AWUS036H slow with constant disconnects Mint 17.1

[pavelrogala]

I've recently moved from Windows 7 to Linux Mint MATE 17.1 (Rebecca). I'm running a desktop PC with an Alfa 1 mw (AWUS036H). While using Windows 7 the connection was solid, never dropped out and was fairly fast for the distance (signal strength at 76%). As soon as I moved to Mint the connection began to be extremely unstable and drops out constantly.
I've confirmed that the RTL8187L driver is installed. I've gone through several suggestions such as boosting TX power to 30 etc. but to no avail. I'll be browsing the net and all of a sudden a page just won't load, even though the signal still reads at 70+%. I've got a MacBook Pro running on the same connection so I know it's not a router issue. Any suggestions?

[Buzzsaw]

It sounds like your problem is related to power saving.

Some other people have had the same problem. You should have a look at what was suggested to them:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/288280/h ... untu-13-04
http://askubuntu.com/questions/356391/r ... se-help-me

Alternatively, changing some parameters of the driver (in your case it's the module called rtl8187) might fix it.

First, post the output of the following command:

Code: Select all

systool -v -m rtl8187

The systool program is part of the sysfsutils package. You might need to install this first.

[pavelrogala]

Running

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systool -v -m rtl8187

returns

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Module = "rtl8187"

  Attributes:
    coresize            = "64909"
    initsize            = "0"
    initstate           = "live"
    refcnt              = "0"
    srcversion          = "A707FEC6B464A70F7A04C69"
    taint               = ""
    uevent              = <store method only>

  Sections:
    .bss                = "0x0000000000000000"
    .data               = "0x0000000000000000"
    .data.unlikely      = "0x0000000000000000"
    .exit.text          = "0x0000000000000000"
    .gnu.linkonce.this_module= "0x0000000000000000"
    .init.text          = "0x0000000000000000"
    .note.gnu.build-id  = "0x0000000000000000"
    .rodata             = "0x0000000000000000"
    .rodata.str1.1      = "0x0000000000000000"
    .rodata.str1.8      = "0x0000000000000000"
    .strtab             = "0x0000000000000000"
    .symtab             = "0x0000000000000000"
    .text               = "0x0000000000000000"
    __mcount_loc        = "0x0000000000000000"
    __verbose           = "0x0000000000000000"

Additionally iwconfig outputs:

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eth0      no wireless extensions.

lo        no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11bg  ESSID:"RedBull"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: 78:8C:54:03:81:CB   
          Bit Rate=54 Mb/s   Tx-Power=30 dBm   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=67/70  Signal level=-43 dBm  
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:615   Missed beacon:0

Does power saving apply outside of laptops?

I've done a few suggested edits to /etc/rc.local and I'll see how that works out. Connection died immediately on restart but after disabling/enabling wifi it seems a tad more stable.

[Buzzsaw]

Wireless adapters have built-in power saving. Unfortunately however, from your iwconfig output, I see that it is already all disabled ('Power Management:off'), and additionally your wireless adapter has no power management module parameters to adjust anyway (but it was worthwhile checking).

At least you know that your link quality is 67/70. So that's obviously not the problem.

[pavelrogala]

Eh, the link started messing up again. Not sure what the issue is. At times it works fine for hours other times the connection simply drops. Checked that it's not a router issue again and all my other device work fine over the connection. Maybe the adapter is just garbage (although it seems fairly popular).

[Buzzsaw]

The good thing is that it's an external wireless adapter, so it's very easy to replace with one that works well in Linux (any that have an Atheros chipset, such as those made by TP-LINK work well).

[tarantula78]

I have the same problem and I have tried everything.

Im guessing getting the module drive from ubuntu might be helpful (if it has been modified in the linux mint version) because i didnt have this problem with ubuntu.

I have 2 wireless routers with the same SSID which is working fine on my mobile/tv/laptop (win 7) but on linux mint i get pings of around 300+ just to the local router !

I have switched off power management, created 2 SSIDs and even set the BSSID (Incase it was getting confused) but to no avail. Is there nothing we can do?