Wireless network Ralink RT3090 Ubuntu driver PPA
Recently I've purchased HP Compaq Presario CQ56 laptop with Suse Enterprise Linux preloaded. First thing I've done after first boot is removing Suse and installing Ubuntu Maverick. I didn't try installing latest Ubuntu Natty because of my hate-hate relationship with Unity and Linux kernel 2.6.38 power drain bug. So far everything works great only I had little trouble with integrated HD4200 graphics power usage, but open source driver I'm using is getting better every release togeather with its power management subsystem. In one of the next articles I will show you what I've done to turn open source ati radeon driver power management on.
Notice (01.02.2012.): I've created Ubuntu PPA with updated Ralink driver supporting rt3090 wireless devices on all officially supported versions of Ubuntu Linux operating system on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS and 10.10 versions of Ubuntu Linux operating system. More info here.
In this article I will show you how to install proprietary Ralink RT3090 wireless network card driver using Markus Heberling PPA (thanks Markus for your great work). Reason I've chose proprietary instead of open source that comes by default on Ubuntu is that open source driver even it is good doesn't find all my networks in the area I use my laptop. So here it is ...
The procedure for installing latest driver for your Ubuntu PC very simple, just copy and paste following commands into your favorite terminal program:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:markus-tisoft/rt3090 sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install dkms rt3090-dkms |
All that is left to do is to blacklist default rt3090 driver module and all other driver modules that might interfere from loading at boot. We open /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf:
gksudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf |
Now we paste following code at the end of the blacklist.conf file:
# Blacklist conflicting RaLink driver modules
blacklist rt2800pci
blacklist rt2800lib
blacklist rt2x00usb
blacklist rt2x00pci
blacklist rt2x00lib
blacklist rt2860sta |
Now click save and you are free to reboot your Ubuntu laptop and enjoy using your Ralink RT3090 wireless device. If something doesn't work, comment here and we will see what can be done. 
Great stuff, worked first time on my Acer Revo with Ubuntu 10.04. Also found it useful to blacklist acer-wmi which was bringing up an error message at boot, although not preventing operation of new driver.
Thanks mate! Everything works perfect
Probook 4320s
Unfortunately Your PPA does not work with 10.04LTS w/3.0.0 generic kernel. Here’s a snap from logs:
Konfigurowanie rt3090-dkms (1:2.3.1.7-0ubuntu0~ppa2) …
Adding Module to DKMS build system
Doing initial module build
Error! Bad return status for module build on kernel: 3.0.0-25-generic (x86_64)
Consult the make.log in the build directory
/var/lib/dkms/rt3090/2.3.1.7/build/ for more information.
Installing initial module
Error! Could not locate rt3090sta.ko for module rt3090 in the DKMS tree.
You must run a dkms build for kernel 3.0.0-25-generic (x86_64) first.
Done.
That’s all. What could I do?
Hello,
unfortunatelly the driver I’ve packaged has been built to work with kernel 2.6.32 and older. Since Ralink hasn’t release any driver updates it is what it is.
This PPA is unavaliable :/
Hola, tengo instalado ubuntu 11.04 en una PC con tarjeta inalambrica ralink 802.11n wireless LAN card, me puedes ayudar con el driver?
Mil Gracias
Sorry to inform you that the “sudo apt-get install dkms rt3090-dkms” returns “unable to locate file rt3090-dkms”. Am I missing something?
Probably not, this PPA supports Ubuntu based distros up to Natty (11.04) and you are probably using Oneiric (11.10). Oneiric and newer should have decent ralink driver bundled with kernel (not perfect though).
The help shown really works well. I have an HP pavilion dv6 3116tu laptop having a ralink rt3090 wireless card and rt2860sta. It wasn’t showing any of the wireless networks , but after typing the above commands on terminal and rebooting ubuntu 10.04LTs everything is workings smoothly.Thanks a ton!!!
Hi Marko,
I`m trying to configure this stupid RaLink RT3090 on a HP 620 with backtrack 5 KDE and no luck so far
Can you please help me? I tried your suggestion but its not working!
