Getting TL-WN725N working

[arcol]

Hi,

I purchased a TP-LINK TL-WN723N, apparently V3 (0bda:8179), which also requires 8188eu driver to function.
I downloaded the raspbian wheezy 2013-09-10 image from the official website, and installed wewa's driver,
Mr. Engmann's version didn't work here either.

The curious thing, is that DHCP does not work. I don't get an IP address from the router.

Other wifi stick (TP-LINK TL-WN321G) works (and also three other laptops, two smartphones works),
and gets the IP address. The problem with WN321G, is that its utterly crap.
It stays online for 4 minutes, then loose the connection and I'm not able to reconnect.
But the DHCP works on the stick.

I manually issued the following command:

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sudo dhclient -s 192.168.1.1 wlan0

But no success.

I manually set the ip address from command line (don't remember when I needed to do it last time, around 2002 or so).

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sudo ifconfig wlan0 192.168.1.32 netmask 255.255.255.0 up

Then I could ping my laptop on the local network, and I also could ssh into the raspberry pi (from the laptop).

So the wifi stick is working, only the DHCP part is not working.

I can't see any new log in dmesg.

What I hate the most about these TP-LINK sticks is this: when I plug into the raspberrypi it reboots.
I can disconnect, but can't replug it when it is up and running. (from powered hub it does not reboot the pi).

I only bought this stick yesterday, so I can still return it.... I'm hesitating.

I checked the Verified peripherals on elinux.org, and WN723N v1,v2 was listed as working. Didn't think, that at the bottom of the page
there is also a v3 listed as problematic stick.

Best,
arcol

[wewa]

Hello MrEngman,

I've now compiled the version of source code you used (https://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8188eu). Also this is working for me. I don't really have a clue why your compiled driver is not working for some of us. Maybe there is some trouble in the tool chain or the kernel source?

wewa

[MrEngman]

Hello MrEngman,

I've now tried your driver again. But it still does not work.

I also have fixed the led problem in my version. Later I'll try to compile your version of source code.

wewa

Hi wewa,

Thanks for trying anyway. It's very strange that it doesn't work as I have had both yours and mine working on my own system which was

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Linux raspberrypi 3.6.11+ #541 PREEMPT Sat Sep 7 19:46:21 BST 2013 armv6l GNU/Linux

and I then updated yesterday to

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Linux raspberrypi 3.6.11+ #545 PREEMPT Fri Sep 20 23:57:55 BST 2013 armv6l GNU/Linux

and both are still working.

Just one thing to note - the RX dropped packet count - this is ifconfig using your driver

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wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr a0:f3:c1:25:7d:28
          inet addr:192.168.16.10  Bcast:192.168.16.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:22010 errors:0 dropped:22031 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:8963 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:27993072 (26.6 MiB)  TX bytes:934537 (912.6 KiB)

and this is ifconfig with my version of the driver

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wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr a0:f3:c1:25:7d:28
          inet addr:192.168.16.10  Bcast:192.168.16.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:18622 errors:0 dropped:29 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:8576 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:27906686 (26.6 MiB)  TX bytes:876450 (855.9 KiB)

There is a substantial difference in the dropped packet count.

This is very similar to the 8188cus driver used with Edimax EW-7811Un wifi which also shows large dropped packet counts. However, I have never found it a problem and have even found the EW-7811Un and the TL-WN725N show some of the best performance for wifi adaptors I've used compared with several others I've used with the Pi even with the large dropped packet count.


MrEngman

[MrEngman]

What I hate the most about these TP-LINK sticks is this: when I plug into the raspberrypi it reboots.
I can disconnect, but can't replug it when it is up and running. (from powered hub it does not reboot the pi).

Best,
arcol

This is a problem with the Raspberry Pi design, not the wifi adaptor. The Pi will almost always reboot if you plug any USB wifi adaptor into it and also many other different USB devices when it is powered on.

