rt73usb wifi module firmware in latest kernel

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tronkel
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rt73usb wifi module firmware in latest kernel

#1 Post by tronkel »

Anyone else having trouble with Ralink rt73usb WIFI module in both Quirky 018 and Lupu 005?

Both of these use the 2.6.33.2 kernel. The older kernel versions were OK with this.

WLAN interface is correctly detected at wlan0 but does not actually connect.

Maybe needs updated firmware.
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raffy
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4.3

#2 Post by raffy »

Lucky for you, as my RT73 has been unusable since 4.3. It works initially then dies.
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#3 Post by Philh »

RT73usb Works ok for me with Quirky018 using WEP on a Belkin device
I used the simple network setup.

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#4 Post by tronkel »

@Philh

Just tried it using WEP instead of WPA.

Still won't authenticate. Router is a Siemens model. The Ralink card using the rt73usb module worked OK with Quirky version 010.

rt73usb is built into the kernel in Quirky 018. I wonder if the firmware though is compatible with this kernel version.

Thanks for the info anyways.

Best regards

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#5 Post by BarryK »

tronkel wrote:rt73usb is built into the kernel in Quirky 018. I wonder if the firmware though is compatible with this kernel version.
Sorry, I might have worded a previous post ambiguously. rt73usb is still a module with 2.6.33.2, but it is supplied with the kernel source, so is the latest.
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#6 Post by BarryK »

This url has links to firmware:
http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/rt73usb

When the module loads, /var/log/messages usually has information about what firmware was loaded or attempted to load, so you can look at this file and see if required firmware is missing.
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#7 Post by BarryK »

[url]https://bkhome.org/news/[/url]

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#8 Post by BarryK »

if in doubt, just bung lots of firmware into /lib/firmware, then if it works, examine /var/log/messages to see what one got chosen.
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#9 Post by tronkel »

@Barry

The Debian link you supplied for the rt73usb firmware worked OK.
Simply clicked on the downloaded DEB and the firmware got installed as you into /lib/firmware as would be expected.

Connected straight away no problem.

Does this mean that the rt73usb module included the latest kernel is bugged? - yet it worked for others - so dunno.

So Quirky 018 is now fully up and running for me on this hardware at any rate.

Excellent!
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#10 Post by 01micko »

It's a weird one tronkel

I have a cheapy TP-Link usb dongle TL-WN321G using rt73usb and have no problems in Q-018 or lupu-005.

Well at least you found a solution :)

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#11 Post by tronkel »

@01micko

My WLAN usb dongle is also a chinese cheapo. Manufacturer is Airlive. I bought it less than a year ago in the Czech Republic for €20 or so.

It has given good service up till now though. It seems to be having difficulty detecting wireless access points at the first attempt - so that's not good news.

May be time to think about replacing it. The fix that I mentioned in the earlier post also seems to have stopped working (DEB firmware).

So, as you say, it's a weird one.
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#12 Post by BarryK »

tronkel,
which one of those debian links did you choose? (lenny, sid, etc)
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#13 Post by tronkel »

@Barry

I used the sid version. Presumably these packages are compiled for the latest kernel that Debian use.

It certainly worked for a time but then seemed to break again.

I'm doing some experiments with another distro to see if my dongle is at fault or if this problem is linked to Quirky or to the 2.6.33.2 kernel.

I'm also running Quirky 018 on the Asus eeepc901 for the sake of trying different hardware. The Atheros ath5k module seems ok on the eeepc
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#14 Post by tronkel »

Have just tried the rt73usb dongle in Linux Mint using the 2.6.31.16 kernel.

Connected first time automatically. This would appear to eliminate the possibility that the dongle is at fault.

will go back to Quirky now and play further with it.
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#15 Post by tronkel »

LOL the rt73usb dongle is now working on both the asus eepc901 and also on the main system.

All I did was to try the dongle in Linux Mint Helena.
Forgive my ignorance on this - does firmware actually get uploaded to the dongle? If this is the case, then the firmware from Linux Mint has overwitten the old firmware and thereby fixed the problem.

Either that or I could have had a router problem. Mobile broadband has also now started to work as well - it wasn't working at all earlier - no signal from T-mobile. Router is connected to Austria Telekom where the signal is occasionally problematic.

Anyone else getting this in Quirky 018?
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#16 Post by BarryK »

tronkel wrote:LOL the rt73usb dongle is now working on both the asus eepc901 and also on the main system.

All I did was to try the dongle in Linux Mint Helena.
Forgive my ignorance on this - does firmware actually get uploaded to the dongle? If this is the case, then the firmware from Linux Mint has overwitten the old firmware and thereby fixed the problem.

Either that or I could have had a router problem. Mobile broadband has also now started to work as well - it wasn't working at all earlier - no signal from T-mobile. Router is connected to Austria Telekom where the signal is occasionally problematic.

Anyone else getting this in Quirky 018?
No, the firmware doesn't get uploaded, but it's not beyond possibility that some permanent change was made in the dongle, but unlikely.
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must experiment

#17 Post by raffy »

That's the opposite of what's happening to my RT73 dongle since 4.3. It works initially and then dies. After that, no matter what Puppy version I load, it won't work again. I have to unplug it for some time before it will work again (with an earlier Puppy version).

Some electronics inside the dongle must be responding improperly to "continue operating" signal in Puppy 4.3. And as long as it is kept powered (inserted in the PC), that faulty setting persists.

But now that Barry has described the fix, it's time to experiment more. :)
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#18 Post by tronkel »

The saga of the rt73usb module continues onward. (LOL this sounds like a topic for Groklaw)

I started to get trouble from a USB external hard which is formatted to NTFS. On this drive sits 2 pup_save files - one for Quirky 018 and another for Lupu 005.

All of a sudden, the external drive seemed to become inaccessible and crashed the Puppy system completely.

To cut a long story short, I then managed to copy the 2 pup_saves to a safe haven, reformatted the external drive to ext 4 and copied the backup pup_save files back to the reformatted drive.

Then plugged in the usb wifi dongle. Guess what? Worked first time and at full speed! It had always run very slowly since I installed Quirky 018 for the first time.

Maybe because the pup_save was sitting on a faulty ntfs file system, the network connection wizards were acting up.

That's what it looks like at this stage. Will play with it some more.

@raffy

Are you maybe using a pup_save somewhere on a dodgy file system? Looks as if its better to stick to ext2/3/4 rather than ntfs as well.
Last edited by tronkel on Mon 12 Apr 2010, 18:47, edited 1 time in total.
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#19 Post by tronkel »

duplicate post
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raffy
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first boot

#20 Post by raffy »

Hmm, no, Puppy is pristine on first boot from either live CD or frugal install.

As I said, the RT73 dongle works fine at first but then stops. In the past the RT73 firmware changed with the Puppy version/kernel. That must also be the case this time.
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