I'm seeing a consistent packet loss problem with the rtl8188ee Realtek wireless driver. Long sequences of pings to the access point IP show 25-30% packet loss. Downloads get 'stuck', pages don't load, it's generally unusable.
I've tried the following kernels:
/boot/initrd.img-3.11.0-12-generic /boot/initrd.img-3.12.3-031203-generic
/boot/initrd.img-3.11.0-14-generic /boot/initrd.img-3.13.0-031300rc3-generic
all with the same result. Packet capture shows lots of dup ACKs, some retransmits.
I suspected 802.11n might be the culprit, but I've disabled it at the AP, and the driver seems to respect that judging by these log lines:
Dec 7 21:50:52 congo kernel: [13812.218008] rtl8188ee 0000:01:00.0 wlan0: disabling HT as WMM/QoS is not supported by the
AP
Dec 7 21:50:52 congo kernel: [13812.218011] rtl8188ee 0000:01:00.0 wlan0: disabling VHT as WMM/QoS is not supported by the
AP
Other than those lines there isn't anything noteworthy in syslog.
Very interested in getting this fixed, please let me know how I can help debug.
$ lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 13.10
Release: 13.10
$ uname -a
Linux congo 3.13.0-031300rc3-generic #201312061335 SMP Fri Dec 6 18:37:23 UTC 2013 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
$ sudo lshw -C network
*-network
description: Wireless interface
product: RTL8188EE Wireless Network Adapter
vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
logical name: wlan0
version: 01
serial: 34:23:87:0d:23:85
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rtl8188ee driverversion=3.13.0-031300rc3-generic firmware=N/A ip=192.168.1.68 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bgn
resources: irq:18 ioport:5000(size=256) memory:b2600000-b2603fff
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:09:00.0
logical name: eth0
version: 0c
serial: 9c:b6:54:c1:7d:36
size: 10Mbit/s
capacity: 1Gbit/s
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix vpd bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=2.3LK-NAPI duplex=half firmware=rtl8168g-2_0.0.1 02/06/13 latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=MII speed=10Mbit/s
resources: irq:43 ioport:3000(size=256) memory:b2500000-b2500fff memory:b2400000-b2403fff
I tried installing the latest proprietary driver and firmware, although I had to use Freedom Ben's modified version:
https:/
since the code provided by Realtek doesn't even compile with any kernel after 2.9 :(
Anyway, that didn't help. Continued to experience large amounts of packet loss, up to 80%. I eventually just bought a new card with good linux support for $24, and I'd suggest anyone trying to make this card work on linux just do the same. More details documented here:
http://
As expected, the new card works perfectly: 0% loss using the same network, access point, sitting in the same position in the room etc. It's easy to blame bugs like these on RF signal problems, interference etc. but in this case the performance of the driver is just terrible. I dual boot windows and it seemed OK there, but I didn't use it extensively.