RaLink RT2860 won't connect to 802.11n WPA2 networks

Hi Troy,

Per the kernel team's bug policy, can you please attach the following information. Please be sure to attach each file as a separate attachment.

* cat /proc/version_signature > version.log
* dmesg > dmesg.log
* sudo lspci -vvnn > lspci-vvnn.log

It would also probably be best to wait and capture your dmesg output after you try to connect but fail. Hopefully some additonal error messages might be logged. For more information regarding the kernel team bug policy, please refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies . Thanks again and we appreciate your help and feedback.

Alrighty -- I've attached an archive of my system info/logs. In the syslog/dmesg output, it shows the continous timeouts (the gnome-network-manager just asks for the password every minute or so).

Attached debug logs to fix incomplete status.

I can confirm this is still not working on the Jaunty Beta Live CD (booted on eeepc 901 from USB).

I've attached the requested logs from my system.

I've noticed that after entering the correct password and timing out, with 'Show password' checked the original password has been replaced with a 64 digit hex number.

WPA2 works great on Intrepid (same hardware, appropriate (proposed / backports?) enabled, so this is a regression from currently available drivers.

If I can help further to get this working by release please let me know.

Hi, I can confirm this bug with ubuntu 9.04 beta on the eee pc 901, trying to connect to a WPA2 network, although I'm not sure if its RT2860 related or caused by WPA_supplicant/Network-manager.

Previously, I had ubuntu 8.1 with adam's kernel installed and could connect to the same network.

I can confirm it on a EEE 1000 and some generic no-name rt2860 cards I have installed in a pair of MSI laptops. The only driver under Intrepid that I ever got working across both was Adam's (of EEE kernel fame) DKMS driver. None of the others I ever tried worked on the EEE and the generic cards. It seems we're back to that state with whatever half-baked driver the kernel team decided to ship. The day anybody besides Intel ships a Linux, working, open source wireless driver I swear I'm gonna have a heart attack. The RT* is borked (again), my backup "N" Atheros cards actually cause Jaunty to freeze up/crash (I don't remember the last time I had a driver load that was THAT borked since I quit using Windows for heaven's sake).

Some days it just isn't worth chewing through the restraints.

I can confirm on 9.04 beta UNR 20090328 on the popular Hercules ecafe EC-900/H60G-IA notebook that wifi WPA2 connection does not work. Non WPA wifi works though (and the wired connection works too). I tested WPA2 from another machine with the same ubuntu and it worked.

Hardware has:

02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: RaLink RT2860 [1814:0781]

When trying to connect dmesg says:

[ 686.730040] ===>rt_ioctl_giwscan. 5(5) BSS returned, data->length = 515
[ 686.730711] ==>rt_ioctl_siwfreq::SIOCSIWFREQ[cmd=0x8b04] (Channel=1)
[ 701.751142] ===>rt_ioctl_giwscan. 4(4) BSS returned, data->length = 427
[ 701.752005] ==>rt_ioctl_siwfreq::SIOCSIWFREQ[cmd=0x8b04] (Channel=1)
[ 716.772383] ===>rt_ioctl_giwscan. 4(4) BSS returned, data->length = 427
[ 716.773166] ==>rt_ioctl_siwfreq::SIOCSIWFREQ[cmd=0x8b04] (Channel=1)

Would be nice to fix, the native distribution shipped with this ecafe notebook has no problem connecting to WPA2 networks so there must be a correct driver somewhere.

To be more specific, my working Intrepid install on eeepc 901 has a "stock" Ubuntu with intrepid-proposed and "Proprietary drivers for devices (restricted)" enabled in Synaptic Software Sources.

I show the Adam McDaniel <email address hidden> as the maintainer of the installed driver:
apt-cache policy rt2860-dkms
rt2860-dkms:
  Installed: 1.7.1.1
  Candidate: 1.7.1.1
  Version table:
 *** 1.7.1.1 0
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

In my working configuration I have the following installed:
wpasupplicant:
  Installed: 0.6.4-2
  Candidate: 0.6.4-2
  Version table:
 *** 0.6.4-2 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

I'm currently on 2.6.27-14-generic

I've been using this (with periodic updates) for months with no problems against a D-Link DIR-655 Hardware Version A3 Firmware Version 1.20.

The Jaunty Live CD Beta fails on the same hardware.

Some people in the forums have reported getting WPA/WPA2 to work on N networks by creating and configuring the (allegedly) optional dat file.

