Unusually Weak Signal with Mint 15

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Frivolous

Unusually Weak Signal with Mint 15

Post by Frivolous »

I have recently installed Mint 15 onto my HP Pavilion G6 laptop and I'm having an issue with my wireless internet.
I'm connected to my router just fine right now (it's actually only at 69%) but this is because my laptop is literally right next to my router (about six inches in between), however, if I so much as walk into the next room over, I lose almost all signal connection. It will drop down to around 20% - 30% and not be able to connect to the router.
I'm using a standard Comcast Xfinity router and my wireless connection works just fine if I boot up into Windows 7, so this must be a driver related issue, although I'm not entirely sure. I've searched everywhere I could for a fix, but I'm having trouble finding one.

Some of my basic info:
-------------------------
* I. scanning WIFI PCI devices...
-- Ralink corp. RT5390 Wireless 802.11n 1T/1R PCIe
==> PCI ID = 1814:5390
-------------------------
* II. querying ndiswrapper...
-------------------------
* III. querying iwconfig...
wlan0 IEEE 802.11bgn ESSID:"HOME-2D5A"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: 00:1D:CD:E3:2D:58
Bit Rate=39 Mb/s Tx-Power=20 dBm
Retry long limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality=65/70 Signal level=-45 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:17 Invalid misc:37 Missed beacon:0

lo no wireless extensions.

eth1 no wireless extensions.

-------------------------
* IV. querying ifconfig...
eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 78:e3:b5:60:98:64
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:65536 Metric:1
RX packets:361 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:361 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:36409 (36.4 KB) TX bytes:36409 (36.4 KB)

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 60:d8:19:44:f5:ab
inet addr:10.0.0.11 Bcast:10.0.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::62d8:19ff:fe44:f5ab/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:9043 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:7502 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:9835890 (9.8 MB) TX bytes:1243900 (1.2 MB)

-------------------------
* V. querying DHCP...
Rather than invoking init scripts through /etc/init.d, use the service(8)
utility, e.g. service smbd reload

Since the script you are attempting to invoke has been converted to an
Upstart job, you may also use the reload(8) utility, e.g. reload smbd
RTNETLINK answers: File exists
-------------------------
* VI. querying nslookup google.com...
Server: 75.75.76.76
Address: 75.75.76.76#53

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.226.227
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.226.228
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.226.231
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.226.232
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.226.226
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.226.224
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.226.225
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.226.229
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.226.230
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.226.238
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.226.233
Any help is greatly appreciated. This issue really does make Mint on my laptop almost unusable.

Edit: I have since narrowed this down to being an issue related to my router and my router only. It connects to any other router with ease and without any connection issue, regardless of distance (so long as the distances are within reason). After a Google search, there are some posts about this on the Comcast support forums, yet there really wasn't any answer so I'm guessing there isn't really any fix. It just seems to be a matter of Comcast's Xfinity wireless router.
If anyone knows any type of fix I'm still open for ideas.

Thanks again,
- Vinny
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
scorpi05

Re: Unusually Weak Signal with Mint 15

Post by scorpi05 »

This is just a shot in the dark but have you consider installing a different wireless driver? I had a similar issue where my laptop wouldn't even connect via wifi so I went into the Software Manager and did a search for 'wireless driver' and install one of the drivers I found. It is now working beautifully :)
markpowell

Re: Unusually Weak Signal with Mint 15

Post by markpowell »

I am suffering this too.
HP Pavilion G6 laptop, wifi is Ralink 5390, kernel driver rt2800pci
WiFi was fine on Linux Mint 14, but weak on Mint 15.
Reported signal power is75% sitting right next to router. Ping shows dropped packets, general network behaviour is indicative of dropped packets.

$ inxi
CPU~Dual core Intel Core i5-3210M CPU (-HT-MCP-) clocked at Min:1200.000Mhz Max:2501.000Mhz Kernel~3.8.0-19-generic x86_64 Up~1:31 Mem~1307.0/3846.6MB HDD~750.2GB(0.8% used) Procs~195 Client~Shell inxi~1.8.4

$ uname -a
Linux laptop.blackbirdhouse 3.8.0-19-generic #29-Ubuntu SMP Wed Apr 17 18:16:28 UTC 2013 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor DRAM Controller (rev 09)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller (rev 09)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI Host Controller (rev 04)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 04)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev c4)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev c4)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 3 (rev c4)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation HM76 Express Chipset LPC Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series Chipset Family 6-port SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 04)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 04)
01:00.0 Network controller: Ralink corp. Device 539b
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 05)
03:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS5229 PCI Express Card Reader (rev 01)

lspci -vv:
<snip>
01:00.0 Network controller: Ralink corp. Device 539b
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 18ed
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
Memory at 52500000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable)
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable- Count=1/32 Maskable- 64bit+
Capabilities: [70] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
Capabilities: [140] Device Serial Number 00-00-6c-4d-15-8e-3e-08
Kernel driver in use: rt2800pci
Cheri

