I have an HP Stream laptop which originally ran Windows 10. It just didn’t have the storage space to run Windows 10 updates so I installed Centos 7. This was installed from 7.8 media and updated to 7.9.
The onboard wifi card (a Broadcom BCM43142) doesn’t work due to Broadcom’s licensing policy. I managed to find a compatible USB dongle, Ralink RT5370, which worked OK for a while but now it is slow and constantly dropping out. This makes it extremely difficult to get anything done which requires a network connection. My system information is as follows:
4 colin@stream> uname -a
Linux stream 3.10.0-1160.11.1.el7.x86_64 #1 SMP Fri Dec 18 16:34:56 UTC 2020 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
5 colin@stream> cat /etc/centos-release
CentOS Linux release 7.9.2009 (Core)
6 colin@stream>
1 colin@stream> lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series SoC Transaction Register (rev 21)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 21)
00:0b.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series Power Management Controller (rev 21)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series USB xHCI Controller (rev 21)
00:1a.0 Encryption controller: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series Trusted Execution Engine (rev 21)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series High Definition Audio Controller (rev 21)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series PCI Express Port #1 (rev 21)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series PCI Express Port #4 (rev 21)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series PCU (rev 21)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx SMBus Controller (rev 21)
01:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS5229 PCI Express Card Reader (rev 01)
02:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Inc. and subsidiaries BCM43142 802.11b/g/n (rev 01)
2 colin@stream> lsusb
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 0a5c:216d Broadcom Corp. BCM43142A0 Bluetooth 4.0
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0bda:57c4 Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 148f:5370 Ralink Technology, Corp. RT5370 Wireless Adapter
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 045e:07fd Microsoft Corp. Nano Transceiver 1.1
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
3 colin@stream>
3 colin@stream> lsmod | grep rt2800
rt2800usb 31203 0
rt2x00usb 20778 1 rt2800usb
rt2800lib 106640 1 rt2800usb
crc_ccitt 12707 1 rt2800lib
rt2x00lib 70005 3 rt2x00usb,rt2800lib,rt2800usb
mac80211 770617 3 rt2x00lib,rt2x00usb,rt2800lib
4 colin@stream>
When I try to use yum to install software, I see errors as shown below and the process generally fails:
http://mirror.sov.uk.goscomb.net/centos/7.9.2009/extras/x86_64/repodata/cd5c5a43f22077a43a0af22f1999a97312975ce0abbf9c09f6120055a212c3fa-primary.sqlite.bz2: [Errno 12] Timeout on http://mirror.sov.uk.goscomb.net/centos/7.9.2009/extras/x86_64/repodata/cd5c5a43f22077a43a0af22f1999a97312975ce0abbf9c09f6120055a212c3fa-primary.sqlite.bz2: (28, 'Operation too slow. Less than 1000 bytes/sec transferred the last 30 seconds')
...
epel/x86_64/updateinfo FAILED ] 12 kB/s | 1.2 MB 00:29:28 ETA
http://www.fedora.is/fedora/epel/7/x86_64/repodata/a50341a580e9935c68088e2e7caf182b4f96bd118e1fb4513aa4f47df72ff995-updateinfo.xml.bz2: [Errno 12] Timeout on http://www.fedora.is/fedora/epel/7/x86_64/repodata/a50341a580e9935c68088e2e7caf182b4f96bd118e1fb4513aa4f47df72ff995-updateinfo.xml.bz2: (28, 'Resolving timed out after 30546 milliseconds')
Trying other mirror.
I have tried disabling the “fastestmirror” plugin to no avail and have the appropriate driver (I think) but can’t compile it until I can get gcc installed via yum. I believe the rt2800usb kernel module should work but it doesn’t seem to be optimal. So, I guess I have a few questions for the experts (which I am not):
- Is there any other information you might need to help debug this problem?
- Would an Ubuntu/mint install work better with the RT5370?
- Is there an “install drivers for dummies” guide you could point me towards?
- If all else fails, can anyone recommend a different brand/chipset of USB wifi dongle that will work “out of the box” in Centos 7?
I’m really at a loss here, so any advice would be gratefully received.
Regards,
Colin Brett
