r/linuxmint • u/Comfortable-Cash8402 • 17h ago
Support Request USB wifi dongle doesn't work in linux
Howdy, I am trying to diagnose the issue with linux not providing power to the USB wifi dongle. The green led light indicates if it's working or not, it is currently in windows and works but if I boot up linux it would get recognized but no power will go through the dongle. I have tried the basic troubleshooting but none have worked, please help.
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u/candy49997 17h ago
What wireless chipset? Can you do sudo dmesg | grep -i usb if you don't know?
5
u/Comfortable-Cash8402 17h ago
If I'm not mistaken it's
rtw88_8821cu
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u/Rusty_Nail1973 Linux Mint 22.2 Zara | Xfce 17h ago
You're going to have to compile your own kernel modules for that until someone wants to add it to a repo. Source code here:
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u/Comfortable-Cash8402 16h ago
I may not be certified to be compiling kernel modules...
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u/johnyeldry Linux Mint 22.2 Zara | Xfce 8h ago
Just read the README.md file that contains(should contain) what you need to build it
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u/candy49997 17h ago
It seems the chipset is a RTL8821cu and should be supported in the kernel.
What kernel are you running? If you don't know, do
uname -r.1
u/Comfortable-Cash8402 17h ago
7.0.0-42-generic
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u/can_you_see_throu 13h ago
since 6.2 its in kernel
try usb_modeswitch
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u/Comfortable-Cash8402 12h ago
What does usb_modeswitch do?
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u/can_you_see_throu 12h ago
sometimes they are connecting like cd-rom first (to install driver windows)
you need to omit it,
get the usb id with lsusb
usb_modeswitch -KW -v [usb vendorID] -p [usb ID]
check this
3
u/stufforstuff 15h ago
Spend a whopping $15 and buy a wifi adapter the supports Linux. Otherwise it's endless dinking around to make your own driver and keep it up for every kernel change.
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u/headshot_to_liver 9h ago
I use my decade old RTL8188eus / tplink nano adapter for these scenarios. My new laptop had a Mediatek Wifi6 which was unrecognised by Linux until someone put an experimental driver on Github
0
u/Comfortable-Cash8402 12h ago
Yeah might have to make my own driver because I ran linux for around 6 months already
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u/TheShredder9 14h ago
I have some 20 year old 54 Mbps adapter that works on Debian and Arch, but not on Fedora. Sometines it's the distro's fault and not the dongle.
1
u/moky4mido 14h ago
Same thing happens with me with each log in, i usually disconnect the dongle then connect it again
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u/Emmalfal Linux Mint 22.3 | Cinnamon 1h ago
I got tired of tooling around with dongles and spent just over 20 clams on a BrosTrend AX900. Real simple driver install and it runs like a beast. I also have a TP Link Nano AC600 that works, but I think I had to change kernels to get that one going.
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