Marked as solved.

aghasee wrote:

Only driver installed is firmware-amd-graphics

Firmware != driver.

Did you install the relevant Realtek non-free firmware package as well?

No.
It gets installed by default.

Only driver installed is firmware-amd-graphics

Firmware != driver.

Did you install the relevant Realtek non-free firmware package as well?

aghasee wrote:

it doesnt even try to connect

Did you remove the Tomas Pinho driver version? It might conflict or override the mainline version.

Clean install Chimaera. Only driver installed is firmware-amd-graphics from the official repo.

it doesnt even try to connect

Did you remove the Tomas Pinho driver version? It might conflict or override the mainline version.

Otherwise check the logs.

I'll ask just in case.
Does the wireless regulatory domain match your country?

I guess so, but I'll check later today. Thanks.

Head_on_a_Stick wrote:

You should have installed the metapackage rather than an individual kernel. 5.18 is old now.

# apt install -t stable-backports linux-image-amd64

Even worse with 6.0xxx, it doesnt even try to connect.

Guess I'm gonna buy a new laptop w/o Realtek, or downgrade to windows, coz no linux distro I tried in the last few days gets the job done, systemd'd or not.

~# dpkg --list | grep linux-image
ii  linux-image-5.10.0-19-amd64                   5.10.149-2                         amd64        Linux 5.10 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
ii  linux-image-5.10.0-9-amd64                    5.10.70-1                          amd64        Linux 5.10 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
ii  linux-image-5.18.0-0.deb11.4-amd64            5.18.16-1~bpo11+1                  amd64        Linux 5.18 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
ii  linux-image-6.0.0-0.deb11.2-amd64             6.0.3-1~bpo11+1                    amd64        Linux 6.0 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
ii  linux-image-amd64                             6.0.3-1~bpo11+1                    amd64        Linux for 64-bit PCs (meta-package)

You should have installed the metapackage rather than an individual kernel. 5.18 is old now.

# apt install -t stable-backports linux-image-amd64

Even worse with 6.0xxx, it doesnt even try to connect.

Guess I'm gonna buy a new laptop w/o Realtek, or downgrade to windows, coz no linux distro I tried in the last few days gets the job done, systemd'd or not.

Available kernels:

dpkg --list | grep linux-image
ii  linux-image-5.10.0-19-amd64                   5.10.149-2                         amd64        Linux 5.10 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
ii  linux-image-5.10.0-9-amd64                    5.10.70-1                          amd64        Linux 5.10 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
ii  linux-image-5.18.0-0.deb11.4-amd64            5.18.16-1~bpo11+1                  amd64        Linux 5.18 for 64-bit PCs (signed)
ii  linux-image-amd64                             5.10.149-2                         amd64        Linux for 64-bit PCs (meta-package)

Only driver I did install extra is firmware-amd-graphics from the official repo.

Now running

uname -r
5.18.0-0.deb11.4-amd64

WiFi card is recognised, but has very poor reception (sitting right next to the router). Fails to login to the network. Bluetooth non functional. USB tethering works a charm.

lspci -v
02:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8821CE 802.11ac PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
	DeviceName: Realtek Chopard RTL8821CE 802.11ac 1x1 +BT 4.2 M.2 2230 PCI-e+USB WW
	Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company RTL8821CE 802.11ac PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 63, IOMMU group 9
	I/O ports at f000 [size=256]
	Memory at fce00000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
	Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
	Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
	Capabilities: [70] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
	Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
	Capabilities: [148] Device Serial Number 00-e0-4c-ff-fe-c8-21-01
	Capabilities: [158] Latency Tolerance Reporting
	Capabilities: [160] L1 PM Substates
	Capabilities: [170] Precision Time Measurement
	Capabilities: [17c] Vendor Specific Information: ID=0003 Rev=1 Len=054 <?>
	Kernel driver in use: rtw_8821ce
	Kernel modules: rtw88_8821ce

Where do I go from here?

Which kernel are you running? I've had good experiences with Larry's drivers but I don't have an 8821CE.

No results.

aghasee wrote:

Tried with other kernels

Devuan's stable-backports repository has >6, have you tried that? Newer is probably better for that card, upstream is on v6.0.10 at the moment.

There are also some driver parameters that can be tweaked to aid performance:

# tee /etc/modprobe.d/rtw8821ce.conf >/dev/null <<!
options rtw88_pci disable_aspm=y
options rtw88_core disable_lps=y
!
# update-initramfs -u -k all
# reboot

^ The tee command creates a file at /etc/modprobe.d/rtw8821ce.conf that disables ASPM & Deep PowerSaving, which might help maintain the connection. Delete the file & run update-initramfs -u -k all again if it doesn't help.

Iirc it was 6.0.9 amongst others I tried.

Thanks for the info, I'll give it a try.

Tried with other kernels

Devuan's stable-backports repository has >6, have you tried that? Newer is probably better for that card, upstream is on v6.0.10 at the moment.

There are also some driver parameters that can be tweaked to aid performance:

# tee /etc/modprobe.d/rtw8821ce.conf >/dev/null <<!
options rtw88_pci disable_aspm=y
options rtw88_core disable_lps=y
!
# update-initramfs -u -k all
# reboot

^ The tee command creates a file at /etc/modprobe.d/rtw8821ce.conf that disables ASPM & Deep PowerSaving, which might help maintain the connection. Delete the file & run update-initramfs -u -k all again if it doesn't help.

Which kernel are you running? I've had good experiences with Larry's drivers but I don't have an 8821CE.

EDIT: please add "RTL8821CE" to the thread title (edit the first post), it will aid SEO and may attract the attention of others who use the device under Devuan.

5.10 something. Current Cimaera bog standard.
Tried with other kernels to no avail.