HOWTO: Ralink RT2570 usb wireless driver

**Lambert** · December 21st, 2005

This howto derived from this thread.
Similar thread can be found here. Haven't compared but that thread has two posts w/ verified working driver following those instructions.

Homepage for the rt2570 driver can be found here.

This link shows a list of devices reported by users to work with the rt2xxx drivers. Which the rt2570 section shows the dwl-g122 as working with this driver. I've seen quite a few posts lately about getting this device to work. Post your results and success stories for others to see.

Preparation
If not installed already, these packages need to be installed.

Code:

sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-`uname -r` gcc-3.4

At the time this was written driver was rt2570-1.1.0-b1. If driver is updated commands will need to change to that file name.

Step 1 Download and untar file

Get file
Go here and choose the rt2570beta driver. You'll get a choice of mirrors where to download from. Save it to file.

Now copy the file to /usr/src

Code:

sudo cp /path/to/file/rt2570-1.1.0-b1.tar.gz /usr/src/

Move to /usr/src

Code:

cd /usr/src

Untar file

Code:

sudo tar -xzvf rt2570-1.1.0-b1.tar.gz

Move into file

Code:

cd rt2570-1.1.0b1/Module

Step 2 Make and install file

Code:

sudo make

Code:

sudo make install

Step 3 Set up and load module

make a directory for the .ko file

Code:

sudo mkdir /lib/modules/`uname -r`/drivers/

copy file over to new directory

Code:

sudo cp /lib/modules/2.6.12/extra/rt2570.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/drivers/

Then insert module into kernel

Code:

sudo insmod /lib/modules/`uname -r`/drivers/rt2570.ko

Code:

sudo lsmod -a

Configure your wireless device through /etc/network/interfaces. Here is a sample file.

iface rausb0 inet dhcp
wireless-essid apname
wireless-key xxxxxxxxx
wireless-mode Managed
auto rausb0

restart the networking service

Code:

sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart

Now try to bring up your device

Code:

sudo ifconfig rausb0 up

To load module at boot add it to /etc/modules file

Code:

sudo echo rt2570 >> /etc/modules

Report bugs
This driver is a beta driver and there are probably bugs. In /usr/src/rt2570-1.1.0-b1/Modules/ there is a file TESTING. Read this file as it gives information on logging and reporting bugs.

**jnorth** · January 8th, 2006

Hi - just following up on this... I'm one of the users who's been able to get the rt2570 driver working for a WUSB54Gv4 device. There are a few extra steps that I had to do to get it working on my system. You can see the whole process I followed here, but basically, follow Lambert's steps except for these things:
1. On my system - I couldn't get modprobe/insmod to see the driver unless I put the rt2570.ko file in another directory:

Code:

sudo mv /lib/modules/2.6.xx/extra/rt2570.ko /lib/modules/2.6.xx-xx-xxx/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rt2570.ko

2. Also, the install put the alias line in a new file called modprobe.conf, which isn't standard order on Debian/Ubuntu - may as well move it to the correct area:

Code:

sudo mv /etc/modprobe.conf /etc/modutils/rt2570

3. As per Lambert, load the module up and you should be good to go with the rest of your ifconfig/iwconfig steps, or use the gui to configure.

Code:

sudo depmod -a
sudo update-modules
sudo modprobe rt2570

**ned.b** · January 9th, 2006

Thanks Lambert - this worked!

**Ailis** · January 10th, 2006

I managed to get this to work...sorta. I've got one problem left. The wireless suddenly goes inactive and I have to go to system --> administration -->networking and activate it manually again. (I also have to do this when I start up).

Any ideas what may be the problem?

**danish_demon** · January 14th, 2006

Originally Posted by Lambert

Configure your wireless device through /etc/network/interfaces. Here is a sample file.

iface rausb0 inet dhcp
wireless-essid apname
wireless-key xxxxxxxxx
wireless-mode Managed
auto rausb0

i am with you until this part. do i actually put in "apname" for essid? how do i find out what my wireless-key is? help somebody, please.

