Linux On My Samsung

Hi, I really need some help with my NB30.

Here are problems I'm having:

Wireless sometimes does not work and you need to reboot Ubuntu again before it works.

Wireless sometimes cuts off repeatedly, but this doesn't happen too often.

Log files are flooded with "ieee80211_parse_info_param(): athros AP is exist" - I don't know what it means, but the log files mention it a zillion times lol.

The screen sometimes won't power off, but shows a black background instead of switching off (you can clearly see it's a black background cos an lcd don't display black properly ).

Flash player and BBC iPlayer are VERY SLOW - iPlayer is barely usable.

Sorry it sounds like I'm asking too much, but I'm in the right place and hope the experts can help. I've not yet found the answers here, but I will be looking through the forums.

Cheers.

I've been following the steps in this post: http://www.voria.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=296

I'm still having the problems in my previous post.

I had the same wireless problem that you did. After a bit of looking around I discovered that the default Realtek kernel module was being loaded and the one provided with the "samsung-wireless" package was not being loaded - even though it was installed and available. You may be in luck because this was kind of an easy fix for me once I figured out what was happening.

Here's a few things you can try:
*** You need a wired connection to the network for this since we will uninstall the wireless module***

**Make sure you have updated your system to the latest supported kernel. Currently 2.6.32-24** If you haven't done that, then do it first and come back to this**

Now type:
$> lspci -v

This will show you the PCI bus information. Confirm that you have a Realtek wireless card model 8192x - otherwise this won't work :-) The information will show you that there is a module loaded and two modules installed.

One of the installed modules is r8192_pci and the other should be r8192e_pci
Assuming this is what you see, then proceed:

$> sudo lsmod |grep r8

This will show you what module is loaded in the running kernel. I'm going to guess that the r8192_pci module is loaded and not the r8192e_pci module.

$> sudo modprobe -r r8192_pci

This will gracefully unload the running module. Note that now if you click on the network status icon on the task bar you will not see a wireless option... thats good. That means the module is removed. You can verify by typing $> sudo lsmod |grep r8

Now that we've unloaded the default kernel module, we will load the one provided by "samsung-wireless".

$> sudo modprobe r8192e_pci

There should be no errors.

Verify that the module is loaded by typing

$> sudo lsmod |grep r8

The output should show the "e" module loaded. Now test your wireless... run it for a couple of hours... or even days... see if it solves your problem. It did for me.

BUT!! Don't reboot yet because when you do, the default module will load, you'll have a conflict and you'll be back to where you started :-)

If this fixed your problem, you need to prevent the default module from loading in the future. To do this you need to edit the /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf file.

$> sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf &

Once gnome-edit opens the file, add this at the end:

#This is a comment line - we will prevent the default Realtek 8192 modules from loading
#by blacklisting them
blacklist r8192_pci
blacklist r8192usb_pci
blacklist r8192se_pci

Now save the file and close gedit. verify the entry by checking:
$> sudo less /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

Your entry should be there.

Now it's safe to re-boot. So reboot.
$> sudo reboot

When the system comes back up, verify which module has been loaded.

$> sudo lsmod |grep r8

It should be the r8192e_pci module, and your wireless problems should be solved on the NB30.

Hi, thanks for replying.

The wireless seems to be behaving now. I found out that every time I put the fan on to keep cool, it would affect the wireless (possible electrical interference??).

During bootup I did see in red text that 2 drivers were trying to load, but took off the samsung wireless and it's been ok ever since. If it starts playing up again (hopefully it won't), then I will follow your instructions.

The only problem I can't work out is why flash videos at higher quality and iPlayer desktop are so slow on the NB30????

Thanks for the info magicCookie. Last night my wireless kept cutting off, so I've just followed your instructions to the letter and I will see how I get on. Fingers crossed that should solve my NB30 wireless problems too.

GOOD NEWS: I've been using the r8192e_pci wireless driver since my last post - having blacklisted the other one, as per the instructions earlier. This has completely solved the wireless problems. I must say a very big "thank you" for your help.