Bug 442688 – net-wireless/rt2870-firmware please update rt2870.bin for recent kernel compatibility

• Product: Gentoo Linux
• Status: RESOLVED OBSOLETE

[Description Johan Erasmus 2012-11-11 08:40:15 UTC]

Checksum failure when comparing proprietary firmware file rt2870.bin from package net-wireless/rt2870-firmware to the firmware files found on official ralink website: http://www.ralinktech.com/en/04_support/support.php?sn=501.  Please update the firmware in this package?

After manually updating this firmware file, I have resolved a "rt2x00usb_vendor_request: Error" error.

Even though the last modification date and size of the file is apparently the same as the official firmware file, the checksum still fails.

[Comment 1 Johan Erasmus 2012-11-19 11:44:15 UTC]

Further analysis have indicated that the supplier, Ralink, does not update the firmware files to older releases of the driver tar file. 

Therefore, the latest release of the firmware file should be obtained from the latest available driver as per Ralink site without regard to the specific driver the site may refer to.

An example suffices: 
The firmware file rt2870.bin is included in the tar file for MY specific chipset as per the Ralink site: RT5370.  When I extract the tar file, I find the firmware file (rt2870.bin) is dated 2009.  When I download the most recent linux driver on the support page (RT3573)(which is clearly not for my specific chipset), I extract the tar file and identify a firmware file (rt2870.bin) dated 2012.  I have successfully replaced my firmware file in /lib/firmware with this newer version of the firmware, and this works 100% and has increased the stability of my link and reduced errors during operation.

[Comment 2 Samuli Suominen (RETIRED) 2013-02-10 08:03:22 UTC]

Stop using this separate package and use the one from linux-firmware package.