Here are few commands:
root@bt:~# lsmod
Module Size Used by
ppdev 5096 0
snd_hda_codec_hdmi 21585 1
snd_hda_codec_idt 55705 1
arc4 1141 2
snd_hda_intel 21656 2
snd_hda_codec 79287 3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_hda_intel
rt2800pci 7938 0
rt2800lib 33048 1 rt2800pci
crc_ccitt 1281 1 rt2800lib
snd_hwdep 5424 1 snd_hda_codec
joydev 8649 0
snd_pcm_oss 36427 0
snd_mixer_oss 13581 1 snd_pcm_oss
rt2x00pci 5178 1 rt2800pci
snd_pcm 68875 4 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_pcm_oss
rt2x00lib 33002 3 rt2800pci,rt2800lib,rt2x00pci
mac80211 248838 3 rt2800lib,rt2x00pci,rt2x00lib
snd_seq_dummy 1358 0
snd_seq_oss 26216 0
snd_seq_midi 4460 0
snd_rawmidi 18745 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event 5720 2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq 45875 6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_timer 17835 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
hp_wmi 5315 0
cfg80211 152934 2 rt2x00lib,mac80211
sparse_keymap 3098 1 hp_wmi
snd_seq_device 5281 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
uvcvideo 60089 0
rfkill 14987 2 hp_wmi,cfg80211
wmi 8740 1 hp_wmi
lp 7373 0
videodev 64006 1 uvcvideo
eeprom_93cx6 1292 1 rt2800pci
psmouse 52655 0
parport 29468 2 ppdev,lp
snd 50345 17 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
mac_hid 3029 0
serio_raw 3712 0
soundcore 6016 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 6769 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
usbhid 35213 0
hid 67599 1 usbhid
i915 458129 2
drm_kms_helper 30726 1 i915
drm 171919 4 i915,drm_kms_helper
ahci 18378 2
r8169 35417 0
mii 4058 1 r8169
libahci 19579 1 ahci
i2c_algo_bit 4852 1 i915
intel_agp 9614 1 i915
intel_gtt 13296 3 i915,intel_agp
video 10930 1 i915
agpgart 27382 4 drm,intel_agp,intel_gtt
(I dont see RT3090 module loaded in here)
root@bt:~# lspci
02:00.0 Network controller: RaLink RT3090 Wireless 802.11n 1T/1R PCIe
root@bt:~# iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.
eth0 no wireless extensions.
wlan0 IEEE 802.11bgn ESSID:off/any
Mode:Managed Access Point: Not-Associated Tx-Power=off
Retry long limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
Power Management:off
root@bt:~# ifconfig wlan0 up
SIOCSIFFLAGS: Unknown error 132
root@bt:~# cat /etc/network/interfaces
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp
auto eth1
iface eth1 inet dhcp
auto eth2
iface eth2 inet dhcp
auto ath0
iface ath0 inet dhcp
auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
root@bt:~# lspci -vv
02:00.0 Network controller: RaLink RT3090 Wireless 802.11n 1T/1R PCIe
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 1453
Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- SERR- <PERR- INTx-
Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 17
Region 0: Memory at 98800000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1- D2- AuxCurrent=375mA PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-)
Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-
Capabilities: [50] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask- 64bit+ Queue=0/5 Enable-
Address: 0000000000000000 Data: 0000
Capabilities: [70] Express (v2) Endpoint, MSI 00
DevCap: MaxPayload 128 bytes, PhantFunc 0, Latency L0s <512ns, L1 unlimited
ExtTag- AttnBtn- AttnInd- PwrInd- RBE+ FLReset-
DevCtl: Report errors: Correctable- Non-Fatal- Fatal- Unsupported-
RlxdOrd+ ExtTag- PhantFunc- AuxPwr- NoSnoop-
MaxPayload 128 bytes, MaxReadReq 512 bytes
DevSta: CorrErr+ UncorrErr- FatalErr- UnsuppReq+ AuxPwr- TransPend-
LnkCap: Port #0, Speed 2.5GT/s, Width x1, ASPM L0s L1, Latency L0 <512ns, L1 <64us
ClockPM+ Suprise- LLActRep- BwNot-
LnkCtl: ASPM L0s L1 Enabled; RCB 64 bytes Disabled- Retrain- CommClk+
ExtSynch- ClockPM+ AutWidDis- BWInt- AutBWInt-
LnkSta: Speed 2.5GT/s, Width x1, TrErr- Train- SlotClk+ DLActive- BWMgmt- ABWMgmt-
Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
Capabilities: [140] Device Serial Number e0-2a-82-e1-18-e1-00-00
Kernel driver in use: rt2800pci
Kernel modules: rt2860sta, rt2800pci
root@bt:~# lshw -C network
*-network DISABLED
description: Wireless interface
product: RT3090 Wireless 802.11n 1T/1R PCIe
vendor: RaLink
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
logical name: wlan0
version: 00
serial: e0:2a:82:e1:18:e1
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rt2800pci driverversion=2.6.38 firmware=0.34 latency=0 link=no multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bgn
resources: irq:17 memory:98800000-9880ffff
Any idea?
Many Thanks in advance
Francesco
Hi,
if you are trying to use rt3090sta I see “Kernel driver in use: rt2800pci” what looks like you haven’t blacklisted all conflicting kernel modules?
Hi Marko,
Thanks for your reply.
The strange thing is that when I power on the laptop, the wifi works, after few minutes it says “No Wireless Found” and guess how do I fix it? rebooting the pc!! thats weird, isn`t?
If I add your blacklist.conf it will not even work after rebooting.
Awesome thanks for the guide. This worked on all my ubunto machines upto 11.04. I just upgraded to 11.10 and the ralink 3090 just works, i needed to remove the third party driver and the previous blacklist and it worked.
Thanx for that…
It’s working~^^
When i try to install the up i.e sudo apt-get install ….. etc i get a file can not be located.
I have added the repository however when i update i get a few errors any idea’s?
Awesome! Many thanks
When I follow the steps above and reboot, the results for airmon-ng are this:
Interface Chipset Driver
wlan0 Zydas zd1211b zd1211rw – [phy0]
I then deleted the code that was previously added to the black list and i got the following results:
Interface Chipset Driver
wlan0 Zydas zd1211b zd1211rw – [phy0]
wlan1 Unknown rt3090
when i try to enter “sudo apt-get install dkms rt3090-dkms” it says that it is already installed and updated. but apt-get autoremove removed some useless files. either way i cannot use the internal rt3090 network card. wlan0 is an external network card that i am using that isn’t very good.
by the way i thought i should mention that i am using backtrack 5 r1
woops… sorry the second airmon-ng result is wrong…. this is what it actually is (did not copy-paste and did not read: just typed what i thought it said).
here is what it actually is
Interface Chipset Driver
wlan1 Unknown rt2800pci – [phy1]
wlan0 Zydas zd1211b zd1211rw – [phy0]
any help appreciated on how to make it work
Thanking you for a clear, concise and extremely helpful article from my wife’s vaio netbook running ubuntu netbook version through the ralink wireless network card!
YES!
Success!
Thank you thank you.
I installed Linux Mint Katya(ubuntu natty) on an Acer Revo Aspire R3700, and oh boi was i depressed.
Initially the computer would hang/freeze when i chose restart.
I thought it was because i was using HDMI for my monitor, so i swapped it for an analog screen.
But it continued to freeze when i restarted/rebooted, then when i went to disable wireless because it couldn’t see any wifi’s it froze again.
After trying mint-irc and searching the googles, it was hopeless, then i found u.
Yay!
not freezes, no lockups, it boot b-e-a-utifully now and as a bonus i have a working wifi, hehehe, happy dayz.
sky.
PS. I am trying to build a kiosk style touch screen.
The basic premise is it just offers options for an athletic machine and at the end of a session display progress.
No problem, Marcus H. is the one who maintains PPA and he gets the credit for nice package for proprietary Ralink driver. It is sad that current state of open source Ralink driver (rt2800pci) is poor so we have no choice but to install yet another proprietary driver. But it works great
por favor, será que vocês podem me ajudar? tenho um hp, 4gb, 64bits, com w7, e minha internet é com mini modem 3g da tim, marca onda, que no w7 funciona bem. estou tentando instalar o ubuntu 10.10, só que não consigo me conectar com o mini modem. ele nem aparece no ubuntu. se nalguem puder me ajudar, por favor me mande no email : asachaves@gmail.com . obrigado desde já!
Thanks a lot, the tutorial was very helpfull and now my notebook is working with wireless.
If you have something similar to the listing below in your blacklist in order to have your Ubuntu 11.04 to work then …
# Blacklist conflicting RaLink driver modules
blacklist rt2800pci
blacklist rt2800lib
blacklist rt2x00usb
blacklist rt2x00pci
blacklist rt2x00lib
blacklist rt2860sta
… you need to UNDO the above by commenting them all out when you update to Ubuntu 11.10 to have your WiFi working again. That is my experience.
Thanks Gabriel, I ‘un-blacklist’ the drivers, and it works!
The kernel 3.0 It’s so fast!
Hello there,
just to say it worked really fine with Ubuntu 11.04, but after the update to 11.10 I got the same problem again.. Anyway, if that’s your case too, you just have to ‘un-blacklist’ the drivers on blacklist.conf file.
It worked like a charm.
Thanks.
Waiting for ubuntu 11.10 packages i have a slow performance with rt2800pci driver
i compiled the driver from the official website and applied opensuse patches and it works like a charm .. but how to make dkms-package could you tell me how ?
Unfortunately I never did DKMS package so I can’t be much of assistance. I would start with https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DKMS. Good luck!
Same here….2800 driver works randomly….(in Ubuntu 11.10)
works like a charm. cheers mate!
Hello. I just bought Lenovo B575 and I have the same problem or it looks to be the same. The wireless doesn’t work. It’s RT3090 for sure. So I followed the procedure but still doesn’t work. When i lspci:
Network controller: Ralink corp. RT3090 Wireless 802.11n 1T/1R PCIe
Subsystem: Lenovo Device f101
Kernel driver in use: rt2860
Kernel modules: rt3090sta, rt2860sta, rt2800pci
and when I lsmod I have it in the list but that’s all.
Before the procedure there was something about it when i type iwconfig but now I have only this:
iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.
eth0 no wireless extensions.
ra0 Ralink STA.
.
Any Ideas. So I’m pretty new in linux and if you can give some understandable advice I will be really happy
Hi Boris you can try with lsmod command to see what kernel module is loaded for your wireless card. You should find rt390sta on the list.
Hi Marko!
Thank you very much for great writeup…I also have a G575 Lenovo and like Boris i followed all the steps you provided and did not get it to work right away. However you did give me a good clue about the blacklist file and found that adding “blacklist Acer_wmi” to the list helped my case. It seems that when i tried to enable the Wireless card in system settings Acer_wmi was turning it off. Hopefully this along with your great writeup will help others.
Thanks Again.
blacklist acer-wmi
Hello, I followed your procedure, and now my Wifi card is detected on my SONY VAIO !!!
Thank you very much for your help.
I’m always glad to help to fellow Linux user
Hi,
I followed the procedure and it worked really fine. But now (after a reboot, several weeks later), the wifi card is no more detected. When I try lscpi, I can see the card, but when I try lsmod, I don’t see any RT3090 module. However, when I look in the Additionnal installed drivers, I can see the RT3090 driver. Any idea ?
Bilbut
Hi, the simplest thing to do would be to remove RT3090 driver together with configuration files (–purge attribute to apt-get remove) and to install it again. My guess is that something went wrong with one of the regular Ubuntu updates.
Hey, i followed the steps, the OS stabilized, but the wireless still not working
, the light is off and with lspci -v i realize that the card is unclaimed and that there’s no driver assigned to it… some thoughts ?
Are you sure that your wireless hardware is RT3090? What does
lsmodsay? It should list rt3090 module if rt3090 is found and loaded?plz email me nightmare_2_sik@hotmail.com its also my email for facebook
it didnt work for shit:(((( this sucks soo bad cuz i have a mifi 2200 and i wnt to set the settings for xbl and i cnt i have to be connected pllzzzzz plzzz help i have a compaq presario cq56 laptop
Brilliant. The RT3090 card has been driving me crazy for weeks now. Slow downloads, constant disconnects, never finding network etc. Thanks to your blacklist – everything is working perfectly.
Hi! It isn’t just these files, there are many dependencies for these packages. You should do
If you have problems with this just let me know and I will help you, no problem. Cheers!
sudo apt-get install dkms rt3090-dkmson Ubuntu machine with internet connection (must have same Ubuntu version as target machine). Then when all is installed you copy contents of/var/cache/apt/archivesfrom this machine to the machine where you don’t have internet (you must do this with sudo). After that you open rt3090-dkms deb package from/var/cache/apt/archiveson this new machine, it will mark dependencies it requires and install stuff using packages from apt cache. It may sound difficult but it is really simpleThis works perfectly with my METSYS netbook from china
I need offline use off this file:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:markus-tisoft/rt3090
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install dkms rt3090-dkms
Would you mind send it to my email please, thank you very much in advance