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Old 22nd April 2016
CristhofferBR CristhofferBR is offline
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Exclamation [Analisys]Driver rtwn doesn't work on OpenBSD

What's up guys, its me again... without histories, directly to the point

Recently i got upgraded my OpenBSD 5.8 to 5.9 (current) and i had some problems.

The driver rtwn for Realtek wireless devices RTL8188CE shows up first time in OpenBSD 5.8, without firmware by standard installation. After i got the firmware files though another system connected to internet was possible load the firmwares and make the rtwn driver do his magic perfectly though rtwn0 interface, everythin was running nice. But when i upgraded to 5.9 version i saw that firmware file has been deleted because be of 5.8 version. Until there that is okaaaaay, no problem; i installed the right firmware files (5.9) at the same way before. However did not connect to the internet though wireless device anymore.

get my logic;
Code:
BSD4LIFE# pwd;ls -li /etc/firmware |grep rtwn
/etc/firmware/
46472 -r--r--r-- 1 root bin 2115 Jun 18 2015 rtwn-license
46473 -rwxrwxrwx 1 root bin 14818 Apr 21 2016 rtwn-rtl8192cfwU
46474 -rwxrwxrwx 1 root bin 16332 Apr 21 2016 rtwn-rtl8192cfwU_B

BSD4LIFE# dmesg |grep rtwn0
rtwn0 at pci1 dev 0 function 0 "Realtek 8188CE" rev 0x01: msi
rtwn0: MAC/BB RTL8188CE, RF 6052 1T1R, address 5c:c9:d3:07:88:79

BSD4LIFE# ifconfig rtwn0
rtwn0: flags=8843<BROADCAST,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
lladdr 5c:c9:d3:07:88:79
priority: 4
groups: wlan
media: IEEE802.11 autoselect (DS1 mode 11g)
status: no network
ieee80211: nwid ''

BSD4LIFE# echo dhcp nwid ASM wpa wpakey ******* > /etc/hostname.rtwn0 2>&1

BSD4LIFE# sh /etc/netstart rtwn0
rtwn0: no link ............. sleeping
So, i can conclude that perhaps the driver/firmware was developed with some flaw in current version, or what? Detail; im under GENERIC.MP kernel.

Last edited by CristhofferBR; 22nd April 2016 at 05:12 AM. Reason: reformulating
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Old 22nd April 2016
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jggimi jggimi is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CristhofferBR View Post
Recently i got upgraded my OpenBSD 5.8 to 5.9 (current)
For clarity, -current is several months of development beyond 5.9
Quote:
The driver rtwn for Realtek wireless devices RTL8188CE shows up first time in OpenBSD 5.8, without firmware by standard installation.
Correct. Licensing restrictions prevent packaging this firmware with the OS.
Quote:
But when i upgraded to 5.9 version i saw that firmware file has been deleted because be of 5.8 version.
If you were performing an upgrade, previously installed firmware would not be removed. Upgrades do not modify files in /etc at all. You would have had to do a wipe-and-reinstall or specifically remove the firmware package with pkg_delete(1).
Quote:
So, i can conclude that perhaps the driver/firmware was developed with some flaw in current version, or what? Detail; im under GENERIC.MP kernel.
The firmware is unchanged. It has remained version 1.0 since 5.8.

If there is a firmware failure, you would see errors on the console. No network can be due to many reasons, including something as simple as a typographic error in nwid or wpakey fields. You can test the NIC with # ifconfig rtwn0 scan -- if you see one or more SSIDs, you will know the NIC is functional, as is the driver.

I have the same hardware in my laptop, and it works for me, with 5.8, 5.9, and -current.

---

If you were upgrading, why were you modifying /etc/hostname.rtwn0 ??
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Old 23rd April 2016
CristhofferBR CristhofferBR is offline
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Yes i upgraded and the firmware files was gone, and im not edited the hostname.rtwn0 file after upgrade.
I just post that line to demonstrate that my nwid and wpakey fields are correctly, so the problem is on my wireless device? but in other systems this device works perfectly, so i suppose that be some conf error.
However i will remove the firmware with pkg_delete this time instead fw_update -d, do some tests and try again. If i found any solution i will post here.

Thanks for clarifying

//EDIT
Code:
BSD4LIFE# ifconfig rtwn0 scan 2>&1
rtwn0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
	lladdr 5c:c9:d3:07:88:79
	priority: 4
	groups: wlan
	media: IEEE802.11 autoselect (DS1 mode 11b)
	status: no network
	ieee80211: nwid ASM wpakey 0xc5c29286e61d566005bb1e70c9ea068bc8b98067fa67bf7056c78a90d2ffc4f9 wpaprotos wpa1,wpa2 wpaakms psk wpaciphers tkip,ccmp wpagroupcipher tkip
		none
My device simply dont recognize any network close, including mine (ASM).
What i doing wrong? i think is not my fault this time, if not a device/driver failure i really dont know whats happening...

Last edited by CristhofferBR; 23rd April 2016 at 02:23 AM. Reason: Complementig
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Old 23rd April 2016
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jggimi jggimi is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CristhofferBR View Post
Yes i upgraded and the firmware files was gone...
I do not understand how. The upgrade script in the bsd.rd RAMDISK kernel does not touch /etc or /var. The firmware files are stored in /etc/firmware, and the firmware package metadata is stored in /var/db/pkg. To my knowledge, the only way to remove the firmware is with fw_update(1) -d, or with pkg_delete(1), or by a reinstallation.
Quote:
...i suppose that be some conf error.
Perhaps you have a configuration error. Please note that your ifconfig(8) output shows the media set to 802.11b, at 1 Mbps ("DS1"). If your access point does not provide 802.11b, then this may be why you do not see it.
Quote:
However i will remove the firmware with pkg_delete this time instead fw_update -d...
Well, now we know why the firmware was deleted. You deleted it.
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Old 25th April 2016
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hanzer hanzer is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CristhofferBR View Post
[...] So, i can conclude that perhaps the driver/firmware was developed with some flaw in current version, or what? Detail; im under GENERIC.MP kernel.
I too have a laptop with: $ dmesg | grep rtwn
Code:
rtwn0 at pci2 dev 0 function 0 "Realtek 8188CE" rev 0x01: msi
rtwn0: MAC/BB RTL8188CE, RF 6052 1T1R, address 24:ec:99:e0:24:83
$ uname -a
Code:
OpenBSD galileo7.bohemia.net 5.9 GENERIC.MP#1888 amd64
That network card/firmware/driver seems to cause the system to freeze (no kernel panic, just an indefinite hang).

I've also had problems with an Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG (described here) and an Atheros AR9227 wireless PCI (described here).

In the thread "What's a good Wireless PCI NIC for OpenBSD-5.8?", I followed some advice and bought a:
$ dmesg | grep ral
Code:
ral0 at pci1 dev 9 function 0 "Ralink RT2561S" rev 0x00: apic 2 int 7, address 00:1f:1f:37:a0:d3
ral0: MAC/BBP RT2561C, RF RT2527
which works very well on:

$ uname -a
Code:
OpenBSD minerva.bohemia.net 5.8 GENERIC#1 i386
Since what's available in the release is not a good indicator of what actually works, I would really like to get a recommendation for a Half Size Wireless MINI PCIE Card that will work well with OpenBSD.
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Old 25th April 2016
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jggimi jggimi is offline
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As I noted above, I have this same hardware, and it worked well at 5.8, 5.9 and continues to work well at -current. Whatever your problems' root causes, it doesn't appear to be caused by the RTL8188CE chipset, firmware, or driver, since the problems are not universal.
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Old 25th April 2016
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jggimi View Post
As I noted above, I have this same hardware, and it worked well at 5.8, 5.9 and continues to work well at -current. Whatever your problems' root causes, it doesn't appear to be caused by the RTL8188CE chipset, firmware, or driver, since the problems are not universal.
That is peculiar. It's a fresh (5.9-release) installation on an unmodified commercial laptop. The configuration (at the moment) is very basic and the system most definitely hangs when the rtwn0 network is prodded.

I didn't notice the problem earlier because the machine uses re0 when on the desk. During these times, rtwn0 is up but inactive (I guess) and there haven't been any hangs. But when unplugged, any significant network activity (anything more than a ping) and the system will hang.

It's hung right now. The console shows:
Code:
rtwn0: timeout waiting for MAC auto ON
rtwn0: could not power on adapter
rtwn0: timeout waiting for MAC auto On
rtwn0: could not power on adapter
and the system is frozen. A wired (re0) ssh session ended with:
Code:
packet_write_wait: Connection to 192.168.0.7: Broken pipe
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Old 25th April 2016
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jggimi jggimi is offline
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That problem description has the appearance of a hardware issue. Of course, this is conjecture, but I do not have any of these messages or hangs. The underlying hardware here is a Lenovo Thinkpad X220 with BIOS firmware dated February 18, 2016 -- but of course, the hardware was working fine with 2015 BIOS revisions also.
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Old 25th April 2016
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This laptop has been running CentOS-7 with no wireless network problems, and last night I booted a recent Tails Linux DVD just to be sure everything was still Ok. The hardware seems to be Ok.

Maybe there is some subtle but important [for OpenBSD] variation in these cards that report an RTL8188CE chipset. Your Thinkpad has an rtwn in a mini-pcie slot, right? (not USB)
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Old 25th April 2016
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All three of us have the device attached via PCI bus. In my case, it is a mini-PCI connector.

There is a separate driver for USB connected versions of these chipsets, with different firmware. See urtwn(4).
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Old 25th April 2016
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My old Acer Aspire One has a small case switch to power on/off the wireless device. If a manual switch is not the culprit, could power savings/sleep be an issue that might possibly be addressed in the bios?
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Old 26th April 2016
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Quote:
Originally Posted by shep View Post
My old Acer Aspire One has a small case switch to power on/off the wireless device. If a manual switch is not the culprit, could power savings/sleep be an issue that might possibly be addressed in the bios?
Nice, but no dice There is a CPU throttling option that is set in the BIOS but nothing regarding the wireless network, and the wireless device can be turned on/off with an [Fn] F-12 function key combo but the indicator light shows that it is on. It's configured and reports that it is connected to the wireless network. It can ping google. But,

# sh /etc/netstart rtwn0 will hang the system every time.
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