Yes it's really annoying. I have found a way round it though. I connect my wifi adaptors to the Pi using a USB A-plug, A-socket extension cable. Using the extension cable allows me to unplug and plug the wifi without making the Pi reboot.


MrEngman

[MrEngman]

Hello MrEngman,

I've now compiled the version of source code you used (https://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8188eu). Also this is working for me. I don't really have a clue why your compiled driver is not working for some of us. Maybe there is some trouble in the tool chain or the kernel source?

wewa

Hi wewa,

Strange isn't it? Especially when it works for some and not for others, really wierd. Mind you I have seen some odd problems with wifi not appearing to work for whatever reason. I normally keep updated using rpi-update so if the driver stops working I compile a new working version and I compile on the Pi as it only takes short time to update the kernel source to the latest and then recompile the driver. What tool chain is used I have no idea other than what is default in the raspbian image.

This morning for a change I decided to try a brand new wheezy 2013-09-10 image to see if there was any difference and both drivers work fine. Oh well

Guess it'll have to remain a bit of a mystery for the moment.


MrEngman

[looeyc]

I've also tried this but it also produces an error.

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user@raspberrypi / $ sudo insmod /lib/modules/3.6.11+/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/8188eu.ko
Error: could not insert module /lib/modules/3.6.11+/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/8188eu.ko: Invalid module format

I have loaded an SD card with 2013-07-26-wheezy-raspbian and installed the same driver you used and it loads and the wifi works OK. Have you updated you image using apt-get update/upgrade or rpi-update? You shouldn't get that error unless your kernel revision has changed.

I have three different driver revisions. Which one you should use depends on the revision of raspbian you have installed. This you can find using command uname -a

After running sudo rpi-update my own RPi shows

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Linux raspberrypi 3.6.11+ #541 PREEMPT Sat Sep 7 19:46:21 BST 2013 armv6l GNU/Linux

for 3.6.11+ #538 and #541 use 8188eu-20130830.tar.gz
for 3.6.11+ #524, #528 or #532 use 8188eu-20130815.tar.gz
for 3.6.11+ #371 up to #520 use 8188eu-20130209.tar.gz

Download and install the driver using the commands

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wget https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/80256631/8188eu-2013xxyy.tar.gz  <--set data code for driver version
tar -zxvf 8188eu-2013xxyy.tar.gz                                          <--set data code for driver version
sudo install -p -m 644 8188eu.ko /lib/modules/3.6.11+/kernel/drivers/net/wireless
sudo insmod /lib/modules/3.6.11+/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/8188eu.ko
sudo depmod -a

MrEngman

"uname -a" in my pi returns: "Linux HostServer 3.6.11+ #538 PREEMPT Fri Aug 30 20:42:08 BST 2013 armv6l GNU/Linux"
The "8188eu-20130830.tar.gz" works for me well, that helped me a lot, thanks!

[MrEngman]

"uname -a" in my pi returns: "Linux HostServer 3.6.11+ #538 PREEMPT Fri Aug 30 20:42:08 BST 2013 armv6l GNU/Linux"
The "8188eu-20130830.tar.gz" works for me well, that helped me a lot, thanks!

Hi looeyc,

Thanks for that update. Good to hear it's working OK for you. Why some are having difficulties is very strange.


MrEngman

[jsiddall]

Sigh... this really shouldn't be so hard.

When I upgraded my kernel yesterday with rpi-update I got 3.6.11 #545 and of course the 8188eu-20130209 driver doesn't work with that kernel (returns the "invalid module format" error).

Anyone have tips on getting this darn thing working with the latest kernel?

Thanks,

Jeff

[MrEngman]

Sigh... this really shouldn't be so hard.

When I upgraded my kernel yesterday with rpi-update I got 3.6.11 #545 and of course the 8188eu-20130209 driver doesn't work with that kernel (returns the "invalid module format" error).

Anyone have tips on getting this darn thing working with the latest kernel?

