[SOLVED] Help

BooMan · 10-21-2019, 11:12 PM

Note: I originally posted this on the Porteus forum, but I wanted to post it here because this seems like a generally much more active community.

So, let me start off by saying I'm really a newb to using linux. There's so little that I actually know how to use correctly, but I'm experimenting for the purpose to learn more. Anyway, I started looking at portable distros that I could put on a USB stick to test out, and I narrowed them down to two - Slax or Porteus. In the end, I decided to go for porteus, since it just looked more appealing

Right now I'm using the flash drive on an old HP laptop of mine from probably around 2013. It's a HP Envy Sleekbook that had Windows 8 on it, but linux just works so much better, especially Porteus. Most things are working fine, with an exception of one thing: my wireless. I can hook it up with an ethernet cable, but with the way things are set up it would be so much easier for me to get the wireless card working. I've tried desperately to find a solution to my problem online before making a post, but I can't figure it out for the life of me. Porteus doesn't really seem to even want to detect the wireless card, and I don't even know if it's a card that will work.

I've tried using pns-tool but it just fails, and afterward I can't figure out how to re-enable network services without restarting.

I've tried a few commands I found online to see what my card is through the terminal: here's what I got.

lspci -knn

Code:

00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h (Models 10h-1fh) Processor Root Complex [1022:1410]
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:1995]
00:01.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Richland [Radeon HD 8610G] [1002:990f]
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:1995]
        Kernel driver in use: radeon
        Kernel modules: radeon
00:01.1 Audio device [0403]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Trinity HDMI Audio Controller [1002:9902]
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:1995]
        Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
        Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel
00:04.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h (Models 10h-1fh) Processor Root Port [1022:1414]
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport
        Kernel modules: shpchp
00:05.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h (Models 10h-1fh) Processor Root Port [1022:1415]
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport
        Kernel modules: shpchp
00:07.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h (Models 10h-1fh) Processor Root Port [1022:1417]
        Kernel driver in use: pcieport
        Kernel modules: shpchp
00:10.0 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB XHCI Controller [1022:7814] (rev 09)
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:1995]
        Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd
00:11.0 SATA controller [0106]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SATA Controller [AHCI mode] [1022:7804]
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:1995]                                                                                                                                   
        Kernel driver in use: ahci                                                                                                                                                              
00:12.0 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB OHCI Controller [1022:7807] (rev 11)                                                                                  
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:1995]                                                                                                                                   
        Kernel driver in use: ohci-pci                                                                                                                                                          
00:12.2 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB EHCI Controller [1022:7808] (rev 11)                                                                                  
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:1995]                                                                                                                                   
        Kernel driver in use: ehci-pci                                                                                                                                                          
00:13.0 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB OHCI Controller [1022:7807] (rev 11)                                                                                  
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:1995]                                                                                                                                   
        Kernel driver in use: ohci-pci                                                                                                                                                          
00:13.2 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH USB EHCI Controller [1022:7808] (rev 11)                                                                                  
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:1995]                                                                                                                                   
        Kernel driver in use: ehci-pci                                                                                                                                                          
00:14.0 SMBus [0c05]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SMBus Controller [1022:780b] (rev 16)                                                                                              
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:1995]
        Kernel modules: i2c_piix4
00:14.2 Audio device [0403]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH Azalia Controller [1022:780d] (rev 01)
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:1995]
        Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
        Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel
00:14.3 ISA bridge [0601]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH LPC Bridge [1022:780e] (rev 11)
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:1995]
00:14.4 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH PCI Bridge [1022:780f] (rev 40)
00:18.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h (Models 10h-1fh) Processor Function 0 [1022:1400]
00:18.1 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h (Models 10h-1fh) Processor Function 1 [1022:1401]
00:18.2 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h (Models 10h-1fh) Processor Function 2 [1022:1402]
00:18.3 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h (Models 10h-1fh) Processor Function 3 [1022:1403]
        Kernel driver in use: k10temp
        Kernel modules: k10temp
00:18.4 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h (Models 10h-1fh) Processor Function 4 [1022:1404]
00:18.5 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 15h (Models 10h-1fh) Processor Function 5 [1022:1405]
01:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller [10ec:8168] (rev 0c)
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:1995]
        Kernel driver in use: r8169
        Kernel modules: r8169
02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Ralink corp. RT3290 Wireless 802.11n 1T/1R PCIe [1814:3290]
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Ralink RT3290LE 802.11bgn 1x1 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 Combo Adapter [103c:18ec]
        Kernel driver in use: rt2800pci
        Kernel modules: rt2800pci
02:00.1 Bluetooth [0d11]: Ralink corp. RT3290 Bluetooth [1814:3298]
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Ralink RT3290LE 802.11bgn 1x1 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 Combo Adapter [103c:18ec]
03:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS5229 PCI Express Card Reader [10ec:5229] (rev 01)
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:1995]
        Kernel driver in use: rtsx_pci
        Kernel modules: rtsx_pci

lsusb -t

Code:

/:  Bus 06.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci_hcd/2p, 5000M
/:  Bus 05.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci_hcd/2p, 480M
    |__ Port 1: Dev 2, If 0, Class=, Driver=usb-storage, 480M
/:  Bus 04.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=ohci-pci/5p, 12M
/:  Bus 03.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=ohci-pci/5p, 12M
/:  Bus 02.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=ehci-pci/5p, 480M
    |__ Port 1: Dev 2, If 0, Class=, Driver=uvcvideo, 480M
    |__ Port 1: Dev 2, If 1, Class=, Driver=uvcvideo, 480M
/:  Bus 01.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=ehci-pci/5p, 480M

So, can anybody help me to see if there's any way I can get this working? Again, I really am a newb to linux, so I'd probably need some pretty step-by-step instructions. Thanks!

zeebra · 10-22-2019, 08:40 AM

The driver is loaded so it should be working in that regard, now you just have to set it up correctly.

First you can have a look if there are any errors by

Code:

dmesg | grep RT

or just manually look through /var/log/dmesg. It could be the firmware is not loaded. If there are no errors, then you can set up your wireless through the GUI or even the command line.

Maybe even check for firmware specifically by

Code:

dmesg | grep firmware

Timothy Miller · 10-22-2019, 08:48 AM

Do you have a rt3090.bin file in your firmware directory (normally /lib/firmware/ but I know nothing about porteus so could be different)?

BooMan · 10-22-2019, 11:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zeebra

The driver is loaded so it should be working in that regard, now you just have to set it up correctly.

First you can have a look if there are any errors by

Code:

dmesg | grep RT

or just manually look through /var/log/dmesg. It could be the firmware is not loaded. If there are no errors, then you can set up your wireless through the GUI or even the command line.

Maybe even check for firmware specifically by

Code:

dmesg | grep firmware

Ok, thank you so much for this response - from what it gave it there's definitely an issue loading the firmware.

dmseg | grep RT

Code:

[	0.000000] ACPI: WDRT 0x00000000AFBE5000 000047 (v01 HPQOEM 1995 	00000000 HP   00040000)
[	0.877543] rtc_cmos 00:01: RTC can wake from S4
[   16.209965] r8169 0000:01:00.0 eth0: RTL8168g/8111g at 0x00000000fe88159b, 6c:3b:e5:93:bc:e4, XID 0c000800 IRQ 30
[   16.635318] ieee80211 phy0: rt2x00_set_rt: Info - RT chipset 3290, rev 0015 detected
[   16.641033] [drm] GART: num cpu pages 262144, num gpu pages 262144
[   16.669888] [drm] PCIE GART of 1024M enabled (table at 0x00000000001D6000).

dmesg | grep firmware

Code:

[   16.515329] platform regulatory.0: Direct firmware load for regulatory.db failed with error -2
[   16.640975] [drm] Found VCE firmware/feedback version 50.0.1 / 17!
[   21.691244] ieee80211 phy0: rt2x00lib_request_firmware: Info - Loading firmware file 'rt3290.bin'
[   21.691323] rt2800pci 0000:02:00.0: Direct firmware load for rt3290.bin failed with error -2
[   21.691326] ieee80211 phy0: rt2x00lib_request_firmware: Error - Failed to request Firmware

If I check /lib/firmware it looks like there's no such firmware: it wants to load 'rt3290.bin', by the looks of it, but I can only find a couple others that don't match exactly

ls -al | grep rt

Code:

-rw-r--r--  1 root root	2115 Apr 21  2018 LICENCE.rtlwifi_firmware.txt
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root  	94 Apr 21  2018 edgeport/
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root 	348 Apr 21  2018 libertas/
-rw-r--r--  1 root root	8192 Apr 21  2018 rt2561.bin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root	8192 Apr 21  2018 rt2561s.bin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root	8192 Apr 21  2018 rt2661.bin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root	8192 Apr 21  2018 rt2860.bin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root	8192 Apr 21  2018 rt2870.bin
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root  	10 Apr 21  2018 rt3070.bin -> rt2870.bin
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root  	10 Apr 21  2018 rt3090.bin -> rt2860.bin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root	2048 Apr 21  2018 rt73.bin
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root   	3 Apr 21  2018 rtl_bt/
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root 	411 Apr 21  2018 rtl_nic/
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root 	560 Apr 21  2018 rtlwifi/

So, also addressing what Timothy Miller said, yes it seems that I do have rt3090.bin but I'm not sure if that's the firmware that it tried to load for my card. So, would you guys happen to know what I can do from here?

jsbjsb001 · 10-23-2019, 01:21 AM

From what I'm seeing zeebra's right, it looks like a firmware issue.

