rtl8185 freezes on connect to network

[Stephen]

My RTL 8185 wireless card freezes my entire system upon trying to connect to a secured network (wep, 64bit) in gutsy gibbon.

X no longer responds, no keyboard shortcuts work, and my caps lock light flashes when this happens.

I am unsure as to whether or not this is an issue with secure networks only, or with all networks as i am unable to test.

[Ludo (l-guillaud)]

Same with a PCI wireless cards with the RTL-8185

[Ryan Young (ryan-e-young)]

I wish to confirm this bug. I have a PCI wireless card with a RTL-8185 chip, and running 64bit Kubuntu Gutsy. When connecting to a network (WPA encrypted) everything freezes as stated above. Will check whether it happens on a non-encrypted network when I have time.

[David Pflug (pflugerama)]

Confirmed on 32 bit Xubuntu. A non-encrypted network works fine.

[Aathos (aaron-chmiel)]

I think this is a duplicate of bug #152102. It is a slightly different chipset, but they use the same driver.

[nenohoK (tero-kohonen)]

Hi, I'm using Xubuntu 7.10 and I've the same problem with Compaq Armada E500 and A-link WL54PC (rtl-8185 chip) -pcmcia card. Laptop locks up when trying to connect to network. Both caps lock and scroll lock indicator lights keep blinking and system is totally freeze. Only way to reboot is cut the power. Any ideas?

[David Pflug (pflugerama)]

I'm not sure it's a duplicate, Aathos, though they may be related. While both chipsets use the same open source driver, they use different ndiswrapper drivers. The workaround listed on that bug doesn't work for me, and unlike the "variable amount of time" mentioned on that bug, mine consistently freezes as soon as it associates to the AP. The lockup happens for me using ndiswrapper, as well as r8180.

[Joshua Gardner (cellofellow)]

I get the same behavior plus some system instability when using the wireless. (Random system freezes. Especially when using scp or sftp.) Not sure if it's related. My machine is a Gateway MT3423 with built-in mini-PCI RealTek 8185. I'm using the rtl8180 driver. Haven't tried ndiswrapper because stuff works fine for everyday stuff as it stands.

[Phil LaPier (phillapier)]

I can confirm this problem also. I have a PCI wireless card with a RTL-8185 chip, and running 64bit Ubuntu Gutsy. It seems the freezes and lockups happen frequently when i am downloading or uploading large amounts of data from the internet or across my network. I must limit my upload speed to around 20k and around 200k download in any Torrent Client. This is extremely effecting productivity and stability of my system. Even with the speeds set i still have freezes and lockups.
I have tried the ndiswrapper solution but it does not work for me. I still have major system stability issues. I believe the bug lies within the kernel. I am currently running kernel version 2.6.22-14-generic.

If anyone has found a solution, please post.

[Jayhawk (brandoncolorado)]

Noticed a new Linux driver recently on Realtek's website. I have recently uninstalled Ubuntu because of this problem, so someone else should try it.

http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=1&PFid=1&Level=6&Conn=5&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false&Downloads=true#RTL8185L

[Phil LaPier (phillapier)]

i just installed it. I will give it a try it today and see if it fixes any of my problems. Thanks Jayhawk

[Phil LaPier (phillapier)]

Ok so i have had it running for a while now and it seems to be a fix to all the freezing and hard locks. (Finally!)
I have had azureus running for about 5 hours now with my upload and download speeds above 100kB/s. I have never been able to have my upload speed over 20kB/s otherwise ubuntu was guaranteed to freeze. I believe this new driver to be a fix.

The only problem i am having is to install the driver permanently. I followed the guide @ http://rtl-wifi.sourceforge.net/wiki/Installing
I started by Removing mainline ieee80211 Stack then installing the driver and finally permanently installing the driver.
i did a "sudo depmod -ae" to have the driver start at boot.
When i restarted the internet worked fine except i WAS NOT able to upload more than 20kB/s. I would continue to get hard locks when the new driver was permanently installed into the kernel.
I am pretty sure i installed the driver right, unless someone else has other instructions for installing it permanently.

