Frustration with rtl8192cu and hostapd
Hopefully this helps someone else save a few hours and some hair.
I decided to take the plunge into the modern age and see what 802.11n is like. WPA2 is a nice bonus. But... I don't want to buy a new AP, as I have no use for the extra junk it brings, and more importantly, I don't have a spare Ethernet port on my Linux router.
Aha. Fry's has an 802.11n USB thingy for $20. (TP-Link TL-WN822N v3, yes three.) It's based off of the Realtek 8192cu chip, and, supposedly, this works fine with hostapd. So, why isn't it working?
Long story short:
Operation sort-of works, but seems erratic or nonfunctional in some cases.
Problems:
1. Laptop detected and associated fine, 3DS did not discover AP's ESSID.
1a. 3DS would not associate with ESSID manually entered, even with WPA, WEP off, and 802.11b forced.
2. Laptop randomly lost connection.
Diagnosis:
The rtl8192cu.ko module doesn't quite work right in master/ap mode.
Solution:
1. Grab the realtek drivers off the realtek.com.tw site.
2. Compile 8192cu.ko module and special hostapd from [1] (note: this is the 8192cu.ko module, not rtl8192cu.ko)
3. Replace hostapd binary.
4. Add 8192cu.ko module to /lib/modules/...
5. Blacklist rtl8192cu.ko
6. Change driver=rtl871xdrv in hostapd.conf (MUST use rtl871xdrv, provided by the module and binary in [1])
7. Remove rtl8192cu module
8. Modprobe 8192cu module
9. Resolve network/bridging issues from wlanX interface disappearing (dhcpd?)
Restart hostapd and go.
Bonus: iperf says 100mbit/s, up from 65mbit/s, even with wpa2 enabled.
Now, let's see if I can get multiple ESSIDs working....
I decided to take the plunge into the modern age and see what 802.11n is like. WPA2 is a nice bonus. But... I don't want to buy a new AP, as I have no use for the extra junk it brings, and more importantly, I don't have a spare Ethernet port on my Linux router.
Aha. Fry's has an 802.11n USB thingy for $20. (TP-Link TL-WN822N v3, yes three.) It's based off of the Realtek 8192cu chip, and, supposedly, this works fine with hostapd. So, why isn't it working?
Long story short:
Operation sort-of works, but seems erratic or nonfunctional in some cases.
Problems:
1. Laptop detected and associated fine, 3DS did not discover AP's ESSID.
1a. 3DS would not associate with ESSID manually entered, even with WPA, WEP off, and 802.11b forced.
2. Laptop randomly lost connection.
Diagnosis:
The rtl8192cu.ko module doesn't quite work right in master/ap mode.
Solution:
1. Grab the realtek drivers off the realtek.com.tw site.
2. Compile 8192cu.ko module and special hostapd from [1] (note: this is the 8192cu.ko module, not rtl8192cu.ko)
3. Replace hostapd binary.
4. Add 8192cu.ko module to /lib/modules/...
5. Blacklist rtl8192cu.ko
6. Change driver=rtl871xdrv in hostapd.conf (MUST use rtl871xdrv, provided by the module and binary in [1])
7. Remove rtl8192cu module
8. Modprobe 8192cu module
9. Resolve network/bridging issues from wlanX interface disappearing (dhcpd?)
Restart hostapd and go.
Bonus: iperf says 100mbit/s, up from 65mbit/s, even with wpa2 enabled.
Now, let's see if I can get multiple ESSIDs working....