some users might have a RaLink RT2860 network device, such as some EeePC

my distribution kernel by default enabled the rt2860sta driver which is from the vendor.

however, there is a better choice: recent kernel come with the rt2×00 driver. Here is how you can switch (on openSUSE)

it connects to the network much faster after using the other driver and it doesn’t put so many error messages in the syslog.

cd /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build
make menuconfig

go to

-> Device Drivers
  -> Staging drivers
    -> Exclude Staging drivers from being built

and deselect Ralink 2860/3090 wireless support

then go to

-> Device Drivers
  -> Network device support
    -> Wireless LAN
      -> Ralink driver support

and enable (module) Ralink rt27xx/rt28xx/rt30xx (PCI/PCIe/PCMCIA) support

now Exit & save the config. You can save some compile time just compiling the subdirectory like such:

make SUBDIRS=drivers/net/wireless/rt2x00
make SUBDIRS=drivers/net/wireless/rt2x00 modules_install

remove the old driver

find /lib/modules/`uname -r` -name rt2860\*.ko -exec rm {} +
depmod

reboot or

ifconfig wlan0 down
modprobe -rv rt2860sta
modprobe -v rt2800pci

congratulations

if the modinfo for the module is missing (error on insmod), make sure to extract the vmlinux image:

cd /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build
zcat /boot/vmlinux-`uname -r`.gz >vmlinux