ThinkPad 11b/g/n Wireless LAN Mini-PCI Express Adapter II

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The ThinkPad 11b/g/n Wireless LAN Mini-PCI Express Adapter II appears to be a Realtek 8191 wireless card. Currently no drivers are included in the popular Linux distributions, but driver can be downloaded from Realtek website [1]. You need to download RTL8192SE driver if your card is identified (by running 'lspci -v') as 'Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device 8172 (rev 10)'.

More information about using Realtek native driver in Ubuntu: [2]

Features

Install procedure

Following the links above and doing some searching, it seems that it should be possible to get this card to work. There a two ways one is using the alpha/beta/? version of the Linux drivers, the second is using Windows drivers and ndiswrapper. Using the preliminary Linux drivers is described here. (Instructions tested on a Thinkpad X200s with a Realtek 8192 and Ubuntu 9.10).

  • In order to use the Linux driver we have to compile them for the kernel you are using. Generally for compiling drivers you have to install some packages for this first. In the example here you have to plug in a wired network and type in the following command, this will install all necessary stuff:
       sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-source-2.6.31
  • Now you have to obtain a copy of the Linux drivers: [3], there is also a 64 bit version available [4].
  • Unpack the driver and open up an console and go to the directory you unpacked the driver to.
  • Compile the drivers using the following commands:
       sudo make
       sudo su
       make install
  • Lastly you have to load the freshly compiled driver by running the following command:
       modprobe r8192se_pci

If everything worked fine the card should start working immediately. More information on the installation procedure including a description of the second method using the Windows drivers and Ndiswrapper can be found here:[5].

Identification

lspci -vv

       03:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device 8172 (rev 10)
       Subsystem: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device e020
       Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR+ FastB2B- DisINTx-
       Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
       Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
       Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 11
       Region 0: I/O ports at 3000 [size=256]
       Region 1: Memory at f4200000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
       Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
               Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1+ D2+ AuxCurrent=375mA PME(D0+,D1+,D2+,D3hot+,D3cold-)
               Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-
       Capabilities: [50] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable-
               Address: 0000000000000000  Data: 0000
       Capabilities: [70] Express (v1) Legacy Endpoint, MSI 00
               DevCap: MaxPayload 256 bytes, PhantFunc 0, Latency L0s <512ns, L1 <64us
                       ExtTag- AttnBtn- AttnInd- PwrInd- RBE+ FLReset-
               DevCtl: Report errors: Correctable- Non-Fatal- Fatal- Unsupported-
                       RlxdOrd+ ExtTag- PhantFunc- AuxPwr- NoSnoop-
                       MaxPayload 128 bytes, MaxReadReq 512 bytes
               DevSta: CorrErr+ UncorrErr- FatalErr- UnsuppReq- AuxPwr- TransPend-
               LnkCap: Port #0, Speed 2.5GT/s, Width x1, ASPM L0s L1, Latency L0 <512ns, L1 <64us
                       ClockPM- Suprise- LLActRep- BwNot-
               LnkCtl: ASPM L0s L1 Enabled; RCB 64 bytes Disabled- Retrain- CommClk+
                       ExtSynch- ClockPM- AutWidDis- BWInt- AutBWInt-
               LnkSta: Speed 2.5GT/s, Width x1, TrErr- Train- SlotClk+ DLActive- BWMgmt- ABWMgmt-
       Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting <?>
       Capabilities: [140] Virtual Channel <?>
       Capabilities: [160] Device Serial Number 00-e0-4c-ff-fe-22-55-88

ThinkPads this card may be found in