I can not activate WLAN Wifi USB stick adapter Alfa AWUS036H / GE-RT8187

[waldmattis]

Good evening.
I have connected a WLAN Wifi USB stick adapter Alfa AWUS036H / GE-RT8187,
which promises better reception than the antenna built into my laptop.

lsusb detects
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0bda:8187 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8187 Wireless Adapter

But I cannot select the USB stick for reception.
See screenshot 1 to the left of the mouse pointer.

It is considered disabled even though it is considered enabled in the network settings.
See screenshot 2 to the left of the mouse pointer.

Who knows how to do it?

Regards
Karl

Code: Select all

System:    Kernel: 5.10.0-14-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.1 
           parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.10.0-14-amd64 
           root=UUID=<filter> ro quiet splash 
           init=/lib/systemd/systemd 
           Desktop: Xfce 4.16.0 tk: Gtk 3.24.24 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm 4.16.1 vt: 7 
           dm: LightDM 1.26.0 Distro: MX-21.1_x64 Wildflower October 20  2021 
           base: Debian GNU/Linux 11 (bullseye) 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: Dell product: Latitude E6320 v: 01 serial: <filter> Chassis: 
           type: 9 serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: Dell model: 0GJF11 v: A01 serial: <filter> BIOS: Dell v: A06 date: 07/11/2011 
CPU:       Info: Dual Core model: Intel Core i5-2520M bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Sandy Bridge 
           family: 6 model-id: 2A (42) stepping: 7 microcode: 2F cache: L2: 3 MiB 
           flags: avx lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 19954 
           Speed: 1221 MHz min/max: 800/3200 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1221 2: 1211 3: 1233 
           4: 1287 
           Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled 
           Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT vulnerable 
           Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable 
           Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI 
           Type: spec_store_bypass 
           mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp 
           Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
           Type: spectre_v2 
           mitigation: Retpolines, IBPB: conditional, IBRS_FW, STIBP: conditional, RSB filling 
           Type: srbds status: Not affected 
           Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics vendor: Dell 
           driver: i915 v: kernel bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:0126 class-ID: 0300 
           Device-2: Sunplus Innovation Laptop_Integrated_Webcam_HD type: USB driver: uvcvideo 
           bus-ID: 1-1.5:5 chip-ID: 1bcf:2980 class-ID: 0e02 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 compositor: xfwm4 v: 4.16.1 driver: 
           loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1 
           Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1366x768 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 361x203mm (14.2x8.0") 
           s-diag: 414mm (16.3") 
           Monitor-1: LVDS-1 res: 1366x768 hz: 60 dpi: 118 size: 293x165mm (11.5x6.5") 
           diag: 336mm (13.2") 
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 3000 (SNB GT2) v: 3.3 Mesa 20.3.5 
           compat-v: 3.0 direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel 6 Series/C200 Series Family High Definition Audio vendor: Dell 
           driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:1c20 class-ID: 0403 
           Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.10.0-14-amd64 running: yes 
           Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 14.2 running: yes 
Network:   Device-1: Intel 82579LM Gigabit Network vendor: Dell driver: e1000e v: kernel 
           port: 4080 bus-ID: 00:19.0 chip-ID: 8086:1502 class-ID: 0200 
           IF: eth0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter> 
           Device-2: Broadcom BCM4313 802.11bgn Wireless Network Adapter 
           vendor: Dell Inspiron M5010 / XPS 8300 driver: wl v: kernel modules: bcma port: 4040 
           bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 14e4:4727 class-ID: 0280 
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter> 
           Device-3: Realtek RTL8187 Wireless Adapter type: USB driver: rtl8187 bus-ID: 2-1.2:3 
           chip-ID: 0bda:8187 class-ID: 0000 serial: <filter> 
           IF: wlan1 state: down mac: <filter> 
Bluetooth: Device-1: Cambridge Silicon Radio Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode) type: USB driver: btusb 
           v: 0.8 bus-ID: 1-1.1.2:7 chip-ID: 0a12:0001 class-ID: e001 
           Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 3 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 2.1 lmp-v: 4.0 
           sub-v: 22bb hci-v: 4.0 rev: 22bb 
           Info: acl-mtu: 310:10 sco-mtu: 64:8 link-policy: rswitch hold sniff park 
           link-mode: slave accept service-classes: rendering, capturing, object transfer, audio 
RAID:      Hardware-1: Intel 82801 Mobile SATA Controller [RAID mode] driver: ahci v: 3.0 
           port: 4060 bus-ID: 00:1f.2 chip-ID: 8086.282a rev: 04 class-ID: 0104 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 447.13 GiB used: 74.48 GiB (16.7%) 
           SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required. 
           ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: SanDisk model: SSD PLUS 480GB size: 447.13 GiB 
           block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> 
           rev: 04RL scheme: MBR 
Partition: ID-1: / raw-size: 30 GiB size: 29.36 GiB (97.87%) used: 19.05 GiB (64.9%) fs: ext4 
           dev: /dev/sda6 maj-min: 8:6 
           ID-2: /home raw-size: 60 GiB size: 58.76 GiB (97.93%) used: 55.43 GiB (94.3%) 
           fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda8 maj-min: 8:8 
Swap:      Kernel: swappiness: 15 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default) 
           ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 4 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 
           dev: /dev/sda7 maj-min: 8:7 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 56.0 C mobo: 32.0 C sodimm: SODIMM C 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 2932 
Repos:     Packages: 2815 note: see --pkg apt: 2784 lib: 1447 flatpak: 18 snap: 13 
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye-proposed-updates main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye-updates main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye main contrib non-free
           2: deb http://security.debian.org/debian-security bullseye-security main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list 
           1: deb [arch=amd64] https://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-earth-pro.list 
           1: deb [arch=amd64] http://dl.google.com/linux/earth/deb/ stable main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/megasync.list 
           1: deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/meganz-archive-keyring.gpg] https://mega.nz/linux/repo/Debian_11/ ./
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list 
           1: deb http://ftp.halifax.rwth-aachen.de/mxlinux/packages/mx/repo/ bullseye main non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/signal-xenial.list 
           1: deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/signal-desktop-keyring.gpg] https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt xenial main
           2: deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/signal-desktop-keyring.gpg] https://updates.signal.org/desktop/apt xenial main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/skype-stable.list 
           1: deb [arch=amd64] https://repo.skype.com/deb stable main
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/spotify.list 
           1: deb http://repository.spotify.com stable non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/teams.list 
           1: deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/ms-teams stable main
Info:      Processes: 260 Uptime: 18m wakeups: 1 Memory: 7.65 GiB used: 3.28 GiB (42.9%) 
           Init: systemd v: 247 runlevel: 5 default: 5 tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 10.2.1 
           alt: 10 Shell: Bash v: 5.1.4 running-in: quick-system-info-mx 
           inxi: 3.3.06 
Boot Mode: BIOS (legacy, CSM, MBR)