Re: Unusually Weak Signal with Mint 15

Post by Cheri »

I'm facing the same problem ever since I installed Mint 15. I have a HP Pavillion dm1z with Ralink RT5390. The wireless worked fine with Mint 14, and earlier, with Windows 7. I'm a newbie, so appreciate any help solving this - it isn't comfortable to have my laptop next to the router - which's in a room without air-conditioning and it's 38 C outside! Many thanks!


eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

lo Interface doesn't support scanning.

wlan0 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address: 00:1B:57:E7:2E:61
Channel:6
Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
Quality=65/70 Signal level=-45 dBm
Encryption key:on
ESSID:"102chandrabhaga"
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Bit Rates:6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
Mode:Master
Extra:tsf=00000013df625187
Extra: Last beacon: 164ms ago
IE: Unknown: 000F3130326368616E6472616268616761
IE: Unknown: 010882848B962430486C
IE: Unknown: 030106
IE: Unknown: 2A0104
IE: Unknown: 2F0104
IE: Unknown: 32040C121860
IE: Unknown: DD090010180205F4000000
Cell 02 - Address: 00:1B:57:E4:A5:B9
Channel:6
Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
Quality=17/70 Signal level=-93 dBm
Encryption key:on
ESSID:"A16A"
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Bit Rates:6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
Mode:Master
Extra:tsf=0000000241661187
Extra: Last beacon: 292ms ago
IE: Unknown: 000441313641
IE: Unknown: 010882848B962430486C
IE: Unknown: 030106
IE: Unknown: 050400010000
IE: Unknown: 2A0104
IE: Unknown: 2F0104
IE: Unknown: 32040C121860
IE: Unknown: DD090010180201F4000000
Cell 03 - Address: 00:18:4D:DA:4D:D9
Channel:11
Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
Quality=35/70 Signal level=-75 dBm
Encryption key:on
ESSID:"Sweet Home"
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Bit Rates:6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
Mode:Master
Extra:tsf=0000002b9696718a
Extra: Last beacon: 636ms ago
IE: Unknown: 000A537765657420486F6D65
IE: Unknown: 010882848B962430486C
IE: Unknown: 03010B
IE: Unknown: 050400010000
IE: Unknown: 2A0100
IE: Unknown: 2F0100
IE: Unknown: 32040C121860
IE: Unknown: DD060010180200F0
IE: WPA Version 1
Group Cipher : TKIP
Pairwise Ciphers (1) : TKIP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
Cell 04 - Address: 0C:D2:B5:04:F7:88
Channel:11
Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
Quality=37/70 Signal level=-73 dBm
Encryption key:on
ESSID:"MetalH"
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
18 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Bit Rates:6 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
Mode:Master
Extra:tsf=0000002f4ea1e188
Extra: Last beacon: 628ms ago
IE: Unknown: 00064D6574616C48
IE: Unknown: 010882848B961224486C
IE: Unknown: 03010B
IE: Unknown: 32040C183060
IE: Unknown: 0706494E00010D14
IE: Unknown: 33082001020304050607
IE: Unknown: 33082105060708090A0B
IE: Unknown: 05040001000C
IE: Unknown: 2A0104
IE: Unknown: 2D1A6E1117FF000000010000000000000000000000000C0000000000
IE: Unknown: 3D160B070500000000000000000000000000000000000000
IE: Unknown: 4A0E14000A002C01C800140005001900
IE: WPA Version 1
Group Cipher : TKIP
Pairwise Ciphers (2) : TKIP CCMP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
IE: Unknown: DD180050F2020101000003A4000027A4000042435E0062322F00
IE: Unknown: DD07000C4304000000
Cell 05 - Address: 0C:D2:B5:04:F7:89
Channel:11
Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
Quality=37/70 Signal level=-73 dBm
Encryption key:on
ESSID:""
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
18 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Bit Rates:6 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
Mode:Master
Extra:tsf=0000002f4e7c6998
Extra: Last beacon: 3088ms ago
IE: Unknown: 0000
IE: Unknown: 010882848B961224486C
IE: Unknown: 03010B
IE: Unknown: 32040C183060
IE: Unknown: 0706494E00010D14
IE: Unknown: 33082001020304050607
IE: Unknown: 33082105060708090A0B
IE: Unknown: 050400010000
IE: Unknown: 2A0104
IE: Unknown: DD180050F2020101000003A4000027A4000042435E0062322F00
IE: Unknown: DD07000C4304000000
sunsatori

Win7 Wifi Weak Signal with Mint 15 Compaq Presario Atheros C

Post by sunsatori »

Note: Please skip directly to UPDATE 3 in this Post----



Newbie here, 4 days into install.
Wifi working but signal is 69%, I am 20 feet from the Apple Time Capsule router, with most current firmware. This sounds familiar, based on the Thread.