When i simply insmod the new drivers into the kernel with the old drivers permenantly insalled then my problems are fixed. The only problem with this solution is that after every reboot i will have to insmod the new drivers back into the kernel.

Like i said, i may not have permanently installed the drivers correctly and maybe the kernel was reverting back to the old driver and that is why i was getting the hard locks. I am not sure. But if someone could guide me through permanently installing the drivers that would be helpful.

(ps. I leave for florida on tue evening, so i will not be around for a week.)

The chanlog states there have been the following recent fixes:
  2. fixed the problem of 100M upload
1. fixed the problem that cannot upload large file using ftp

[Shawn vega (svega85-gmail)]

is there a way we can get that new driver installed in gutsy by default?

[Jayhawk (brandoncolorado)]

Paul,

1) Does Ubuntu show your wireless signal strength?
2) Can you use WEP/WPA?

[Phil LaPier (phillapier)]

Yes the wireless signal strength and WEP works with the new linux drivers. I will try to permanently install the drivers again either tonight or tomorrow.

[Dan Mazzei (sehku17)]

Same happens to me. Fedora core 9 beta does have proper working drivers that fix all issues. I assume those are the drivers you are talking about.

05:02.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8185 IEEE 802.11a/b/g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 20)

[Jayhawk (brandoncolorado)]

What do we have to do to get these working drivers (I tested them as well- the Fedora ones- and the driver works well) included in 8.04?

[Joshua Gardner (cellofellow)]

I tried the Hardy Beta livecd and it didn't even have the rtl8180 or rtl8185
drivers at all. Just the rtl8187 driver, and that's a USB wifi chip, not the
miniPCI chip I have.

Strange that the driver just disappeared.

-Josh

On Sun, Apr 20, 2008 at 8:21 PM, Jayhawk <email address hidden> wrote:

> What do we have to do to get these working drivers (I tested them as
> well- the Fedora ones- and the driver works well) included in 8.04?
>
> --
> rtl8185 freezes on connect to network
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/152527
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

--
Society loses the value of things which are uselessly destroyed.
--Frederick Bastiat
_________________________________________________________

Google Ron Paul

[Stephen (marsmissionaries)]

It won't happen.

On 4/20/08, Jayhawk <email address hidden> wrote:
> What do we have to do to get these working drivers (I tested them as
> well- the Fedora ones- and the driver works well) included in 8.04?
>
> --
> rtl8185 freezes on connect to network
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/152527
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

--
Sent from Gmail for mobile | mobile.google.com

[Dan Mazzei (sehku17)]

It appears that since kernel freeze and app freeze are already in effect this late in the beta process, there is no hope until the next pending release this fall. Until then, either suffer, switch to something else like Fedora, or attempt to install them manually (I think a kernel update may be needed for this, the fedora live disk is using 2.6.25) It's really a shame. One can hope for a patch later, but don't hold your breath.

[Will Daniels (wdaniels)]

I think it's very unlikely that the Fedora sources for this driver depend on the 2.6.25 kernel for anything - the driver broke in compilation following changes in 2.6.24 and I assume that's why it disappeared from Hardy suddenly. I'm not sure exactly which sources they are using in Fedora (I would guess ones from http://rtl-wifi.sourceforge.net/wiki/Main_Page) but you can get a patched version of the OEM sources from my homepage (http://www.willdaniels.co.uk/blog/tech-stuff) which compile and work on Hardy (see also bug #196285). I could never get the 64-bit Windows drivers to work with ndiswrapper, so for 64-bit users, this, or the newer rtl-wifi project, are probably the only options.

However, to use either of these sources, you need to fuss about removing the existing ieee80211 stack from Hardy etc. which a lot of people are going to have trouble with, not to mention having to manually configure wpa_supplicant for WPA. I'll wait and see if any "official" remedy is forthcoming, but if not I could look into building a replacement linux-ubuntu-modules package containing this driver, so that it would be no more trouble than adding a PPA software source. And if I get time, I might also take a crack at adding WEXT-18 support so that WPA works out of the box, but I'm not really the best person to be doing this stuff (meaning I probably have less than half a clue about it) so I'm hoping someone more familiar with writing drivers and wireless hardware generally will jump in and save the day :D

[Dan Mazzei (sehku17)]

Has anyone tested if the kernel update from synaptic includes this driver? I haven't installed this distro on my hard drive because, well, I need wifi. And I can't get the update to find out without first installing hardy. So I was wondering if the new kernel fixed the problem. Can anyone tell me?

[Phil LaPier (phillapier)]

Dan,
No the kernel update does not include a driver which fixes the problem. Actually it doesn't even include a driver for this card.
I did a fresh install of Hardy when it was released and it failed to install any kind of driver for the card. I suggest getting all the files & install instructions you need on a CD before you install Hardy, otherwise you will not be able to access the web with this card.
Download the current driver from the realtek website and use this patch to get it to work on the 2.6.24 kernel. > http://www.willdaniels.co.uk/index.php/blog/tech-stuff

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

The Ubuntu Kernel Team is planning to move to the 2.6.27 kernel for the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. As a result, the kernel team would appreciate it if you could please test this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. There are one of two ways you should be able to test:

1) If you are comfortable installing packages on your own, the linux-image-2.6.27-* package is currently available for you to install and test.

--or--

2) The upcoming Alpha5 for Intrepid Ibex 8.10 will contain this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. Alpha5 is set to be released Thursday Sept 4. Please watch http://www.ubuntu.com/testing for Alpha5 to be announced. You should then be able to test via a LiveCD.

Please let us know immediately if this newer 2.6.27 kernel resolves the bug reported here or if the issue remains. More importantly, please open a new bug report for each new bug/regression introduced by the 2.6.27 kernel and tag the bug report with 'linux-2.6.27'. Also, please specifically note if the issue does or does not appear in the 2.6.26 kernel. Thanks again, we really appreicate your help and feedback.

[Dan Mazzei (sehku17)]

I have downloaded the alpha 5 release, and the machine locks up during bootup. All I got to was the splash screen loading bar. I couldn't even get to verbose mode to figure out the problem. I don't know if it could be the wireless or something else. I can't even get to ash, let alone test the wireless capabilities. I am running an AMD processor with 1GB RAM and an ATI video card.

I had tested Alpha 4, and that booted fine and had proper wireless support.

I don't know what other modifications happened between the releases, I haven't read the complete changelog, but thought I should put something on this thread, in case it could be the wireless card.

[Jérémy Subtil (bigmadwolf)]

I can confirm this bug on Intrepid (Linux 2.6.27). I get exactly the same behaviour as Dan Mazzei.

My workaround is to use the Windows XP drivers with ndiswrapper.

In addition, there is a how-to on Ubuntu Forums, which would let me think that the issue could be due to either wpasupplicant or the ieee80211 stack or both: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=772006
Unfortunately, I don't have the knowledge to go further on this track and see if things are actually related, the only thing I can do is testing when I'm close enough to the affected computer.

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

Hi Jérémy,

Care to try installing the linux-backports-modules-intrepid package (version 2.6.27-9.5) as it contains an updated compat wireless stack - https://edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-backports-modules-2.6.27 . If that still shows this issue, I'd also suggest testing linux-backports-modules from intrepid-proposed which has version 2.6.27-11.10 of linux-bacckports-modules. Refer to the following to learn how to enable intrepid-proposed https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed . Please let us know your results. Thanks.

[Jérémy Subtil (bigmadwolf)]

My computer freezes with linux-backports-modules-2.6.27-9-generic version 2.6.27-9.5 when rtl8180 is modprobed.

With kernel 2.6.27-11 and linux-backports-modules-2.6.27-11-generic version 2.6.27-11.10 from intrepid-proposed, nothing happens when rtl8180 is modprobed: the computer doesn't freeze but my wifi card isn't detected by network-manager.

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

Thanks for the testing and feedback Jeremy. If you'd be willing to do one more test, it would be appreciated. The Alpha 3 Jaunty pre-release is set to come out by the end of the week. It would be great if you could give the Alpha3 LiveCD a test to confirm the isues still exists in the upcoming release. Monitor the following link for the alpha-3 release - http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/jaunty/ . Thanks.