[Huckleberry Finn]

Off-topic: Urgent: Cleaning needed (or soon you may not even be able to login) :

/home... size: 58.76 GiB ... used: 55.43 GiB (94.3%)


You can move some files manually to somewhere else, also use MX Cleanup .

( Try to decrease it as much as you can, if possible to under 80 % )
_______________________

For now: At least it's not a driver issue, it's loaded ...

Code: Select all

rfkill unblock all

[waldmattis]

@Huckleberry Finn
Thank you very much for your advice.
I will delete/ move as much as I can!

Regards
Karl

[Stevo]

Hmmm, your network manager widget screenshot shows two wi-fi adapters--that's why it shows the same set of access points twice. It shows the builtin broadcom as connected and the 8187 as not connected.

What happens if the Broadcom is disconnected and you try connecting the 8187 then?

[JayM]

Code: Select all

1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye-proposed-updates main contrib non-free

Why is this in your repos?

[waldmattis]

@JayM
you wrote:
"Why is this in your repos?"

I do not know why this is installed.
All my updates etc. go automatically.

Is there a problem/ insecurity with this repo?

Regards
Karl

[j2mcgreg]

Yes. The Debian-testing-proposed repository is for packages that are at an alpha release level IE they are in their infancy and have not been debugged at all. The only people that should be accessing this repo are Debian's own packaging team. Installing packages (and their dependencies) from this repo can play real havoc with MX. If your system is otherwise stable, it may be enough for you to disable this repository immediately. However keep in mind that if more problems crop up, a complete re-install may be necessary.

[waldmattis]

@t2mcgreg
Thank you for your advice

I disactivated in synaptic "non dfsg compatible software"

Does this solve the problem?

Thank you for your help!
Regards
Karl

[waldmattis]

@Stevo
You asked: What happens if the Broadcom is disconnected and you try connecting the 8187 then?

This does not make any difference.
The 8187 stays discnnected.

Thank you for helping.
Regards
Karl

[j2mcgreg]

@Stevo
You asked: What happens if the Broadcom is disconnected and you try connecting the 8187 then?

This does not make any difference.
The 8187 stays discnnected.

Thank you for helping.
Regards
Karl

You might have to disable the on-board wifi card in the bios before you can activate the usb card.

--or--
You might have to physically remove the on-board card. Here's a video that shows you how:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVLDD59ah0M