Recent update broke WiFi

[gorilla p]

I'm running Mint 17.1 x64 Cinnamon
Rtl8192du chip (belkin f9l1108)

I installed drivers and had WiFi working properly.
Everything was up to date and working fine on 6/6/15.
I installed updates this evening and suddenly WiFi slowed to a crawl, connection kept dropping and refused to reconnect. Same issue on 2.4 & 5.0 GHz. (802.11N)

I just went through the updates and there appear to be 3 network related updates, and only 1 was released since 6/6 which is the wpasupplicant update from 1.1 to 1.3
I reinstalled my OS as I couldn't figure out how to rollback the update and now I'm installing all updates with the exception of that one update (also excluded lvl4-5)
Any input or assistance is appreciated

[Pjotr]

Please generate an overview of your system like this:
- launch a terminal window and make it full screen, to avoid chopped lines;
- copy/paste this command into the terminal:

Code: Select all

inxi -Fxz

(if you type: the letter F is a capital letter)

Press Enter.

Copy/paste the output in your next message.

[gorilla p]

Will do. In the meantime, I checked the updates and saw the wpasupplicant update was released between 6/6 (when everything was fine) and 6/24 so I froze that wpasupplicant package version. I applied updates (all except lvl 4/5) and everything was fine.
But after and apt-upgrade, it broke again. So something installed by apt-get upgrade that wasn't installed by update manager broke the WiFi.

[gorilla p]

I have since installed the latest drivers I could find and I am able to use the WiFi for short periods with decent speeds, but then I see the wifi signal strength drop to 20%, then disconnect entirely, only to in a minute show the connections and reconnect again.

Below ius my configuration.


System: Host: ryan-desktop Kernel: 3.13.0-37-generic x86_64 (64 bit, gcc: 4.8.2)
Desktop: Gnome Distro: Linux Mint 17.1 Rebecca
Machine: Mobo: ASUSTeK model: M5A97 LE R2.0 version: Rev 1.xx Bios: American Megatrends version: 2501 date: 04/09/2014
CPU: Hexa core AMD FX-6300 Six-Core (-MCP-) cache: 12288 KB flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm) bmips: 45663.1
Clock Speeds: 1: 1400.00 MHz 2: 1400.00 MHz 3: 1400.00 MHz 4: 1400.00 MHz 5: 1400.00 MHz 6: 1400.00 MHz
Graphics: Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Pitcairn PRO [Radeon HD 7850] bus-ID: 01:00.0
X.Org: 1.15.1 drivers: ati,radeon (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1920x1080@60.0hz
GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on AMD PITCAIRN GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 10.1.3 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio: Card-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA) driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:14.2
Card-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Cape Verde/Pitcairn HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 7700/7800 Series] driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 01:00.1
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture ver: k3.13.0-37-generic
Network: Card: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
driver: r8169 ver: 2.3LK-NAPI port: d000 bus-ID: 02:00.0
IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives: HDD Total Size: 1004.2GB (51.0% used) 1: id: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD1001FALS size: 1000.2GB
2: USB id: /dev/sdc model: DataTraveler_2.0 size: 4.0GB
Partition: ID: / size: 7.4G used: 5.4G (77%) fs: ext4 ID: swap-1 size: 8.20GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap
RAID: No RAID devices detected - /proc/mdstat and md_mod kernel raid module present
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 21.0C mobo: N/A gpu: 45.0
Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info: Processes: 204 Uptime: 26 min Memory: 771.9/7886.6MB Runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.8.4 Client: Shell inxi: 1.8.4

Wifi adapter model#
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 050d:110a Belkin Components

[Pjotr]

OK.... indeed an RTL8192DU chipset. This solution from the famous Ubuntu wifi guru chili555 can probably help you:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php? ... st12688576

If it works (which I expect, because that particular driver is still being actively maintained at git): do NOT install a newer kernel. Because that will probably kill your wifi again.

[gorilla p]

Thanks for the reply.
This is what I used originally to get teh WiFi up and working and it worked great (until the breakdown after the apt-get upgrade).
I have the zip file of that folder and can reinstall the wifi drivers from there.
Is there anything that I can do to get WiFi working again with the updated kernel that I have? A way to roll it back?
I just need to know how to fix this incase it should happen again, without having to reinstall the OS entirely.

I think this whole issue is getting ot be more trouble than its worth.
I'm happy to buy another wireless adapter that will just work.
I'm OK with spending up to $20 for a 802.11N dual-channel 2.4/5GHz adapter, which doesn't look to be a problem after looking around on eBay.
Is there a specific chipset I should be looking for? it seems a lot of the cheaper adapters use a small specific set of chips.
The RALink RT5572 https://wikidevi.com/wiki/Ralink_RT5572 appears to be very popular.
Any input on Linux/Mint compatability?

[Pjotr]

Thanks for the reply.
I just need to know how to fix this incase it should happen again, without having to reinstall the OS entirely.

The best way would be: do a clean re-install and apply the solution from chili555 again.
Then never use "apt-get upgrade" again, but only use Update Manager and avoid all updates from level 4 and 5, including the security updates (which aren't very important for security anyway: the high risk packages are usually all in level 1-3). And don't install new kernels, too.

I'm happy to buy another wireless adapter that will just work.
I'm OK with spending up to $20 for a 802.11N dual-channel 2.4/5GHz adapter, which doesn't look to be a problem after looking around on eBay.
Is there a specific chipset I should be looking for?

This one should work out of the box (I have one myself):
http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-WN725N ... B008IFXQFU