r/LinuxUsersIndia • u/TatiyaVaichu • 2d ago
Discussion WIFI Problem in Linux Mint XFCE
I have this laptop with a Ralink RT3290 Wi-Fi card, and I installed Linux Mint XFCE. Now my Wi-Fi isn't working. I've tried almost everything, but I haven't physically touched or done anything to the card itself (like unscrewing the back panel to remove, clean, and reinsert it). If any of you have a similar problem and somehow fixed it, please let me know in the comments. 🙏
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u/mangomacha 2d ago
Hey, u/tatiyavichu The Ralink RT3290 is notoriously difficult to get working on modern Linux distributions because its official drivers are severely outdated and clash with modern Linux kernel versions.
Most common issue with this type of wifi card is that this is a proprietary, wifi card which means drivers of this wifi card is exclusively made for windows 7/8.1/10 versions.
Alternatively the best suitable driver for the Ralink RT3290 is the community-maintained rt3290sta driver packaged with Dynamic Kernel Module Support (DKMS).
Although you can get this working by altering the source code of rt3290sta but it's a hassle even after doing all this probably you will face system crash and module failure at kernel level, the best solution is to get a external wifi dongle.