I know this will be very long, but can you send the output from:
lsusb -v
and
lsmod
and
modinfo rt2870sta
and
modinfo rt3070sta
I know you’ve already answered some of these, but I’m a bit baffled as to why the device is no longer being discovered at all… it was plugged in wasn’t it ?
and you did send the WHOLE output from:
sudo lshw -C network
didn’t you ?
FYI: I’ve checked it on the desktop version and the files you indicate as symlinks are no symlinks but just plain files.
The only mystery remaining is why it uses an unusual interface name but it seems we can’t answer that for now.
Furthermore the wireless connection is WPA2 encrypted and it works on its maximum speed. I guess there’s nothing to gain right now by messing with the drivers and/or firmware. I can only loose now by breaking it again so I think it is wise that I’m not going to mess with the files on the server until I need to.
Besides I’ve new priorities. Based upon this success I’ve decided to connect all of my peripheral devices to the server. That went very well but I’ve some issues with a rather old flatbedscanner. So I’m going to search for a thread on this forum to get some clues about that.
Okey dokey… and I can’t say I blame you, I’d probably not mess with it either 
I’ve tested the procedure above with my ubuntu desktop and the second RT3070 usb stick and guess what:
Even with rt2800usb blacklisted and rt2870 modprobed it STILL loads rt2800usb.
Weird…
I now have two separate computers and two different ubuntu versions (Server: Maverick; Desktop: Natty) that both completely seem to ignore that blacklist file. There’s something strange going on with either blacklisting or that rt2800 driver.
Are you saying the line:
blacklist rt2800usb
is in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
yet:
lsmod
still shows it as loading ?
If so, I agree, VERY weird ???
Yes, I did say that, but it turns out to be WRONG.
Apparently something had been screwed up. Now it does respect the blacklisting.
However there are other errors. ifup gives an error about wlan1=wlan1 or something like that.
I can’t remember it exactly and I don’t have the second usb stick available right now.
I am a complete novice at Ubuntu and recently purchased a Linksys AE1000 wireless adapter for my desktop pc.
I have Ubuntu 10.4 I think running under VMware.
Can someone provide me with exact instructions on how to activate this adapter in Ubuntu? Don’t assume I know anything.
I would be very grateful for some help.
Hi pevers1, welcome to the forum 
I’m not 100% sure how VMware handles USB devices… ie. whether it just passes through the hosts connection, or if you need to have the Linux drivers installed… Which OS is hosting VMware ? … and does the adapter work in the host OS ?
I’ll download VMware player lter and check, but for now can you (in Ubuntu) open a terminal and enter:
lsusb
hit enter, and post the output.
also post the output from:
sudo lshw -C network
Remember, Linux commands ARE case sensitive.
Now I’m absolutely done with that (***) Ubuntu. >:(
I’ve installed it on a third computer. Exact same install CD as before (ubuntu 10.04), exact same USB wireless dongle (148f:3070).
No go.
So now I’ve:
There are a lot of solutions here but probably the most important one is not mentioned being:
Ubuntu’s hardware detection is terrible, especially the wireless department.
Each install is different from another and each new release contains more and more errors.
If one wants to work wireless then better say goodbye to ubuntu.
Ubuntu for humans?! I don’t think so. At least not “regular” humans
I’m going to ditch it anyway (the version on the not working desktop). Because of a major bug in grub2 in 11.04 (importance: undecided [ :-\ ] according to the developers) it won’t boot anymore.
Well I’ve install Ubuntu on 3 different laptop in the past year, and not once have I had a problem with wireless detection. So I don’t see how Ubuntu’s hardware detection is so bad.
Without more evidence than an obscure USB–>Parallel adapter cable (which you state doesn’t work properly in Windows) and a single generic Wireless device, I’m afraid I’m going to have to agree with BkS on this one.
And when you stack the price of a new PCI Parallel port card and a new wireless adapter, against the price of Windows + AV + Office +…
Sorry if this sounds like I’m “having a go”, I’m not… but I’ve found Ubuntu hardware detection and driver support pretty darn good… though I suppose there could be an element of luck involved
What has the usb parallel adapter issue to do with this? ???
Anyway, the wireless device identifies itself as 148f:3070 so I should think it uses RT3070sta.
Well wrong; that driver does not exist anymore so it goes for RT2870sta on the server computer. But only after a lot messing around.
On my laptop is uses rt2800usb driver and it does not need any editing or whatsoever. it is not even necessary to blacklist drivers.
On my rather old desktop (that might be a problem concerning the type of usb ports), it tries to use rt2870sta en rt2800usb simultaneously, so one needs to be blacklisted.
I chose to use rt2870sta then ubuntu states there are wireless networks. It does not tell which and it can’t connect to the correct one.
So again: hardware detection is not exactly that bad but it is inaccurate in relating the device to a suitable driver.
