Issues with Wi-Fi adapter

[mrquell1234]

Hello,

Due to living in student housing at a university, I cannot plug my CM3588 into my wifi router for local access. I think the appropriate thing to do is to use a Wi-Fi chip to connect to the university Wi-Fi itself. I cannot connect with the ethernet.

I purchased a wifi antenna from Amazon with the RTL8821AU chipset, which is supported as per the wiki.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07P5 ... =UTF8&th=1.
I have tried using nmcli and it does register that there is an antenna. I think this means that the drivers are supported and native to the system.

I have verified that this adapter works using another windows PC. It was automatic and super seamless.

I'm working from a fresh installation of the Ubuntu jammy desktop, not the minimal one.

The critical issue is that the network scanning does not work. nmcli recognizes the chips, but fails to show any networks. It also does not show my phone's hotspot when it is active.

How can I get the wifi chip working? How can I get it to at least show networks? Since wired is not an option for me, wireless internet is the only option, which means I must use a wifi antenna. I need help setting up the configuration for this wifi antenna or understanding as to why this option might not work.

[blackmagic]

I am also trying to get this wifi dongle working without any success. Could you get it working?

[dermiscurious]

There are a huge number of problems with connection that could cause this error. The access point might be expecting your device to join in a certain way, but your device is setting up the connection in a different Scratch Games way. One example is that the network link profile for your device might use the wrong security encryption.

[reatpoor]

It sounds like the RTL8821AU chipset is recognized, but it’s worth double-checking if the driver is fully tunnel rushinstalled and configured. Sometimes, drivers may seem to install but lack full functionality until a reboot or additional configuration.

[Philljones22]

It seems like you're facing an issue with your RTL8821AU Wi-Fi adapter on your Ubuntu Jammy desktop installation. Since you've verified that the adapter works on a Windows PC, we can rule out hardware defects. The problem likely lies with the driver or configuration on Ubuntu. While the adapter is detected by `nmcli`, the inability to scan for networks indicates a potential driver incompatibility or misconfiguration. Although the RTL8821AU chipset is supported, the built-in drivers in Ubuntu may not fully support all functionalities of the device, such as network scanning or connectivity.

To address this, you can try installing updated or third-party drivers for the RTL8821AU chipset. These can often be found on GitHub repositories maintained by the Linux community. Search for "RTL8821AU Linux driver GitHub" to locate the repository, and carefully follow the build and installation instructions provided. Make sure to install the required tools and dependencies, such as `build-essential` and `dkms`, before compiling the driver.

Additionally, check if `rfkill` is blocking your Wi-Fi adapter. Run `rfkill list` to ensure neither Wi-Fi nor the adapter is soft or hard-blocked. If it is blocked, use `rfkill unblock all` to resolve the issue.

If these steps do not resolve the problem, it’s worth ensuring that your university’s Wi-Fi setup (e.g., WPA2-Enterprise) is compatible with your adapter. Some networks require specific configurations or certificates, which may not be set up automatically. Lastly, verify that the firmware of the adapter is up-to-date if such updates are provided by the manufacturer. This combination of steps should help you resolve the issue and get your Wi-Fi adapter functioning properly.