Thanks,

Jeff

Did you try 8188eu-20130830 driver? If not use the following commands to download and install it

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wget https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/80256631/8188eu-20130830.tar.gz
tar -zxvf 8188eu-20130830.tar.gz
sudo install -p -m 644 8188eu.ko /lib/modules/3.6.11+/kernel/drivers/net/wireless
sudo insmod /lib/modules/3.6.11+/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/8188eu.ko
sudo depmod -a

MrEngman

[jsiddall]

Did you try 8188eu-20130830 driver? If not use the following commands to download and install it

That did it. Thanks!

Hopefully this will fix the connection dropping problems I was having with the old driver.

Jeff

[MrEngman]

Did you try 8188eu-20130830 driver? If not use the following commands to download and install it

That did it. Thanks!

Hopefully this will fix the connection dropping problems I was having with the old driver.

Jeff

There are no end of reasons why the wifi may loose connectivity if you look through the forum. Personally I don't have problems.

Some would suggest that could be something to do with power management, although if you run command iwconfig it will almost certainly say power management is OFF. As far as I'm aware the driver is compiled with some power management enabled but I don't believe it should turn off completely. if you run command

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cat /sys/module/8188eu/parameters/rtw_power_mgnt

you will probably get a response of 1 (one), which indicates minimum power management is enabled. You can turn it off and for command

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cat /sys/module/8188eu/parameters/rtw_power_mgnt

you will then get a response of 0 (zero), showing power management is disabled.

You can turn off 8188eu power management with this and generate the file /etc/modprobe.d/8188eu.conf

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sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/8188eu.conf

and then add the lines

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# Disable power management
options 8188eu rtw_power_mgnt=0 rtw_enusbss=0

which is specific to this driver rather than some general term that may or may not work. You will need to reboot for it to take effect.


MrEngman

[jsiddall]

Yes, I already have

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options 8188eu rtw_power_mgnt=0

set and it certainly improved things, but not solved. Sometimes running

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/sbin/ifup wlan0

restarts the interface, other times an

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rmmod 8188eu

and

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modprobe 8188eu

will work, other times a power cycle seems to be required.

This was all while using the an old (~6 months ago) kernel and an even older driver. Hoping someone has fixed something recently. I will report back once I can tell if it has improved.

Jeff

[jsiddall]

Well... good news and bad news. Good news first: the 8188eu-20130830 driver seems to drop connections much less frequently than the original driver I tried. Bad news is that it still drops occasionally, typically a few times per week.

Another bit of bad: I cannot unload the driver, even if nothing is using it (i.e.: even if there is no wifi adapter plugged into the pi!). rmmod returns an error that the module is in use, though lsmod shows nothing using it.

Still, restarting networking so far seems to be enough to bring the interface back to life so removing the module may not be necessary anyway.

[babboste]

Thank you wewa,
the driver you built and posted worked for me out of the box, and with a correct led behaviour!!

Babboste

[JimBTek]

Wewa's driver worked for me. THANKS!

I'm on a clean install of wheezy #538 Aug 30 2013

Mr Engman's driver let met connect to my network but did not allow me to obtain an IP address either by dhcp or by manually setting it.

[redhenk]

Hello mr. Engman,

Is there allready a revision for 3.10.23+?
I tried 8188eu-20131111, but i got: error.........:invalid module format.

Do you know what's going wrong?

[MrEngman]

Hello mr. Engman,

Is there allready a revision for 3.10.23+?
I tried 8188eu-20131111, but i got: error.........:invalid module format.

Do you know what's going wrong?

Hi,

Yes, there is a newer version. Take a look here - 8188eu-20131209.tar.gz. I intend updating that post as and when new versions are needed so keep an eye on it when new Linux updates appear.