But like I said I ditched Ubuntu on the desktop because it has a grub2 problem, but I’m going to reinstall a somewhat older version.
So the server has nothing not much to do with this.
FYI: I know that suggestion about a PCI parallel port but unfortunately that won’t work.
It is a special computer. It has approximately the size of a old 5,25 inch floppy and the height if I may call it like that, is about 1 inch. So it is physically impossible to insert a new card.
But I must say this mini computer works quite good.
I’ll go with the observation of Mark. Probably there’s an element of luck involved.
I’;ve had a few cases where things didn’t work on the first few attempts but after some time doing nothing to it things start to work. It might be luck, or new insights or probably new updates. I don’t know.
All I know is that a problem is rarely a permanent problem.
And I do like ubuntu better than windows anyway ;D
Can you provide more info on the GRUB2 problem please… I’ve not heard of it :o … though the Reinstalling GRUB 1.99 in Ubuntu 11.04 from LiveCD - Command change page on this forum does seem to be getting a LOT of hits.
(I’ve never understood the whole GRUB2/Linux naming convention thing, where 0.x → 0.99 is version 1, and 1.0 → 1.99 is version 2, but there you go)
Or do you mean that particular PC doesn’t like GRUB2 ? … any ideas why ? … is it a fakeRAID issue ?
I’ll agree that where new hardware is concerned (and still sadly with some wireless devices in particular) Linux sometimes lags behind Windows as far as drivers are concerned, but I see this as the manufacturers that are at fault in not providing current working proprietary drivers, or at least open sourcing them… not that that helps in any way :
Sadly, I suppose the moral of this story is that sometimes you need to do a little more homework with Linux and device drivers… but as you say they usually catch up, or the issue is solvable… again, not that that’s always a help to everyone, or if you already own the hardware.
BTW, the RTXXXXSTA drivers are proprietary closed source drivers from Ralink, so are AFAIK legally un-modifiable, so somewhat of a manufacturer created issue again… they sell the chips to generic card manufacturers, then take forever to add the ID’s to their drivers which can be a royal pain for users because the Linux devs (AFAIK) can’t add them.
but as you say the open source rt2800usb drivers are coming along in leaps and bounds, and getting better daily, so there’s still hope for the near future
RT3070STA was “supposed” to have been absorbed into RT2870STA, but again how well that works is down to Ralink.
Do you think it may be worth giving Debian (testing or unstable) a test drive ? … they flatly refuse to use proprietary drivers, so may put more effort into making sure the open source drivers work, and are upstream of Ubuntu anyway.
I have the same problem noobuntu had.
After:
iwconfig
there is no wireless interface (except lo and eth0)
rt2870sta module is loaded.
The output of commands
lshw -C network
tail -n 15
lsusb
is in the attachment.
I have tried using the rt3572 module with no luck.
Thank you
Can you post the output from:
lsmod | grep rt
and
modinfo rt2870sta | grep 2070
and
modinfo rt2800usb | grep 2070
And tell us which version of Ubuntu you are running:
cat /etc/*-release
And your kernel version:
uname -a
Oh, and which driver(s) you’ve already tried
lsmod | grep rt
rt2870sta 570769 0
parport_pc 32111 1
parport 36746 3 ppdev,parport_pc,lp
modinfo rt2870sta | grep 2070
modinfo rt2800usb | grep 2070
alias: usb:v148Fp2070ddcdscdpiciscip*
alias: usb:v8516p2070ddcdscdpiciscip*
cat /etc/*=release
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=11.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=natty
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION=“Ubuntu 11.04”
uname -a
Linux chingu 2.6.38-11-generic #48-Ubuntu SMP Fri Jul 29 19:05:14 UTC 2011 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux
I have tried the driver that you have posted on the first page on the thread and then the one you have fixed for Noobuntu on the second page of the thread (both rt2870sta). I have also tried the rt3572 one. I can still connect to the Internet by loading the rt2800usb.
OK, try this one:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/11876059/custom-RT2070-added-2011_0407_RT3070_RT3370_RT5370_RT5372_Linux_STA_V2.5.0.2_DPO.tar.bz2
I’ve added the 148f:2070 ID’s
Your ID’s obviously aren’t contained in the driver you are currently using.
The rest of the instructions remain the same.
If rt2800usb is working, why do you want to change to the staging drivers ?
I am using the new driver now.
Please note that there the code in makefile tried to copy files into /tftpboot .
With rt2800usb Internet was very slow and I got disconnected frequently.
Old rt2800 included with ubuntu 11.04 was working fine except crashing once or twice a week, which make me look for a new driver.
So did the custom driver work ?
All I did was download them directly from Ralink, and add
{USB_DEVICE(0x148F,0x2070)}, /* Ralink Generic 2070 */
to
/common/rtusb_dev_id.c
Yes it is working now.
Thank you!