rt2870sta version bump to 2.2.0.0

The driver included in Karmic (after all updates) is 1.8.0.1 which is very old and very buggy. It won't connect in Wireless N mode in 5Ghz for more than an hour, even with no encryption at all. WPA2 works randomly, maybe once every 10 reboots. The driver also foolds the system log with status information (not even errors).

I've tried downloading 2.2.0.0 from the ralink site, but it won't compile in 2.6.31. This is a known issue unfortunately.

Some patches have surfaced for other ralink drivers affected by this same problem but I can find none that would work in my case.

Any workaround till ubuntu catches up with ralink, would be helpful

Hi,
try this:
http://forum.ubuntuusers.de/topic/linksys-wusb100-wireless-stick/#post-2264339

I can compile 2.2.0 on ubuntu 9.10 running 2.6.28-17-generic.

Seems to be WAY more stable. No more disconnects every few minutes/houres.

I can confirm all the problems with the old driver, and now there is even version 2.3.0.0 on ralink site:

http://www.ralinktech.com/support.php?s=2

I tried compiling it with a "make" and it gave me no errors. I'm not sure there is a "make install" option and don't know if it works. So I don't know what to do with the compilation output, where to put it what to disable/enable: I don't want to mess up my system, so unless I'm sure what to do I'll stick with the buggy driver (and that's veeeery annoying I swear). If we have to wait for the 2.3 driver to be included, in the mean time could someone please make a binary package for all of us that are unable to install the driver by hand? Or at least post a brief howto, maybe it's as simple as copying the file (if you know where)? Or post a link to an existing *recent* tutorial? Thanks for all, anyway.

But please *DO* include the driver in the main trunk!

P.S. This bug affects *FAR* more than the 6 people registered, as you can see by similar bugs posted and just by googling for "eeepc 901 ubuntu wpa ralink" (and that's only one model)

Hi razor1394,

This bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? Can you try with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO CD images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/ .

If it remains an issue, could you run the following command from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal). It will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report.

apport-collect -p linux 460436

Also, if you could test the latest upstream kernel available that would be great. It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-testing' tag. This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon next to the tag located at the bottom of the bug description and deleting the 'needs-upstream-testing' text. Please let us know your results.

Thanks in advance.

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This bug report was marked as Incomplete and has not had any updated comments for quite some time. As a result this bug is being closed. Please reopen if this is still an issue in the current Ubuntu release http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download . Also, please be sure to provide any requested information that may have been missing. To reopen the bug, click on the current status under the Status column and change the status back to "New". Thanks.

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Hi - the driver included in Lucid is very obsolete, below is the included driver info (from a lucid fresh install). The shipped driver (1.8.1.1) is six releases below current.

The current driver available from the vendor is 2.3.0.0 (link provided in the bug description). For instance, the shipped driver does not support wireless-n mode.

Reopening the bug.

Thanks

$ modinfo rt2860sta
filename: /lib/modules/2.6.32-22-generic/kernel/drivers/staging/rt2860/rt2860sta.ko
version: 1.8.1.1
license: GPL
srcversion: CAEA506C88572D233F96224
alias: pci:v00001432d00007768sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v00001432d00007748sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v00001432d00007738sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v00001432d00007727sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v00001432d00007758sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v00001432d00007728sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v00001432d00007708sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v00001A3Bd00001059sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v00001814d00000781sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v00001814d00000701sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v00001814d00000681sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v00001814d00000601sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
depends:
staging: Y
vermagic: 2.6.32-22-generic SMP mod_unload modversions
parm: mac:rt28xx: wireless mac addr (charp)

See post #8 below

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/460436/comments/8

Just browsed the Linux kernel changelogs: The driver was updated in 2.6.33 to version 2.1 <http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=commitdiff;h=ca97b8388838ee9ea4b4bad04948f8f7f8a607a3>. There seems to be a lot of work going on with that driver.

Would it be possible to backport the rt2870sta changes in order to get the driver running on Ubuntu 10.04?

Greetings,
Dieter

Based on the above comment #10, the actively developed Maverick kernel (which will be based on the 2.6.35 upstream kernel) has the 2.1.0.0 version as provided by upstream. If version 2.2.0.0 or newer is still requested, it is preferred for this to be pushed and accepted upstream first and then pulled back into the Ubuntu kernel. As such I'm setting the actively developed linux task to Incomplete for now until further notice that this has gone upstream.

As for this newer version of the driver being backported to Lucid, it doesn't exactly qualify for a Stable Release Update based on the kernel SRU guidelines - https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeam/KernelUpdates . I'll go ahead and decline the nominations based on this. Thanks.

For me, the rt2870sta driver works with 2.6.35-rc1 ( http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v2.6.35-rc1-lucid/ ) on lucid if also a new linux-firmware package (version 1.36, https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-firmware/1.36/+build/1773894 ) is installed. So, unless something breaks on the way, the upstream kernel 2.6.35 in maverick will just work fine on my machine.

Greetings,
Dieter