Re: [BUG] staging: r8822be: RTL8822be can't find any wireless AP

[Larry Finger]

On 07/04/2018 03:03 AM, Jian-Hong Pan wrote:
> Hi,
>
> We have an ASUS X530UN (Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8550U CPU @ 1.80GHz)
> laptop equipped with Realtek rtl8822be wireless which cannot find any
> access point after WiFi is launched.
>
> Realtek rtl8822be wireless' information:
> dev@endless:~/linux-eos$ sudo lspci -nnvs 02:00.0
> 02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
> Device [10ec:b822] (rev ff) (prog-if ff)
> !!! Unknown header type 7f
> Kernel driver in use: r8822be
> Kernel modules: r8822be
>
> System always hits the error: "halmac_init_hal failed" in dmesg after
> WiFi is launched.
>
> [ 8.591333] r8822be: module is from the staging directory, the quality
> is unknown, you have been warned.
> [ 8.593122] r8822be 0000:02:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0003)
> [ 8.669163] r8822be: Using firmware rtlwifi/rtl8822befw.bin
> [ 9.289939] r8822be: rtlwifi: wireless switch is on
> [ 10.056426] r8822be 0000:02:00.0 wlp2s0: renamed from wlan0
> ...
> [ 11.952534] r8822be: halmac_init_hal failed
> [ 11.955933] r8822be: halmac_init_hal failed
> [ 11.956227] r8822be: halmac_init_hal failed
> [ 22.007942] r8822be: halmac_init_hal failed
>
> We noticed the r8822be module parameter "aspm"'s default value is 1.
> Here is the parameter list of r8822be:
> dev@endless:~$ sudo grep "" /sys/module/r8822be/parameters/*
> /sys/module/r8822be/parameters/aspm:1
> /sys/module/r8822be/parameters/debug_level:0
> /sys/module/r8822be/parameters/debug_mask:0
> /sys/module/r8822be/parameters/disable_watchdog:N
> /sys/module/r8822be/parameters/dma64:N
> /sys/module/r8822be/parameters/fwlps:Y
> /sys/module/r8822be/parameters/ips:Y
> /sys/module/r8822be/parameters/msi:Y
> /sys/module/r8822be/parameters/swenc:N
> /sys/module/r8822be/parameters/swlps:N
>
> If I make a module options like "options r8822be aspm=0" which
> disables ASPM and reboot, the WiFi works correctly.  It can find the
> access points, then connects.
> Here is the parameter list of r8822be:
> dev@endless:~$ sudo grep "" /sys/module/r8822be/parameters/*
> /sys/module/r8822be/parameters/aspm:0
> /sys/module/r8822be/parameters/debug_level:0
> /sys/module/r8822be/parameters/debug_mask:0
> /sys/module/r8822be/parameters/disable_watchdog:N
> /sys/module/r8822be/parameters/dma64:N
> /sys/module/r8822be/parameters/fwlps:Y
> /sys/module/r8822be/parameters/ips:Y
> /sys/module/r8822be/parameters/msi:Y
> /sys/module/r8822be/parameters/swenc:N
> /sys/module/r8822be/parameters/swlps:N
>
> This issue can be reproduced on Linux stable 4.16.17, 4.17.2 and
> 4.18.0-rc3. (I list versions that we have tried)
>
> Besides, I also notice there is a comment in
> drivers/staging/rtlwifi/rtl8822be/sw.c rtl8822be_init_aspm_vars
> function.
>
> /*
>   * This setting works for those device with
>   * backdoor ASPM setting such as EPHY setting.
>   * 0 - Not support ASPM,
>   * 1 - Support ASPM,
>   * 2 - According to chipset.
>   */
>
> The value 2 for ASPM interests me.  It says "Enable or disable ASPM
> according to chipset."
> I tried the setting value 2 for ASPM.  Here is the parameter list of r8822be:
> dev@endless:~$ sudo grep "" /sys/module/r8822be/parameters/*
> /sys/module/r8822be/parameters/aspm:2
> /sys/module/r8822be/parameters/debug_level:0
> /sys/module/r8822be/parameters/debug_mask:0
> /sys/module/r8822be/parameters/disable_watchdog:N
> /sys/module/r8822be/parameters/dma64:N
> /sys/module/r8822be/parameters/fwlps:Y
> /sys/module/r8822be/parameters/ips:Y
> /sys/module/r8822be/parameters/msi:Y
> /sys/module/r8822be/parameters/swenc:N
> /sys/module/r8822be/parameters/swlps:N
>
> The value 2 for ASPM also works correctly on ASUS X530UN.

I do not think this is a bug. Most motherboards work with the default value of 1 
for aspm. A few, such as yours need a value of 0. This reason is why the module 
parameter exists. You need to create the options file that you mention, and you 
will be fine. If we were to change the default in the driver to 0, we would 
break many more devices than would be fixed.

For anyone that might read this, the options file should be named 
/etc/modprobe.d/50-rtl8822be.conf and contain a single line "options rtl8822be 
aspm=0".

Larry