Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 22

Thread: Weird wireless failure...

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Beans
    32

    Weird wireless failure...

    I'm unsure what's gone wrong... I've been using the latest Netbook remix on my EEE 901, and yesterday, wireless networking stopped working.

    I assumed that I must have hit function-F2 and turned off wireless - but after various experiments, I found that even with wireless enabled at this level, things were still amiss.

    The network manager applet says "Disconnected" - and doesn't list any Wi-Fi access points in range - and there are loads - one within a meter. When I right click, both Enable Networking and Enable Wireless (and Enable Notifications) are ticked. If I try to 'connect to hidden wireless network' - and supply my local (non-hidden) network - it asks for the password; waits a while then asks again.

    "lspci" gives the relevant line:

    01:00.0 Network Controller: RaLink RT2800 802.11n PCI

    "rfkill list" gives

    0: eeepc-wlan: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no
    1: eeepc-bluetooth: Bluetooth
    Soft blocked: yes
    Hard blocked: no

    "iwconfig" gives:

    --
    lo no wireless extensions.

    eth0 no wireless extensions

    wlan0 Ralink STA ESSID:"" Nickname:"RT2860STA"
    Mode:Auto Frequency=2.412 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
    Bit Rate: 1 Mb/s
    RTS thr: off key: off
    Encryption key: off
    Link Quality=10/100 Signal level: 0 dBm Noise level:-98 dBm
    Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
    Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0
    --


    In my syslog, I've various errors reported, for example:



    kernel: [14.037097] Skipping EBID probe due to cached ebid
    NetworkManager[852]: <info> (wlan0): deactivating device (reason 2).
    NetworkManager[852] <error> [1300448368.575258] [nm-device-wifi.c:1542] nm_device_wifi_set_mode(): (wlan0): error setting mode 2
    NetworkManager[852]: supplicant_interface_acquire: assertion 'mgr_state == NM_SUPPLICANT_MANAGER_STATE_IDLE' failed
    kernel: [14.944349] NICLoadFirmware: MCU is not ready
    kernel: [14.944357] ERROR! NICLoadFirmware failed, status[=0x00000001]
    kernel: [14.944365] rt28xx Initiaized fail!

    Later I get a whole slew of errors from the kernel - mostly mentioning "ERROR! H2M_MAILBOX hold by MCU. command fail" or "ERROR! BBP write R"..." fail"


    Is this a hardware failure, or have I been knobbled by an update? Has anyone else had problems with their EEE PC's wireless?
    Last edited by aSteve; March 18th, 2011 at 01:32 PM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Wales
    Beans
    Hidden!
    Distro
    Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx

    Re: Weird wireless failure...

    Have you tried reinstalling the RaLink RT2800 driver? an update might well be responsible

    Before that though what is the output of
    Code:
    lsmod | grep -i rt28
    Last edited by Hippytaff; March 18th, 2011 at 01:59 PM.
    Perseverance will succeed (usually)
    ubuntu user -32597 - linux user - 526569
    Wireless Info Script
    Blog

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Beans
    32

    Re: Weird wireless failure...

    Hmmm - I've not tried re-installing the driver... Is there a 'howto' on that? So far, with Ubuntu, I've not had to grunge-about with anything as low level as drivers...


    $ lsmod | grep -i rt28
    rt2860sta 504366 0
    rt2800pci 8565 0
    rt2800lib 28961 1 rt2800pci
    rt2x00usb 9779 1 rt2800lib
    rt2x00pci 6029 1 rt2800pci
    crc_ccitt 1351 2 rt2860sta,rt2800pci
    rt2x00lib 27307 4 rt2800pci,rt2800lib,rt2x00usb,rt2z00pci
    eeprom_93cx6 1345 1 rt2800pci
    $


    I didn't expect to see rt2x00usb - as my RaLink Wi-fi is an internal PCI job (standard for the EEEPC 901s) and I've never plugged in a USB Wi-Fi device. That aside, I'm none-the-wiser about what is actually wrong.

    When I 'locate rt28' and look at timestamps, the most recently change file was /lib/modules/2.6.35-27-generic/kernel/drivers/staging/rt2860/rt2860sta.ko - and that file changed on the 23rd of February. The netbook worked since then - but, maybe, I hadn't rebooted - so had been using an elder kernel configuration?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Wales
    Beans
    Hidden!
    Distro
    Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx

    Re: Weird wireless failure...

    youve also got an rt2860 driver...this could be causing a conflict. maybe try uninstalling both and reinstalling one, then the other to see if either work (the rt2800 probably).

    Code:
    modprobe -r r8xxxx
    to remove drivers
    Code:
     modprobe r8xxxx
    to install where xxxx is the relevant number (make a note of them before you remove them edit-> don't know why I typed that - the note is here ).

    what you have discovered sounds plausible...I'm only just getting to grips with ubuntu at this level - I'm loving the freedome to interact with these things via cli...but thats the nerd within

    let me know how it goes
    Last edited by Hippytaff; March 18th, 2011 at 07:24 PM.
    Perseverance will succeed (usually)
    ubuntu user -32597 - linux user - 526569
    Wireless Info Script
    Blog

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Beans
    1

    Re: Weird wireless failure...

    Hey all,

    I think it might be a bug with the new update. I have the same problem, as does this person: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=10572047

    I managed to solve it by booting into the old kernel.

