Ubuntu desktop 18.04 LTS freezes with USB WiFi dongle

OS: Ubuntu desktop 18.04 LTS Linux version 4.15.0-24-generic

USB WiFi: odroid WiFi Module 3 with Realtek RTL8188CUS-GR

syslog has only ^@

Jul  4 12:31:50 udbv-HP-ProBook sudo: pam_ecryptfs: pam_sm_authenticate: /home/udbv is already mounted
^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^$
Jul  4 12:33:30 udbv-HP-ProBook systemd-modules-load[396]: Inserted module 'ppdev'
Jul  4 12:33:30 udbv-HP-ProBook systemd-modules-load[396]: Inserted module 'parport_pc'
Jul  4 12:33:30 udbv-HP-ProBook systemd-cryptsetup[424]: crypt_init() failed: Block device required
Jul  4 12:33:30 udbv-HP-ProBook systemd[1]: Starting Flush Journal to Persistent Storage...
Jul  4 12:33:30 udbv-HP-ProBook swapon[415]: swapon: /swapfile: read swap header failed
Jul  4 12:33:30 udbv-HP-ProBook systemd[1]: Started Create Static Device Nodes in /dev.
Jul  4 12:33:30 udbv-HP-ProBook systemd[1]: Starting udev Kernel Device Manager...
Jul  4 12:33:30 udbv-HP-ProBook systemd[1]: Started Set the console keyboard layout.
Jul  4 12:33:30 udbv-HP-ProBook systemd[1]: Reached target Local File Systems (Pre).
Jul  4 12:33:30 udbv-HP-ProBook systemd[1]: Mounting Mount unit for vlc...
Jul  4 12:33:30 udbv-HP-ProBook systemd[1]: Mounting Mount unit for gnome-3-26-1604...
Jul  4 12:33:30 udbv-HP-ProBook systemd[1]: Mounting Mount unit for gnome-calculator...
Jul  4 12:33:30 udbv-HP-ProBook systemd[1]: Mounting Mount unit for pycharm-community...
Jul  4 12:33:30 udbv-HP-ProBook systemd[1]: Mounting Mount unit for gnome-3-26-1604...
Jul  4 12:33:30 udbv-HP-ProBook systemd[1]: Mounting Mount unit for skype, revision 41...
Jul  4 12:33:30 udbv-HP-ProBook systemd[1]: Mounting Mount unit for gnome-calculator...
Jul  4 12:33:30 udbv-HP-ProBook systemd[1]: Mounting Mount unit for gnome-calculator...
Jul  4 12:33:30 udbv-HP-ProBook systemd[1]: Mounting Mount unit for skype, revision 38...
Jul  4 12:33:30 udbv-HP-ProBook systemd[1]: Mounting Mount unit for pycharm-community...
Jul  4 12:33:30 udbv-HP-ProBook systemd[1]: Mounting Mount unit for vlc...
Jul  4 12:33:30 udbv-HP-ProBook kernel: [    0.000000] microcode: microcode updated early to revision 0x84, date = 2018-01-21

I tried following this guidance but it didn't help.

Any ideas?

Solution 1:

You have one of the rare devices that loads two apparently conflicting drivers as you see in your dmesg: rtl8192cu and rtl8xxxu. Let's blacklist what we suspect is the least useful and reboot. Boot up with the USB wireless detached. Open a terminal and do:

sudo -i
echo "blacklist rtl8192cu"  >>  /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
exit

Shut down the computer. Insert the USB wireless and start up.

Any improvement?