kernel panic caused by Ralink RT3072 USB wifi adapter Ubuntu 14.04

[joe164]

Hello. I need some help getting a USB wifi adapter with a Ralink RT3027 chipset in it to work on Ubuntu 14.04. The pc is a 1 yr old laptop that is fully updated. The USB adapter worked great on a 7 - 8 yr old Dell desktop running Ubuntu 12.? and currently runs great on an 8 yr old Toshiba laptop running Win XP.

If I plug in the adapter before booting 14.04, I get a kernel panic message pretty quick. If I plug in the adapter after 14.04 is running, it takes about 10 seconds for the kernel panic black screen and message to appear. During those 10 seconds, if I open the Network Manager drop down menu near the clock, the menu is erratic and flashes between showing the Ralink adapter and not showing it. If I use the Network Manager menu to disable wifi before plugging in the adapter, the kernel panic doesn't happen and the menu is stable and shows the Ralink adapter. But, enabling wifi then causes the kernel panic to occur.

I attached the "wireless-info.tar.gz" file. Thanks for any help.

Joe

[chili555]

Why, oh why would you ever want a USB wireless when you have a built-in wireless that works and connects perfectly according to the wireless-info you provided? If the built-in isn't performing as expected, let's fix it and throw away the crutch.

[joe164]

@ Chili. The back story: I installed the USB wifi adapter in a weather proof enclosure and then temporarily mount it on top of my RV and connect to it with a USB extension cable while I'm parked for extended stays at an RV park with wifi. The built in wifi adapter doesn't work very well through the aluminum framed walls of the RV (or at least that's why I think it doesn't work well). The built in adapter works great at home and other places, just not in the RV. Also, the USB wifi adapter is a "high power" unit that supposedly transmits at 1000mw and when it works, it works well, out to 50 - 100 yards.

So, I'd really like to get the USB adapter working. If I can't get it working, then a recommendation on a different USB adapter that works with 14.04 and is "high power" would be much appreciated. Right now, if I had to replace the USB adapter, I'm considering an Edimax EW-7811 UAC. Thanks for the reply.

Joe

[chili555]

The built in wifi adapter doesn't work very well through the aluminum framed walls of the RV (or at least that's why I think it doesn't work well).

I think that's true.

I strongly suspect the issue is the interaction between the two driver suites; cfg80211, mac80211, rtlwifi, et al. You might try blacklisting the internal as an experiment:

sudo -i
echo "blacklist iwlwifi"  >>  /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
exit

Reboot with the USB plugged in and let's hear the result. If successful, we'll address the switch back and forth between internal and USB a bit later.

Reminds me of the time a few years ago when I assisted a pal with a similar project on his boat.

[wildmanne39]

I park in RV parks often and I can tell you that none of the parks have very good wifi either so that is a lot of the issue, and not enough bandwith. Not saying that there is not a driver coflict as well, if chili says there is you can take that to the bank.

[joe164]

No kernel panic on reboot after following the above instructions. But, the Network Manager drop down menu still flashed back and forth, adding then subtracting about 4 lines. Once or twice a wifi hotspot showed up. After about 10 seconds, the flashing stopped, but no evidence of a wifi adapter showed in the menu. The pc remained usable though. I then disabled and re-enabled networking, but that made no difference. I then unplugged the USB wifi adapter and plugged it back in after a few seconds and got an immediate kernel panic.

I agree with you Wild Man about RV parks having poor wifi. Interesting how they advertise it, but don't really deliver it. But, I have been able to use some of them via the outdoor mounted USB adapter when I couldn't with the built-in adapter.

[chili555]

Will you please reboot with the USB inserted and run and post the wireless script again? Let's see what's not happening as expected.

[joe164]

Here are the results of the wireless script. The pc froze up a couple of times while I let it do it's flashing Network Manager menu thing. That meant I couldn't run the script and had to hold down the power button to shut it down and try again. So I used the Network Manager menu to disable wifi after letting it do it flashing menu thing for about a minute. Hopefully there is useful info in the script results.

Chili, thanks for the help.

[chili555]

I see this awful thing in your wireless script:

[ 98.745414] ieee80211 phy24: rt2800usb_entry_txstatus_timeout: Warning - TX status timeout for entry 0 in queue 0
[ 98.745417] ieee80211 phy24: rt2800usb_entry_txstatus_timeout: Warning - TX status timeout for entry 0 in queue 0
[ 100.363373] ieee80211 phy24: rt2800_wait_wpdma_ready: Error - WPDMA TX/RX busy [0xffffffff]

Googling the error results in little or no useful information. A few threads suggest a later kernel version than yours:

3.13.0-46-generic x86_64

You could try running a live session from a 14.10 Ubuntu DVD or even 15.04 beta. If the wireless works and there is no alarming error in dmesg, then install it.

Otherwise, I'd proceed with this option:

if I had to replace the USB adapter, I'm considering an Edimax EW-7811 UAC.

I believe it requires that you compile a driver from source code. It's not a difficult process; just an additional wrinkle.

There are several threads here about plug and play USB wireless devices; you may wish to check those also.

[joe164]

@ Chili. Thanks for checking the output and letting me know.

When you suggest installing if it works with a live session, do you mean installing a later kernel or a later version of Ubuntu? If you mean kernel, does running a different kernel than what a release comes with cause other problems?

I'll check for plug and play threads if it comes to that.

Thanks - Joe