Comments on: Good news, more good news, and bad news.

By: cuervo

cuervo — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 04:01:06 +0000

My mistake, corrected in the post.

By: Phil Collier

Phil Collier — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 12:16:40 +0000

I’m happy to give back some help to the cuervo blog!

Last year I had big headaches with this laptop…Vista was a very poor performer, so I went to Kubuntu. After studying the postings here, I was able to get the audio and wireless running like a champ. So there’s nothing better than a shot of cuervo..’cept maybe the Indy 500…

I’ve been running Bluewhite64 and Sidux for a while, and sought the greener wireless pastures where there’s lots of development on the drivers. Looks like kernel 2.6.27 will be better for the rtl8187b variants, but I am enjoying my faster connections on this new 802.11N chip (even though I didn’t install the third antenna - two work fine).

By: cuervo

cuervo — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 14:35:21 +0000

Outstanding. I hadn’t even considered replacing the card itself. Thanks!

By: Phil Collier

Phil Collier — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 13:06:23 +0000

Here are some links for working inside the Toshiba A215 Laptop:

Removing the internal wireless card:
http://www.irisvista.com/tech/laptops/toshiba-satellite-a215/remove-wireless-card.htm

General Disassembly
http://www.irisvista.com/tech/laptops/toshiba-satellite-a215/disassemble-display-panel-1.htm

I used the irisvista guides to open up the case, swap the wireless card for a newer one, and remove a lot of dust from the cooling system. Good luck, and don’t lose any screws!!

By: Phil Collier

Phil Collier — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 12:40:35 +0000

Here’s another solution if you’re sick of the Toshiba A215 wireless troubles: replace the card. It
involves obtaining a mini PCI-express wireless card for $30 to $50 USD, removing some screws
on the laptop, lifting the keyboard, and putting in the new card. Want 802.11N? Maybe dual band
A and G/N modes? No problem - just pull that damn OEM equipment and replace it.

My choice was the Gigabyte GN-WS30N-RH, and it works like a champion, with no hassles at all
in my Sidux AMD64 system. When I installed the new card, it showed up in the list of PCI devices, and ran immediately after compiling / installing the driver (make && make install).

Good riddance to the 0bda:8197 nightmare.

By: cuervo

cuervo — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 00:26:31 +0000

Outstanding! Glad to see the experts came up with something better than my stopgap.

By: Vince

Vince — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 21:38:57 +0000

Actually, it was my brother’s laptop, and as I have not yet configured any WPA at home, I do not take care a lot about it…

By: val-gaav

val-gaav — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 12:47:36 +0000

Hi Vince … What about WPA ? Anyway it’s good news indeed, native out of the box support for rtl8187b :)

By: Vince

Vince — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 22:52:56 +0000

I guys :-)

I have compiled the 2.6.27-rc3 kernel version and I’m writing this message using the Wifi connection, with wep encryption.
The patch is on kernel.org

Thanks a lot for your help (web-)master.

Vince

By: val-gaav

val-gaav — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:42:55 +0000

2.6.25 ? AFAIK no support for rtl8187b there… Maybe you were thinking about 2.6.27 ?