System freezes with rt2800pci loading at bootup

[RandomCharacter]

I have a very strange problem. First, everything worked great up through kernel 3.9.8. But ever since kernel 3.10.0, I have had this problem. Today, I installed 3.10.9 and the problem still persists.

I use kernel module rt2800pci for my Ralink RT3062 PCI wireless card. If the module is loaded during system startup, the system boots up, then freezes. It usually freezes at the Slim login screen, but on a very few occasions, it has let me get as far as logging in, but then it freezes. There is no keyboard or mouse activity after the freeze. To get my system back, I must do a hardware reset.

However, if I blacklist module rt2800pci, the system boots and runs normally, without wireless connectivity, of course. Also, I can still select the 3.9.8 kernel to boot up, and everything still works correctly. So I think it is a kernel bug.

Now, here is the weird part. If I boot the system completely and log in, then I can modprobe rt2800pci and it loads and I have wireless and the system never freezes.

I cannot find anything similar to this on Google search, bugs.freedesktop.org, or bugzilla.kernel.org. However, Steven Vaughn-Nichols of CNet told me that the problem will be fixed in a future kernel release, but he said nothing more specific than that.

Does anyone know how I could fix this or know of any open bug on this problem?

Thanks,
Tim

[pidsley]

Hey Tim. If I were you I would just stick with the 3.9.8 kernel as long as everything worked there, unless you know there is some feature you absolutely need in the 3.10 kernels. Some CNet dude told you it would be fixed eventually, so I'd just wait. But hey, I still use a 3.2 kernel on some of my machines; I don't really see any need to "upgrade" to the absolute latest kernel as soon as it comes out, especially when it breaks things that used to work.

If you really need to waste more time trying to fix it you might try adding the module to your initramfs.conf and rebuilding the initramfs, as per this Arch post: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=137434.

(Be aware that Debian calls the config file "initramfs.conf" not mkinitcpio.conf and the tool that builds the initramfs is called "update-initramfs" not mkinitcpio.) .

[RandomCharacter]

Thanks, @pidsley.

That certainly looked worth trying, and I did. But, alas, my system still froze at the Slim login screen.

Tim

[dkeg]

I would agree with pids. If 3.9-8 works, then let it be. sure, go for it and try 3.10, but if it borks, then go back to what works. Kind of like the old 'go to the doctor and say my arm hurts when i do this ... ' we all know the rest. So if it was me, I'd wait.

[RandomCharacter]

Well, like I said in the top post, all I have to do is boot the system with rt2800pci blacklisted, then modprobe it after the system is up and running.

Tim

[pidsley]

So you have two ways to get your system running! What are you worried about? :)

[machinebacon]

Probably you can put the modprobe command into something like /etc/rc.local before the exit 0 command and it will still boot nicely. Hopefully. Should do, because rc.local is executed "at the end of each multiuser runlevel".

[dkeg]

^ I can attest to this method. Used it before and worked great. Used it for loading the module.