I nuked the shipping driver (Jaunty beta) and replaced it with Adam McDaniel's 1.7.1.1 DKMS driver and WPA/WPA2 work flawlessly on my N network just like they have for the past few months using it. I never could get Stefan's 1.8.0.0 DKMS to work 100% in Intrepid .. haven't tried Jaunty. The garbage that's shipping with the kernel seems to have lost a few of the fixes on its way there.

For the 3 different cards I'm running it against, the fix seems simple. Figure out what is in Adam's 1.7.1.1 DKMS that got left out of the shipping kernel module and PUT IT BACK.

Oh well, at least there are a couple of obscure fixes out there for the non-normal users/hackers. Maybe somebody will figure it out by 9.10.

same problem here - msi wind u100. won't connect to wpa networks (not N router though)

works great after installing driver from: http://www.array.org/ubuntu/dists/intrepid/eeepc/binary-i386/rt2860-dkms_1.7.1.1_all.deb

please replace the driver - there are many netbooks using this chipset.

Just tried installing the 1.7.1.1 driver -- I still cannot connect to my 802.11n WPA2 network. I would chalk it up to an impossible incompatibility, but the same computer can connect in Windows XP, so I know it's possible.

I get the same thing. Eee PC 1000. Tried the stock kernel included with Jaunty Beta, the 2.6.29 kernel (which had no driver loaded because the kernel config did not have the staging drivers) from http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v2.6.29/ . Also tried the 1.8.0 driver from https://launchpad.net/~henrik-hw0/+archive/ppa - no go. Tried to recompile a custom 2.6.29 kernel with the driver in it... no go. The wireless always worked for me when I used the custom kernel form http://www.array.org/ubuntu/ , but I never had any luck otherwise.

troy: are you sure the 1.7.1.1 is actually the driver used? - it doesn't install by default if there is an existing driver
(i had to manually copy the driver from the dkms directory over the existing driver & reboot)

aviv: Yeah, absolutely. I was having trouble installing the 1.7.1.1 deb, so I deleted the old .ko driver, and then the deb installed without issue. I've verified the driver multiple times since (after every update) with "modinfo rt2860sta".

2.6.28-11.40-generic on eepc 901 with ralink rt2860 wifi

I can connect to an open wifi network, WEP but not to WPA
with WPA the association times out all the time

only way so far to connect to WPA is for me to use http://www.array.org/ubuntu/dists/intrepid/eeepc/binary-i386/rt2860-dkms_1.7.1.1_all.deb as mentioned earlier by aviv

now the association comes in right away

rt2860-dkms:
  Installed: 1.7.1.1

wpasupplicant:
  Installed: 0.6.6-2

update: after updating the system today (kernel 2.6.28-11.41-generic), an updated 1.8.0.0 rt2860sta module was installed that connects to my wpa2 router

at least for me the bug is solved :-)

aviv, could you post the output of modinfo rt2860sta? After updating still no luck for me in connecting to my wpa2 router (wep still works).

aviv, are you sure you are using the updated 1.8.0 and still not the 1.7? I have uninstalled 1.7, upgraded the system and still can't connect with 1.80.

filename: /lib/modules/2.6.28-11-generic/kernel/drivers/staging/rt2860/rt2860sta.ko
version: 1.8.0.0
license: GPL
srcversion: 41B325B81DD5210E4BAE315
alias: pci:v00001A3Bd00001059sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v00001814d00000781sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v00001814d00000701sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v00001814d00000681sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v00001814d00000601sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
depends:
staging: Y
vermagic: 2.6.28-11-generic SMP mod_unload modversions 586
parm: mac:rt28xx: wireless mac addr (charp)

i've also changed the network a few days ago from mixed wpa/wpa2 to wpa2 only - perhaps that made a difference too (i'll try to test it later)

My router ("neufbox" in France) is set to "WPA-PSK" and I have no WPA2 option, I have the exact same srcversion as you and I still cannot connect to it with this machine (with other machines it works).

same as above, neufbox with no choice of encrytption for WPA.

So it seems the problem may lie here.

sorry SFR box (which I believe is the same as the nuefbox since they have been bought by SFR)

i've done some more tests (router is wrt54gl running tomato 1.21):

the short version - the 1.7.1.1 driver works for every configuration (wpa/wpa2/tkip/aes/tkip+aes)
the 1.8.0.0 driver works for wpa(1/2) + tkip, and for wpa(1/2) + aes
the 1.8.0.0 driver fails for wpa(1/2) + tkip/aes

so (probably) every router that accept both tkip and aes (at the same time) will fail with 1.8.0.0

Something I noticed: when I first try to connect to my WPA network I enter the secret key, then it fails as described here and show again the popup to enter the ascii secret key but the secret key I entered is not the one in the dialog, instead I have a long string of hexa digits.