    Someone wanna file a bug report? I'm not too savvy w/ Linux, but I have a hunch that there are others out there who have also lost their wireless ability after last night's update.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Wales
    Beans
    Hidden!
    Distro
    Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx

    Re: Weird wireless failure...

    Quote Originally Posted by david_ko View Post
    Hey all,

    I think it might be a bug with the new update. I have the same problem, as does this person: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=10572047

    I managed to solve it by booting into the old kernel.

    Someone wanna file a bug report? I'm not too savvy w/ Linux, but I have a hunch that there are others out there who have also lost their wireless ability after last night's update.
    I'll wait until all avenues have been explored then I'll file a big report...it does sound like you might be right though...best to make sure first.
    Perseverance will succeed (usually)
    ubuntu user -32597 - linux user - 526569
    Wireless Info Script
    Blog

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Beans
    32

    Re: Weird wireless failure...

    Well - I'm no further forwards.

    I found this to augment Hippytaff's suggestion:

    http://mjac.co.uk/article/technology...lessfaulty1010

    One oddity is that, while my netbook has '901' as its model number, lspci reports that it has an "RaLink RT2800" - not a "RaLink RT2860" as the other user reports.

    I've hacked about quite a bit - to no avail. I still get mountains of bad-looking kernel-oriented messages.

    My next move was to download a fresh image and try booting from that... where-upon I discovered another odd problem. No matter what boot-order I select, my EEE 901 flatly refused to recognise the boot-stick... I've tried creating it on both Windows and Ubuntu - including creating it using the net book (hence verifying that the USB port works) to no avail. It is possible I have a duff USB stick... but I don't have another sufficiently large to try in its place at the moment.

    I'm no further forwards... I remain exactly 50-50 undecided if this is a series of odd software glitches or a hardware fault.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Beans
    32

    Re: Weird wireless failure...

    A little progress. I noticed a new kernel is available - so connected using ethernet and upgraded - hoping this might resolve my wireless issues... Wireless is still broken, but I have different error messages - this hints to me that the issue might be software not hardware...

    ---
    Mar 27 17:19:02 eeepc NetworkManager[820]: <info> (wlan0): bringing up device.
    Mar 27 17:19:02 eeepc modem-manager: (tty/ttyS0): port's parent platform driver is not whitelisted
    Mar 27 17:19:02 eeepc modem-manager: (tty/ttyS1): port's parent platform driver is not whitelisted
    Mar 27 17:19:02 eeepc modem-manager: (tty/ttyS2): port's parent platform driver is not whitelisted
    Mar 27 17:19:02 eeepc modem-manager: (tty/ttyS3): port's parent platform driver is not whitelisted
    Mar 27 17:19:03 eeepc kernel: [ 37.437934] RX DESC f167a000 size = 2048
    Mar 27 17:19:03 eeepc kernel: [ 37.439324] <-- RTMPAllocTxRxRingMemory, Status=0
    Mar 27 17:19:03 eeepc kernel: [ 37.442599] 1. Phy Mode = 0
    Mar 27 17:19:03 eeepc kernel: [ 37.442608] 2. Phy Mode = 0
    Mar 27 17:19:03 eeepc kernel: [ 37.459660] ERROR! E2PROM: WRONG VERSION 0x1f, should be 1
    Mar 27 17:19:03 eeepc kernel: [ 37.471096] 3. Phy Mode = 0
    Mar 27 17:19:03 eeepc kernel: [ 37.471103] ERROR! ****** BBP_Write_Latch Buffer exceeds max boundry ******
    Mar 27 17:19:03 eeepc kernel: [ 37.471669] ERROR! H2M_MAILBOX still hold by MCU. command fail
    --

    It looks as if there is a problem with the firmware.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    Southern Maryland
    Beans
    1,575
    Distro
    Ubuntu

    Re: Weird wireless failure...

    Code:
    $ lsmod | grep -i rt28
    rt2860sta 504366 0
    rt2800pci 8565 0
    rt2800lib 28961 1 rt2800pci
    rt2x00usb 9779 1 rt2800lib
    rt2x00pci 6029 1 rt2800pci
    crc_ccitt 1351 2 rt2860sta,rt2800pci
    rt2x00lib 27307 4 rt2800pci,rt2800lib,rt2x00usb,rt2z00pci
    eeprom_93cx6 1345 1 rt2800pci
    $
    Your problem is you have many drivers enabled for one device. You need to find the right one for your device and ONLY have it in /etc/modules, then make a blacklist entry for each of those other drivers in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

    If you need help with doing so, please post back here, but you should only have one driver enabled for a device.

    You have all these enabled for your wireless:

    rt2800pci
    rt2860sta
    rt2x00usb
    rt2x00pci

    I think you can just make sure rt2860sta is the ONLY driver in /etc/modules, then enter the following into /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf (all this as root):

    Code:
    blacklist rt2x00usb
    blacklist rt2x00pci
    blacklist rt2800pci

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Beans
    30
    Distro
    Ubuntu

    Re: Weird wireless failure...

    Same problem with me, worked fine until this morning.

    I have an ACER Travelmate 5510. Let me know if any data from that would help with the fix.

    Guess I'll just keep downloading updates, and hope it's fixed soon.

    I've rolled back to the previous verson of the Kernel (which is all I keep), and it still doesn't work. .

    Cheers

    Adam

Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •