Realtek Missing Firmware

If you're bumping into wireless Realtek firmware issue (missing firmware dated 1/8/2019). This is the guide on how to fix it.

Current Problem

On boot, the realtek firmware will report the firmware is missing:

[ 26.390311] r8169 0000:03:00.0: firmware: failed to load rtl_nic/rtl8168g-3.fw (-2)

Recommended Proposals

• Install the contrib and non-free sources.
• Install firmware-realtek from those sources.

Enable Backport

We need the latest kernel and firmware to make it working. You should enable backport, and nonfree by minimum (refer Contrib, Non-Free, and Backport Sources).

Install Firmwares from Backports

After getting your source list updated, it's time to install the firmwares.

$ sudo apt -t stretch-backports install firmware-realtek -y

Once completed, perform a reboot and watch the changes.

$ sudo reboot

Check Wifi and Bluetooth Availability

Once returned, login and check your wifi and bluetooth availability (or watch the loading dmesg log for firmware failures). If they still persist, you then proceed to next step.

Otherwise, you're done.

Still Fails?

If both fails, you need to check the module hardware or the location you copied is correct. Otherwise, you have a few choices:

• Replace the wifi module with other common one.
• Raise a bug report to Debian team related to this matter.
• Wait for Debian 10 Buster release
• Use an external wifi/bluetooth adapter.

That's all about fixing the terrible wifi/bluetooth problem on Debian.