**Lambert** · January 17th, 2006

Originally Posted by Ailis

I managed to get this to work...sorta. I've got one problem left. The wireless suddenly goes inactive and I have to go to system --> administration -->networking and activate it manually again. (I also have to do this when I start up).

Any ideas what may be the problem?

Suddenly goes inactive? hmm go to terminal and type dmesg after this happens. Also check /var/log/syslog
Hopefully one of these will give someoutput

Also sometimes signal interference can casue a connection to drop. Can you change and try another channel?

**Lambert** · January 17th, 2006

Originally Posted by danish_demon

i am with you until this part. do i actually put in "apname" for essid? how do i find out what my wireless-key is? help somebody, please.

You need to know the ssid of the router you want to connect to. You can try to scan for the router with this command if you don't know it.

sudo iwlist rausb0 scan

here is a sample

Code:

 Cell 05 - Address: 00:12:17:A6:AA:3F
                    ESSID:"linksys-g"
                    Mode:Master
                    Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
                    Quality=6/94  Signal level=-89 dBm  Noise level=-95 dBm
                    Encryption key:on

so if this was the router you wanted to connect to this is what it would look like.

iface rausb0 inet dhcp
wireless-essid linksys-g
wireless-mode managed
wireless-key xxxxx
auto rausb0

What is the key? You have to know it. But if there is no encryption on the router you don't need a key, you can just remove that line.

**danish_demon** · January 17th, 2006

thanks lambert. i was able to figure it out by comparing the relevant info to that on my desktop (which i am online with via ndiswrapper). i sometimes have the same problem as that other person though (i.e. not working at start-up or suddently dropping the connection). i'll try the things you suggested though.

**Ailis** · January 28th, 2006

Suddenly goes inactive? hmm go to terminal and type dmesg after this happens. Also check /var/log/syslog
Hopefully one of these will give someoutput

Also sometimes signal interference can casue a connection to drop. Can you change and try another channel?

The dmesg command gives a lot of cryptic output. Most of it seems to repeat itself though, so I'll just show you the last lines:

Code:

08:00 SRC=192.168.1.1 DST=192.168.1.101 LEN=78 TOS=0x00 PREC=0x00 TTL=64 ID=2224 2 PROTO=UDP SPT=19743 DPT=137 LEN=58
[4314829.914000] hub 4-0:1.0: port 2 disabled by hub (EMI?), re-enabling...
[4314829.914000] usb 4-2: USB disconnect, address 5
[4314829.915000] unregister_netdev( )
[4314831.013000] usb 4-2: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 6
[4314831.278000] idVendor = 0x13b1, idProduct = 0xd
[4314831.280000] INIT bRadio=1
[4314832.462000] RT25usb  Driver version 1.1.0

The syslog-file also has a lot of output in it. Difficult to say what's the interesting part in it. Does this make any sense:

Code:

Jan 28 19:29:40 localhost dhclient: DHCPRELEASE on rausb0 to 192.168.1.1 port 67
Jan 28 19:29:40 localhost dhclient: send_packet: Network is unreachable
Jan 28 19:29:40 localhost dhclient: send_packet: please consult README file rega$
Jan 28 19:29:40 localhost kernel: [4314832.462000] RT25usb  Driver version 1.1.0

I'm not sure I understand what another channel is. I'm a newbie at all this stuff.

Thanks for the help so far

**Lambert** · January 29th, 2006

Didn't see anything in what you posted.

A channel is just like a radio station, it broadcasts at a certain frequency. So your router and wireless adaptor are connected on a specific channel (or frequency).

You can run iwconfig to see what frequency you're on.

Code:

Frequency:2.437 GHz

This is channel six.

To change frequency you need to first change your router settings. See your routers documentation for how to access and administer your router's settings. Then after making the change you'll have to reconnect on the new channel. Driver is usually set at auto so this should happen with out doing anything except deactivating and reactivating the card. If you need to specify channel you can do it like this.

sudo iwconfig ra0 channel X
or
sudo iwconfig ra0 freq 2.4XXG

replaces X with relevant data.