rtl8187se driver causes kernel panic

[errietta]

Binary package hint: linux-backports-modules-wireless-2.6.32-21-generic

On ubuntu 10.04 (64bit) on a Toshiba T110 netbook, I am having a kernel panic when ubuntu tries to load my wirless driver.

Initially on boot the machine was panicing, I've progressed this through by black listing the rtl8187se which allows the machine to boot, however the wireless is not available.

To progress this further and show that the issue is with the rtl8187se module, I can reproduce the panic on a stable running system by loading the kernel module post boot.

When modprobbing rtl8187se i get the following

[ 217.722340] Kernel panic - not syncing: HwThreeWire(): CmdReg: 0xFF RE|WE bits are not clear!!
[ 217.722344]
[ 217.724860] [drm:drm_fb_helper_panic] *ERROR* panic occurred, switching back to text console

So it's clear that the driver causes a kernel panic. The panic can be stopped by blacklisting the driver, but this isn't what I want to do as I want wireless to work.

[Daniel Leijonberg (dleijonberg)]

As if I had written this bug description myself :)
I have the exact same setup (Toshiba T110, Ubuntu 10.04, kernel 2.6.32-25-generic), and the exact same issue.

Don't know if it's true, but rumors say that later kernels works (2.6.34 I think).

[errietta (errietta)]

I updated to a newer kernel few months ago by disabling wireless and using wired connection. Didn't work. Ubuntu 10.10 also won't boot.

[raas (andras-horvath-gmail)]

Same here (Toshiba Portege T130, BIOS 2.40, ubuntu 10.10, kernel 2.6.35-22-generic).
Also tried linux-2.6.36-next-20101029 from kernel.org because I saw some r8187se changes but the kernel still panics.

Here's a backtrace with the Ubuntu kernel attached (with a literal screenshot as this doesn't make it to the logfiles).

[Daniel Leijonberg (dleijonberg)]

Seems that I don't even know my own system setup :P

To be correct, I have a Toshiba Satellite T130-12K. Nothing else.
I suppose we're all using the same WiFi-card though.

raas: I saw you were using r8187se, and not rtl8187se. Has the driver changed name, or is it another project altogether?

[raas (andras-horvath-gmail)]

Daniel: in 2.6.35 (ubuntu maverick) udev loads rtl8180.ko which loads r8187se.ko (which in turn causes the panic).

Hm.... now that I have a source tree unTAR'd I see that there's something in drivers/staging/rtl8187se (this is the one that panics) and also something in drivers/net/wireless/rtl818x .

The latter seems to be " a driver for RTL8180 and RTL8185 based cards" and "a driver for RTL8187 and RTL8187B based cards" which sounds interesting as the 8187se is, IIRC, a close relative of the 8185. (??? or so I read somewhere during my quest for wireless. It's impossible to navigate all those forums and the horrible realtek.com etc.) So I'm gonna give this one a shot when I get home where the laptop is.

I've looked at the former (panicky) code as well; it seems to try to initialize the card 5 (#define'd) times, and the aforementioned panic results if it thinks it failed after said 5 tries (?!). If all else fails I'll try to contact the author directly and offer him testing ground. I'm afraid that the actual firmware, packaging, and who-knows-what that toshiba (and, according to the internet, MSI) put around this card matters a lot.

BTW, I've tried the various "use ndiswrapper with windows X drivers downloaded from Y" recipes found in abundance over the net and none of them worked; either the card was not found or I got a different kind of kernel panic. But then again I'd much rather have a working native driver.

[raas (andras-horvath-gmail)]

Update: the rtl8187 driver (that which comes from drivers/net/wireless/rtl818x) does not find the interface. :-( There's no such thing as 'rtl8187se', only 'r8187se' (the one from drivers/staging).

[raas (andras-horvath-gmail)]

There's some progress (and hope!), 2.6.37-rc2-next-20101119 does not panic anymore although the card still does not work.

[raas (andras-horvath-gmail)]

My solution was the following:
- google for 'toshiba t130 service manual filetype:pdf', get pdf
- buy an Intel Centrino wireless miniPCIe card for chf30, making sure it was a half-height card
- replaced the crappy Realtek thing with the real deal. (FTR, the cable connectors on the motherboard needed the black part lifted up, then the flat cables slid out, allowing me to remove the top cover. Didn't need to force anything too much.)

This may void my warranty, but at least I have working wireless. The only thing that does not work (out of the box at least) is the Fn+F8 'wifi kill switch'.

HTH. YMMV.

[errietta (errietta)]

@raas: That doesn't really solve the issue with the driver, however.

[Daniel Leijonberg (dleijonberg)]

The kernel module in my distro is named rtl8187se, I can't find any drivers
named r8187se. I should add that I run on 64bit version of Ubuntu.

Den 8 nov 2010 19.36, "raas" <email address hidden> skrev:

Update: the rtl8187 driver (that which comes from
drivers/net/wireless/rtl818x) does not find the interface. :-( There's
no such thing as 'rtl8187se', only 'r8187se' (the one from
drivers/staging).

--
rtl8187se driver causes kernel panic
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/596808
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