Mint 17 wifi AP disappears intermittently

Questions about Wi-Fi and other network devices, file sharing, firewalls, connection sharing etc
Forum rules
Before you post read how to get help. Topics in this forum are automatically closed 6 months after creation.
Locked
inedibly_indelible

Mint 17 wifi AP disappears intermittently

Post by inedibly_indelible »

Hi all,

I'm having an issue with the wifi on Mint 17. Every ten minutes or so the AP I'm connected to will disappear from the list in Network Manager and I'll need to turn wifi off and back on again to get it to show up. Sometimes it will also say that it's connected but no data can be transmitted.

I'm using a laptop but I also have an external wifi adapter, so I know it's not a hardware issue. The internal card in wlan0, the external is wlan1.

I'd also like to be able to use both wifi cards, the internal one when I'm using my laptop elsewhere, and the external adapter when I'm at home.

I saw a post from a user with a similar problem so I will post the same commands he was asked.

Code: Select all

$ inxi -N
Network:   Card-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller driver: r8169 
           Card-2: Realtek RTL8723AE PCIe Wireless Network Adapter driver: rtl8723ae 
           Card-3: Realtek RTL8188RU 802.11n WLAN Adapter driver: rtl8192cu

Code: Select all

$ sudo /usr/lib/linuxmint/mintWifi/mintWifi.py
-------------------------
* I. scanning WIFI PCI devices...
  -- Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8723AE PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
      ==> PCI ID = 10ec:8723
-------------------------
* II. querying ndiswrapper...
-------------------------
* III. querying iwconfig...
wlan1     IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:"Home"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.427 GHz  Access Point: 18:83:BF:88:21:68   
          Bit Rate=72.2 Mb/s   Tx-Power=20 dBm   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr=2347 B   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=52/70  Signal level=-58 dBm  
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:1   Missed beacon:0

eth0      no wireless extensions.

lo        no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:off/any  
          Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=20 dBm   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr=2347 B   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          
-------------------------
* IV. querying ifconfig...
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:90:f5:e8:b0:e0  
          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:15526 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:15526 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:1323702 (1.3 MB)  TX bytes:1323702 (1.3 MB)

wlan1     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:c0:ca:7e:c7:d8  
          inet addr:192.168.2.108  Bcast:192.168.2.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::2c0:caff:fe7e:c7d8/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:5227 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:5072 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:4028949 (4.0 MB)  TX bytes:915823 (915.8 KB)

-------------------------
* V. querying DHCP...
^C-------------------------
* VI. querying nslookup google.com...
Server:		127.0.1.1
Address:	127.0.1.1#53

Non-authoritative answer:
Name:	google.com
Address: 173.194.39.14
Name:	google.com
Address: 173.194.39.7
Name:	google.com
Address: 173.194.39.6
Name:	google.com
Address: 173.194.39.9
Name:	google.com
Address: 173.194.39.8
Name:	google.com
Address: 173.194.39.0
Name:	google.com
Address: 173.194.39.2
Name:	google.com
Address: 173.194.39.4
Name:	google.com
Address: 173.194.39.1
Name:	google.com
Address: 173.194.39.3
Name:	google.com
Address: 173.194.39.5

Code: Select all

$ ls /sys/module/rtl
rtl8192c_common/ rtl8723ae/       rtl_pci/         rtlwifi/         
rtl8192cu/       rtl8723_common/  rtl_usb/

Code: Select all

$ for p in /sys/module/rtl8723ae/parameters/*; do echo $p; cat $p; done
/sys/module/rtl8723ae/parameters/debug
0
/sys/module/rtl8723ae/parameters/fwlps
Y
/sys/module/rtl8723ae/parameters/ips
Y
/sys/module/rtl8723ae/parameters/swenc
N
/sys/module/rtl8723ae/parameters/swlps
N
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.
Top
inedibly_indelible

Re: Mint 17 wifi AP disappears intermittently

Post by inedibly_indelible »

Does anyone have any suggestions? Or directions on how I can troubleshoot this myself? Thanks.
Top
JeremyB
Level 21
Level 21
Posts: 13857
Joined: Fri Feb 21, 2014 8:17 am

Re: Mint 17 wifi AP disappears intermittently

Post by JeremyB »

You could try

Code: Select all

echo "options rtl8723ae fwlps=N" | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/rtl8723ae.conf
Reboot and see is there is improvement
Top
inedibly_indelible

Re: Mint 17 wifi AP disappears intermittently

Post by inedibly_indelible »

JeremyB wrote:You could try

Code: Select all

echo "options rtl8723ae fwlps=N" | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/rtl8723ae.conf
Reboot and see is there is improvement

Thanks for the suggestion JeremyB. I have been trying this for the last two days and unfortunately I think it's made things even worse. I'm experiencing even more dropouts where the wifi will disconnect for a couple if seconds or the signal will drop to zero...
Top
JeremyB
Level 21
Level 21
Posts: 13857
Joined: Fri Feb 21, 2014 8:17 am

Re: Mint 17 wifi AP disappears intermittently

Post by JeremyB »

inedibly_indelible wrote:
JeremyB wrote:You could try

Code: Select all

echo "options rtl8723ae fwlps=N" | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/rtl8723ae.conf
Reboot and see is there is improvement

Thanks for the suggestion JeremyB. I have been trying this for the last two days and unfortunately I think it's made things even worse. I'm experiencing even more dropouts where the wifi will disconnect for a couple if seconds or the signal will drop to zero...
We could try it like this

Code: Select all

echo "options rtl8723ae fwlps=N swlps=N" | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/rtl8723ae.conf
If after reboot it isn't any better, you can delete with

Code: Select all

sudo rm /etc/modprobe.d/rtl8723ae.conf
Top
inedibly_indelible

Re: Mint 17 wifi AP disappears intermittently

Post by inedibly_indelible »

Thanks. I tried that for a while and I think it made things worse :/

The wifi is still dropping out constantly and there is now a new problem! Now Network Manager says 'Unavailable - 802.1x supplicant failed' and there are no APs in the list! I have no wifi now!

