Realtek RTL8188CE network adapter repeatedly drops connection

Question

Variations of this problem certainly seem to be common, but I'm not not seeing a recent solution for my case: I'm running Ubuntu 13.04, uname -r = 3.8.0-21-generic lspci = 02:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8188CE 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter (rev 01)

The wifi network connection is relatively slow, but more seriously, repeatedly drops completely every few minutes. It usually recovers in a minute or so, but then drops again in 1-3 minutes. Running Windows 8 (ugh) on the same system, the connection never drops. Some of the solutions proposed, involve compiling/installing a new driver from Realtek - I'm really not comfortable doing that. Another suggested adding a /etc/modprobe.d/rtl8192.conf file containing a "options rtl8192ce ips=0 debug=2" line. I tried that - no effect. Another solution proposed deleting the network manager and installing something called "wicd". I haven't tried that yet, wondering, if "wicd" didn't help/work, could I use apt-get to purge it and re-install the network manager to get back to where I am?

Suggestions?

Solution

You mention that you aren't comfortable compiling and installing a driver, but unfortunately you can't do this without that. Fortunately, because of the pain I went through personally, I have made it as easy as possible for you. I fixed the compile issues on 13.04 with the RTL8188CE driver and put detailed instructions for install up on my Git Hub.

This version fixes the compile error and also fixes the hard-coded Tx Power value that was set to 22 dBm.

First install Git and build dependencies:

sudo apt-get install git
apt-get install gcc build-essential linux-headers-generic linux-headers-`uname -r`

Then clone the repo. I like to make a directory in my home folder and put it there:

cd ~
mkdir gitclone && cd gitclone
git clone https://github.com/FreedomBen/rtl8188ce-linux-driver/blob/master/README.md
cd rtl8188ce-linux-driver

Then follow the instructions in README.md

EDIT: 22-Jan-2015

It is now even easier. Install git:

sudo apt-get install git

and run this command

git clone https://github.com/FreedomBen/rtl8188ce-linux-driver.git && cd rtl8188ce-linux-driver && ./install.sh`

Comments

[ubfan1]

Have you set the ipv6 to "ignore"? A friend found wicd reconnected much faster than networkmanager, so was more usable, but still had disconnects.

[Larry McMains]

For reasons unknown, the disconnects are much less frequent today even before disabling Ipv6. I disabled Ipv6 using the instructions in link and the speed is still quite slow - about half what I see with an older notebook running Ubuntu 12.04, even though my router and new notebook are 802.11 n enabled and the old notebook is not.

[ubfan1]

Check for errors and signal strengths with ifconfig, iwconfig, and sudo iwlist scan. W8 may handle errors differently, e.g. maybe just ignoring them rather than trying to reconnect for a better connection.