HOWTO: Get RTL8187B (ID: 8197) Working. Step by Step

There is now native support for this wireless card in the kernel 2.6.27 which is in Ubuntu 8.10

This driver is somewhat buggy. When running at 54MB/s it works fine for about 2-5 minutes and then connections start to time out.

To temporally fix this, put this command in your /etc/rc.local file.

Code:

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gksu gedit /etc/rc.local

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and put this BEFORE the exit 0,

Code:

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iwconfig wlan0 rate 5.5M fixed

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This will run at startup.
Having a bit rate of 5.5M will temporally fix the timeouts and quality. The errors may still occur but not as much.

___________________________________

Ubuntu 8.04 & Ubuntu 7.10

There are 2 ways of getting it to work. The native way or Ndiswrapper way.

Native:
Look here. It explains everything

http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Download

(You want to download the Compact Wireless Old)


Ndiswrapper:

This is mainly for the ID of 8197 but can be used for all the RTL8187B. Checking 'lsusb' will give you the ID number of your wireless card.

1. Install Ndiswrapper
With no Internet:
First put in your Ubuntu CD when logged in.
Then go, System > Admin > Software Soruces > Tick the cd box at the bottom.
In Synpatic Package Manager (System > Admin >) and locate reload button. Press that, wait a bit. Will give errors saying cannot download etc, Don't worry about that. Then follow the With Internet' bit because your using your CD as 'The Internet'

With Internet:
Go to Add/Remove and search for Windows Wireless Drivers
Install it.
Thats Ndiswrapper Installed.


2. Install the Driver
Go to System > Administration > Windows Wireless Drivers > Install New Driver > Locate the driver > Install.
It should say:

Hardware Present: Yes

Now, in Network Manager, you should see wireless access points.

*If you cannot connect with WEP, remove Network Manager and Install Wifi-Radar

Hope this worked for you...and if you have any problems, please post in here.

Also, for a alternative way, check here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Wi...ealtekRTL8187b

Thanks,
Tom

Heh...
I modified the win98 driver as you instructed but when i try to install it it still says hardware is not present.

Also, I checked out my /etc/rc.local file and all its says is:

#!/bin/sh -e
#
# rc.local
#
# This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel.
# Make sure that the script will "exit 0" on success or any other
# value on error.
#
# In order to enable or disable this script just change the execution
# bits.
#
# By default this script does nothing.

exit 0

What am I doing wrong? :confused:

Can you please post the out come of:

Code:

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lsusb

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and

Code:

---

lspci

---

My /etc/rc.local file looks like:

Code:

---

#!/bin/sh -e
#
# rc.local
#
# This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel.
# Make sure that the script will "exit 0" on success or any other
# value on error.
#
# In order to enable or disable this script just change the execution
# bits.
#
# By default this script does nothing.

ifconfig wlan1 up
dhclient -r wlan1
iwconfig wlan1 mode Managed
iwconfig wlan1 essid "router name"
iwconfig wlan1 key MY_WEP_KEY open
dhclient wlan1

exit 0

---

lsusb

Bus 006 Device 002: ID 0bda:8197 Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 0000:0000

lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS690 Host Bridge
00:01.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS690 PCI to PCI Bridge (Internal gfx)
00:04.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc Unknown device 7914
00:05.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS690 PCI to PCI Bridge (PCI Express Port 1)
00:06.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS690 PCI to PCI Bridge (PCI Express Port 2)
00:12.0 SATA controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 Non-Raid-5 SATA
00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI0)
00:13.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI1)
00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI2)
00:13.3 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI3)
00:13.4 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI4)
00:13.5 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB Controller (EHCI)
00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 SMBus Controller (rev 14)
00:14.1 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 IDE
00:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 Azalia
00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 PCI to LPC Bridge
00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridge
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RS690M [Radeon X1200 Series]
08:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 01)
14:06.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C832 IEEE 1394 Controller (rev 05)
14:06.1 SD Host controller: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter (rev 22)
14:06.2 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C843 MMC Host Controller (rev 12)
14:06.3 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C592 Memory Stick Bus Host Adapter (rev 12)
14:06.4 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd xD-Picture Card Controller (rev ff)

Sorry for a late reply, I went bed.

You have the same card as me.

First thing you need to do is get the driver to recognize the wireless card.

Use this attached file (its the driver) and extract and use that.. see if that worked. :\

No luck...

It doesn't make any sense. Do you think there could be a problem with my version of ndiswrapper or that the modified version of the RTL8187b driver I installed from this website http://www.datanorth.net/~cuervo/rtl8187b/ is causing problems?

Yes... that might be it. As the modified driver is very buggy it might mess things up.

Uninstall it. I do not know how to do that so you might need to ask on the forums.

After that, uninstall ndiswrapper, insatll it again and try again.

As you have the same wireless card as me. It should be the same. It should work.

I reinstalled hardy as well as ndiswrapper and still no luck. My rc.local file still looks the same too.

You shoudln't touch the rc.local file yet. That is needed when you have the wireless card working.

I do not knon why it doing this :\
It works on mine and I have the same card as you.

I really don't know why :(

Email Realtek and ask for a driver for that ID. I got one but didn't work for me. (it is a windows driver made for ndiswrapper and for the ID of 8197)

I would attach it but I do not have it anymore :(

I'll email realtek for the drivers. I'll post again when I recieve and install them. Thanks for all the help anyway! :)