Ralink RT5370 Wireless usb dongle not working

Question

lsusb

Bus 002 Device 014: ID 148f:5370 Ralink Technology, Corp. RT5370 Wireless Adapter

uname -a

Linux HOSTNAME 2.6.32-279.14.1.el6.x86_64 #1 SMP Tue Nov 6 11:21:14 CST 2012 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

dmesg

usb 2-3: new high speed USB device number 12 using ehci_hcd
usb 2-3: New USB device found, idVendor=148f, idProduct=5370
usb 2-3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
usb 2-3: Product: 802.11 n WLAN
usb 2-3: Manufacturer: Ralink
usb 2-3: SerialNumber: 1.0
usb 2-3: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
usb 2-3: USB disconnect, device number 12
usb 2-3: new high speed USB device number 13 using ehci_hcd
hub 2-0:1.0: unable to enumerate USB device on port 3
usb 2-3: new high speed USB device number 14 using ehci_hcd
usb 2-3: New USB device found, idVendor=148f, idProduct=5370
usb 2-3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
usb 2-3: Product: 802.11 n WLAN
usb 2-3: Manufacturer: Ralink
usb 2-3: SerialNumber: 1.0
usb 2-3: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice

OS

Scientific Linux release 6.3 (Carbon)

..soooo... I plugged in this nano usb wifi. I can't see it in "ifconfig -a", neither I can see any drivers regarding "rt" in lsmod. How can I bring this wireless "card" to life? From ralink's website all I can see is a 0 Byte sized file for "driver" :D

Answer 1

I have the same chipset. Unfortunately, it is not very reliable... However, ralink released a new driver on Thursday 15 Nov 2012!! Unfortunately, I think the naming convention used is wrong...and now the file that is returned is empty... Check back in a weeks time for the brand new release! I am hopeful for some long awaited improvements!

Anyhow, with ralink there are two ways to get your hardware to work. You can use the kernel driver (rt2800usb) or build the staging driver (ralink's version) with the source code from the website(which is not available at time of writing).

You haven't mentioned your Distro, but you will need to install the firmware(most major distros have an install for ralink firmware) for your card in /lib/firmware. The needed file is rt2870.bin which you can find by downloading the driver for "RT3573 USB" from the ralink website(using this download you will get the latest firmware file). Also make a simlink(rt3070.bin) pointing to rt2870.bin.

A detailed explanation can be found for both methods at: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Device/Tenda_W311M

Answer 2

The solution is: dont buy this usb dongle, the vendor doesn't gives a sh*t for giving drivers to support it under Linux.