Problems with ralink (rt73) wireless USB connection

Kevin J. Cummings cummings at kjchome.homeip.net
Mon Aug 4 06:44:54 UTC 2008


Colin Paul Adams wrote:
>>>>>> "Kevin" == Kevin J Cummings <cummings at kjchome.homeip.net> writes:
> 
>     Kevin> If you only intend to use your computer with a single
>     Kevin> wireless access point, you might want to consider using the
> 
> That is my situation (it is a bedroom desktop and I want to remove the
> long ethernet cable trailing down the stairs and through the kitchen).

OK.  Have you tried to get this to work with WEP turned off?  Sometimes 
removing complexity can help.

>     >> I checked the SSID and WEP key information (and I have other
>     >> laptops - a MacBook Air and a Sony Windows XP machine) working
>     >> on the router.

The Sony is using the router wirelessly as well?  I assume the router 
has a sufficient number of DHCP addresses to give out for your new 
computer as well, right?

>     >> How do I go about diagnosing the problem?
> 
>     Kevin> Look at your log files.  NetworkManager logs to
>     Kevin> /var/log/messages for me.  There are also interesting
> 
> All it seems to say was that it could not determine the IP
> information. (Also I had to turn SELinux to permissive mode - which I
> think I will keep it there permanently - it is a real pain in the arse).

More details from the log file please.  It may help.  When NM is 
confused, it usually fails to determine an IP because it hasn't set up 
to connect to the access point properly, usually because of some other 
reason.  Here the iwconfig and iwlist commands can be helpful.

I have not been successful at establishing a wireless connection using 
solely iwconfig, but that may be because I need to involve 
wpa_supplicant for my setup.  You may have better luck.

What does iwconfig have to say about your wireless card?

no comment on SEL.

I use WPA Personal security at my house.  AES encryption.  The last time 
I tried to connect to a WEP network, I was unable to (OK, that was back 
in June).  I'm not sure if that's been fixed since then or not, I 
haven't had the opportunity to try again.  No problems connecting to 
either open or WPA networks though.  Go figure.  Can you try to set your 
router to WPA or turn off security temporarily just long enough to run a 
connection test?  Are you running wpa_supplicant as a service?  (if so, 
try disabling it.)  Is the network service still enabled when you are 
trying to use NetworkManager?

>     Kevin> messages about your hardware's drivers when your system
>     Kevin> boots as well.  the output from "lsusb" can help others
>     Kevin> help you as well.
> 
> The latter is a little more informative, maybe.
> It says RALink ... RT2501USB.

I have been using an Intel 3945abg chip, so I have no experience with 
the other drivers.

> Under FC6 is said RT73USB.
> 
> And the device itself comes with a device driver for rt73 for FC4 (I
> couldn't get it to work with FC6 - the instructions didn't match the
> CD directory layout).

I'm not surprised.  Much has changed since FC4.  What do your log files 
say about your wireless card during system boot?  This is important 
information to determine if linux is talking to a proper driver.  What 
does lsmod say about any wireless drivers that should be loaded?  Is 
there a line in your /etc/modprobe.conf file?  Is the module loaded?

>     Kevin> If your problem is that you've configured everything right,
>     Kevin> and its just the access point negotiation that fails, the
>     Kevin> logs from your router might contain useful information as
>     Kevin> well.
> 
> Nothing there.

grumble.   Need more details!

-- 
Kevin J. Cummings
kjchome at rcn.com
cummings at kjchome.homeip.net
cummings at kjc386.framingham.ma.us
Registered Linux User #1232 (http://counter.li.org)




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