  (5250 - 5330 @ 20), (3, 23), DFS
  (5735 - 5835 @ 20), (3, 30)
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'PCH'/'HDA Intel PCH at 0xd2520000 irq 46'
   Mixer name : 'Intel CougarPoint HDMI'
   Components : 'HDA:14f1506e,17aa21da,00100000 HDA:80862805,80860101,00100000'
   Controls : 27
   Simple ctrls : 9
Card29.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:29 'ThinkPadEC'/'ThinkPad Console Audio Control at EC reg 0x30, fw unknown'
   Mixer name : 'ThinkPad EC (unknown)'
   Components : ''
   Controls : 1
   Simple ctrls : 1
Card29.Amixer.values:
 Simple mixer control 'Console',0
   Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined penum
   Playback channels: Mono
   Mono: Playback [on]
Date: Tue Apr 23 01:24:41 2013
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=ebd0934b-1b74-48c7-b0eb-53871de2b014
MachineType: LENOVO 4286CTO
MarkForUpload: True
ProcFB: 0 inteldrmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-3.2.0-38-generic root=/dev/mapper/VG00-root ro quiet splash pcie_aspm=force vt.handoff=7
PulseList: Error: command ['pacmd', 'list'] failed with exit code 1: No PulseAudio daemon running, or not running as session daemon.
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.2.0-38-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.2.0-38-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.79.1
SourcePackage: linux
StagingDrivers: mei
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2012-05-24 (333 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 04/01/2011
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: 8DET42WW (1.12 )
dmi.board.asset.tag: Not Available
dmi.board.name: 4286CTO
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvr8DET42WW(1.12):bd04/01/2011:svnLENOVO:pn4286CTO:pvrThinkPadX220:rvnLENOVO:rn4286CTO:rvrNotAvailable:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 4286CTO
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad X220
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This change was made by a bot.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

timdaman, this bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? If so, could you please test for this with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/ .

If it remains an issue, could you please run the following command in the development release from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal), as it will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report:

apport-collect -p linux <replace-with-bug-number>

Also, could you please test the latest upstream kernel available following https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds ? It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Please do not test the daily folder, but the one all the way at the bottom. Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please comment on which kernel version specifically you tested. If this bug is fixed in the mainline kernel, please add the following tags:
kernel-fixed-upstream
kernel-fixed-upstream-VERSION-NUMBER

where VERSION-NUMBER is the version number of the kernel you tested. For example:
kernel-fixed-upstream-v3.11-rc5

This can be done by clicking on the yellow circle with a black pencil icon next to the word Tags located at the bottom of the bug description. As well, please remove the tag:
needs-upstream-testing

If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the following tags:
kernel-bug-exists-upstream
kernel-bug-exists-upstream-VERSION-NUMBER

As well, please remove the tag:
needs-upstream-testing

Once testing of the upstream kernel is complete, please mark this bug's Status as Confirmed. Please let us know your results. Thank you for your understanding.

[Mopar1973Man (z-mnelson)]

I'm also experiencing the Realtek 8188ce bug issues as well. If there is anyway I could be a service please tell me what you need.

          *-network
                description: Wireless interface
                product: RTL8188CE 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter
                vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
                physical id: 0
                bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
                logical name: wlan0
                version: 01
                serial: 44:6d:57:45:cc:5f
                width: 64 bits
                clock: 33MHz
                capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet phy

Running on Toshiba Satellite L875D Laptop

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for linux (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Mopar1973Man, if you have a bug in Ubuntu, the Ubuntu Kernel team, Ubuntu Bug Control team, and Ubuntu Bug Squad would like you to please file a new report by executing the following in a terminal while booted into a Ubuntu repository kernel (not a mainline one) via:
ubuntu-bug linux

For more on this, please read the official Ubuntu documentation:
Ubuntu Bug Control and Ubuntu Bug Squad: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/BestPractices#X.2BAC8-Reporting.Focus_on_One_Issue
Ubuntu Kernel Team: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeam/KernelTeamBugPolicies#Filing_Kernel_Bug_reports
Ubuntu Community: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs#Bug_reporting_etiquette

When opening up the new report, please feel free to subscribe me to it.

Please note, not filing a new report would delay your problem being addressed as quickly as possible.

No need exists to comment here at this time. After reading the above documentation in it's entirety, if you have further questions or comments, you are welcome to redirect them to the appropriate mailing list or forum via http://www.ubuntu.com/support/community/mailinglists , or you may contact me directly.

Thank you for your understanding.