HOWTO: RT2500, etc. wireless cards

[fooman]

just dug out an old nf2 motherboard (abit nf7...classic). through on an nvidia 6600gt, a gig of ram and a belkin wireless g card that had not been used in awhile. it has the rt2500 chipset.

tried a few different approaches to get the card up to speed but had no luck. even tried this thread once before with no luck. decided to try from scratch, sooo...reinstalled hardy and after running the updates, i headed right to this thread first.

worked like a dream this time.

thanks

[HereInOz]

Hi All,

I have a MSI cb56g2 PCMCIA card with a Ralink 2500 chip on it, and it worked fine in Gutsy with the standard rt2500pci driver connecting with WPA-PSK security.

Since upgrading to Hardy, the connection has been very weak (low level) and the network speed has been awful - about 20KB/s across the lan - like slow internet speeds.

I re-installed Gutsy as a test, and it all began to work well again.

So I installed Hardy again, and then used the "how to" to set up the adaptor using ndiswrapper and the driver downloaded from the MSI site, and while I can connect when the Access Point is set to WEP 64 bit security, I am unable to get a connection when I set the Access Point to WPA-PSK.

Has anyone experienced this, and can anyone offer any suggestions as to how I might improve the situation.

Cheers,

Alan.

[DavidTangye]

I have installed an RT2500 PC card without needing Windows drivers (nor therefore ndiswrapper) under Hardy. Its a Minitar Wireless Cardbus MN54GCB-R: Ralink RT2500 chipset (see all cards based on this chipset at http://ralink.rapla.net/)

Also see Chipsets supported by Linux (http://www.wlug.org.nz/WirelessChipsets)
• PrismGTWirelessChipset by Intersil
• RT2x00WirelessChipset (2500) by RaLink
• Intel IPW2200
• AtherosWirelessChipset
• BroadcomWirelessChipset

for more info. There is no need to install Windows drivers for many people.

[DavidTangye]

That is interesting that the Windows driver seems to run that adapter faster. You might find that the windows driver does not support WPA. Look inside the ascii support file (.cat or .inf or something) that comes in the driver set. It indicates whether WPA is supported in its codes. You should see WEP in the definitions of its internal data codes. That is what I did with a Netgear Window driver, which confirmed that WPA was not going to work. If you do not see WPA I guess that means it is not supported in the driver.

[leona]

I am having problems with an rt2500pci card. it will list my network but it refuses to connect to it, any ideas? I have turned off all security, so I'm sure that's not an issue. Using 'stock' setup (no nsdiwrappers etc) yet, that how to looks complicated and last resort if I can't get it working.

[unutbu]

leona, have you tried using Network Manager?
(Clicking on Wireless, the Properties button, uncheck the roaming mode box, enter your ESSID, and going for a DHCP connection?)

[leona]

leona, have you tried using Network Manager?
(Clicking on Wireless, the Properties button, uncheck the roaming mode box, enter your ESSID, and going for a DHCP connection?)

Hi there, thank you but yes with little joy, it doesn't even seem to be making any attempt to contact the router, I can't see it in my 'attached devices' list. very odd.

[unutbu]

To help us gather more information about your situation, please post the output of the following commands

ifconfig 
iwconfig
iwlist scan
cat /etc/network/interfaces
sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart

[leona]

To help us gather more information about your situation, please post the output of the following commands

ifconfig 
iwconfig
iwlist scan
cat /etc/network/interfaces
sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart

Hi & thanks, I've got the first 3, just go and get you the rest of them

from lspci -nn

00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8377 [KT400/KT600 AGP] Host Bridge [1106:3189]
00:01.0 PCI bridge [0604]: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8235 PCI Bridge [1106:b168]
00:0b.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394) [0c00]: NEC Corporation uPD72874 IEEE1394 OHCI 1.1 3-port PHY-Link Ctrlr [1033:00f2] (rev 01)
00:0e.0 Network controller [0280]: RaLink RT2500 802.11g Cardbus/mini-PCI [1814:0201] (rev 01)
00:10.0 USB Controller [0c03]: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller [1106:3038] (rev 80)
00:10.1 USB Controller [0c03]: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller [1106:3038] (rev 80)
00:10.2 USB Controller [0c03]: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller [1106:3038] (rev 80)
00:10.3 USB Controller [0c03]: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 [1106:3104] (rev 82)
00:11.0 ISA bridge [0601]: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8235 ISA Bridge [1106:3177]
00:11.1 IDE interface [0101]: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE [1106:0571] (rev 06)
00:11.5 Multimedia audio controller [0401]: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller [1106:3059] (rev 50)
00:12.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6102 [Rhine-II] [1106:3065] (rev 74)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: nVidia Corporation NV44A [GeForce 6200] [10de:0221] (rev a1)

From iwconfig

lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wmaster0  no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:""  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.437 GHz  Access Point: 00:14:6C:01:26:7A   
          Tx-Power=27 dBm   
          Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr=2346 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

from ifconfig

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:0c:6e:07:18:21  
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
          Interrupt:18 

eth0:avahi Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:0c:6e:07:18:21  
          inet addr:169.254.2.3  Bcast:169.254.255.255  Mask:255.255.0.0
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          Interrupt:18 

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:3059 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:3059 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:154824 (151.1 KB)  TX bytes:154824 (151.1 KB)

wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:0e:2e:50:64:38  
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

wmaster0  Link encap:UNSPEC  HWaddr 00-0E-2E-50-64-38-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00  
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

From lshw -C Network

  *-network:0             
       description: Wireless interface
       product: RT2500 802.11g Cardbus/mini-PCI
       vendor: RaLink
       physical id: e
       bus info: pci@0000:00:0e.0
       logical name: wmaster0
       version: 01
       serial: 00:0e:2e:50:64:38
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list logical ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rt2500pci latency=32 module=rt2500pci multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11g
  *-network:1
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: VT6102 [Rhine-II]
       vendor: VIA Technologies, Inc.
       physical id: 12
       bus info: pci@0000:00:12.0
       logical name: eth0
       version: 74
       serial: 00:0c:6e:07:18:21
       size: 10MB/s
       capacity: 100MB/s
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=via-rhine driverversion=1.4.3 duplex=half latency=32 link=no maxlatency=8 mingnt=3 module=via_rhine multicast=yes port=MII speed=10MB/s

[leona]

Ok here is the rest

iwlist scan

lo        Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0      Interface doesn't support scanning.

wmaster0  Interface doesn't support scanning.

wlan0     No scan results

cat /etc/network/interfaces

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

iface eth0 inet dhcp
gateway 192.168.1.200

auto eth0

and finally
sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart

[sudo] password for linux: 
 * Reconfiguring network interfaces...                                          There is already a pid file /var/run/dhclient.eth0.pid with pid 18140
killed old client process, removed PID file
Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.0.6
Copyright 2004-2007 Internet Systems Consortium.
All rights reserved.
For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/sw/dhcp/

wmaster0: unknown hardware address type 801
wmaster0: unknown hardware address type 801
Listening on LPF/eth0/00:0c:6e:07:18:21
Sending on   LPF/eth0/00:0c:6e:07:18:21
Sending on   Socket/fallback
DHCPRELEASE on eth0 to 192.168.1.200 port 67
There is already a pid file /var/run/dhclient.eth0.pid with pid 134519072
Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.0.6
Copyright 2004-2007 Internet Systems Consortium.
All rights reserved.
For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/sw/dhcp/

wmaster0: unknown hardware address type 801
wmaster0: unknown hardware address type 801
Listening on LPF/eth0/00:0c:6e:07:18:21
Sending on   LPF/eth0/00:0c:6e:07:18:21
Sending on   Socket/fallback
DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 6
DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 8
DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 11
DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 6
No DHCPOFFERS received.
No working leases in persistent database - sleeping.
                                                                         [ OK ]

I hope that is of help in working out what the problem is.

Just looking at this myself, shouldn't there be a wlan0 config in the interfaces file? Can I add one manually?

Thank you.