Realtek RTL-8185 based Wifi NIC causes system lockup

[Agent24]

I just did a fresh install of Kubntu 9.04 (downloaded latest alternate install CD image)

With the card plugged in, the system will completely lock up before it gets to the login screen. If I remove the card, all is fine.

I have noticed the same problem in Ubuntu/Xubuntu

[Jim Lieb (lieb)]

After confirming the issue remains with the latest update, be sure to also run the following command from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal). It will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report, using this bug number on the command line.

apport-collect -p linux-image-2.6.28-11-generic <bug #>

[Agent24 (tda7000)]

I did apply the latest updates but that was with the card removed.

I can't even load the shell with networking support from the recovery menu with the card attached, it also causes a lockup.

I will do what you said and send the debug information but only with the card not plugged in - It would be impossible to do otherwise as the system lockup problem would prevent it.

Also, the card is not faulty, it is brand new and works perfectly in windows XP.

[Agent24 (tda7000)]

I tried to run: apport-collect -p linux-image-2.6.28-11-generic <bug 395403>

but just received this error: bash: syntax error near unexpected token `newline'

[Agent24 (tda7000)]

Architecture: i386
CurrentDmesg:
 [ 39.301165] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
 [ 39.304180] e100: eth0: e100_watchdog: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex
 [ 39.311292] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready
 [ 50.140024] eth0: no IPv6 routers present
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.04
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=2dfbdc9a-8aae-4da1-8eaa-f40714c8a76f
Lsusb:
 Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0424:0140 Standard Microsystems Corp.
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
MachineType:

Package: linux-image-2.6.28-11-generic 2.6.28-11.42
PackageArchitecture: i386
ProcCmdLine: root=UUID=d109c5db-5289-4cfa-986a-9a1ec98d6dec ro single
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_NZ.UTF-8
 LANGUAGE=
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.28-13.45-generic
Uname: Linux 2.6.28-13-generic i686
UserGroups:

[Jim Lieb (lieb)]

Sorry about not beiing clear in the apport command line. The "<bug 3>" should have been "395403".

The info you sent didn't show the device. Could you clarify, is this a pcmcia hotplug or a pci slot card? If it is the former, what happens when you plug it in after the machine is up?

Try editing the boot cmd line and for this test, remove the "splash" and "quiet" arguments. This should display console messages as it moves into the hang. Attaching a jpeg picture of the screen would be a big help.

Thanks.

[Agent24 (tda7000)]

No worries about the apport confusion. I figured it out pretty quickly.

It's a PCI slot card (not hot swappable) and due to the lockup I can't post debug info with it attached.

But I will try what you say to show the console messages and take a photo. I'll upload it shortly.

[Agent24 (tda7000)]

Unfortunately the console text disappears before the lockup occurs.

The computer freezes with the KDE4 hourglass frozen in the middle of a black screen.

Please advise on how to proceed from here.

[Jim Lieb (lieb)]

Agreed, orbiting KDE cursors are a bit useless here. I have had to resort to my Nikon DSLR and just shoot frames until I finally got one that made sense. The fact that you got to X and the KDE logo is a good sign, of sorts. Try adding "single"
to the boot command line, leaving the delete of "quiet" and "splash" in place. This will take you to a shell prompt before
you would start loading wifi modules. If the hang happens anyway, at least X is not obscuring it. Take a picture.

Next you can walk your way through the startup. See http://help.ubuntu.com/commmunit/InitScriptList for details. In particular, follow the links at the bottom of the page to disable/deactivate a service at startup. The one you are interested in for Kubuntu is "kdm", the KDE+X startup found at /etc/rc2.d/S30kdm. You will get a text only multi-user when you disable that, giving you a better chance and finding where things are hanging. Remember what you change in this dir so you can restore it. You can disable other services to isolate where things are dying. Keep in mind that many of these startups work concurrently so console messages can be interleaved.

Does your system have a serial port? If so, try the usual "console=ttyS0,9600n8" line. ./Documentation/serial-console.txt in the kernel source tree explains in more detail. If you don't have access locally, you can view the doc at a Linux cross-reference site such as http://lxr.linux.no/linux+v2.6.30/Documentation/serial-console.txt. If you don't have a serial port, a USB console can be set up but that is a bit more complicated, unfortunately. Both of these require a second system running minicom or other VT100 emulator.

Let us know what you find.

[Agent24 (tda7000)]

I tried "single" without "quiet" and "splash" but all I get is the recovery menu. If I choose "Resume normal boot" It just locks up at the cursor before the login screen again.

I did however manage to get it to lockup in the console by choosing "shell prompt with networking"

Attached is a photo

[Christopher Blay (blayde)]

I've had this problem ever since Intrepid came out. I tried reporting the bug then but nobody ever looked at it.

I have no problems using NDISwrapper but when the system locks up because of a bad driver I can't do that. Would it be possible to blacklist the RTL818x driver?