I checked dmesg and there was some concerning lines htere:

Code: Select all

$ dmesg | tail -25
[  428.529926] rtl_usb: reg 0x608, usbctrl_vendorreq TimeOut! status:0xffffffed value=0xd30000
[  432.642915] wlan0: deauthenticating from 18:83:bf:88:21:68 by local choice (reason=3)
[  432.708310] cfg80211: Calling CRDA to update world regulatory domain
[  432.710144] cfg80211: World regulatory domain updated:
[  432.710158] cfg80211:   (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp)
[  432.710160] cfg80211:   (2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[  432.710162] cfg80211:   (2457000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[  432.710163] cfg80211:   (2474000 KHz - 2494000 KHz @ 20000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[  432.710164] cfg80211:   (5170000 KHz - 5250000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[  432.710166] cfg80211:   (5735000 KHz - 5835000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (300 mBi, 2000 mBm)
[  432.755486] traps: wpa_supplicant[4190] general protection ip:4d7176 sp:7fffc4fc4b60 error:0 in wpa_supplicant[400000+1ae000]
[  432.851667] wpa_supplicant[4279]: segfault at 3357 ip 0000000000503b19 sp 00007fff50b17e20 error 4 in wpa_supplicant[400000+1ae000]
[  432.947771] wpa_supplicant[4282]: segfault at 3357 ip 0000000000503b19 sp 00007fff51ae0bd0 error 4 in wpa_supplicant[400000+1ae000]
[  433.326462] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[  443.645830] wpa_supplicant[4285]: segfault at 28 ip 0000000000503b19 sp 00007fffba366f30 error 4 in wpa_supplicant[400000+1ae000]
[  443.737985] wpa_supplicant[4291]: segfault at 3357 ip 0000000000503b19 sp 00007fffaeaf2590 error 4 in wpa_supplicant[400000+1ae000]
[  443.845977] wpa_supplicant[4294]: segfault at 3357 ip 0000000000503b19 sp 00007fffd902ac50 error 4 in wpa_supplicant[400000+1ae000]
[  443.902460] wpa_supplicant[4297]: segfault at 3357 ip 0000000000503b19 sp 00007fffb1662330 error 4 in wpa_supplicant[400000+1ae000]
[  444.361892] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[  478.502457] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[  489.849917] systemd-hostnamed[4336]: Warning: nss-myhostname is not installed. Changing the local hostname might make it unresolveable. Please install nss-myhostname!
[  530.695685] wpa_supplicant[4319]: segfault at d88890 ip 0000000000d88890 sp 00007ffffac138e8 error 15
[  530.791590] wpa_supplicant[4356]: segfault at 3357 ip 0000000000503b19 sp 00007fff66e6f860 error 4 in wpa_supplicant[400000+1ae000]
[  530.879721] wpa_supplicant[4359]: segfault at 3357 ip 0000000000503b19 sp 00007fff7d5f8720 error 4 in wpa_supplicant[400000+1ae000]
[  530.927954] wpa_supplicant[4362]: segfault at 3357 ip 0000000000503b19 sp 00007fffe596e340 error 4 in wpa_supplicant[400000+1ae000]
I tried to install nss-myhostname but couldn't find it anywhere.

Any advice?
Top
JeremyB
Level 21
Level 21
Posts: 13857
Joined: Fri Feb 21, 2014 8:17 am

Re: Mint 17 wifi AP disappears intermittently

Post by JeremyB »

You can live without nss-myhostname. Can you try a live version of Linux Mint and see if it works after

Code: Select all

echo "options rtl8723ae fwlps=N swlps=N" | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/rtl8723ae.conf

Code: Select all

sudo modprobe -r rtl8723ae

Code: Select all

sudo modprobe rtl8723ae
And then run the wireless script from http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=370108 and post the contents of wireless-info.txt using the code tags
Top
inedibly_indelible

Re: Mint 17 wifi AP disappears intermittently

Post by inedibly_indelible »

JeremyB wrote: And then run the wireless script from http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=370108 and post the contents of wireless-info.txt using the code tags
You mean run that from inside live mode?

I just noticed that I have two versions of wpa_supplicant running. I tried to kill one of them using top but was told that operation is not permitted. I installed wicd on top of network-manager a week ago, could that be causing problems?
Top
JeremyB
Level 21
Level 21
Posts: 13857
Joined: Fri Feb 21, 2014 8:17 am

Re: Mint 17 wifi AP disappears intermittently

Post by JeremyB »

inedibly_indelible wrote:
JeremyB wrote: And then run the wireless script from http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=370108 and post the contents of wireless-info.txt using the code tags
You mean run that from inside live mode?

I just noticed that I have two versions of wpa_supplicant running. I tried to kill one of them using top but was told that operation is not permitted. I installed wicd on top of network-manager a week ago, could that be causing problems?
Having Network Manager and WICD running at the same time can cause problems
Top
stephenr1400

Re: Mint 17 wifi AP disappears intermittently

Post by stephenr1400 »

Had a similar problem in Ubuntu before switching to Mint. Turned out my cable modem needed replacing. Dropping signal can can also happen with aging wifi routers. if so, upgrading the firmware may help. Don't know about networking just a thought that it actually could be a hardware issue.
Top
Locked

Return to “Networking”