Realtek 8723DE wifi module & Bluetooth not working together

[David_SC]

Hello everyone,

I just bought a Pavilion 14-bf180nd and installed an Ubuntu 18.04.

At first wifi was not working so I followed the guides in https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Wireless-and-Networking/Realtek-8723DE-wifi-module-amp-Blueto...

So, I downloaded the https://github.com/lwfinger/rtlwifi_new/archive/extended.zip and loaded the module (in my case the antenna 2 was the best):

sudo modprobe -v rtl8723de ant_sel=2

With that, the WIFI started working but the bluetooth no. It seemed like activated but no devices were detected. When I turned off the wifi, the bluetooth started working normally but, if the wifi was re-enabled, the bluetooth devices were disconnected.

So, following the guide, I upgraded the kernel to the latest versions 4.20.3, made sure the firmware was in the correct place:

/lib/firmware/rtl_bt/rtl8723d_fw.bin
/lib/firmware/rtl_bt/rtl8723d_config.bin
/lib/firmware/rtlwifi/rtl8723defw.bin

and still, nothing changed.

I also tried to adding the param bt_coex_active to 0 in /etc/modprove.d/50-rtl8723de.conf but the param was ignored and nothing changed.

Any ideas on how to make Wifi and bluetooth work simultaneously?

[banhien]

@David_SC 

Under Windows machines, there are TWO different drivers for wifi and BT. I think you must do the same for your machine under Ubuntu.

Regards.

[David_SC]

Digging a little bit I fount the thread:

https://github.com/lwfinger/rtlwifi_new/issues/425

where they seem to address the problem. The thing is, as they explain, that there's only one antenna. And the problem with the bluetooth is that it loses range. That's why it seems to work but do not detect anything. If I put my bluetooth device over the laptop it would connect but not if I move it 30cm from the computer.

So again, now the the problem have been narrowed, how should HP-Linux users address this?

Thank you very much!

[Alando_Angatiah]

Hi, I recently ran into the same problem as you, I installed Ubuntu LTS 18.04.3 (GNOME, default kernel 5.0.0-37-generic) on my HP 15-BW011DX (I know it's not the same model, but it's the driver for the combo card that's important). Bluetooth worked right away at first boot on Ubuntu but WiFi did not.. hence what led me to the same steps you took.. Eventually I found something else which allows me to use bluetooth and wifi normally with minimal lag.

As it turns out, for me, replacing the following files actually broke bluetooth COMPLETELY:

/lib/firmware/rtl_bt/rtl8723d_fw.bin
/lib/firmware/rtl_bt/rtl8723d_config.bin
/lib/firmware/rtlwifi/rtl8723defw.bin

I made a script which is click-to-run (just change preferences to launch executable scripts in nautilus or just execute if from there) and it will install everything needed for WiFi and Bluetooth to work properly.

You can download it here. (For some reason it's not marked as executable in Google Drive, so in terminal, type "chmod a+x " then drag and drop the file into the terminal and tap enter.)

It can install offline (you must install dkms in order to install the driver, it will be automatically installed if you are connected to the internet) or just run it while connected to ethernet.

To install it offline:

Ensure dkms is installed (get the .deb from here and install it)

Download this file and extract it with nautilus (must be in the same folder as the script).

Run the script and select option 0

To install via the internet:

Connect to a network via ethernet

Then run the script and select option 1

Please reply and tell me if it worked for you or not.

EDIT:

Should your adapter disconnect from wifi itself and refuse to reconnect.. just run "sudo rmmod  8723de && sudo modprobe rtl8723de" and you'll be good again.

EDIT 2:

So I discovered that the adapter disconnects itself every 20 minutes or so. Hence, I decided to create a cron job to restart the driver every 20 minutes.. it literally takes 5 seconds to reconnect and has practically no effect on regular web surfing and repo syncing from github.

TO create the cron job, type "crontab -e" and add "20 * * * * echo "<sudo_password>" | sudo -S rmmod 8723de && echo "<sudo_password>" | sudo -S modprobe rtl8723de" to the end of the file.