[Solved] How to setup Belkin Wireless USB Dongle (F6D4050 v1 and v2)?

trusktr · 2010-02-20 20:10:44

I have no clue how to get my wireless connection going with my Belkin Wireless USB dongle (looks like a USB flash drive/key).

Anyone know how?

(I'm on wired internet right now )

(If it helps, my Belkin Wireless G usb dongle model number is F6D4050 v2)

Last edited by trusktr (2010-07-29 05:46:47)

tomk · 2010-02-20 21:20:18

Read the Wireless Setup page in the wiki.

firecat53 · 2010-02-20 22:42:46

I think that's the same one I had.... You need the rt2x00 driver and firmware. Two separate packages. After that, its like any other wireless connection. But, not sure if v2 uses the same driver... so ymmv: )

Good luck!
Scott

trusktr · 2010-02-20 23:42:39

hey firecat, so your saying that I can install realtek wireless card drivers and that somehow my usb wireless dongle, from a completely different brand, will just suddenly begin working??? hehe

I read the entire wireless setup page at ArchWiki, but i didn't do any of those drivers because they are all apparently for Wireless Cards, not USB. There is only one USB thing on there from some obscure brand i haven't heard of.

tomk · 2010-02-21 00:32:56

trusktr - drivers are typically written for chipsets. If the hardware is usb, then some additional usb "glue" is added. You need to identify the chipset in your device, and then the correct driver for that chipset. The wireless wiki page covers both usb and pci devices.

Also fyi - rt2x00 drivers are for Ralink chipsets, not Realtek. The wiki includes this information. The rt2x00 drivers include three for Ralink usb devices - rt2500usb, rt2800usb, and rt73usb.

trusktr · 2010-02-21 00:39:26

Hey tomk, but my device is a Belkin USB device. Any idea where to find the chipset information for it? I looked but i couldn't find it.

I would assume it's a "Belkin" chipset since it's made by "Belkin"

My next question is, if I install the ralink drivers, can I uninstall them just as easily with pacman -Rsu ? That way if they don't work it's easy to rollback.

tomk · 2010-02-21 09:35:04

There are hardware manfacturers, like Belkin, and there are chipset manufacturers, like Ralink. Belkin uses chipsets from Ralink (or Realtek or Atheros or...) in their products. As I have already said, you need to identify your device's chipset. lsusb will help, so will Google.

Ralink drivers are already installed on your system, along with all other drivers included in the kernel26 package.

trusktr · 2010-02-21 19:49:25

ok well i talked to Belkin and they said mine uses the rt3070 chipset, but in that driver's readme file i noticed it said "rt2870", which is available from the AUR.

I have a few questions:

1. If the driver is included in kernel26, should my wireless network just work or at least see something when i plug it in (i have NetWorkmanager fully working to automatically set up connections)? Right now i see nothing happen all except that i see "Belkin Components" for one of the usb devices when i use the lsusb command.

2. Are the rt2870 drivers pre-installed in kernel26 already? How can I check to see if these drivers were already included with kernel26?

3. In the "Wireless Setup" page in the ArchWiki it said to install the rt2870 drivers from the AUR, which I did. Should I not have done this?

And 4. if I remove the package, will it mess up the drivers that might have been pre-installed? Or will I be just fine in case i remove them with pacman or yaourt (yaourt is a AUR helper with same options as pacman)?

Thanks for your help! ...:rolleyes:...:)

Last edited by trusktr (2010-02-21 19:58:55)

tomk · 2010-02-21 20:12:41

rt2870sta is included in kernel26 - you can check this using the modprobe command. It's in the kernel's staging directory, which means it is considered usable, even though it has not yet reached the kernel's coding standards. If it's not loaded automatically, do it manually with modprobe.

The AUR package is a more recent version of the driver than the one included in the kernel package, and it will have overwritten the kernel driver. I'd suggest you remove the AUR package, reinstall kernel26, and see how you get on with that version. If it's not successful, try the more recent version.

trusktr · 2010-02-21 21:57:05

Oh man, so i messed up a little. hehe

Alright, I can remove the AUR package, but how do I reinstall kernel26? Do i just use pacman -S kernel26, or is it more complicated than that, since it is the kernel and all? Isn't this the main part of my entire operating system?

tomk · 2010-02-21 22:45:44

Just pacman -S ...

