WiFi driver issues

[linuxgnuB]

Hi all. I've recently purchased a TP-LINK TL-WN725N Wireless USB Adapter and unfortunately have not been able to get it to work.

First, when my buddy suggested it to me and I asked him about CentOS compatibility, he assured me "yeah, for sure". I made the silly mistake of not verifying that since I assumed Linux hardware support has come a long way and it would work out of the box like my wireless keyboard and mouse pair did.

Anyway, I can provide the process I went through...Can someone please provide some feedback?

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yum update
yum install kernel-headers
yum install git
yum install kernel-devel
yum install build-essential 
# the previous line failed so I did instead:
yum groupinstall "Development Tools"

yum install wireless-tools
#to get iwconfig

make

When I try $make, this is the error I get:

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make
make ARCH=x86_64 CROSS_COMPILE= -C /lib/modules/2.6.32-504.el6.x86_64/build M=/root/rtl8188eu modules
make: *** /lib/modules/2.6.32-504.el6.x86_64/build: No such file or directory. Stop.
make: *** [modules] Error 2

I'm currently running CentOS 6.6, minimal so I have to do everything from the CLI.
My kernel version is 2.6.32-504.el6.x86_64

BTW, these are the resources/tutorials I used
http://brilliantlyeasy.com/ubuntu-linux ... r-install/
http://linuxforums.org.uk/index.php?topic=11261.0
https://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8188eu

Even after applying my best efforts on Google, I couldn't find any resources that were made specifically with CentOS in mind as you can see all the links are for Ubuntu. However, in the readme.txt of the driver in the git repo, there's no mention of only being applicable to any specific distro so I thought it'd be worth a shot.

Also, I've run dmesg immediately after plugging the adapter in and have confirmed that my box can detect it.

Thanks !!

[giulix63]

Is it not in ELRepo?

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[root@server1 ~]# yum info kmod-8188eu
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
 * base: mirrors.prometeus.net
 * elrepo: mirrors.coreix.net
 * epel: mirror.23media.de
 * extras: mirrors.prometeus.net
 * updates: mirrors.prometeus.net
Available Packages
Name        : kmod-8188eu
Arch        : x86_64
Version     : 4.1.4_6773.20130222
Release     : 1.el6.elrepo
Size        : 314 k
Repo        : elrepo
Summary     : 8188eu kernel module(s)
URL         : https://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8188eu
License     : GPLv2
Description : This package provides the 8188eu kernel module(s) built
            : for the Linux kernel using the x86_64 family of processors.

[linuxgnuB]

Thanks, man! High appreciated.

A bit of a novice question though...How did you already know it was on that repo and if you didn't, how did you go about finding out where it is?

I ran

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yum install y kmod-8188eu

and it installed successfully

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ip link show wlan0

Executing this brought the link from DOWN to "UNKNOWN"

However, despite the driver installing successfully...

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/sbin/iw wlan0 dev
/sbin/iw wlan0 scan

both return "n180211 not found."

At first $ifconfig just showed lo and eth0 but after I ran

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ifconfig wlan0 up

, wlan0 shows up.

iw version is 3.10

I also made sure to insert the module with

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modprobe 8188eu

Can you provide any suggestions, please? Thanks

[giulix63]

I didn't know about your drivers, all I did was enable ELRepo and

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yum search 8188

As far as the module goes, it really shouldn't be that complicated. Are you using NetworkManager? Could you

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yum install inxi

and post the output of

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inxi -inN

please? It's in epel. You may also try running

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tail -f /var/log/messages

as root and see what happens when you plug the USB dongle in. Ctrl-c to exit.

[linuxgnuB]

Hmm.. I guess I am curious to know why you had ELRepo... I read the CentOS documentation and looked up top Yum repos but did not see that one listed there..

Also, unfortunately I have less than 1 hr a day of opportunity to keep my PC hardwired and thus have very limited internet capabilities.

I looked up inxi and although I haven't used that, I did check kernel messages when the dongle was inserted. Unfortunately, I can't recall the exact message off the top of my head but when running

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dmesg | tail

immediately after inserting the USB, the kernel messages do show that they can detect the USB non generically, i.e. my computer can tell it's a RealTek device, etc.

I had not thought to check /var/log/messsages and will return with an update when possible.

In an ideal world, should have installing that module just have been enough?

Much appreciated, btw.

[scottro]

In an ideal world, sure. It might even be in CentOS-7 (I have no idea though).

Elrepo's been around while, and is mentioned on the CentOS wiki page about repos. Some of its developers are moderators on these forums as well, so I guess that anyone who has been around these forums awhile has heard mention of it. Those of us who work or worked more deeply with CentOS have probably learned from experience that if a piece of hardware isn't working, there's a good chance it might be available from Elreo.

I'm not a big fan of NetworkManager personally--with a GUI it can make things easier, but it can also make troubleshooting harder. Obviously the other poster's experience is different.