SIOCSIFFLAGS: Unknown Error 132

[ViperGTS]

Hi guys,
I'm constantly getting the SIOCSIFFLAGS: Unknown Error 132 when trying to use my Alfa AWUS036H card through Vmware on Mac OSX.

I have been Googling and searching this forum for hours with no luck. It's getting extremely frustrating.

I've tried everything from the rmmod rtl8187, modprobe rtl8187, airmon-ng check kill etc etc..
My card keeps reverting to hard blocked: yes under rfkill list when under the same session after it's been unblocked. How does this happen? I can unblock the card however whenever I go airmon-ng start wlan0 to bring it into monitor mode that seems to kill it and I can't use the airodump-ng mon0 command because the 132 error popsup.

Is there any permanent fix for this error yet? Or what's the best USB wireless adaptor for Backtrack 5 that doesn't have these issues? :\

Thanks in advance

[lazyjj]

getting the same error :|

[c3r3br0]

Hello, I have a 64 bit Backtrack 5 R1 GNOME installed on VMWare Workstation 7.1.3 running on Windows 7.
When trying to start my AWUS036H wlan card in monitor mode i get "SIOCSIFFLAGS: Unknown error 132".
Sometimes it does go into monitor mode but after a while the problem appears.

I have experienced this problem the first version of BT5 and I know it was a known bug in that version that caused rfkill to switch off, but it said that this bug was fixed in the BT5R1 version and I am still experiencing the same problem.
I have done my share of searching, but could not find any solution.

I have tried:

ifconfig wlan0 down
rmmod rtl8187
rfkill blockall
rfkill unblock all
modprobe rtl8187
rfkill unblock all
ifconfig wlan0 up

does not solve the problem.

here are some outputs:

iwconfig

root@bt:~# iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11bg  ESSID:off/any  
          Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=20 dBm   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off

airmon-ng

root@bt:~# airmon-ng start wlan0


Found 2 processes that could cause trouble.
If airodump-ng, aireplay-ng or airtun-ng stops working after
a short period of time, you may want to kill (some of) them!

PID	Name
1036	dhclient3
1703	dhclient3
Process with PID 1667 (ifup) is running on interface wlan0
Process with PID 1703 (dhclient3) is running on interface wlan0


Interface	Chipset		Driver

wlan0		Realtek RTL8187L	rtl8187 - [phy0]SIOCSIFFLAGS: Unknown error 132

				(monitor mode enabled on mon0)

ifconfig

root@bt:~# ifconfig wlan0 up
SIOCSIFFLAGS: Unknown error 132

dmseg|tail

root@bt:~# dmesg |tail
[  391.251189] rtl8187: Customer ID is 0xFF
[  391.251250] Registered led device: rtl8187-phy0::radio
[  391.251280] Registered led device: rtl8187-phy0::tx
[  391.251297] Registered led device: rtl8187-phy0::rx
[  391.258606] rtl8187: wireless switch is on
[  391.258659] usbcore: registered new interface driver rtl8187
[  402.813375] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[  407.538774] rtl8187: wireless radio switch turned off
[  651.928622] rtl8187: wireless radio switch turned on
[  672.021051] rtl8187: wireless radio switch turned off

rfkill list

root@bt:~# rfkill list
0: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: yes

Thanks in advance for any help.

[fightclub]

Make the commands into a script. I got the same problem and making the commands into a script fixed it. If you try to type out all the commands by hand it will most likely fail. Just right click make an empty text file and name it whatever, I named it "rtl8187" without the quotes. And typed it all out, now when I click on it all the commands run faster then I can ever type. When I do the rfkill list command I get a no on hard blocked.

You can download my script there http://www.mediafire.com/?vi6d6b85ljkjyk4

My script you will need to place it in /etc/init.d/ folder. So copy and paste it there. Open up konsole and make the script executable.

root@bt:~# chmod +x /etc/init.d/rtl818

Now make my script start up at boot up so you will never see the error again.

root@bt:~# update-rc.d rtl818 defaults

You should leave my script on your desktop just incase tho. Or if you made your own script and want to make it boot up, just google for LSB information. Or just look at my script and see how I did it.