If you'd like, I can try getting a pic of my error as well but I'll have to break my system to get it...

[Christopher Blay (blayde)]

I was able to get to a GUI with these steps:

1) Restart computer with Live CD in tray (I used Jaunty)
2) At the boot menu choose boot options, press escape to get rid of the menu, replace 'quiet splash' with 'single'
3) At the recovery menu choose 'root'
4) Unload the faulty rtl8180 driver with this command:
  rmmod rtl8180
5) Blacklist the rtl818x drivers by editing /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf and add these lines to the bottom:
  blacklist rtl8180
  blacklist rtl8187
6) Make sure rtl8180 really is gone by running this command (there should be no output):
  lsmod | grep rtl
7) Go back to the recovery menu by typing 'exit' or pressing ctrl+d
8) Choose 'normal startup' or whatever the top thing is
9) Tada! It actually works! And you can use ndiswrapper like before!

[Gijs Peskens (gijspeskens)]

I can confirm this bug in 9.10 , apperently it is only with certain revisions/brands using this chip as I've seen people succesfully using this card in 9.10, with the modules disabled (actually renamed) the machine boots correctly with card plugged in.
I'll drop an lspci after getting the machine functional enough and I'll try with self compiled drivers and post back here.

[Agent24 (tda7000)]

I think there is more to this than just the WiFi card itself, possibly.

I put the card in another PC (Socket 939 AMD with nForce 4 SLI chipset) and with Kubuntu 9.04 it worked perfectly.

Strangely enough, I still got the "Unknown hardware address type 801" error but the card DOES WORK.

Perhaps the motherboard itself has something to do with it? or a conflict between the WiFi NIC and something on the original PC? (which was a Socket 370 Pentium 3 with Intel chipset of some kind

[Gijs Peskens (gijspeskens)]

That might definately be possible, the PC is an old Dell optiplex gx270 which only has 1 pci slot, I did disable the com and lpt ports in order to be sure enough IRQs where available.
My neighbour is running 9.04 with exactly the same car (same card/chipset/etc) and for him it worked out of the box with the 8180 driver, I didn't even get it to work using ndiswrapper (mp:64 resetting wlan0 or something very similar grinding the system down completely(Xorg+ttys) so I swapped out the card for a better one with the rt61 chipset, this one did work out of the box.

[Jim Lieb (lieb)]

From these last few comments, it appears to be a hardware problem. Try 9.10 as below and if it occurs, try disabliing devs per #21. If it works, note the IRQ etc. and let us know.

Can you confirm this issue exists with the most recent Karmic Koala 9.10 Beta release? ISO CD images are available at http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/karmic/ . If the issue remains with Karmic it would be great to then also test the latest upstream mainline kernel available. This will allow additional upstream developers to examine this issue. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Thanks in advance.

[Agent24 (tda7000)]

I have just now downloaded the 9.10 beta and am currently burning it. I will try it out very soon

But is this really a true hardware issue? What is the definition of such? As I said before, the computer which locks up under Kubuntu runs fine with Windows XP.

I would have thought that a proper hardware conflict would cause a lockup or other problems under any OS....

[Agent24 (tda7000)]

Eventually got around to trying out 9.10 Beta live CD - the problem is still here: lockup just before showing the login manager

However I did get an error message early on in the boot process, before the bootsplash logo which said this:

[ 0.167144] pci 0000:01:0b.0: BAR 6: address space collision on of device [0xfc9f0000-0xfc97fff]

(I don't know what ''on of device'' means but that's exactly what came up) Hopefully this is useful!

[aatoma (antonio-toma)]

Things got worse with Karmic.
I was able to get this card working in Jaunty by downloading and compiling the driver from

http://www.realtek.com/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=24&PFid=1&Level=6&Conn=5&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false&Downloads=true

but, after upgrading to Karmic, also compilation fails.

Please, fix this, I lost internet connection from my desktop.

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

This bug report was marked as Incomplete and has not had any updated comments for quite some time. As a result this bug is being closed. Please reopen if this is still an issue in the current Ubuntu release http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download . Also, please be sure to provide any requested information that may have been missing. To reopen the bug, click on the current status under the Status column and change the status back to "New". Thanks.

[This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]

[Agent24 (tda7000)]

Maybe someone should look into the error I got, Before marking this as expired?

"[ 0.167144] pci 0000:01:0b.0: BAR 6: address space collision on of device [0xfc9f0000-0xfc97fff]"

I would try myself but I no idea what this error means, and no idea where to start.

I'm sure someone more familiar with these messages can help work it out? I will be happy to provide any other information needed of course.

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

This bug report was marked as Incomplete and has not had any updated comments for quite some time. As a result this bug is being closed. Please reopen if this is still an issue in the current Ubuntu development release http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/ . Also, please be sure to provide any requested information that may have been missing. To reopen the bug, click on the current status under the Status column and change the status back to "New". Thanks.

[This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]