howto - rtl8187 backtrack r1 monitor mode - Unknown error 132

[gambitz]

Found in: https://longjidin.wordpress.com/2010...4-r1-solution/

I tested it and it worked for me , I'm using BT4-R1 and VMWare Workstation 7.1.2

Doesnt work for me. I have the same config as you. BT4-R1 on Vmware 7.1.2 with Alfa AWUS036H via USB. I even tried rebooting, etc. I tried this few times with no luck.

I also tried OP's solution but I got fatal error that r8187 does not exist
root@bt:~# modprobe r8187
FATAL: Module r8187 not found.

Trying to locate r8187.ko
root@bt:~# locate r8187.ko
NONE
root@bt:~# find / -name r8187.ko -print
/lib/modules/2.6.35.4/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rtl8187/r8187.ko
root@bt:~#

EDIT: I tried r8187 but I kept getting fatal error that module is not found. I even tried
root@bt:~# modprobe r8187.ko
FATAL: Module r8187 not found.
root@bt:~# modprobe /lib/modules/2.6.35.4/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rtl8187/r8187
FATAL: Module r8187 not found.
root@bt:~# modprobe /lib/modules/2.6.35.4/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rtl8187/r8187.ko
FATAL: Module r8187 not found.

I'll like to join nitr00 and kindly request devlopers to try and fix this issue.

Thanks.

[rramirezg]

This is vmware specific problem. Virtualbox BT4R1 vm worked just fine with my Alfa Awus036h with the rtl8187 drivers obviating need for downgrading to r8187 drivers. I was not able to get the r8187 drivers to work with vmware fusion.

Well, thanks! the problem doesn't show up in VirtualBox, so VMWare seems the problem. But you know what's *really weird* in my case that it worked fine for almost 3 weeks and I didn't upgrade or patch VmWare or the BackTrackR1 guest but it stopped working suddenly.

[Scamentology]

Ive heard a couple of complaints now about the cable from the awuso36h. Try a different cable. Mine works flawlessly and I can go back and forth to both drivers. and monitor works fine. also did you put it somewhere it could have gotten hot or dropped it wrong?

try it out on a live dvd and see if the problem transfers over.

[chriscareycode]

Use airmon-ng start wlan0.
this will create interface mon0 in monitor mode
then you bring up mon0 with 'ifconfig mon0 up'

module r8187 does not exist in BT4RC1. The regular rtl8187 module works fine with the above method.

[yeehawjared]

Since upgrading my BT4R1 recently (with the new r8187 driver) the fix no longer works. When modprobing r8187 I get the "FATAL: Module r8187 not found" message.

Has anyone figured out how to bring back the r8187 driver after updating BT4-R1?

edit: Figured it out. This is how to compile on BT4-R1 which uses kernel 2.6.34

wget http://download.aircrack-ng.org/drivers/rtl8187_linux_26.1010.zip
wget http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1522424/rtl8187_2.6.34.patch
unzip rtl8187_linux_26.1010.zip
cd rtl8187_linux_26.1010.0622.2006
tar xzf drv.tar.gz
tar xzf stack.tar.gz
patch -Np1 -i ../rtl8187_2.6.34.patch
make
make install

rmmod r8187 rtl8187 mac80211 cfg80211
modprobe r8187

[BAGMAN]

Thank you very much yeehawjared, worked for me...

[Jayman007]

Worked for me as well.

I went ahead and saved the following as a script called fixwifi and run that whenever my adapter shuts off. Works like a charm. I wish we could figure out how to stop it from happening from the beginning cause this never happens with the r8187 drivers. In any case, it's nice to know how to fix it. So using the above patched driver method I can use the r8187 driver and using the code I pasted below I can get the rtl8187 drivers working. Now I can use either in bt4 r2.

rmmod rtl8187
rfkill block all
rfkill unblock all
modprobe rtl8187
rfkill unblock all
ifconfig wlan0 up

[nam5301]

In our tests we have found the rtl8187 driver to behave strangely in VMware environments. Eight out of ten times, the card would not go into monitor mode, and spit out this error:

root@bt:~# airmon-ng


Interface Chipset Driver

wlan0 RTL8187 rtl8187 - [phy0]

root@bt:~# airmon-ng start wlan0


Interface Chipset Driver

wlan0 RTL8187 rtl8187 - [phy0]SIOCSIFFLAGS: Unknown error 132

(monitor mode enabled on mon0)


To solve this, you can switch to the ieee80211 r8187 drivers, which will work just fine:

rmmod rtl8187
rmmod mac80211
modprobe r8187

And to make these changes permanent, modify your /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist file to blacklist ONLY rtl8187. Entry should look like this:

blacklist snd_desktop
...
#blacklist r8187
blacklist rtl8187
...

===============================================

Okay, i'm curious but, does this error only occur in the VMWARE environment? I am running Backtrack 4 R2 from hard drive installation and not in VM. I have the ALFA AWUS036H and I am afraid to do a apt-get update or apt-get upgrade . Since that is what causes Alfa to not work when trying to set it to monitor mode. wlan0 RTL8187 rtl8187 - [phy0]SIOCSIFFLAGS: Unknown error 132

[GrayArea]

I have had this chip set working perfectly at times and randomly stop working, coming back with the "Unknown error 132".

When it is not working, if I run the dmesg command, it shows a bunch of lines that say
"Registered led device: rtl8187-phy0"
then a few more lines down it shows
"Registered led device: rtl8187-phy1"
with the last line of the dmesg readout being
"rtl8187: wireless radio switch turned off"

I believe the problem might be developing with the driver trying to register multiple "phy" devices with the same driver. Unfortunately, I am fairly new to linux and am not sure how to get rid of all those "phy0", "phy1" devices.

Hopefully this makes sense.

[TheFlyingDutchMan]

here this worked for me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l64cAu7xTqY