`iw dev $interface scan` not working on embedded device

Question

Running on a custom rockchip board with Ubuntu 14.04. I look at interfaces with ifconfig:

...

wlan3     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 08:ea:40:d7:63:27  
          inet addr:192.168.12.1  Bcast:192.168.12.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::aea:40ff:fed7:6327/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:64634 errors:0 dropped:3811 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:249 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:868 (868.0 B)  TX bytes:89112 (89.1 KB)

I see the wifi interface as the last result.

I try running sudo iw dev wlan3 scan which returns command failed: No such device (-19).

I came across people having a similar issue on the Pi (additional instance).

Anyone know the cause of this issue or a way around it?

lsusb:

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0bda:8179 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8188EUS 802.11n Wireless Network Adapter
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 05e3:0608 Genesys Logic, Inc. Hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

uname -a:

Linux ws1-dev-philip 3.0.36+ #12 SMP PREEMPT Wed Apr 5 13:22:57 EDT 2017 armv7l armv7l armv7l GNU/Linux

To get the required information , please add the lsusb output and uname -a — GAD3R, Oct 30 '17 at 14:37
There are 135 open bugs for the rtl8188eu see here including the "iw command not working" — GAD3R, Oct 30 '17 at 14:58
See my answer here https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/400113/153195 — GAD3R, Oct 30 '17 at 15:04
Use wicd instead of network manager , configure wicd to use wext driver from the GUI, wicd_cli is a command line tool to manage the network. — GAD3R, Oct 30 '17 at 15:19
@GAD3R thanks seems apt-get install wicd_cli returns unable to locate package — Philip Kirkbride, Oct 30 '17 at 15:33
@GAD3R thanks will consider that possibility. Will probably need to get the package approved. — Philip Kirkbride, Oct 30 '17 at 15:38

score 4 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 11 '20 at 14:16

4

The nl80211 standard doesn't support the rtl8188eu driver , use wext the old driver.

To connect use the following command as root (you don't need to configure anything);

wpa_supplicant -B -Dwext -c <(wpa_passphrase "ESSID" PASSWORD) -i wlan3
dhclient wlan3

If you have already a wpa_supplicant.conf configuration file use it as follow:

wpa_supplicant -iwlan3 -D wext -c/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf -B
dhclient wlan3

To manage the network from the command line you can use wicd_cli available on the universe repository after removing the network-manager. Install wicd then configure it to use wext driver.

Using wext driver you should use the deprecated wireless-tools commands , such as iwlist , iwconfig ...

Important note from arch linux wiki:

iw — iw only supports the nl80211 (netlink) standard. It does not support the older WEXT (Wireless EXTentions) standard. If iw does not see your card, this may be the reason.

wireless_tools — wireless_tools is deprecated but still widely supported. Use this for modules using the WEXT standard.

edited Jun 11 '20 at 14:16

Community

1

answered Oct 30 '17 at 15:55

GAD3R

66,769

When I run the first command I get back something about /dev/fd/63 https://pastebin.com/P5ph6hQg – Philip Kirkbride Oct 30 '17 at 16:01
1

the ESSID I'm testing on is "2KLIC Guests" would the space be considered a special character here? – Philip Kirkbride Oct 30 '17 at 16:09
1

Related to the <(...) ? https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/367849/why-is-there-a-dev-fd-63-in-the-output-of-echo-123-cat – Philip Kirkbride Oct 30 '17 at 16:11
1

Result from second command, using sudo but operation still not permitted https://pastebin.com/e97rXz3B – Philip Kirkbride Oct 30 '17 at 16:54
Marking as solved because iwlist works, but couldn't get actual answer to work. For future readers. – Philip Kirkbride Oct 30 '17 at 18:22

`iw dev $interface scan` not working on embedded device

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