[Bug 62501] kernel ships with borked rt2400 wireless driver

[havarddahle]

Public bug reported:

Binary package hint: linux-image-2.6.15-27-k7

Background:
I have an MSI Mega 180 form factor pc, which sports an nForce2 MB and has a RaLink 2400 wireless chip embedded. The default rt2400.ko driver supplied with the kernel ('BETA3') loads fine, but consequent iwconfig commands run at 99% cpu and renders the machine useless, forcing a power cycle.

Steps to reproduce:
1. Install stock ubuntu kernel.
2. Load the rt2400 module: sudo modprobe -v rt2400
3. Try to run iwconfig: iwconfig ra0 essid any

At this point the iwconfig command will never return, just end up using
99% cpu. Ctrl-C, kill -9 etc will also hang. Subsequently, normal
shutdowns will also hang.


Workaround:
Get the rt2400 module from cvs at http://rt2x00.serialmonkey.com/. I'm using the 2006061700 version (although its version line says 2005/07/11. I don't really know why). Compile and install with the usual make; make install.

Solution:
Ubuntu kernels should not ship with the BETA3 cvs driver.

Details:
The borked driver:
$ modinfo /lib/modules/2.6.15-27-k7/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rt2400/rt2400.ko
filename:       /lib/modules/2.6.15-27-k7/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rt2400/rt2400.ko
author:         http://rt2400.sourceforge.net
description:    Ralink RT2400 802.11b WLAN driver 1.2.2 BETA3 2005/07/31
license:        GPL
vermagic:       2.6.15-27-k7 SMP preempt K7 gcc-4.0
depends:
alias:          pci:v00001814d00000101sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
srcversion:     65E0877C052644F3DBFB8F9
parm:           ifname:Network device name (default ra%d) (s)
parm:           debug:Enable level: accepted values: 1 to switch debug on, 0 to switch debug off. (i)

The working driver:
$ modinfo rt2400
filename:       /lib/modules/2.6.15-27-k7/extra/rt2400.ko
author:         http://rt2400.sourceforge.net
description:    Ralink RT2400 802.11b WLAN driver 1.2.2 - CVS 2005/07/11
license:        GPL
vermagic:       2.6.15-27-k7 SMP preempt K7 gcc-4.0
depends:
alias:          pci:v00001814d00000101sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
srcversion:     5D9C3B65B23C1688535CC24
parm:           ifname:Network device name (default ra%d) (charp)
parm:           debug:Enable level: accepted values: 1 to switch debug on, 0 to switch debug off. (int)

lspci -v:
0000:01:07.0 Network controller: RaLink Wireless PCI Adpator RT2400 / RT2460
        Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.: Unknown device 6827
        Flags: bus master, slow devsel, latency 32, IRQ 201
        Memory at df000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8K]
        Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2

** Affects: linux-source-2.6.15 (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: Unconfirmed

-- 
kernel ships with borked rt2400 wireless driver
https://launchpad.net/bugs/62501