Please try to familiarise yourself with some Arch basics, particularly pacman usage.

trusktr · 2010-02-21 23:23:19

Well my question is about pacman, i just want to make sure if i re-install kernel26 if there is anything I have to do (like edit settings or configurations) after re-installing it.

Thanks for your help!

Parter · 2010-02-22 05:31:42

trusktr wrote:

Well my question is about pacman, i just want to make sure if i re-install kernel26 if there is anything I have to do (like edit settings or configurations) after re-installing it.
Thanks for your help!

Use the wiki. All of your questions could be answered with google and the wiki there is no need to talk to Belkin even

trusktr · 2010-02-22 06:56:18

Hey tomk, I've tried the driver that comes with the kernel and couldn't get anything to work. I was able to "modprobe rt2870sta" and i also installed the firmware via "pacman -S rt2870usb-fw" (there is no rt2870usb package anywhere except in AUR, but it is "Outdated" so i didn't install it).

After restarting my network and network manager, still nothing. iwconfig also shows nothing.

iwlist shows this:

Usage: iwlist [interface] scanning [essid NNN] [last]
[interface] frequency
[interface] channel
[interface] bitrate
[interface] rate
[interface] encryption
[interface] keys
[interface] power
[interface] txpower
[interface] retry
[interface] ap
[interface] accesspoints
[interface] peers
[interface] event
[interface] auth
[interface] wpakeys
[interface] genie
[interface] modulation

As for the newer rt2870 driver from AUR, i was able to install it, but when using rmmod or modprobe, nothing could be found by the commands. Maybe some package details are missing for this build so the commands couldn't locate the files. Also using "pacman -Qs rt2870" returned nothing!... I think something is wrong with this package.

trusktr · 2010-06-09 08:45:35

I've solved this simply by using another dongle. The one I was trying to use is simply incompatible with Linux.

tomk · 2010-06-09 08:55:03

In that case, [SOLVED] in the title is incorrect. I have removed it.

trusktr · 2010-06-09 08:57:01

Thanks for setting me straight

schuay · 2010-06-09 12:07:08

Seems like I'm late to the party

For rt2870 cards, only kernel26 and linux-firmware should be required (and linux-firmware only since kernel 2.6.34).

That combination works perfectly for me and I also use a Belkin stick.

Sorry to hear you had issues with the rt2870 AUR package. I maintain that package but I don't use it myself - AFAIK the package is fine though. To me it sounds like something went wrong before installation, since you get no output from pacman -Qs rt2870. Here's mine:

~]$ pacman -Ql rt2870
rt2870 /etc/
rt2870 /etc/Wireless/
rt2870 /etc/Wireless/RT2870STA/
rt2870 /etc/Wireless/RT2870STA/RT2870STA.dat
rt2870 /lib/
rt2870 /lib/modules/
rt2870 /lib/modules/2.6.34-ARCH/
rt2870 /lib/modules/2.6.34-ARCH/kernel/
rt2870 /lib/modules/2.6.34-ARCH/kernel/drivers/
rt2870 /lib/modules/2.6.34-ARCH/kernel/drivers/net/
rt2870 /lib/modules/2.6.34-ARCH/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/
rt2870 /lib/modules/2.6.34-ARCH/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rt2870sta.ko
~]$ pacman -Qs rt2870
local/rt2870 2.3.0.0-3 [0.92 MB]
    Drivers for rt2870 chipset wireless cards

Additionally, since the module is named identically to the rt2870sta from staging (in-kernel), some manual adjustment is needed after installation - instructions are provided in the .install file and are printed during installation.

If you want to give the Belkin stick another try, I'd recommend starting with the in-kernel module driver.
If it doesn't work, post the output of 'lsmod | grep rt2870' and 'ifconfig -a' (with the Belkin stick inserted).

Last edited by schuay (2010-06-09 12:11:06)

trusktr · 2010-07-29 03:38:32

Aha! I found the solution to make Belkin F6D4050 v1 or F6D4050 v2 wireless usb dongles work! (Note: You need rt2870 driver the which is already included with kernel 2.6.29 and up.)

