Hey folks New Linux convert here!
Ralink Wireless USB adapter Linux Mint 15
Postby connectionfast on Sat Sep 21, 2013 5:27 pm
Hi folks!
I have a Ralink Wifi adapter usb dongle and surprise…it doesnt seem to work with Mint 15. Please enlighten me in the simplest terms possible please! Its an RALINK RT 2860.
much appreciated!
PS The device is found after entering an “inxi -n” but thats as far as ive got:
pete@pete-ESPRIMO-P ~ $ inxi -n
Network: Card: Realtek RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ driver: 8139too
IF: eth0 state: unknown speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: 00:30:05:e3:76:b4
pete@pete-ESPRIMO-P ~ $
Card-2: Ralink RT2870/RT3070 Wireless Adapter
IF: N/A state: N/A mac: N/A
Hi fastconnection, and welcome to the forum 
can you post the output from:
lsusb
and
sudo lshw -C network
Hi there and thanks for the nice welcome!
Heres the info!:
lsusb
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 192f:0916 Avago Technologies, Pte.
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 1c4f:0002 SiGma Micro Keyboard TRACER Gamma Ivory
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 148f:3070 Ralink Technology, Corp. RT2870/RT3070 Wireless Adapter
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
and:
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+
vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
physical id: 4
bus info: pci@0000:0c:04.0
logical name: eth0
version: 10
serial: 00:30:05:e3:76:b4
size: 100Mbit/s
capacity: 100Mbit/s
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=8139too driverversion=0.9.28 duplex=full ip=192.168.1.64 latency=64 link=yes maxlatency=64 mingnt=32 multicast=yes port=MII speed=100Mbit/s
resources: irq:23 ioport:a000(size=256) memory:d0100000-d01000ff
Can you unplug the USB wireless adapter, wait 10 seconds, replug it, then send the output from:
dmesg | tail -n 40
and
lsmod | grep rt2
Please ignore this link for now:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/11876059/DPO_RT5572_LinuxSTA_2.6.1.3_20121022.tar.gz
it’s a reminder for me in case we need to use it later.
–
ok many thanks heres the result:
dmesg | tail -n 40
[ 17.368723] udevd[415]: starting version 175
[ 17.593354] lp: driver loaded but no devices found
[ 17.616218] shpchp: Standard Hot Plug PCI Controller Driver version: 0.4
[ 17.617411] piix4_smbus 0000:00:14.0: SMBus Host Controller at 0x8410, revision 0
[ 17.617527] piix4_smbus 0000:00:14.0: Auxiliary SMBus Host Controller at 0x8050
[ 17.634544] sp5100_tco: SP5100/SB800 TCO WatchDog Timer Driver v0.05
[ 17.634733] sp5100_tco: PCI Revision ID: 0x13
[ 17.634764] sp5100_tco: failed to find MMIO address, giving up.
[ 17.766342] microcode: CPU0 sig=0xf47, pf=0x10, revision=0x3
[ 17.800180] input: HDA ATI SB Line as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.2/sound/card0/input5
[ 17.800413] input: HDA ATI SB Mic as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.2/sound/card0/input6
[ 17.800610] input: HDA ATI SB Line Out as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.2/sound/card0/input7
[ 17.964201] device-mapper: multipath: version 1.5.1 loaded
[ 18.186881] microcode: CPU1 sig=0xf47, pf=0x10, revision=0x3
[ 18.195939] microcode: Microcode Update Driver: v2.00 tigran@aivazian.fsnet.co.uk, Peter Oruba
[ 19.697679] EXT4-fs (sda1): re-mounted. Opts: errors=remount-ro
[ 20.124961] init: failsafe main process (742) killed by TERM signal
[ 20.513932] Bluetooth: Core ver 2.16
[ 20.513976] NET: Registered protocol family 31
[ 20.513980] Bluetooth: HCI device and connection manager initialized
[ 20.513995] Bluetooth: HCI socket layer initialized
[ 20.514000] Bluetooth: L2CAP socket layer initialized
[ 20.514012] Bluetooth: SCO socket layer initialized
[ 20.526009] Bluetooth: BNEP (Ethernet Emulation) ver 1.3
[ 20.526016] Bluetooth: BNEP filters: protocol multicast
[ 20.526032] Bluetooth: BNEP socket layer initialized
[ 20.529158] Bluetooth: RFCOMM TTY layer initialized
[ 20.529180] Bluetooth: RFCOMM socket layer initialized
[ 20.529183] Bluetooth: RFCOMM ver 1.11
[ 20.993974] ppdev: user-space parallel port driver
[ 21.026780] init: avahi-cups-reload main process (856) terminated with status 1
[ 23.193508] 8139too 0000:0c:04.0 eth0: link up, 100Mbps, full-duplex, lpa 0x45E1
[ 27.673515] init: plymouth-upstart-bridge main process (808) killed by TERM signal
[ 202.095824] usb 1-10: USB disconnect, device number 4
[ 228.780054] usb 1-10: new high-speed USB device number 5 using ehci-pci
[ 228.929520] usb 1-10: New USB device found, idVendor=148f, idProduct=3070
[ 228.929527] usb 1-10: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 228.929533] usb 1-10: Product: 802.11 n WLAN
[ 228.929537] usb 1-10: Manufacturer: Ralink
[ 228.929541] usb 1-10: SerialNumber: 1.0
What’s the output from:
lsmod | grep rt2
and
modinfo rt2800usb | grep 3070
and
rfkill list
lsmod | grep rt2 : doesnt generate anything - just prompt
modinfo rt2800usb | grep 3070
alias: usb:v148Fp3070ddcdscdpiciscipin
alias: usb:v8516p3070ddcdscdpiciscipin
alias: usb:v07B8p3070ddcdscdpiciscipin
Odd.
OK, what happens if you run:
sudo modprobe rt2800usb
does wireless spring to life ?
what would i expect to see if it does? (shows you just how NEW I am! ;D
What happens if you normal (left) click the networkmanager icon (by the clock), is your network listed ?
or what’s the output from:
iwconfig
iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.
eth0 no wireless extensions.
Thanks for your time by the way - determined to persevere - Linux is superb - wish I had used it years ago
OK that didn’t work then 
odd because rt2800usb has the right ID string :o
Right we’re going to compile the drivers from Ralink … so whilst I type up the intructions, can you install linux-headers-generic and build-essential with this command:
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic build-essential
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic build-essential
Reading package lists… Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information… Done
Package build-essential is not available, but is referred to by another package.
This may mean that the package is missing, has been obsoleted, or
is only available from another source
E: Package ‘build-essential’ has no installation candidate
Eh … how can build-essential be missing ?
Are you sure this is Mint 15 … and not something like Backtrack ?
run:
sudo apt-get update
then
sudo apt-get install build-essential
yep definitely mint 15.
on the update i get this?
E: Type ‘http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian’ is not known on line 1 in source list /etc/apt/sources.list.d/additional-repositories.list
E: The list of sources could not be read.
I can reinstall and get back to you if you like?
I like to look forward in life - The rest is history!
Can you post the contents of this file:-
/etc/apt/sources.list
You in the UK right ?
Can’t give you the exact command to open it, as I don’t know what text editor Mint 15 uses ?
if it uses gedit, it would be
gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
yes its gedit but…
But it opens a window and its blank! :-\
(I also looked in the APT folder and I have another file marked “sources.list,d” ??
sorry to be pain
Notice you are in Cornwall?
Just got back from Delabole - sister lives there…