WiFi doesn't work with Compaq CQ58 (RALINK RT5390R)

Question

After going around all the forums looking for answers and help, having tested all I read on my circa-2012 Compaq CQ58 (with no success), I'm here to ask you help.

For days I installed versions and versions of Ubuntu and Lubuntu trying to make WiFi work well, but it doesn't. Currently I have installed Lubuntu 18.04 LTS (system requirements) and it doesn't work here either.

I will briefly explain the problem: when I turn on my PC the WiFi connects and for a minute the pages loads and everything goes very quickly but after a minute (or even less) despite the connection there is and despite I have Internet on my phone; on the computer it does not work anymore. The pages do not load and the WiFi tends to disconnect and change networks without being able to establish a connection, no longer allowing me to browse.

I thought it was a drivers problem and then I looked for the drivers for my WiFi module (Ralink RT5390R 802.11bgn PCIe), but I did not found them loadable for Linux... I found only for Windows and with all the codes that I found I had no results, often i've gotPL code errors and other problems.

Can you help me? I don't know what to do. If you need details let me know ... i'm adding some outputs:

02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Ralink corp. RT5390R 802.11bgn PCIe Wireless Network Adapter [1814:539b]
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company RT5390R 802.11bgn PCIe Wireless Network Adapter [103c:18ed]
    Kernel driver in use: rt2800pci
    Kernel modules: rt2800pci
03:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS5229 PCI Express Card Reader [10ec:5229] (rev 01)
0: phy0: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no


Linux leo-PC 5.3.0-51-generic #44~18.04.2-Ubuntu SMP Thu Apr 23 14:27:18 UTC 2020 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

I've tried to set a static ip address but no changes.

Answer 1

Maybe you can find your solution here:

After installing Ubuntu 20.04 the wifi card Ralink RT3090 does not see any wifi networks

Seems the kernel module for this WiFi chipset is available but not loaded in Ubuntu 20.04. Load it and set it to load on boot using these commands:

echo "options rt2800pci  nohwcrypt=1" | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/rt2800pci.conf
sudo modprobe -rfv rt2800pci
sudo modprobe -v rt2800pci

I have an ASUS X45C (Ralink corp. RT5390) running Ubuntu 20.04 and seems it worked for me.

Answer 2

I've maybe the same problem. I have:

02:00.0 Network controller: Ralink corp. RT5390 [802.11 b/g/n 1T1R G-band PCI Express Single Chip]
    Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Pavilion DM1Z-3000 PCIe wireless card
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
    Memory at d0100000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
    Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
    Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable- Count=1/32 Maskable- 64bit+
    Capabilities: [70] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
    Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
    Capabilities: [140] Device Serial Number 00-00-9e-c4-b7-f9-55-ec
    Kernel driver in use: rt2800pci
    Kernel modules: rt2800pci

With linux-image-5.3.0-51-generic it don't work. It disconnect all the time. With linux-image-5.3.0-28-generic it works fine. Also works with all ubuntu kernels I've tested back to ubuntu 11.04 kernels.

Get this in syslog:

May 12 22:49:41 pluttis wpa_supplicant[1004]: wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-SIGNAL-CHANGE above=0 signal=-83 noise=9999 txrate=6500
May 12 22:49:45 pluttis wpa_supplicant[1004]: wlan0: SME: Trying to authenticate with 38:43:7d:60:f1:4e (SSID='JACn2G' freq=2412 MHz)
May 12 22:49:45 pluttis kernel: [  167.140512] wlan0: disconnect from AP 38:d5:47:1f:04:e0 for new auth to 38:43:7d:60:f1:4e
May 12 22:49:45 pluttis kernel: [  167.265794] wlan0: authenticate with 38:43:7d:60:f1:4e
May 12 22:49:45 pluttis kernel: [  167.268995] wlan0: send auth to 38:43:7d:60:f1:4e (try 1/3)
May 12 22:49:45 pluttis wpa_supplicant[1004]: wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-REGDOM-CHANGE init=CORE type=WORLD
May 12 22:49:45 pluttis NetworkManager[953]: <info>  [1589316585.2040] device (wlan0): supplicant interface state: completed -> authenticating
May 12 22:49:45 pluttis kernel: [  167.973741] wlan0: send auth to 38:43:7d:60:f1:4e (try 2/3)
May 12 22:49:46 pluttis kernel: [  168.956007] wlan0: send auth to 38:43:7d:60:f1:4e (try 3/3)
May 12 22:49:47 pluttis kernel: [  169.356777] wlan0: authentication with 38:43:7d:60:f1:4e timed out
May 12 22:49:47 pluttis NetworkManager[953]: <info>  [1589316587.3694] device (wlan0): supplicant interface state: authenticating -> disconnected
May 12 22:49:47 pluttis NetworkManager[953]: <info>  [1589316587.4700] device (wlan0): supplicant interface state: disconnected -> scanning
May 12 22:49:47 pluttis wpa_supplicant[1004]: wlan0: SME: Trying to authenticate with 38:d5:47:1f:04:e0 (SSID='JACn2G' freq=2462 MHz)
May 12 22:49:47 pluttis kernel: [  169.601817] wlan0: authenticate with 38:d5:47:1f:04:e0
May 12 22:49:47 pluttis kernel: [  169.724194] wlan0: send auth to 38:d5:47:1f:04:e0 (try 1/3)
May 12 22:49:47 pluttis NetworkManager[953]: <info>  [1589316587.6547] device (wlan0): supplicant interface state: scanning -> authenticating
May 12 22:49:48 pluttis kernel: [  170.981842] wlan0: send auth to 38:d5:47:1f:04:e0 (try 2/3)
May 12 22:49:49 pluttis kernel: [  171.783215] wlan0: send auth to 38:d5:47:1f:04:e0 (try 3/3)
May 12 22:49:50 pluttis kernel: [  172.965891] wlan0: authentication with 38:d5:47:1f:04:e0 timed out

Answer 3

I looked up your current kernel driver, and found this driver information page for it, which seems to list your device as being supported.

It recommends using the following command for updates (if you haven't tried it already).

# apt-get update && apt-get install firmware-ralink

The page for your rt2800pci kernel driver also said you should, "Configure your wireless interface as appropriate," using How to use a WiFi interface as a guide.

Based upon your devices issues, I would recommend taking a look at the connman package discussed in the how-to. It looks like connman can be used to automatically reconnect dropped connections for you.