[gregrwm (gregrwm)]

i have a Realtek RTL-8185 IEEE 802.11a/b/g Wireless Lan Controller (if i knew the ubuntu equivalent of /etc/sysconfig/hwconf i'd give you better detail). it's working, mostly, in hardy, but lifeless in intrepid.

i say mostly, in hardy, because it spuriously ceases to communicate, whereupon if i do ifdown wlan0 and ifup wlan0 it gets going again. in hardy i have:

linux-backports-modules-2.6.24-23-generic 2.6.24-23.30
linux-backports-modules-hardy 2.6.24.23.25
linux-backports-modules-hardy-generic 2.6.24.23.25
linux-generic 2.6.24.23.25
linux-image-2.6.24-23-generic 2.6.24-23.46
linux-image-generic 2.6.24.23.25

in intrepid i've had no luck. with no luck on the vanilla kernel, i then tried:

linux-backports-modules-intrepid_2.6.27.9.13_i386.deb
linux-backports-modules-intrepid-generic_2.6.27.9.13_i386.deb
linux-backports-modules-2.6.27-9-generic_2.6.27-9.5_i386.deb

no luck again, so then tried:

add: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/timg-tpi/ubuntu hardy main
  # apt-get update
  # apt-get install linux-backports-modules-2.6.27-11-generic
which gets:
linux-image-2.6.27-11-generic_2.6.27-11.23_i386.deb
linux-backports-modules-2.6.27-11-generic_2.6.27-11.12_i386.deb

still no luck, so tried:

delete: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/timg-tpi/ubuntu hardy main
add: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ intrepid-proposed restricted main multiverse universe
  # apt-get update
  # apt-get install linux-backports-modules-intrepid
which gets:
linux-backports-modules-intrepid_2.6.27.11.14_i386.deb
linux-backports-modules-intrepid-generic_2.6.27.11.14_i386.deb

and still no luck, so i'm stumped.

lsmod includes:
rtl8180 36480 0
lbm_cw_mac80211 217896 1 rtl8180
lbm_cw_cfg80211 46744 2 rtl8180,lbm_cw_mac80211
eeprom_93cx6 10240 1 rtl8180

ifconfig includes:
wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:14:d1:41:f8:9a
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

wmaster0 Link encap:UNSPEC HWaddr 00-14-D1-41-F8-9A-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

my /etc/network/interfaces, which works fine in hardy, is:
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto eth0

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
        wireless-essid wm
        wireless-key 12345bcdef

[Jérémy Subtil (bigmadwolf)]

The Alpha4 LiveCD freezes on my affected computer at the end of the boot and just before gdm should appear.

I can't be 100% sure this freeze is related to this bug because I wasn't able to read any log, but the behaviour is exactly the same as the one Dan Mazzei and I described few comments above for Intrepid.

[Victor Orozco (caballerodelmetal)]

I also have that Issue, the system freezes on boot process. When I remove the card the live cd boot. Very sad with realtek

[jhansonxi (jhansonxi)]

Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) i686
I encountered freezing around the time the GDM/KDM loads with a CompUSA #1244-00000403-010 (RTL-8185/RTL-8225/SiGe 2524L). No error messages via serial console either. Only solution was to remove the card. I was able to get it working by installing the updated RealTek driver (rtl8185_linux_26.1030.0625.2009.zip). The initial compile completed without problems but when I went to do a "make install" it reported an error "No rule to make target kernel/bounds.c". After several attempts to do it manually I happened to try it again to review the error message again from within Midnight Commander while in a root shell (sudo su). It installed without problems. Possibly a missing environment variable somewhere. I then shut down, installed the card, and rebooted. It was able to boot and connect without problems. Obviously this needs to be recompiled with every kernel update so it's not a user-friendly solution.

[Jérémy Subtil (bigmadwolf)]

I opened a new bug report #368679 about system freezes at startup related to module rtl8180. Indeed the initial description of the current bug is about freeze while connecting, not while loading the module. It is finally an old Gutsy bug so I'm setting it as incomplete until someone suffers from the same issue or close it.

So Dan Mazzei, CDMGT, jhansonxi, you should move to bug #368679.