rt2500pci driver connects with max speed of 1Mb/s

[Joel Parker]

The rt2500pci driver that ships with Hardy is buggy in that it is limited to a connection speed of 1Mb/s instead of the 54Mb/s it should be able to do.

There is a forum discussion here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=766724

[bascule (kennym-safe-mail)]

Hi, thanks for reporting this, could you post/paste the output of

modinfo rt2500pci

Thanks,

[Joel Parker (jjkp)]

$ modinfo rt2500pci
filename: /lib/modules/2.6.24-19-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rt2x00/rt2500pci.ko
license: GPL
description: Ralink RT2500 PCI & PCMCIA Wireless LAN driver.
version: 2.0.10
author: http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com
srcversion: DB2BF84365111437CD709C4
alias: pci:v00001814d00000201sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
depends: rt2x00pci,rt2x00lib,mac80211,eeprom_93cx6
vermagic: 2.6.24-19-generic SMP mod_unload 586

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

The Ubuntu Kernel Team is planning to move to the 2.6.27 kernel for the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. As a result, the kernel team would appreciate it if you could please test this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. There are one of two ways you should be able to test:

1) If you are comfortable installing packages on your own, the linux-image-2.6.27-* package is currently available for you to install and test.

--or--

2) The upcoming Alpha5 for Intrepid Ibex 8.10 will contain this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. Alpha5 is set to be released Thursday Sept 4. Please watch http://www.ubuntu.com/testing for Alpha5 to be announced. You should then be able to test via a LiveCD.

Please let us know immediately if this newer 2.6.27 kernel resolves the bug reported here or if the issue remains. More importantly, please open a new bug report for each new bug/regression introduced by the 2.6.27 kernel and tag the bug report with 'linux-2.6.27'. Also, please specifically note if the issue does or does not appear in the 2.6.26 kernel. Thanks again, we really appreicate your help and feedback.

[John Mora (john-mora)]

I was having similar issues. The following package seems to have resolved the problem.

http://lug.mtu.edu/ubuntu/pool/main/l/linux/linux-image-2.6.27-1-generic_2.6.27-1.2_i386.deb

# modinfo rt2500pci
filename: /lib/modules/2.6.27-1-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rt2x00/rt2500pci.ko
license: GPL
description: Ralink RT2500 PCI & PCMCIA Wireless LAN driver.
version: 2.1.8
author: http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com
srcversion: 29093008FDFF744122E29BB
alias: pci:v00001814d00000201sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
depends: rt2x00lib,rt2x00pci,eeprom_93cx6
vermagic: 2.6.27-1-generic SMP mod_unload modversions 586

# lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 8.04.1
Release: 8.04
Codename: hardy

[Joel Parker (jjkp)]

I'm trying alpha5 now, and it is not fixing my problem.

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ modinfo rt2500pci
filename: /lib/modules/2.6.27-2-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rt2x00/rt2500pci.ko
license: GPL
description: Ralink RT2500 PCI & PCMCIA Wireless LAN driver.
version: 2.1.8
author: http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com
srcversion: 29093008FDFF744122E29BB
alias: pci:v00001814d00000201sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
depends: rt2x00lib,rt2x00pci,eeprom_93cx6
vermagic: 2.6.27-2-generic SMP mod_unload modversions 586

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ iwconfig wlan0
wlan0 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:"*****"
          Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: 00:13:10:E2:1F:2B
          Bit Rate=1 Mb/s Tx-Power=27 dBm
          Retry min limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr=2352 B
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=70/100 Signal level:-57 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

[Joel Parker (jjkp)]

For further reference, I'm using WPA-PSK (not WPA2) and TKIP.

Windows XP Home SP3 is showing 54 Mb/s for this connection on the same machine.

[Joel Parker (jjkp)]

Just tried Beta 1, with same result.

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

Hi Joel,

Just to see if it makes a difference, can you try installing linux-backports-modules as it most recently pulled in an updated version of the compat-wireless stack:

https://edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-backports-modules-2.6.27

linux-backports-modules-2.6.27 (2.6.27-7.3) intrepid; urgency=low

  [Tim Gardner]

  * Added iwlwifi firmware
  * Added the upstream compat-wireless-2.6 tree.
  * Updated compat-wireless to wireless-testing tag master-2008-10-14
  * Set CONFIG_WIRELESS_OLD_REGULATORY=y by default.

[Joel Parker (jjkp)]

Sure I can try that. How do I do it? I'm using Hardy now.

[Joel Parker (jjkp)]

Problem is not fixed for me in Intrepid RC1. I tried it this time with no wireless security at all.

$ iwconfig wlan0
wlan0 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:"******"
          Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: **:**:**:**:**
          Bit Rate=1 Mb/s Tx-Power=27 dBm
          Retry min limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr=2352 B
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=51/100 Signal level:-53 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0
$ modinfo rt2500pci
filename: /lib/modules/2.6.27-7-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rt2x00/rt2500pci.ko
license: GPL
description: Ralink RT2500 PCI & PCMCIA Wireless LAN driver.
version: 2.1.8
author: http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com
srcversion: 8A2D79D2F9BCB71EE9923B1
alias: pci:v00001814d00000201sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
depends: rt2x00lib,rt2x00pci,eeprom_93cx6
vermagic: 2.6.27-7-generic SMP mod_unload modversions 586

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

Hi Joel,

With Intrepid, did you try installing the linux-backports-modules-intrepid package? The modinfo you posted shows you using the rt2500pci driver version 2.1.8 however I believe linux-backports-modules-intrepid provides version 2.2.2 . Thanks.

[Joel Parker (jjkp)]

I can try it, sure. Is it possible to install this using an Intrepid liveCD? I haven't upgraded my main system yet.

[Joel Parker (jjkp)]

Ok, I tried it in Wubi:

$ modinfo rt2500pci
filename: /lib/modules/2.6.27-7-generic/updates/rt2500pci.ko
license: GPL
description: Ralink RT2500 PCI & PCMCIA Wireless LAN driver.
version: 2.2.1
author: http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com
srcversion: E1D084365FA26166E49D1F0
alias: pci:v00001814d00000201sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
depends: rt2x00lib,rt2x00pci,eeprom_93cx6
vermagic: 2.6.27-7-generic SMP mod_unload modversions 586

The speed is still locked at 1Mb/s.

[Joel Parker (jjkp)]

More details:

On Hardy (mod version 2.0.10), I can manually set the rate to 54M and it will take effect and hold it there. When I set it back to auto, it will decrease to 1M again (sometimes immediately, sometimes after a while).

So my temporary workaround here seems to be to set it manually to 54M when I connect to the network. Is there a way to get this to run automatically after NetworkManager connects?

[Joel Parker (jjkp)]

More on my workaround: it's independent of the network, so I just added this line to my /etc/rc.local:

# Set wireless to 54Mb/s
iwconfig wlan0 rate 54M

[Chasney (chasney57)]

thankyou Joel for this workaround - it works just fine on intrepid with a MSI pcmcia
Chasney

[burton82 (bburton82)]

the bug still exist in jaunty alpha 5. is there any update?

[dayneman1 (dayneman1-gmail)]

Still no fix for Jaunty Jackalope beta