# [Solved] RT3290 WiFi Causes Random Reboot

## solamour

I suspect RT3290 WiFi interface is causing my laptop to reboot randomly. It also happens when I boot from SystemRescueCD. I wasn't able to try Ubuntu liveCD, because the screen wasn't working (I think it's missing the video driver). 

```
01:00.0 Network controller: Ralink corp. RT3290 Wireless 802.11n 1T/1R PCIe

        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 18ec

        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 28

        Memory at f1010000 (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 00-00-41-ec-d8-8b-18-70

        Kernel driver in use: rt2800pci

        Kernel modules: rt2800pci

[Kernel 3.10.7-gentoo-r1]

Device Drivers

    Network device support

        Wireless LAN

            Ralink driver support

                Ralink rt27xx/rt28xx/rt30xx (PCI/PCIe/PCMCIA) support

                    rt2800pci - Include support for rt3290 devices (EXPERIMENTAL)

```

The driver is marked as "experimental", so I understand it can cause some problems, but random reboot simply isn't going to do.

Also, when the system reboots on its own, the WiFi interface (wlo1) isn't usable; I have to completely power it off and start again. I'd appreciate any suggestions.Last edited by solamour on Mon Dec 30, 2013 9:29 am; edited 1 time in total

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## zeronullity

If you ruled out any hardware issues, I.E. every thing works fine in Windows OS.  

Then not much you can do other then file a bug report or to try to hack the driver yourself.

I assume the laptop runs fine without the driver loaded?  You can try searching to see if you

can find another driver version online that might work [and/or try another kernel version],

if not you might be SOL. In that case you would need to install another wireless card that 

is known to work with out issues with Linux kernel and is fully supported.. and 

then disable/uninstall the old one. It also doesn't hurt in most cases to make sure your bios etc.. 

is up to date. You also try loading the module after the system has had time to boot instead

of during the boot/kernel process.

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## solamour

I'm afraid that now I'm not sure RT3290 is the problem, because the laptop reboots even with the WiFi interface card (mini PCIe) disconnected. I guess I'll need to try a different Linux distro or Win8 that came with the laptop.

__

sol

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## zeronullity

 *solamour wrote:*   

>  because the laptop reboots even with the WiFi interface card (mini PCIe) disconnectedl

 

If you mean physically disconnected.. then your problems might lay else where other then your wireless card.. What sort of errors are you 

getting before it reboots..  have you checked /var/log/messages  ?

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## solamour

I'm not getting any errors when the laptop randomly reboots; it just shuts down and reboots on its own, and the WiFi interface doesn't connect to the access point until I power it off completely and turn it on again. Also "/var/log" is pretty barren; I don't see anything unusual there, and there is no "/var/log/messages" file either.

Considering that SystemRescueCD shows the same problem, I'm not sure trying different distros would be helpful, although Win8 something I definitely need to check out to narrow down the cause of the problem.

I suspect that perhaps it might be related to overheating, because if leave it alone, (I think) there is no reboot. I'll keep it on overnight and report back.

__

sol

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## zeronullity

Yeh, it sounds like the WiFi might be a unrelated issue to the rebooting issue.. If it's a older laptop I would check the heatsinks/fan

 to make sure they are not clogged of lint.. which might require a teardown depending on the laptop model..  And perhaps try running a

 pc check program like Eurosoft, hirens cd,  etc.. If it reboots during a test like Eurosoft, you probably have a cpu/memory/motherboard issue.

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## solamour

I left it on overnight, and it's still running. But again, it wasn't doing anything while it was up, so I'm not sure that tells me anything. I'll try Hiren's CD and see what happens.

The laptop is brand new. I rarely buy anything new, because Linux support for newer hardware is almost always a few steps behind. Now I'm stuck with a shiny laptop that acts like a car with a flaky brake.

__

sol

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## zeronullity

I would continue with the hardware testing for now.. to rule that out with hiren,eurosoft etc..

If no problems found.. it might be helpful to post the following information.. 

provided you can get a console prompt for more then a few minutes

at a time.

.config from current running kernel that reboots

dmesg

dmidecode  

lsmod

uname -a

lspci -vvv

lsusb -vvv

Laptop model/configuration it "should be" listed with dmidecode, if not list it.

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## solamour

I'm leaning toward the hardware issue, because the same thing happens when I boot with Ubuntu 13.10 (kernel 3.11.x) or Windows 8.1 x64. Whenever the system randomly reboots, the WiFi interface becomes unusable until I completely shutdown and start again, so I thought the WiFi interface was the problem, but I no longer think that's the case. At least the WiFi works without shutting down when the reboot happens in Windows.

The laptop is under warranty, so I'm going to send it back for a repair. I'll keep you updated on the progress. Thanks everyone for taking time to read so far.

__

sol

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## solamour

It turned out to be a hardware problem.

After a couple of FedEx shipping to the service center (it certainly took a while), the laptop finally keeps running without random reboots. At first they said they weren't able to reproduce the problem, so they just sent it back to me. But I noticed the laptop's backlight didn't turn off when I closed the lid, so I sent it back again with some strongly worded remarks. This time they replaced the motherboard, and now I am not able to reproduce the problem anymore. I surely hope it stays this way.

__

sol

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