First, use lsusb to check that the device ID number is 050d:935a or 050d:935b (v1 or v2, respectively):

[sdenne@marsrover ~]$ lsusb
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 050d:935b Belkin Components

Now create these two files:

/etc/udev/rules.d/network_drivers.rules
/etc/modprobe.d/network_drivers.conf

Now add the following to /etc/udev/rules.d/network_drivers.rules (that first file you just created):

ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="050d", ATTR{idProduct}=="935a", RUN+="/sbin/modprobe -qba rt2870sta"

Then add the following to /etc/modprobe.d/network_drivers.conf (the second file you created):

install rt2870sta /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install rt2870sta $CMDLINE_OPTS; /bin/echo "050d 935a" > /sys/bus/usb/drivers/rt2870/new_id

Pay close attention to any occurrence of 935a in the lines you just added. If your device ID is F6D4050 v1, leave occurrences of 935a as is with the letter a at the end. If your device ID is F6D4050 v2, change the last letter of 935a to b. The letter must match with the output that you see when you use lsusb.

That's it! Now reboot and you'll have wireless capabilities! woo hoo!

Note: to undo everything that you've just done, simply delete the two files you created.

Last edited by trusktr (2010-07-29 08:42:47)

Arch Linux

#1 2010-02-20 20:10:44

[Solved] How to setup Belkin Wireless USB Dongle (F6D4050 v1 and v2)?

#2 2010-02-20 21:20:18

Re: [Solved] How to setup Belkin Wireless USB Dongle (F6D4050 v1 and v2)?

#3 2010-02-20 22:42:46

Re: [Solved] How to setup Belkin Wireless USB Dongle (F6D4050 v1 and v2)?

#4 2010-02-20 23:42:39

Re: [Solved] How to setup Belkin Wireless USB Dongle (F6D4050 v1 and v2)?

#5 2010-02-21 00:32:56

Re: [Solved] How to setup Belkin Wireless USB Dongle (F6D4050 v1 and v2)?

#6 2010-02-21 00:39:26

Re: [Solved] How to setup Belkin Wireless USB Dongle (F6D4050 v1 and v2)?

#7 2010-02-21 09:35:04

Re: [Solved] How to setup Belkin Wireless USB Dongle (F6D4050 v1 and v2)?

#8 2010-02-21 19:49:25

Re: [Solved] How to setup Belkin Wireless USB Dongle (F6D4050 v1 and v2)?

#9 2010-02-21 20:12:41

Re: [Solved] How to setup Belkin Wireless USB Dongle (F6D4050 v1 and v2)?

#10 2010-02-21 21:57:05

Re: [Solved] How to setup Belkin Wireless USB Dongle (F6D4050 v1 and v2)?

#11 2010-02-21 22:45:44

Re: [Solved] How to setup Belkin Wireless USB Dongle (F6D4050 v1 and v2)?

#12 2010-02-21 23:23:19

Re: [Solved] How to setup Belkin Wireless USB Dongle (F6D4050 v1 and v2)?

#13 2010-02-22 05:31:42

Re: [Solved] How to setup Belkin Wireless USB Dongle (F6D4050 v1 and v2)?

#14 2010-02-22 06:56:18

Re: [Solved] How to setup Belkin Wireless USB Dongle (F6D4050 v1 and v2)?

#15 2010-06-09 08:45:35

Re: [Solved] How to setup Belkin Wireless USB Dongle (F6D4050 v1 and v2)?

#16 2010-06-09 08:55:03

Re: [Solved] How to setup Belkin Wireless USB Dongle (F6D4050 v1 and v2)?

#17 2010-06-09 08:57:01

Re: [Solved] How to setup Belkin Wireless USB Dongle (F6D4050 v1 and v2)?

#18 2010-06-09 12:07:08

Re: [Solved] How to setup Belkin Wireless USB Dongle (F6D4050 v1 and v2)?

#19 2010-07-29 03:38:32

Re: [Solved] How to setup Belkin Wireless USB Dongle (F6D4050 v1 and v2)?

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