Continuing Issues with Wireless (Ralink RT2561/RT61)

[warrenweiss]

Problems with the Ralink RT2561/RT61 seem to be common, but varied.

I cannot connect to a WPA2-Mixed encrypted wireless LAN and when I connect to an open, unencrypted network, the connection speed is very low - much like dialup speeds.

I'll try the suggestion in this post (http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,61645.msg587762.html#msg587762) to try and solve the encrypted network problem.

The distro is the Gnome version of PCLinuxOS (kernel: 2.6.32.11-pclos2).

The connection seems to be stable, but very slow.

Has anyone used ndiswrapper with the Windows drivers?  Were you able to extract them from the download available from Ralink?  The package is a Windows executable, and should be a self-extracting archive, but I haven't found an utility that recognizes it as an archive.

Here is the latest diagnostic output:



[root@shania ~]# lspci
02:03.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
02:09.0 Network controller: RaLink RT2561/RT61 rev B 802.11g

[root@shania ~]# iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11bg  ESSID:"dsrc" 
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: 00:17:0F:8E:55:A0   
          Bit Rate=24 Mb/s   Tx-Power=12 dBm   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=38/70  Signal level=-72 dBm 
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

[root@shania ~]# wpa_cli list_networks
Selected interface 'wlan0'
network id / ssid / bssid / flags
0   dsrc   any   [CURRENT]
1   <encrypted network>   any   
[root@shania ~]#




Configuration Files:


/etc/modprobe.conf

install ide-controller /sbin/modprobe ide_generic; /bin/true
install usb-interface /sbin/modprobe ehci_hcd; /sbin/modprobe ohci_hcd; /bin/true
alias wlan0 rt61pci
alias eth0 8139too
alias sound-slot-0 snd_atiixp
options snd-ac97-codec power_save=1
alias pci:v00001814d00000302sv00001462sd0000B833bc02sc80i00 rt61pci




/etc/modprobe.preload

# /etc/modprobe.preload: kernel modules to load at boot time.
#
# This file should contain the names of kernel modules that are
# to be loaded at boot time, one per line.  Comments begin with
# a `#', and everything on the line after them are ignored.
# this file is for module-init-tools (kernel 2.5 and above) ONLY
# for old kernel use /etc/modules
fuse
raw1394
sbp2
ohci1394
nvram
evdev
evdev




/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

blacklist ssb

blacklist ssb

[Hootiegibbon]

warrenweiss,

what result do you get with 'lsmod |grep rt' without the quotes (you may need to su to root first)

the ralink modules that cover this hardware also include the rt2x00 as well as the rt61pci.

you may find that you have a rt2560t device - which can be awkward (the only identifier on the card is on the chip).

its also worth while looking at the results of 'iwlist channel'

Jase

[warrenweiss]

what result do you get with 'lsmod |grep rt'

[root@hostname ~]# lsmod |grep rt

rt61pci                16273  0
rt2x00pci               5455  1 rt61pci
rt2x00lib              23752  2 rt61pci,rt2x00pci
led_class               2696  1 rt2x00lib
mac80211              135171  2 rt2x00pci,rt2x00lib
cfg80211               98064  2 rt2x00lib,mac80211
rtc_cmos                6929  0
eeprom_93cx6            1352  1 rt61pci



The default rt61 drivers.  I tried recompiling from the source available from Ralink, but got some errors.  Before I troubleshoot those, however, I want to find out if tweaking the configuration might fix what's ailin'.  After an initial minor problem, KDE 2009.2 (and 2007 before that) worked just fine with this hardware, so I know it's possible.

its also worth while looking at the results of 'iwlist channel'

[root@hostname ~]# iwlist channel

lo        no frequency information.

eth0      no frequency information.

wlan0     11 channels in total; available frequencies :
          Channel 01 : 2.412 GHz
          Channel 02 : 2.417 GHz
          Channel 03 : 2.422 GHz
          Channel 04 : 2.427 GHz
          Channel 05 : 2.432 GHz
          Channel 06 : 2.437 GHz
          Channel 07 : 2.442 GHz
          Channel 08 : 2.447 GHz
          Channel 09 : 2.452 GHz
          Channel 10 : 2.457 GHz
          Channel 11 : 2.462 GHz
          Current Frequency:2.412 GHz (Channel 1)

you may find that you have a rt2560t device - which can be awkward (the only identifier on the card is on the chip).

That might suck.  This is on an Averatec 2150 which has a very-difficult-to-open case.

[gseaman]

I use ndiswrapper with the WinXP driver, netrt61g. This came with the card. I actually could connect to a wpa2 router, with the open source driver but it did not stay connected. With ndiswrapper, it is running for months without any complications.

Galen

[warrenweiss]

...I use ndiswrapper with the WinXP driver, netrt61g...

Wow.  What a difference that makes.  Thanks, Galen!

[gseaman]

I'm glad when I am able help!

Galen