HELP with Ralink 3070/Monoprice USB 802.11G!

[nightmicu]

I have been trying for the past two hours to try and connect to a wireless network using a Monoprice USB 802.11G adapter with no luck. I am running a 64 bit distro of Ubuntu 9.10

The packaging advertises Linux compatibility, and Ubuntu 9.10 does recognize that a wireless device is present, but the wireless network is not being displayed in the drop-down network menu.

When I ran lsusb in Terminal, it shows the device as 148f:3070, Ralink Technology, Corp. I have spoken with several Monoprice tech support agents and only one knew the first thing about Linux, telling me that it used the 2870 chipset. I followed the instructions from this thread: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1342593 and the network is still not displayed. Also, after following the instructions there, it mentions something about 3070 -- does that mean I was misinformed by the agent? If so, are there drivers/instructions available for that device?

Here is a link to the product page for this USB adapter: http://www.monoprice.com/products/pr...seq=1&format=2

Time is a factor, I am trying to setup my fiance's college computer by the morning... her dorm only appears to have WiFi access working and this is on a desktop.

[chili555]

I think this is supposed to work with a driver already in the kernel!! Please open a terminal and do:

sudo modprobe rt2800usb

Does it spring to life? If not, please run:

dmesg | tail 
lsmod | grep rt2

Post the results.

[nightmicu]

Here are the details.... suggestion does not appear to have worked.

[ 14.824134] CPU0 attaching NULL sched-domain.
[ 14.824141] CPU1 attaching NULL sched-domain.
[ 14.851339] CPU0 attaching sched-domain:
[ 14.851344] domain 0: span 0-1 level MC
[ 14.851346] groups: 0 1
[ 14.851352] CPU1 attaching sched-domain:
[ 14.851353] domain 0: span 0-1 level MC
[ 14.851355] groups: 1 0
[ 36.186223] ISO 9660 Extensions: Microsoft Joliet Level 3
[ 36.203606] ISOFS: changing to secondary root

lsmod-
rt2800usb 40800 0
rt2x00usb 13600 1 rt2800usb
rt2x00lib 34624 2 rt2800usb,rt2x00usb
led_class 5256 1 rt2x00lib
input_polldev 4720 1 rt2x00lib
mac80211 209912 2 rt2x00usb,rt2x00lib
cfg80211 109144 2 rt2x00lib,mac80211
crc_ccitt 2336 1 rt2800usb

[nightmicu]

Anyone have any other ideas? Could this be another 9.10 64 bit compatibility issue? I'm also confused because this appears to be a 3070 chipset and everyone is giving me instructions for 28xx or what have you.

Nothing I do seems to change anything, still shows that there is a wireless device connected but will not display the network in the list.

[chili555]

still shows that there is a wireless device connected

I am not quite sure what you mean here. Do you mean that the Network Manager icon doesn't show any networks when you click on it? Please see attached.

Let's see:

iwconfig
dmesg | grep rt2

Thanks. Do you have a wired ethernet connection going at the same time? If so, please disconnect the wire, reboot and let us know if the performance improves.

[nightmicu]

Okay, reinstalled with Ubuntu 9.10 32 bit, hoping that this may be yet another issue I've been having with 64 bit. No such luck, however I have not yet attempted to install drivers... before I attempted to install rt2800 drivers and it would not work.

The network manager drop-down in the notification area shows the Wireless Networks label but it does not list available networks, simply says Disconnected. When the USB module is removed, "Wireless Networks" disappears from the list.

Here is the output of the commands you requested:

iwconfig

lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wmaster0  no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:""  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated   
          Tx-Power=17 dBm   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:on
          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

dmesg | grep rt2

[   74.314796] Registered led device: rt2800usb-phy0::radio
[   74.314809] Registered led device: rt2800usb-phy0::assoc
[   74.314821] Registered led device: rt2800usb-phy0::quality
[   74.315140] usbcore: registered new interface driver rt2800usb
[   74.348754] rt2870sta: module is from the staging directory, the quality is unknown, you have been warned.
[   74.351893] usbcore: registered new interface driver rt2870
[   74.381774] Error: Driver 'rt2870' is already registered, aborting...
[   74.381778] usbcore: error -17 registering interface     driver rt2870
[   74.473557] rt2800usb 1-6:1.0: firmware: requesting rt2870.bin

Thanks for your help on this... took the machine home for the remainder of the week so I can work on debugging this

[nightmicu]

Okay, an update - just put the USB ID in Google and I found this thread: http://osdir.com/ml/linux-wireless/2.../msg00438.html
Could this be a problem with 9.10? I am not entirely a newbie but things like this just totally confuse me, line after line of command output in Terminal.

[chili555]

Okay, an update - just put the USB ID in Google and I found this thread: http://osdir.com/ml/linux-wireless/2.../msg00438.html
Could this be a problem with 9.10? I am not entirely a newbie but things like this just totally confuse me, line after line of command output in Terminal.

It seems like a different problem to me. I think maybe the modules rt2800usb and rt2870sta are fighting each other:

[ 74.314796] Registered led device: rt2800usb-phy0::radio
[ 74.314809] Registered led device: rt2800usb-phy0::assoc
[ 74.314821] Registered led device: rt2800usb-phy0::quality
[ 74.315140] usbcore: registered new interface driver rt2800usb
[ 74.348754] rt2870sta: module is from the staging directory, the quality is unknown, you have been warned.
[ 74.351893] usbcore: registered new interface driver rt2870
[ 74.381774] Error: Driver 'rt2870' is already registered, aborting...

Let's blacklist rt2800usb by doing:

sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

Add a single line:

rt2800usb

Proofread, save and close gedit. Reboot and see if the wireless sees networks and connects.

[nightmicu]

Let's blacklist rt2800usb

THAT DID IT!!! FINALLY!! Thank you VERY much for your help and patience, I am off to share the solution with Monoprice Tech Support. They're really nice folks over there, just not very Linux savvy.

Thanks again!

[chili555]

For the benefit of the searchers, here is the issue. This device has the vendor and product code, or pciid of 148f:3070, as shown in the original post. Both the module rt2800usb:

modinfo rt2800usb | grep 3070
--- snip ---
alias: usb:v148Fp3070d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*

As well as the module rt2870sta:

modinfo rt2870sta | grep 3070
--- snip ---
alias: usb:v148Fp3070d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*

Both claim the device! One has to be blacklisted for the device to work correctly. I have read suggestions elsewhere that rt2870sta is the module that should be blacklisted. I believe you should first try blacklisting rt2800usb and, if you are not successful, try the other.