Code:

[   21.691323] rt2800pci 0000:02:00.0: Direct firmware load for rt3290.bin failed with error -2

It's the firmware file highlighted in bold above that you need.

I'm not familiar with Porteus myself, so I don't know if you could download a package with that file in it for Porteus. You can try doing a web search for that file, and manually copying it to the /lib/firmware folder. If you were using a more mainstream distribution, you might be able to download a package that installs that firmware file.

zeebra · 10-23-2019, 03:08 AM

First of all the firmware has to be correct, which I assume it will be. If you install the livecd content and reboot, it will probably be loaded correctly and function. I have this experience from another "liveCD", or more correctly an install disk.

I'm not an expert on firmware, I just know the correct firmware file has to be there (for the correct kernel version) at boot time, and then it will load. I never tried to fix this in a post-boot situation. I've fixed a fair amount of firmware errors or missing firmware, but then always with a reboot.

I assume the process to fix this on a booted system is to unload the module and then load it again, and it will look for the firmware when loaded.

You could try

Code:

modprobe -r rt2800pci
modprobe rt2800pci

Then check with the result with

Code:

dmesg | tail

Anyways, dealing with firmware can be annoying and tedious. You need the exact version etc.

BooMan · 10-23-2019, 11:42 PM

I'd like to thank you guys for the answers. I've had a very busy week and I have a lot of work to do, so I will let you guys know how it turns out. I think I may have found a slackbuild online that has the proper firmware, and so I'll try to set that up when I get a chance. I'll reply again when I get a chance to try it and let you guys know how it went. Thanks!

zeebra · 10-24-2019, 05:00 AM

A good alternative to doing it the way you are doing is to install your distro of choice onto a USB disk as if it was a regular hard drive. With the bios you can boot from the USB and it will work more like a regular distro and less like a liveUSB/CD.

Personally I find that Mageia is a great choice, easy to use and also has great hardware support (included firmware) out of the box. I think it depends what your goal is with your distro. If it is indeed to learn, I would go the hard way and install Slackware to a USB disk and start building additional software from source. Slackware is very clean in the regards that it is easy for you to learn things with it, everything is pretty much clearly laid out for you and pretty well documented, following norms and standards that are easy to use to learn advanced things. It includes very sane choices of build tools to get started immediately.

BooMan · 11-03-2019, 01:10 PM

Ok, so I've finally had a chance to come back to this issue. First of all, I'd like to thank you all for the advice. It turns out that the firmware that I had was incorrect, or at least not what it was looking for. I mentioned in the initial post that I originally posted this in the Porteus forum, and I found that since my last reply a couple of people replied to me on there.
They suggested that it was a rt3290.bin was necessary for my network card, and a kind soul included a porteus module for me to try that would add rt3290.bin to the firmware directory.

ls -al /lib/firmware | grep rt

Code:

-rw-r--r--  1 root root    2115 Apr 21  2018 LICENCE.rtlwifi_firmware.txt
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root      94 Apr 21  2018 edgeport/
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root     348 Apr 21  2018 libertas/
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    8192 Apr 21  2018 rt2561.bin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    8192 Apr 21  2018 rt2561s.bin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    8192 Apr 21  2018 rt2661.bin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    8192 Apr 21  2018 rt2860.bin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    8192 Apr 21  2018 rt2870.bin
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root      10 Apr 21  2018 rt3070.bin -> rt2870.bin
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root      10 Apr 21  2018 rt3090.bin -> rt2860.bin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    4096 Mar 13  2019 rt3290.bin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    2048 Apr 21  2018 rt73.bin
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root       3 Apr 21  2018 rtl_bt/
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root     411 Apr 21  2018 rtl_nic/
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root     560 Apr 21  2018 rtlwifi/

So, after pluggin in the module I'm glad to say that my WiFi card is working! rt3290.bin works perfectly. Here is the link to the porteus forum if any of you guys are interested!

And again, thank you guys so much for all of your help - I'll definitely be coming back here in the future!

MandrivaONE07 · 06-27-2023, 12:33 PM

Copy all content in the folder “/lib/firmware”, from other Linux (live) or instalation, to “/porteus/changes/lib/firmware”, then restart!
https://mandrivaone07.tumblr.com/pos...orumporteusorg

Quote:

Originally Posted by BooMan

linux just works so much better, especially Porteus. Most things are working fine, with an exception of one thing: my wireless. I can hook it up with an ethernet cable, but with the way things are set up it would be so much easier for me to get the wireless card working.