Cannot get USB Wifi adapter to work in Fedora 40

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Hello,

I’m fairly new to Fedora/Linux in general and have been having trouble connecting an ALFA AWUS036AXM Wireless USB adapter. I need it to work for a cybersecurity course and they recommended getting comfortable with Linux.

If I run lsusb as soon as I plug it in, the command hangs for few minutes and sometimes it does show the device for just a few seconds: (ID: 0e8d:7961)

See below:

Bus 003 Device 003: ID 13d3:56eb IMC Networks USB2.0 HD UVC WebCam
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 007: ID 0e8d:7961 MediaTek Inc. Wireless_Device
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Then after a few seconds it disappears

Bus 003 Device 003: ID 13d3:56eb IMC Networks USB2.0 HD UVC WebCam
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Here’s the output of dmesg as soon as I plug in the adapter as well:

[   90.191236] usb 4-1: new SuperSpeed USB device number 2 using xhci_hcd
[   90.205193] usb 4-1: New USB device found, idVendor=0e8d, idProduct=7961, bcdDevice= 1.00
[   90.205205] usb 4-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=6, Product=7, SerialNumber=8
[   90.205211] usb 4-1: Product: Wireless_Device
[   90.205216] usb 4-1: Manufacturer: MediaTek Inc.
[   90.205220] usb 4-1: SerialNumber: 000000000
[   90.237927] Bluetooth: hci1: HW/SW Version: 0x008a008a, Build Time: 20240826151221
[   93.946174] Bluetooth: hci1: Device setup in 3646643 usecs
[   93.946185] Bluetooth: hci1: HCI Enhanced Setup Synchronous Connection command is advertised, but not supported.
[   96.005100] Bluetooth: hci1: Opcode 0x0c03 failed: -110
[   98.052832] Bluetooth: hci1: Failed to read MSFT supported features (-110)
[  100.100706] Bluetooth: hci1: AOSP get vendor capabilities (-110)
[  105.542643] xhci_hcd 0000:07:00.4: Timeout while waiting for setup device command
[  111.172547] xhci_hcd 0000:07:00.4: Timeout while waiting for setup device command
[  111.380574] usb 4-1: device not accepting address 2, error -62
[  116.804235] xhci_hcd 0000:07:00.4: Timeout while waiting for setup device command
[  122.435737] xhci_hcd 0000:07:00.4: Timeout while waiting for setup device command
[  122.643480] usb 4-1: device not accepting address 2, error -62
[  128.067695] xhci_hcd 0000:07:00.4: Timeout while waiting for setup device command
[  133.698826] xhci_hcd 0000:07:00.4: Timeout while waiting for setup device command
[  133.907225] usb 4-1: device not accepting address 2, error -62
[  139.331305] xhci_hcd 0000:07:00.4: Timeout while waiting for setup device command
[  144.962238] xhci_hcd 0000:07:00.4: Timeout while waiting for setup device command
[  145.170085] usb 4-1: device not accepting address 2, error -62
[  145.186343] usb 4-1: USB disconnect, device number 2
[  145.187160] mt7921u 4-1:1.3: probe with driver mt7921u failed with error -5
[  145.187335] usbcore: registered new interface driver mt7921u
[  150.593838] xhci_hcd 0000:07:00.4: Timeout while waiting for setup device command
[  156.225496] xhci_hcd 0000:07:00.4: Timeout while waiting for setup device command
[  156.433866] usb 4-1: device not accepting address 3, error -62
[  161.857688] xhci_hcd 0000:07:00.4: Timeout while waiting for setup device command
[  167.489515] xhci_hcd 0000:07:00.4: Timeout while waiting for setup device command
[  167.697571] usb 4-1: device not accepting address 4, error -62
[  167.705826] usb usb4-port1: attempt power cycle
[  173.636090] xhci_hcd 0000:07:00.4: Timeout while waiting for setup device command
[  179.268136] xhci_hcd 0000:07:00.4: Timeout while waiting for setup device command
[  179.476037] usb 4-1: device not accepting address 5, error -62

Does anyone know why it keeps hanging on not accepting an address?

  • I’ve tested this adapter on this machine but on Windows and was able to successfully interface with it.
  • I followed the instructions provided by the manufacturer as well and installed their driver (Directory listing of http://files.alfa.com.tw/[1] WiFi USB adapter/AWUS036AXM/Linux)
  • I’ve also simply tried removing their driver and trying but I still get the same errors.
  • I tried on different Fedora builds as well. I get the same errors

I’ve tried searching quite a bit but it seems like I’m failing to find any solution to get this to work. Is there anything I can try to get more information to try and figure out what the issue is?

Thanks in advance!

2

The mediatek device appears when plugged in then disappears apparently because the system is unable to load a suitable driver for it.
You seem to be using the correct approach in finding a driver.

I followed that link and downloaded the file.
untarred the file with

$ tar xvf "MT7921AU（Linux）.tar" 
MT7921AU（Linux）/
MT7921AU（Linux）/BT_RAM_CODE_MT7961_1_2_hdr.bin
MT7921AU（Linux）/Driver Installation Tutorial.txt
MT7921AU（Linux）/WIFI_MT7961_patch_mcu_1_2_hdr.bin

then used less to read the tutorial.
The instructions seem very clear, but I found that there is a lot of binary in that .txt file following the installation instructions and this is also shown.

$ file *
BT_RAM_CODE_MT7961_1_2_hdr.bin:    data
Driver Installation Tutorial.txt:  data
WIFI_MT7961_patch_mcu_1_2_hdr.bin: data

Most of us generally recommend that users get a wifi dongle that has an intel chipset to avoid problems with drivers since the intel chipsets rarely have driver or performance issues.

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3

I think it’s working now.

As soon as you said it was unable to load a suitable driver I figured it had to be user error.

I went back and removed all the driver files that I added to /lib/firmware/mediatek and tried following the instructions again (quadruple checking each file) and I’m now able to see the device under lsusb.

Thanks for your help!

Quick edit: I did this like four times previously so I’m a special case of dumb lol

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