Need Help Fixing WiFi Adapter Issue

Hi folks, my WiFi adapter is not working properly. It is able to pick up networks but I am not able to connect to any.

$ lsusb

Bus 001 Device 005: ID 0a5c:216c Broadcom Corp. BCM43142A0 Bluetooth Device
Bus 001 Device 027: ID 04f2:b40e Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd HP Truevision HD camera
Bus 001 Device 032: ID 0bda:8179 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8188EUS 802.11n Wireless Network Adapter
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:8000 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

$ mhwd-kernel -li

Currently running: 6.1.19-1-MANJARO (linux61)
The following kernels are installed in your system:
   * linux61

$ pacman -Qs headers

local/acl 2.3.1-3
    Access control list utilities, libraries and headers
local/libcups 1:2.4.2-5
    OpenPrinting CUPS - client libraries and headers
local/linux-api-headers 6.1.9-1
    Kernel headers sanitized for use in userspace
local/vulkan-headers 1:1.3.240-1 (vulkan-devel)
    Vulkan header files
local/xorgproto 2022.2-1
    combined X.Org X11 Protocol headers

After searching for a linux driver for RTL8188EUS 802.11n Wireless Network Adapter I came across this. However, I am unable to build and install the driver. After running make all I get the following message in the terminal.

$ make all

make ARCH=x86_64 CROSS_COMPILE= -C /lib/modules/6.1.19-1-MANJARO/build M=/home/metalhead/rtl8188eus  modules
make[1]: Entering directory '/home/metalhead/rtl8188eus'
make[1]: *** /lib/modules/6.1.19-1-MANJARO/build: No such file or directory.  Stop.
make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/metalhead/rtl8188eus'
make: *** [Makefile:1911: modules] Error 2

$ make install

install -p -m 644 8188eu.ko  /lib/modules/6.1.19-1-MANJARO/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/
install: cannot stat '8188eu.ko': No such file or directory
make: *** [Makefile:1917: install] Error 1

Please let me know if you need any other info and I really appreciate your suggestions and help.

This path is setup by installing the package linux61-headers

(Edit - is mentioned in your link at Dependencies )

The dkms build option may be preferable long term because it builds the driver for every installed kernel, and should automatically build another when another kernel is added.

Which driver was installed when you had this issue?

Can you also show the output of inxi -Nazy

Hi @mishmosh, really appreciate the quick response, here’s the info that you requested.

$ inxi -Nazy

Network:
  Device-1: Broadcom BCM43142 802.11b/g/n vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: N/A
    pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 08:00.0 chip-ID: 14e4:4365
    class-ID: 0280
  Device-2: Realtek RTL810xE PCI Express Fast Ethernet
    vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s
    lanes: 1 port: 4000 bus-ID: 09:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8136 class-ID: 0200
  Device-3: Realtek RTL8188EUS 802.11n Wireless Network Adapter type: USB
    driver: r8188eu bus-ID: 1-1.2:32 chip-ID: 0bda:8179 class-ID: 0000
    serial: <filter>

One quick question, isn’t dkms related to custom kernels? And in order to proceed with dkms build option, are the following steps correct?

  1. sudo pacman -S dkms
  2. proceed with the github instructions

I forgot to ask, has this always been a problem, or a new issue since something changed?

Probably right, dkms is a dependency of the other wifi dkms packages, for example if you look at the dependencies of package r8168-dkms

If the default make is simpler, then maybe do that first to see if it works :slight_smile:

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  Device-1: Broadcom BCM43142 802.11b/g/n vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: N/A

Did you also want help with the broadcom driver? If yes, try install linux61-broadcom-wl

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I did a fresh installation yesterday. I plugged in the external WiFi adapter without installing anything else and it worked as expected. This problem started since this morning.

Worth checking this forum for other posts about rtl818eu

for example a solution here is plug into a different USB port … Realtek RTL8188EUS 802.11n Wireless Network Adapter not seeing wifi networks

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The broadcom was not working, hence the external adapter. However, after installing linux61-broacom-wl it is working now, the signal’s weak but at least it is working now :slightly_smiling_face:
Thanks so much.

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No it isn’t, its a system to rebuild kernel modules (drivers) automatically :wink: