DHCP client problems with Ralink rt73-based card

English Network/Internet
1

I have no idea if this is a hardware issue or a problem with SUSE’s DHCP client, but I strongly suspect the latter.

I have a USB Wireless card based on rt73 chipset plugged into my SUSE 10.3 laptop computer. I installed the kernel module driver from SUSE DVD and the firmware from manufacturer’s website. I configured the card in YaST to work NetworkManager with pretty much default settings.

When I started KNetworkManager it worked flawlessly when it comes to detecting wireless networks. However, when I try to connect to a network it fails while trying to obtain an IP.

I tested this at home by setting up a software AP on my Windows XP desktop machine and at work on a hardware AP. Both APs have a DHCP server. I only managed to connect to both of those APs by manually typing in my IP, the default gateway and the DNS servers in YaST. If I only type in my IP manually and leave DNS servers to DHCP, I can connect to the WLAN but I can’t get access to the internet.

I don’t mind the manual setting at home or at work when I can find out the IPs of DNS servers and the default gateway, but it is a problem when trying to connect to network at a WiFi hotspot such as a cafe or gas station. I’ve tried to disable the IPv6 but it didn’t help.

It is obvious that my DHCP client is failing to get anything from the server, but I don’t know why.

2

the one thing I realized w/my WUSB54GC (rt73 also) is that not to use the SuSE supplied module. It just doesnt work.

I downloaded:

http://www.ralinktech.com.tw/data/drivers/2008_0506_RT73_Linux_STA_Drv1.1.0.1.tar.bz2

extract, compiled, etc and it works.

3

The module that comes with SUSE works for me, except when it comes to getting anything from a DHCP server. The latest driver from Ralink works the same except that it find wireless networks with much weaker signal strength.