how to get rt2500 working on FC9?

vsem · #1 21st June 2008, 05:41 PM

Hello,

I'm trying to get working my wi-fi pcmcia adapter based on Ralink RT2500 (it's ASUS WL-107G)
it sees the network but can not connect even with encryption OFF

Code:

uname -a
Linux tirgrobook 2.6.25.6-55.fc9.i686

Code:

lspci
...
Network controller: RaLink RT2500 802.11g Cardbus/mini-PCI (rev 01)
...

Code:

iwlist  wlan0 scan
wlan0     Scan completed :
          Cell 01 - Address: 00:14:D1:3F:FB:7D
                    ESSID:"dart"
                    Mode:Master
                    Channel:6
                    Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
                    Quality=53/100  Signal level:-39 dBm  
                    Encryption key:off
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s
                              12 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
                              48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Extra:tsf=0000004c02615181

Code:

/sbin/iwconfig wlan0
wlan0     IEEE 802.11  ESSID:"dart"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.437 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated   
          Tx-Power=27 dBm   
          Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr=2352 B   
          Encryption key:off
          Link Quality:0  Signal level:0  Noise level:0
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

When I try to

Code:

/etc/init.d/network restart 
or
/sbin/ifdown 
/sbin/ifup

I get the following record in /var/log/messages

Code:

Jun 21 20:26:25 localhost kernel: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready

WHY LINK IS NOT READY?

when I let NetwokManager control the device
I get the following in /var/log/messages

Code:

NetworkManager: <info>  (wlan0): supplicant connection state change: 3 -> 0
NetworkManager: <info>  (wlan0): supplicant connection state change: 0 -> 2
NetworkManager: <info>  (wlan0): supplicant connection state change: 2 -> 3
NetworkManager: <info>  Activation (wlan0/wireless): association took too long, failing activation.
NetworkManager: <info>  (wlan0): device state change: 5 -> 9
NetworkManager: <info>  Activation (wlan0) failed for access point (dart)
NetworkManager: <info>  Marking connection 'dart' invalid.
NetworkManager: <info>  Activation (wlan0) failed.
NetworkManager: <info>  (wlan0): device state change: 9 -> 3
NetworkManager: <info>  (wlan0): deactivating device.

Does anyone get rt2500 card working in FC9?

How to make it work?

Thanks in advance

PS What Wi-Fi chipsets would you suggest to use to get wi-fi working on fedora out of the box?

sej7278 · #2 21st June 2008, 06:28 PM

i got it working - had to disable networkmanager and enable network, then use iwconfig or system-config-network, it was a bit flakey for some reason, used to work much more reliably under fedora6

vsem · #3 21st June 2008, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sej7278

i got it working - had to disable networkmanager and enable network, then use iwconfig or system-config-network, it was a bit flakey for some reason, used to work much more reliably under fedora6

i tried to configure it without networkmanager - no luck, in previous post described what happend.
If I only knew where to DIG?!!!

sej7278 · #4 21st June 2008, 11:17 PM

i haven't got my f9/rt2500 laptop with me, but on my f7 laptop i get that "link not ready" crap with my intel3945, it seems to fix it if you do "ifup wlan0" twice!

Mikis · #5 22nd June 2008, 09:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vsem

i tried to configure it without networkmanager - no luck, in previous post described what happend.
If I only knew where to DIG?!!!

I got rt2500 working on Fedora 9 with NetworkManager. However, after upgrading the system NetworkManager failed to connect to my WLAN. The solutions was to install the latest kernel 2.6.25-14.fc9.i686 and then reboot.

Make sure that the network service is disabled if you're using NetworkManager.

Here's the thread:
http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showth...7&page=1&pp=15

vsem · #6 22nd June 2008, 02:47 PM

I updated kernel as well - no luck

did u update headers? (I did not)

PS I found the following bug in redhat bugzilla https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=451422
seems we are not alone ;-)

Mikis · #7 22nd June 2008, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vsem

I updated kernel as well - no luck

did u update headers? (I did not)

PS I found the following bug in redhat bugzilla https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=451422
seems we are not alone ;-)

I didn't update the kernel-headers, either.

It seems like many people struggle with NetworkManager these days.

You may try this. Open your wireless device in system-config-network and make sure the option "Controlled by NetworkManager" is checked. It's worth a try

vsem · #8 23rd June 2008, 06:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikis

I didn't update the kernel-headers, either.

It seems like many people struggle with NetworkManager these days.

You may try this. Open your wireless device in system-config-network and make sure the option "Controlled by NetworkManager" is checked. It's worth a try

Well, I tried both variants with Wi-Fi controlled by NM and with wf setup manually.
Nothing wokrs.
Seems it is a bug.
And I don't like that redhat consider a bug like this as low priority bug.

vsem · #9 24th June 2008, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mikis

I didn't update the kernel-headers, either.

It seems like many people struggle with NetworkManager these days.

You may try this. Open your wireless device in system-config-network and make sure the option "Controlled by NetworkManager" is checked. It's worth a try

This bug is very "promising" https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=442790
as well.
Seems RedHat does the best to force people switch from fedora.

sej7278 · #10 25th June 2008, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vsem

Seems RedHat does the best to force people switch from fedora.

thats a bit extreme - you could just buy a better wifi card....

other than that it looks like the rt2x00 drivers shouldn't have got put into the kernel as they are still as rubbish as they used to be.

vsem · #11 25th June 2008, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sej7278

thats a bit extreme - you could just buy a better wifi card....

other than that it looks like the rt2x00 drivers shouldn't have got put into the kernel as they are still as rubbish as they used to be.

I bought Orient XG-701A, 802.11b/g, Mb/c, USB for $15 ;-)
It's based on Zydas (ZD1211)

Works out of the box and /sbin/iwlist scan shows 3 more networks around while rt2500 card shows only 1 with very bad signal.

I found this GREAT site that helped me choose the right device
http://linux-wless.passys.nl/

However I'm still going to try rt2500 later because there are reports that it WORKED before the changes in kernel redhat made (in ubuntu linux it still works fine even with WPA support).

Thank you for your support!

sej7278 · #12 7th July 2008, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vsem

However I'm still going to try rt2500 later because there are reports that it WORKED before the changes in kernel redhat made (in ubuntu linux it still works fine even with WPA support).

it definitely worked for me at one point - not the kernel from the dvd (kernel-2.6.25-14), but a later one, then it broke again in 2.6.25.6-55 and the current 2.6.25.9-76, so i think it must have worked in the first update after the one from the dvd.

i'm trying to track down the prior kernels so i can revert to the one that it worked in - although it might be another package update that broke it like NetworkManager or udev......

i just installed kernel-2.6.25.10-85 and -91 from koji and they didn't work either - same AP timeout.

Tried CentOS 5.2 and it kind-of worked, although the first kernel update broke it again.

Moved to Ubuntu 8.04, which worked out of the box - even during the installation, and still worked after a kernel update to 2.6.24-19 or something.