Just writing to confirm this bug as of 2009-04-09 as well as the workaround.

Would be nice if this fix actually makes it into the final release.

Same problem on a MSI Wind U100 (b/g/n + bt version -> rt2860).

Can confirm that
http://www.array.org/ubuntu/dists/intrepid/eeepc/binary-i386/rt2860-dkms_1.7.1.1_all.deb
works fine.

@Christian: How do I get that to work on Jaunty? Installing the deb tells me a newer version of that driver is already installed. Thanks for the link!

credits go to aviv

@Michael: check: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=7071035#post7071035 for support
(basically you need to remove the old module first and have "build-essential", "linux-header-generic" and "dkms" installed)

According to earlier posts the 1.8.0.0 version included now in Jaunty should also work - didn't check that personally.

just to clarify (since i was the one claiming the 1.8.0.0 driver was ok...):

the 1.8.0.0 driver bundled with jaunty is NOT fixed - it works for me because i've changed my wifi settings.
the 1.8.0.0 driver will fail for every router that implement wpa with both tkip and aes - that means probably every router in it's default configuration

(if you can change your router to accept only tkip OR aes, then the 1.8.0.0 driver will probably work for you)

I can confirm that with the latest Jaunty packages I cannot connect to my WPA network unless I choose only TKIP or AES. With both I have no luck connecting.

I can confirm that I have this problem in Ubuntu 8.10 (Ibex), I can connect with my N+0 router with WPA (TKIP) but not WPA2 (AES). I am using the 1.8.0.0 driver from source and from stephane Graber PAA deb file against kernel 2.6.27-14

Will putting an access pointer in WPA-only (not WPA2) mode workaround this issue? My router/AP is running Tomato firmware which allows me to select TKIP-only.

michael: yes - in tomato you can select TKIP/AES/TKIP+AES (in both wpa and wpa2)
selecting only TKIP or only AES works

Aviv: Sorry, I wasn't more specific. I have that configuration working on my Tomato router, but I was wondering for non-Tomato routers/APs which don't offer an easy way to select TKIP instead of TKIP+AES.

Will setting a router/AP to be WPA-only (as opposed to WPA/WPA2) work?

Did anyone try the ra2860 driver 1.8.0.0 with the new network-manager 0.7.1? It was out just a few days ago and it "Plays better with stupid wifi and ethernet drivers", according to Dan's blog. Hopefully ra2860 1.8.0.0 is one of the stupid ones :)

http://blogs.gnome.org/dcbw/category/networkmanager/

Vic: im sure that once Ub 9.04 is released I will try and get 7.1 loaded and will check, but to be honest i think the problem is with wpasupplicant, as when I checked my log it was not able to get past stage 4 of the hand shake...

Bryan: I don't think that's a wpasupplicant problem, because the driver 1.8.0.0 works with WICD, and manual wpa supplicant configuration, and even NM 0.6 in Hardy and Debian Lenny. The problem is that NM 0.7 is TOO SMART, and it just assume that all kernel drivers are also as smart as it is. NM 0.7 removed the security option (TKIP / CCMP / AES etc) and just assume that wpasupplicant and the kernel driver should be smart enough to figure out which one to use.

Personally, I think it's a wrong decision to remove TKIP / CCMP choices in NM 0.7. You can just imagine how easy it's to add this in NM 0.7 (just a drop down in NM applet and some codes to write pairwise=TKIP in wpa_supplicant.conf), and how difficult it is to fix all those "stupid" drivers out there to adapt NM 0.7's smart policy.

And on the other hand, how could you blame the kernel drivers while all those drivers work with Wicd or NM 0.6, but not NM 0.7??? It will just force users leave NM and choose alternatives.

And finally, here is my case. I am connecting to company network WPA2/TKIP/MSCHAPv2. My test result is:
On Debian Lenny, rt2860sta 1.8.0.0, NM 0.6.6 works, Wicd works
On Ubuntu Jaunty, rt2860sta 1.8.0.0, NM 0.7 won't work, Wicd works
On Ubuntu Jaunty, rt2860sta 1.7.1.1, NM 0.7 works, Wicd works

Vic: Interesting, rt2860sta 1.8.0.0 + NM 0.7 on Ubuntu Jaunty (so stock kernel & NM) works fine for me with no-encryption and WPA2/TKIP. Perhaps MSCHAPv2 is at fault?