MrEngman

[bmiro]

For the disassoc problem than wewa mentioned:

I've had de same problem:

- Irregular ping
- Constant disassociation
- Error disassoc in dmesg

Te solution was change the power cord. I've compiled the driver with diferent kernels without success. Then I've tried the USB-Micro USB to charge my phone and discovered that took much more time than normal so I've used the USB-Micro of my phone to power the Pi and the disassoc errors get out!

The problem was NOT the power supply, was only the USB cable.

Now I'm using the Raspbian packaged kernel with this compliled driver. The wifi adapter plugged directly (and a keyboard on the other port) to the Pi and a powerd cord with an 1.5A power supply.

I think this problem in some cases can be a power issue not a driver issue.

[MrEngman]

Hi bmiro,

Thanks for that. A very useful bit of information which should be helpful for others.


MrEngman

[wewa]

Hello MrEngman,

yesterday I updated to version 3.10.25+ #622 and tried to compile the driver again. But it seems that I've messed my cross compiling toolchain. Therefore I had to use the driver you posted here. I don't know why, but now your driver is also working for me. Thumbs up for this great page.

Best regards
wewa

[MrEngman]

Hello MrEngman,

yesterday I updated to version 3.10.25+ #622 and tried to compile the driver again. But it seems that I've messed my cross compiling toolchain. Therefore had to used or driver from your post here. I don't know why, but now your driver is also working for me. Thumbs up for this great page.

Best regards
wewa

Thanks for the update. Good to hear I could help.


MrEngman

[wewa]

Hello MrEngman,

yesterday I updated to 3.10.27+ #630. Your appropriate driver is not working for me again. The dongle is recognized, but the raspberry does not get an IP. Further debug is pending.

Best regards
wewa

[wewa]

Here is the file I compiled for firmware 3.10.27+ #630. It is working for me.

https://dl.dropbox.com/s/70y90vf8vo7bsn ... 121.tar.gz

[rinty35]

I compile the driver on 3.10.27 kernel.

The compilation is OK with the process https://github.com/macliu010/pi_plus/tr ... /rtl8188eu

when i use the lsusb -t command i have this result :
lsusb -t
/: Bus 01.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=dwc_otg/1p, 480M
|__ Port 1: Dev 2, If 0, Class=hub, Driver=hub/3p, 480M
|__ Port 1: Dev 3, If 0, Class=vend., Driver=smsc95xx, 480M
|__ Port 3: Dev 4, If 0, Class=hub, Driver=hub/4p, 480M
|__ Port 2: Dev 6, If 0, Class=vend., Driver=r8188eu, 480M
|__ Port 3: Dev 8, If 0, Class=HID, Driver=usbhid, 1.5M
|__ Port 4: Dev 9, If 0, Class=HID, Driver=usbhid, 1.5M

I see the card with the good driver.

When i use iwconfig i have this result
wlan0 unassociated Nickname:"<WIFI@REALTEK>"
Mode:Auto Frequency=2.412 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
Sensitivity:0/0
Retry:off RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality=0/100 Signal level=0 dBm Noise level=0 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

But I don't arrived to associate an accesspoint

when i try sudo iwconfig wlan0 essid "ton essid"

I have this result
Error for wireless request "Set ESSID" (8B1A) :
SET failed on device wlan0 ; Operation not permitted.


If you have an idea ? I'm very interesting

[faina09]

Here is the file I compiled for firmware 3.10.27+ #630. It is working for me.

https://dl.dropbox.com/s/70y90vf8vo7bsn ... 121.tar.gz

On my RPi uname -a reports:
Linux raspberrypi 3.12.23-rpi-aufs #1 PREEMPT Thu Jun 26 20:32:37 CEST 2014 armv6l GNU/Linux
I downloaded 8188eu-20140626.tar.gz module taht is for 3.12.23+ and the command

sudo insmod /lib/modules/3.12.23+/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/8188eu.ko

reports
Error: could not insert module /lib/modules/3.12.23+/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/8188eu.ko: Invalid module format

should I compile the module by myself? Where can I get the source and how can I do?