Ubuntu 18.04. Do I need to install older kernels for certain drivers to work?

Question

I'm new to both Linux and this website so feel free to point out if I gave to little information.

I have a common problem of not working wifi adapter although wired works fine. I installed driver for rtl8168 which I assume is correct one because after installation my download speed increased up to the level of my second PC which has Windows installed. However, wifi still isn't working. The Realtek website states that driver is working with the kernels up to 4.15 and I'm wonder should I try installing some of the older kernels. I'm asking because once I've already broken everything to the point when both wired and wireless connections weren't working.

For clarity, here is the result of network check with lshw -c network.

*-network
   description: Ethernet interface
   product: RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
   vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
   physical id: 0
   bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
   logical name: eno1
   version: 15
   serial: 10:62:e5:81:df:39
   size: 100Mbit/s
   capacity: 1Gbit/s
   width: 64 bits
   clock: 33MHz
   capabilities: bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
   configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8168 driverversion=8.047.05-NAPI duplex=full ip=78.85.166.250 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes port=twisted pair speed=100Mbit/s
   resources: irq:50 ioport:3000(size=256) memory:e0804000-e0804fff memory:e0800000-e0803fff
 *-network UNCLAIMED
   description: Network controller
   product: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
   vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
   physical id: 0
   bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
   version: 00
   width: 64 bits
   clock: 33MHz
   capabilities: cap_list
   configuration: latency=0
   resources: ioport:2000(size=256) memory:e0700000-e070ffff

Edit1: wifi controller is internal.

Edit2 (result of lspci -nnk | grep -iA3 net):

02:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller [10ec:8168] (rev 15) Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller [103c:84ae] Kernel driver in use: r8168 Kernel modules: r8168 03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device [10ec:d723] Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:8319] 04:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Raven Ridge [Radeon Vega Series / Radeon Vega Mobile Series] [1002:15dd] (rev c4) Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Vega [Radeon Vega 8 Mobile] [103c:84ae]

You do realize the 4.15 kernel is available for Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (when HWE is disabled, which it is by default if you install with 18.04 or 18.04.1 media; but not later media). Using older kernels can have security implications (ie. instead of getting back-ported security patches automatically; it's up to you to make/provide them) — guiverc, Nov 20 '19 at 09:18
Provide results from terminal for lspci -nnk | grep -iA3 net — Jeremy31, Nov 20 '19 at 10:11
Possible duplicate of Installing Wi-Fi driver for Realtek Semiconductor RTL8723DE Device [10ec:d723] see pomsky's answer, you also need Secure Boot disabled — Jeremy31, Nov 20 '19 at 10:54
r8168 is a wired Ethernet driver. I suggest to remove it. This driver is not needed for new kernels. — Pilot6, Nov 21 '19 at 10:01

Ubuntu 18.04. Do I need to install older kernels for certain drivers to work?

0 Answers0