This is the chip on my Notebook.
02:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)

I am searching for a better driver.
Does anyone know what driver is installed by M15 by default on Win7 and this chipset? M15 self discovered the driver on install. As a Newbie, I don't know how/where to look for a wireless driver on Linux.

I will continue to scour the search engines, but any advice appreciated.

Open Source = Freedom :idea:

UPDATE: I found the latest AR9285 Win7 driver here.
http://www.atheros.cz/atheros-wireless-download.php?chipset=37&system=6

M15 won't install it from the .inf file. It says the ndsiwrapper is missing.
It appears to me to be self-extracting .sys file from windows that keeps this driver from a complete install on LM15.
Perhaps one of those proprietary Micro-Shaft things again.

Back to the Atheros to see if they have a Linux version.

UPDATE2
Anyone know if LM15 comes with ath9k linux drivers? And what the current version of those drivers would be?

UPDATE3
Oh well, now I did it.
After trying to install the win7 drivers, failing, and then removing them from the Driver Manager, I rebooted and LM15 does not start the Atheros AR9285 chipset. The hardware on/off switch for the wifi chip won't power up the chip either. It is DOA.

Is there a way to recover a backup session before I tried the driver install?
Or a command that will let LM15 fire up the chip and give me hardware access as well?

I am ready to settle for 75% signal now. :oops:

UPDATE 4
Based on what CLI commands I saw in this thread, here are the results from my machine, if that helps.
Have Mercy 1 :)

----------------
gimpy@Salterine ~ $ rfkill list
0: hp-wifi: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
gimpy@Salterine ~ $ iwconfig
eth0 no wireless extensions.

lo no wireless extensions.

gimpy@Salterine ~ $ inxi -Fx
System: Host: Salterine Kernel: 3.8.0-19-generic x86_64 (64 bit, gcc: 4.7.3) Desktop: N/A Distro: Linux Mint 15 Olivia
Machine: System: Hewlett-Packard product: Compaq Presario CQ60 Notebook PC version: 0487130002200D10000620000
Mobo: Hewlett-Packard model: 3612 version: 09.67 Bios: Hewlett-Packard version: F.63 date: 03/08/2010
CPU: Single core Intel Celeron CPU 900 (-UP-) cache: 1024 KB flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 ssse3) bmips: 4389.51 clocked at 2194.755 MHz
Graphics: Card: Intel Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller bus-ID: 00:02.0
X.Org: 1.13.3 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1366x768@60.0hz
GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Mobile Intel GM45 Express Chipset GLX Version: 2.1 Mesa 9.1.4 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio: Card: Intel 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture ver: k3.8.0-19-generic
Network: Card-1: Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) bus-ID: 02:00.0
IF: N/A state: N/A mac: N/A
Card-2: Realtek RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller
driver: r8169 ver: 2.3LK-NAPI port: 3000 bus-ID: 01:00.0
IF: eth0 state: down mac: 00:26:2d:be:72:3d
Drives: HDD Total Size: 252.1GB (3.0% used) 1: id: /dev/sda model: ST9250410AS size: 250.1GB
2: USB id: /dev/sdb model: DataTraveler_2.0 size: 2.0GB
Partition: ID: / size: 90G used: 5.5G (7%) fs: ext4 ID: swap-1 size: 2.07GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap
RAID: No RAID devices detected - /proc/mdstat and md_mod kernel raid module present
Sensors: None detected - is lm-sensors installed and configured?
Info: Processes: 144 Uptime: 6 min Memory: 294.0/1934.4MB Runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.7.3 Client: Shell inxi: 1.8.4
gimpy@Salterine ~ $ sudo lshw -C network
[sudo] password for gimpy:
*-network DISABLED
description: Ethernet interface
product: RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller
vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
logical name: eth0
version: 02
serial: 00:26:2d:be:72:3d
size: 10Mbit/s
capacity: 100Mbit/s
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix vpd bus_master cap_list rom ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=2.3LK-NAPI duplex=half latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=MII speed=10Mbit/s
resources: irq:42 ioport:3000(size=256) memory:90410000-90410fff memory:90400000-9040ffff memory:90420000-9043ffff
*-network UNCLAIMED
description: Network controller
product: AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express)
vendor: Atheros Communications Inc.
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
version: 01
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=0
resources: memory:92600000-9260ffff
gimpy@Salterine ~ $

UPDATE 6
Meanwhile, I am trying to do my own repair ( I know, dangerous as a newbie, yes?)
I noticed on the rfkill list that I have no wireless extensions installed. (extensions = drivers?)
I found this following code in another Minut Forum Topic on LM13. It says it installs drivers. I tried it. Did not get past -make- command.
Perhaps I should leave this to the professionals and await your reply.

LM13 Topic commands
make
./scripts/driver-select
./scripts/driver-select ath9k
make
make install
modprobe -r ath9k
modprobe ath9k

My result while trying to execute the commands:
gimpy@Salterine ~ $ make
make: *** No targets specified and no makefile found. Stop.

I am sure I am not doing it right.
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