I seem to be never off this forum seeking help for one problem or another and I’ve tried to sort this out myself but I’ve run out of ideas (not that I had many to start with)
For some unexplained reason the network on my Grand-Daughters PC has dropped out and I can’t get it back, it seemed to occure immediately after I changed the swappiness value from 60 to 10 in an attempt to speed up Tux Karting but that might be a red herring , I’ve tried rebooting and completely shutting down and killing the power but it just wont connect, I plugged in a spare usb wireless adaptor and it works fine with that,
Here’s some terminal outputs I took before plugging in the USB adaptor if it’s any help
chloe@Linux2 ~ $ sudo lshw -c network
[sudo] password for chloe:
*-network:0 UNCLAIMED
description: Network controller
product: RT3062 Wireless 802.11n 2T/2R
vendor: Ralink corp.
physical id: b
bus info: pci@0000:00:0b.0
version: 00
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=32 maxlatency=4 mingnt=2
resources: memory:ea000000-ea00ffff
*-network:1
description: Ethernet interface
product: RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+
vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
physical id: e
bus info: pci@0000:00:0e.0
logical name: eth0
version: 10
serial: 00:11:5b:36:8f:7f
size: 10Mbit/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=half latency=32 link=no maxlatency=64 mingnt=32 multicast=yes port=MII speed=10Mbit/s
resources: irq:18 ioport:ec00(size=256) memory:ea014000-ea0140ff
chloe@Linux2 ~ $ nano /etc/network/interfaces
chloe@Linux2 ~ $ iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.
eth0 no wireless extensions.
chloe@Linux2 ~ $ iwlist scanning
lo Interface doesn't support scanning.
eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning.
Many thanks
Graeme
What’s the output from:
lsmod | grep rt
and
lspci -vnn | grep -i net
and
rfkill list
Have you ever had to compile any drivers for this wireless adapter ?
chloe@Linux2 ~ $ lsmod | grep rt
gameport 15060 1 snd_ens1371
parport_pc 32114 1
parport 40930 3 ppdev,parport_pc,lp
chloe@Linux2 ~ $ lspci -vnn | grep -i net
00:0b.0 Network controller [0280]: Ralink corp. RT3062 Wireless 802.11n 2T/2R [1814:3062]
00:0e.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ [10ec:8139] (rev 10)
chloe@Linux2 ~ $ rfkill list
0: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
chloe@Linux2 ~ $
Have you ever had to compile any drivers for this wireless adapter ?
Not that I’m aware of but last night when I was trying to force version TuxKart 8 to version 7 I clicked “Mark all upgrades” and applied and it seemed to download a lot of Linux header stuff which I thought was strange it could have something to do with that
Graeme
Hmm … for some reason rt2800pci isn’t being loaded.
What happens if you run:
sudo modprobe rt2800pci
Be aware … if that works, it may not survive a reboot … but we can fix that.
Ok I disconnected the usb adaptor then run the command it then attempted to establish a connection then a dialogue box popped up asking for password, I entered that then another box opened up asking for the network key ( the key was already pre-written), I confirmed it was correct then clicked “connect” but the network icon just keeps endlessly circling and no connection, I then plugged the usb adaptor and it connected instantly with that
I’m sorry Mark but I’m not sure where that posting relates to my problem so unsure what to do next ?
OK, if you’re sure you used the correct keyring password.
Try opening NetworkManager, and deleting ALL wireless connections … then close NetworkManager.
Then recreate the connection in the normal way.
Ok I deleted all network connections rebooted, but no attempt was made to establish a connection clicking on the network icon showed no no available networks , I then tried to manually add the connection still nothing, I then plugged in the usb adaptor and it connected instantly without even having to input the network key, I think it did that because it assumed the data I used to try and manually establish a connection earlier
What’s the output from:
modinfo rt3562sta
BTW, as you rebooted try:
sudo modprobe rt2800pci
to load the module … THEN see if there are available networks
If still nothing, we can try compiling the STA driver ?
–
chloe@Linux2 ~ $ modinfo rt3562sta
ERROR: modinfo: could not find module rt3562sta
chloe@Linux2 ~ $
sudo modprobe rt2800pci
Shows the network but fails to connect
Open a terminal and run these commands in sequence:
sudo modrprobe -r rt2800pci
then
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic build-essential
then
mkdir ~/rt3062sta-driver
then
cd ~/rt3062sta-driver
then
wget https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/11876059/DPO_RT3562_3592_3062_LinuxSTA_V2.4.1.1_20101217.tar.gz
then
tar -xvf DPO_RT3562_3592_3062_LinuxSTA_V2.4.1.1_20101217.tar.gz
then
cd ~/rt3062sta-driver/DPO_RT3562_3592_3062_LinuxSTA_V2.4.1.1_20101217
then
sudo su
(your prompt should change from $ to #)
then
make
then
make install
then
exit
then
sudo modprobe rt3562sta
Does wireless spring to life ?
If so, check if it survives a reboot.
Thank you Mark you did it again, it sprung into life and it survived a reboot, but can a few questions if that’s ok
1 What went wrong and did I cause the problem ?
2 What did you actually do to fix it ?
3 If I did cause the problem what did I actually do and how do I avoid doing it again ?
Anyway Thank you again for your help
Graeme
To tell the truth I’m not 100% sure what happened … but it’s unlikely anything you did … I can’t say for sure because I don’t know what you’ve been messing with 
For some reason the (built into the kernel) rt2800pci driver is no longer working (or even loading) … possibly a kernel or firmware update broke things (regression).
So I had you download the proprietary (staging) driver from Ralink (actually a pre-modified version from my dropbox), then compile and install it.
It shouldn’t break again, even with a kernel update.
Ok thanks again 
I have one other little irritating problem concerning that PC
You’ll probably remember helping me sort out TuxKart and you suggested i force version back to v7 from v8 which worked the only problem is that although I locked version in symantic as you also suggested , Update manager is wanting to update back to v8 so i always have the blue icon, is there anyway I can stop peppermint from trying to update to that version ?
Graeme
Have you tried running an update ?
did it get updated ?
If you’ve locked the version it shouldn’t update.
[EDIT]
Oh, do you mean mintupdate (shield icon in the system tray) keeps warning you there are updates available ?
–
Have you tried running an update ?
No because it wants to update to v8 and I dont want that, i did try sudo apt-get update from the terminal but it changes nothing I still have the blue icon
Graeme
Do you mean the Shield icon in the system tray ?
2 mins … testing mintupdate, as I don’t use that anymore