I am on youtube, and I make video's of Backtrack for dummies. Just simple videos that will help people get unstuck. I am curemymind if you want to search for my videos on youtube. Once you find my channel I also have a website that is dedicated to any and all questions. I also have indetail tutorials on my website with the youtube video. So come and join or just read .

[c3r3br0]

First of all, thanks for the reply, fightclub.

But I was already using a script I wrote to execute these commands, although not at startup, but I am pretty sure that shouldn't change much. Even with the script only one out of a few tries works.

I thought it said that the problem was solved in Backtrack 5 R1 release. ("Some pesky issues such as rfkill in VMWare with rtl8187 issues have been fixed" - http://www.backtrack-linux.org/backt...5-r1-released/)

Anyway I am looking for a more stable and permanent solution and will be happy to hear any advice.

Thanks.

[fightclub]

Yes I did see that, In BT5 there was no issue. Then I heard of the BT5 R1 and saw that the issue has come back. And this only affects vmware, because the vmware does not like to agree with some kernal's. I have BT5 R1 in full HDD install on a laptop and use the alfa 1w with that chipset and it works fine. But in vmware it does not. I've seen this happen in BT4 R1 and R2 but not in BT4 final :|. But now i got the new alfa from Hong Kong with a different chipset and that has zero problems so far. But with the scrip that I made which should be the same as yours. I just added the LSB (Linux standerad base) and made it load at boot up, wich makes it look like a permanent fix. I never have to type anything or click on anything anymore. But that is strange that only one out of a few tries works.

Maybe make your script load at boot up, usually it kicke's it quicker before it comments suicide. The rfkill was only made so you are able to trun off the radio in airports but laptops have a button for that. But thats linux for you. When this problem started rfkill needed to be installed to help it back on, and that was in BT4 final after a kernal update. After that in r1 and r1 the BT team just left it in, tho I didn't see it in BT5 but then back again in BT5r1 :|. Im sure the faster you are able to make the script load the better chance you have your chipset work. Couldn't hurt to try.

[jackx]

Muts resolved the bug here..

Backtrack 5 - Bug #158: ALFA AWUS036H wireless card - SIOCSIFFLAGS: Unknown error 132 in VMware virtual machine - Redmine

[Dudeman02379]

Can anyone confirm that this patch works with BT5 R1? I tried applying it because I am having the nefarious SIOCSIFFLAGS problem with my AWUS036H card and the rfkill script hasn't helped at all. Here are the commands I used to install the patch after doing an apt-get update, apt-get upgrade, and apt-get dist-upgrade to make sure I was on the latest version.

prepare-kernel-sources
cd /usr/src/linux/drivers/net/wireless/rtl818x/rtl8187/
wget http://backtrack-linux.org/silly-rfkill-patch.patch
patch -p0 < silly-rfkill-patch.patch
cd /usr/src/linux
make drivers/net/wireless/rtl818x/rtl8187/rtl8187.ko
cp drivers/net/wireless/rtl818x/rtl8187/rtl8187.ko /lib/modules/2.6.39.4/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rtl818x/rtl8187/rtl8187.ko
reboot

After this I can't even load the driver. Here is what happens

root@bt:~# modprobe rtl8187
WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/vmware-tools, it will be ignored in a future release.
FATAL: Error inserting rtl8187 (/lib/modules/2.6.39.4/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rtl818x/rtl8187/rtl8187.ko): Invalid module format

I would really like to get this working so any help would be greatly appreciated!

[h4ckn3t]

This works:

prepare-kernel-sources
cd /usr/src/linux/drivers/net/wireless/rtl818x/rtl8187/
wget http://backtrack-linux.org/silly-rfkill-patch.patch
patch -p0 < silly-rfkill-patch.patch
cd /usr/src/linux
make drivers/net/wireless/rtl818x/rtl8187/rtl8187.ko
cp drivers/net/wireless/rtl818x/rtl8187/rtl8187.ko /lib/modules/2.6.39.4/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rtl818x/rtl8187/rtl8187.ko

#Reboot system

[Dudeman02379]

OK it is good to know that the fix does actually work. There is probably just something wrong with my installation. I will try re-installing and running the patch. Thanks!