Problems with the Drivers for Ralink RT3290 Wi-Fi Adapter

Question

After upgrading to Ubuntu 13.10, Ralink RT3290 Wi-Fi Adapter in my laptop dosen't work. So I followed the guide in How do I get a Ralink RT3290 wireless card working? to compile the driver and load it manually. It seemed that the module was loaded successfully, for I got the following outputs:

forever41200@forever41200:~$ lsmod | grep -in rt3290sta
26:rt3290sta            1170462  0 

forever41200@forever41200:~$ modinfo rt3290sta
filename:       /lib/modules/3.11.0-13-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rt3290sta.ko
version:        2.6.0.0_rev1
srcversion:     3D39532F027115378BDBC79
alias:          pci:v00001814d00003290sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
depends:        
vermagic:       3.11.0-13-generic SMP mod_unload modversions 
parm:           mac:rt28xx: wireless mac addr (charp)

But the driver used for Ralink RT3290 Wi-Fi Adapter didn't change. It still used "rt2800pci" instead of "rt3290sta".

forever41200@forever41200:~$ sudo lspci -v

02:00.0 Network controller: Ralink corp. RT3290 Wireless 802.11n 1T/1R PCIe
        Subsystem: Foxconn International, Inc. Device e055
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 44
        Memory at f7d10000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
        Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
        Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/32 Maskable- 64bit+
        Capabilities: [70] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
        Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
        Capabilities: [140] Device Serial Number 00-00-89-bc-3a-3f-76-b8
        Kernel driver in use: rt2800pci

02:00.1 Bluetooth: Ralink corp. RT3290 Bluetooth
        Subsystem: Foxconn International, Inc. Device e056
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 3
        Memory at f7d00000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
        Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
        Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable- Count=1/32 Maskable- 64bit+
        Capabilities: [70] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
        Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
        Capabilities: [140] Device Serial Number 00-00-8a-bc-3a-3f-76-b8

So I add "rt2800pci" and "rt2x00pci" to blacklist, I had also updated initramfs. But it still didn't use "rt3290sta". It said the Wi-Fi adapter was using "rt2860".

forever41200@forever41200:~$ sudo lspci -v

02:00.0 Network controller: Ralink corp. RT3290 Wireless 802.11n 1T/1R PCIe
        Subsystem: Foxconn International, Inc. Device e055
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
        Memory at f7d10000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
        Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
        Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable- Count=1/32 Maskable- 64bit+
        Capabilities: [70] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
        Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
        Capabilities: [140] Device Serial Number 00-00-89-bc-3a-3f-76-b8
        Kernel driver in use: rt2860

02:00.1 Bluetooth: Ralink corp. RT3290 Bluetooth
        Subsystem: Foxconn International, Inc. Device e056
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 3
        Memory at f7d00000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
        Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
        Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable- Count=1/32 Maskable- 64bit+
        Capabilities: [70] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
        Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
        Capabilities: [140] Device Serial Number 00-00-8a-bc-3a-3f-76-b8

That's weird because I can't find the "rt2860" module in my system.

forever41200@forever41200:~$ lsmod | grep -in rt2860

forever41200@forever41200:~$ modinfo rt2860
ERROR: Module rt2860 not found.

Then I added "rt2860" to blacklist, however, nothing happened.

With the "rt2860" module, the Wi-Fi adapter do work at first, but a few minutes later the whole Linux system crash. Error messages I got were:

It mentioned "rt3290sta", and that makes me more confused about whether the driver in use is "rt2860" or "rt3290sta".

By the way, After adding "rt2800pci" and "rt2x00pci" to blacklist, Ralink RT3290 Wi-Fi Adapter was no longer named "wlan0"; it was named "ra0".

Solution

Remove the rt2800pci

sudo rmmod rt2800pci

Load the new one

sudo modprobe rt3290sta

Post any error messages.

If the new module, rt3290sta, does not load properly on boot, you will almost certainly need to then black list the rt2800pci module.

See:

How to blacklist kernel modules?

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Loadable_Modules

Comments

[guntbert]

@bodhi.zazen isn't that the post he mentioned above?

[Panther]

@guntbert - yes it is, and later in the post it describes how to troubleshoot and blacklist the offending module. It is a better answer, forever41200 just needs to read down a bit.

[guntbert]

@bodhi.zazen I see :-)

[yuwen41200]

Sorry I missed that section in the site. But it's still not working. I've updated my post.

[Panther]

The ra0 is "normal". You are now getting a kernel crash, so you would need to file a bug report. FWIW, you can get a wireless USB that is linux compatible for about $10 (I use a pair for similar reasons, it is just difficult to get hardware working, best to purchase linux compilable gear). askubuntu.com/questions/5121/how-do-i-report-a-bug

[yuwen41200]

Thank you, but I still encounter some errors. I've updated my post.