[Solved, sort of...] RTL8185 wlan card causes boot failures

[wellinever]

A belated Happy New Year to all.

Please can anyone help a newbie sort out a problem with my wifi card? It is constantly causing my new LM17.1 installation to hang during the boot process. I have disabled the splash screen so I can see what is going on, and the boot failures occur on any one of the following lines in no particular order, none of which I understand:

1. 'Starting SMB/CIFS File and Active Directory Server [OK]'
followed immediately by:
'Starting SMB/CIFS File and Active Directory Server [fail]'
(Why does it run twice if the first one worked???)
2. 'Starting configure network device security [OK]'
3. 'Starting configure virtual network devices [OK]'
4. 'Stopping cold plug devices' [OK]
5. 'Stopping save udev log and update rules [OK]

Most mysterious of all is that after four or five retries the system boots up and everything appears to work properly. If I physically remove the card and connect by wire, there is no problem.

I'm running a dual-boot arrangement with WinXP on which everything works as it should.

Here is the output of the command 'inxi -Fnz' which shows my complete configuration when boot is successful (as now at the fifth attempt).

Code: Select all

System:    Host: Aries Kernel: 3.13.0-37-generic i686 (32 bit) Desktop: Gnome Distro: Linux Mint 17.1 Rebecca
Machine:   Mobo: N/A model: SiS-649 Bios: Phoenix version: 6.00 PG date: 07/29/2005
CPU:       Single core Intel Pentium 4 CPU (-HT-) cache: 2048 KB flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3) 
           Clock Speeds: 1: 2800.00 MHz 2: 2800.00 MHz
Graphics:  Card: NVIDIA NV44 [GeForce 6500] 
           X.Org: 1.15.1 drivers: nvidia (unloaded: fbdev,vesa,nouveau) Resolution: 1280x1024@75.0hz 
           GLX Renderer: GeForce 6500/PCIe/SSE2 GLX Version: 2.1.2 NVIDIA 304.125
Audio:     Card: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS7012 AC'97 Sound Controller driver: snd_intel8x0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture ver: k3.13.0-37-generic
Network:   Card-1: Realtek RTL-8185 IEEE 802.11a/b/g Wireless LAN Controller driver: rtl8180 
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS900 PCI Fast Ethernet driver: sis900 
           IF: eth1 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 271.0GB (1.8% used) 1: id: /dev/sda model: ST320410A size: 20.0GB 
           2: id: /dev/sdb model: Maxtor_7Y250M0 size: 251.0GB 
Partition: ID: / size: 110G used: 4.5G (5%) fs: ext4 ID: swap-1 size: 3.03GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap 
RAID:      No RAID devices detected - /proc/mdstat and md_mod kernel raid module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 41.0C mobo: N/A gpu: 47C 
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A 
Info:      Processes: 136 Uptime: 23 min Memory: 575.9/2014.8MB Client: Shell inxi: 1.8.4 

Please do not take the above as evidence that I am particularly conversant with the Linux command line. After 20 years with Windows I have a whole new learning curve to negotiate, so please make any suggestions understandable to a poor XP refugee

[dcombs]

I can not offer help with your particular problem, but want you to be aware you can search google and the Ubuntu forums for answers. That is assuming you are using the Ubuntu based Mint, and not Debian.If you do use the Debian edition, search the Debian forum, but don't ask any questions. I was a Debian user for a couple years, not a real friendly group over there.

[wellinever]

I can not offer help with your particular problem, but want you to be aware you can search google and the Ubuntu forums for answers. That is assuming you are using the Ubuntu based Mint, and not Debian.If you do use the Debian edition, search the Debian forum, but don't ask any questions. I was a Debian user for a couple years, not a real friendly group over there.

Thanks dcombs. I should have said that I have been struggling with this problem for 4 weeks now, and that has included searches on google and everywhere else I can think of, but nowhere can I find any information related to my particular situation. Yes I have the Ubuntu based version, and yes I have scoured the forums there too. I only posted here in desperation after trying every obvious alternative without much success.

You might also like to view my earlier post at http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=185396, regarding the LiveDVD problem which heralded the current situation.

By way of an update, this evening it took me four attempts to boot up, with a new set of outcomes;

#1. Boot appeared to run OK, but then ended with a frozen mouse pointer on a black screen:
#2. Boot stalled at the line 'Stopping log initial device creation [OK]'
#3. Same as #2
#4. Success!

At least it's reduced to only 4 attempts this time .

Seriously, are there NO Linux experts out there who can advise on this?

[wellinever]

So I ditched the RTL8185 card and replaced it with a TP-Link TL-WN722N USB dongle thing which I saw recommended elsewhere. Cost me 12 quid but it installed perfectly and now I can use my new linux without wondering when it will boot.