ralink rt2500 chipset -- linux won't create device ra0

[haggishunk]

machine & distro:
Dell 2.8 GHz
Slackware 2.4.31

problem:
cannot load rt2500.o module since dev ra0 doesn't exist

background:
- i downloaded RT2500-Linux-STA-1.4.6.6 device driver tarball from the RaLink website

- i untarred it, built and installed the rt2500.o driver, but a config script ifcfg-ra0 couldn't be created because the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts directory didn't exist

- i created the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts directory and re-ran make install, which then ran smoothly (BTW the script contains the lines DEVICE=ra0, BOOTPROTO=dhcp, ONBOOT=yes)

- the next step asked me to run modprobe rt2500 as root, which returned these errors

/lib/modules/2.4.31/kernel/drivers/net/rt2500.o: init_module: No such device
/lib/modules/2.4.31/kernel/drivers/net/rt2500.o: Hint: insmod errors can be caused by incorrect module parameters, including invalid IO or IRQ parameters. You may find more information in syslog or the output from dmesg
/lib/modules/2.4.31/kernel/drivers/net/rt2500.o: insmod /lib/modules/2.4.31/kernel/drivers/net/rt2500.o failed
/lib/modules/2.4.31/kernel/drivers/net/rt2500.o: insmod rt2500 failed

- likewise with the command ifconfig ra0 up

what i've tried:
- looked at lspci, it showed promise with this entry

01:01.0 Network controller: RaLink: Unknown device 0301

- looked in dmesg and syslog, but i don't see anything trying to establish this device as ra0

- tried editing rc.inet1.conf to have it register a ra0 device, but on reboot nothing came of it

what i'm wondering:

- should that ifcfg-ra0 script be run sometime in the startup script lineup? or can the lines contained therein be inserted into an already existing script?


Travis

[Dapper Dan]

I never tried the ralink rt2500 on the 2.4 kernel so I wouldn't be able to help you there. But I have used it with the 2.6 kernel and it compiled, modprobed, created ra0 and ran my pci wireless device satisfactorily. If you cannot find a solution, possibly consider updating your kernel to 2.6.

[haggishunk]

I figured that's what someone would say. ;D

One of the things that makes me curious, though, is what is the mechanism for creating a device? How does the kernel create a file 'ra0' in the /dev directory and link it to the pci device (as reported by lspci)?

Anyways, thanks for the response, Dan.

trav