Michael: Not sure if it's MSCHAPv2's problem, but according to aviv, the wireless router also plays an important role here. aviv's test result is, if the wireless router is changed to support TKIP or AES O.N.L.Y, then rt2860sta 1.8.0.0 + NM 0.7 works. My guess is if the wireless router only supports one key type, then the wifi driver won't have to figure it out itself so it can connect.

But unfortunately I can't change the company wifi router setting so I can't test aviv's finding.

Now I think I have a clearer picture of this issue. It's kind of a "mixed" problem:

(1) A flexible wifi router (which supports more than one key type) +
(2) A "stupid" wifi driver (which is not able to figure out the key type automatically) +
(3) NM 0.7 (which do not have the key type option to choose)
= NO WIFI !!

So aviv chose to fix (1) the router, you guys here chose to fix (2) downgrade the driver to 1.7.1.1, but I really want to choose (3) add this option in NM 0.7! Because you have to be award that this is not only a rt2860sta problem, a lot of other drivers out there have the same problem.

Vic: Agreed on all counts. :-)

Duplicate of 339891 ?

LumpyCustard: Yes! Let's gather the two unlucky groups together!! :)

imo yes - duplicate of 339891

As to the question if just wpa/wpa2 does work - I can confirm.that wpa / wpa2 only
does now (didn't a few days/weeks back) work.
(security only shows "WPA2 & WPA2-Personal" - might be a translation error to german)

rt2680sta 1.8.0.0
wpa_supplicant 0.6.6
network-manager 0.7.0.100

Draft n does only connect with 54mbit though (set to g+n).

with rt2680sta 1.7.1.1

I can also connect to wpa&wpa2 networks
and get higher speeds (135 MB/s).

In #19 Aviv wrote on 2009-04-08: [...] i've also changed the network a few days ago from mixed wpa/wpa2 to wpa2 only - perhaps that made a difference too (i'll try to test it later)

I had the same problem as described in this bugreport. I use an Asus EeePC model 1000H with Ubuntu 9.04 installed on a 4GB flash card. I was able to make wireless internet connections to open accesspoints. Also got good internet connection via ethernet (cable) but not wireless to my router at home using WPA&WPA2 setting.
The wireless card in my netbook is a RAlink RT2860.
I tried several suggestions I read on internet ubuntu forums. Nothing usefull for me,
but after reading reaction #19 from Aviv I logged in onto my router, a Belkin model F5D8633-4, and changed to WPA2 only. And this worked for me. Now the network manager in Ubuntu NBR let my netbook connect wireless to my router using the network-key I setup in the router.
My version of Ubuntu NBR is: 2.6.28-11-generic.

Tnx to Aviv!

This works perfectly on my Asus eee1000. Good luck. http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1476007

I can confirm that this bug is fixed by using the instructions located here:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1476007

I used the driver version 2.4.0.0 on Kubuntu 10.04 on an eeepc 901

Please note that the instructions in the above link include editing some of the flags in the driver before compilation. I suspect that these flag changes allow the new driver to work with WPA. The driver currently in the 10.04 repository does work on SOME wireless routers, but ONLY if the connection is not encrypted.

It would be wonderful if the devs could include the new driver in 10.04, which is an LTS version. At present, I have to keep copying the driver to new kernels as they get updated.

Thanks, guys.

Troy Ready, this bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? If so, could you please test for this with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/ .

If it remains an issue, could you please run the following command in the development release from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal), as it will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report:

apport-collect -p linux <replace-with-bug-number>

Also, could you please test the latest upstream kernel available (not the daily folder, but the one all the way at the bottom) following https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds ? It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please comment on which kernel version specifically you tested. If this bug is fixed in the mainline kernel, please add the following tags:
kernel-fixed-upstream
kernel-fixed-upstream-VERSION-NUMBER

where VERSION-NUMBER is the version number of the kernel you tested. For example:
kernel-fixed-upstream-v3.12-rc7

This can be done by clicking on the yellow circle with a black pencil icon next to the word Tags located at the bottom of the bug description. As well, please remove the tag:
needs-upstream-testing

If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the following tags:
kernel-bug-exists-upstream
kernel-bug-exists-upstream-VERSION-NUMBER

As well, please remove the tag:
needs-upstream-testing

Once testing of the upstream kernel is complete, please mark this bug's Status as Confirmed. Please let us know your results. Thank you for your understanding.

Hope someone else can assist here -- I don't have this hardware anymore to test.

Troy Ready, this bug report is being closed due to your last comment https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/344022/comments/49 regarding you no longer have the hardware. For future reference you can manage the status of your own bugs by clicking on the current status in the yellow line and then choosing a new status in the revealed drop down box. You can learn more about bug statuses at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Status. Thank you again for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Please submit any future bugs you may find.