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jddantes

Member

Registered: 2013-07-28

Posts: 39

[SOLVED] Installing rt3290 for wifi driver instead of rt2860

Hello,

My wifi drivers seem to be not functioning well (frequently disconnecting wifi, even on an external usb wifi adapter), so I tried to install the RT3290 drivers.

I ended up installing something along this thread, but it says that it shouldn't be as relevant as that was two years ago.

In any case, I ended up installing rt3290 and it seems to be loaded, though I am unsure what I need to do to change the kernel driver in use (still rt2800).

From lspci -v
0a:00.0 Network controller: Ralink corp. RT3290 Wireless 802.11n 1T/1R PCIe (rev ff) (prog-if ff)
	!!! Unknown header type 7f
	Kernel driver in use: rt2860
	Kernel modules: rt2800pci, rt3290sta

0a:00.1 Bluetooth: Ralink corp. RT3290 Bluetooth (rev ff) (prog-if ff)
	!!! Unknown header type 7f

[root@localhost ~]# lsmod | grep rt
iTCO_vendor_support    16384  1 iTCO_wdt
rt3290sta            1138688  0
[root@localhost ~]# dkms status
rt3290, 2.6.0.0rev1, 4.6.4-1-ARCH, x86_64: installed
[root@localhost ~]# cat /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-ralink.conf 
#Wireless drivers conflicting with rt3290sta
blacklist rt2800pci
blacklist rt2x00pci

Last edited by jddantes (2016-08-07 18:26:03)

jddantes

Member

Registered: 2013-07-28

Posts: 39

Re: [SOLVED] Installing rt3290 for wifi driver instead of rt2860

I got confused by the kernel driver showing 2860 when the module says 2800; apparently they were the same thing.

localhost% modinfo rt2800pci
filename:       /lib/modules/4.6.4-1-ARCH/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/ralink/rt2x00/rt2800pci.ko.gz
license:        GPL
firmware:       rt2860.bin
description:    Ralink RT2800 PCI & PCMCIA Wireless LAN driver.

I had the same symptoms as some of the 2015 comments here https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/rt3290sta-dkms/
Disconnects, error message with TSSI and so on.
Also note, it apparently was what caused the internal wifi adapter to be shown as eno1 (previously named wlo1).

What I needed to do was properly blacklist rt2800 (it showed up in lsmod even if it was in the blacklist-ralink.conf that came along with the rt3290 dkms) by doing the /bin/false workaround as shown here https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ke … acklisting

Thus I have

#Wireless drivers conflicting with rt3290sta
blacklist rt2800pci
blacklist rt2x00pci

install rt2800pci /bin/false
install rt2x00pci /bin/false

Now the rt2800pci and rt2x00pci modules are out, and it seems to work fine.

localhost% lsmod | grep ^rt
rt2800mmio             16384  0
rt2x00mmio             16384  1 rt2800mmio
rt2800usb              28672  0
rt2x00usb              20480  1 rt2800usb
rt2800lib              86016  2 rt2800usb,rt2800mmio
rt2x00lib              49152  5 rt2x00usb,rt2800lib,rt2800usb,rt2800mmio,rt2x00mmio
rt3290sta            1138688  1

Will continue to observe, but I guess (hoping) it's fine. Marking it solved for now.