Revo Max Pro WiFi card

[mongoose]

Hi all,

I've had my flashy new Revo Max T2350 for about a week now, great laptop. It's running Ubuntu Feisty very nicely indeed with Beryl and all sorts of goodness.

Only one problem encountered so far, which I have now managed to solve and thought I'd share the solution.

The WiFi card wouldn't connect to my home network. It could see the ssid but would not connect, even if security on the network was totally disabled.

I was initially unable to figure out even what card was in the machine so I asked on the Novatech live chat support system (great idea btw, works very well). They told me the card was an Intel 3945ABG.

Great thinks I, I have only to find the drivers for this card and all will be well.

Well I spent all morning fiddling with those drivers, trying both Linux native and Windows drivers via ndiswrapper, no dice.

Eventually something caused me to run lspci and lsusb to locate the card. This showed that there was no indication of a PCI wifi card in the laptop, but there was an unidentified usb device made by MSI. Close inspection of the Ubuntu system info tool suggested that the WiFi was indeed a USB device which left just the one option. It's not an Intel card at all, it's an MSI card on an internal USB connection.

Another couple of hours of fiddling and the card is now working. I'm now running the CVS drivers for the RAlink RT73 chipset as per this howto

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=400236

hope this helps someone else to avoid the full day of fiddling I've just done

happy computing all.

[Coops]

That is correct it is Ralink chipset card made by MSI. Not sure why you were told it had Intel card as these units have only ever had Ralink card.

Anyway glad to hear you got it working and thanks for the information

[aldursys]

It's a pity you've gone for the Ralink wireless chipset in this laptop. Unfortunately the Ralink code lacks mainstream maturity in the Linux kernel and the open source project creating the drivers appears to be on hold.

I was thinking the Revo Max could be the perfect 'plug and play' Ubuntu laptop . The failure of the wireless is a pity.

Do you have the exact chipset specification for the device you are using?

[jazzl]

I've got a related problem with the wireless on this model (Revo Max T2350) ...
Just installed XP Pro SP2 and have all the drivers loaded ok from the accompanying CD (v1.3) except for the WLAN.
Using the automatic install from the CD menu, it installed drivers for the Intel 3945ABG PCI device which failed. Reading the above I've attempted to install Ralink RT73 USB drivers but fail to start, the Ralink utility he say Ralink Wireless LAN card not exist (sic).
Any attempt to remove then add new/detect etc. results in the system trying to install for the Intel 3945ABG.
So I'm currently wireless-less,
Any ideas on :
What is the exact WLAN model in the machine
Where to get the correct drivers
How to clear out the old crud

[jazzl]

apparently the wrong wifi card was installed , was a Ralink, should have been an Intel. Laptop going back for a card change.

[Coops]

Ok not sure why you were told this as is not correct. Intel card is only used in high end units model notebook. Revo is entry level notebook and the RaLink card is the correct card for this build.

[jazzl]

I was told this in a convo with Novatech support on IM. A return was arranged to replace the card - the unit is now in transit back to you.
I trust the correct card will be installed along with drivers etc. before reshipping.

[jazzl]

quick update as I'm in a happy mood, :D
novatech technical replaced the wi-fi card, found some bad memory and replaced it, and shipped the Revo back with a new wi-fi driver disk.
I reinstalled Windows and the drivers and all is shiny.

[Coops]

Thats good to hear

Enjoy =)

[LezH]

Just a quick PS to this - and probably the dumbest post on the forum (but these things happen!)...

Spent hours trying to set the WLAN up on my 440 Elite because I didn't try the MSI driver setup, only to have my son sort me out in minutes.

Today to my horror it just stopped working. Checked everything so I thought - reinstalled the driver, reset the network, modem etc. checked cables - you name it.

Just discovered I'd accidentally turned the wireless slider switch off when I moved it.

Ho-hum - but if anyone has same symptoms, they might like to check the switch first!