RT61 driver hangs net, if interface accessed while down
Affects | Status | Importance | Assigned to | Milestone | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
linux (Ubuntu) |
Won't Fix
|
Medium
|
Unassigned |
Bug Description
Binary package hint: linux-source-2.6.15
The "rt61" driver for Ralink's RT2600 chipset has a bug where it'll jam all (future) processes using the network, like i[wf]config, umount, etc. and refuse to be unloaded. Eventually it's necessary to power-cycle the machine because some shutdown script(s) will hang.
This bug is triggered if one tries to set or even read the interfaces' status while the i/f is in down. Running:
modprobe rt61
# link is now *not* set "up"
# list wireless interfaces:
iwconfig
after inserting the (PCMCIA) card is enough to demonstrate this.
To work around it's currently necessary to run "ip link set ra0 up" before *any* command that touches the interface.
My wifi card is a PC Card, D-Link DWL-G630, P/N EWLG630EU.E1, H/W ver. E1, F/W ver. 5.00
From my experience, I was able to make a wireless card work using this driver (rt61) on one laptop but then on another laptop, it hangs and I get a kernel oops.
This is what we did on the current laptop:
1. Installed dapper
2. Dapper loads the rt61 module on its own
3. Upon running iwconfig, the terminal "hangs"
4. Checking dmesg reveals an oops message
Unfortunately, I don't have the information about the message right now but I do remember something about a NULL (de)reference error or something similar. Once the kernel oopses, it would be necessary to power-cycle the machine. It's a mystery to me as to why this happens since I was able to make the driver work on another laptop. Perhaps some details about the hardware are different?