Laptop wireless works on external HDD but not internal HDD

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minty_breath23

Laptop wireless works on external HDD but not internal HDD

Post by minty_breath23 »

I currently have an install of Mint 17.2 and I am encountering the issue described in the title of this post. For some reason, my wireless card works flawlessly when I am running Mint either through a live usb or off an external hard drive, but the second I try to run the OS off my main hard drive I encounter constant issues.

ISSUES IN DETAIL:

I experience constant lost connections. I have run a constant ping throughout the day and generally experience 15-40% packet loss, with obvious effects on my browsing experience. Generally, restarting the wireless via the gui applet will "reset" my poor connection and allow me to continue browsing. After restarting the wireless I will experience problems again within anywhere from a 2-30 minute time frame (sometimes more or less).

Strangely, I do not experience these problems when running the OS off either a live usb or an external hard drive. I have performed several days of extensive testing running Mint off an external hard drive and consistently experience <3% packet loss and virtually no lost or erratic connections.

In addition, I originally thought there was a problem with my wireless card or drives. I purchased an external wireless usb to replace it. I experience the same exact problems with this usb as I do with my native card (i.e., it works fine when using a live usb or external hard drive, but I encounter erratic connections when trying to use my main hard drive).

Thus far, I have had no problem with wired connections.

TROUBLESHOOTING I HAVE ATTEMPTED:

I have attempted to use every available official and unofficial driver I could get my hands on. None have helped.

I have tried tweaking the power settings and other various settings for my card. This has not helped.

The card works perfectly fine on Windows.

I experienced the same problems I am currently having on Mint 17.

As mentioned above, I attempted to use a third-party wireless card and encountered the same issues mentioned.

I have used several different kernels. I have experienced no difference in performance between the default Mint kernel and any other kernels I have used. I am currently using 4.1.3-generic. For reference, I did not change kernels in attempt to troubleshoot my wireless problems, I needed a driver for a separate piece of hardware. However, it seemed relevant to include this piece of information.

There is nothing wrong with the hard drive I am using. The external hard drive that works flawlessly is the same exact hard drive that fails when used as the main hard drive for my laptop.

INFORMATION

Wireless card -- Realtek RTL8188EE

Distribution -- Linux Mint 17.2

Kernel version -- 4.1.3-generic

Output of mintwifi.py:

-------------------------
* I. scanning WIFI PCI devices...
-- Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8188EE Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)
==> PCI ID = 10ec:8179 (rev 01)
-------------------------
* II. querying ndiswrapper...
-------------------------
* III. querying iwconfig...
eth0 no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11bgn ESSID:"HOME-A392"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: 00:AC:E0:F2:A3:90
Bit Rate=65 Mb/s Tx-Power=27 dBm
Retry short limit:7 RTS thr=2347 B Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality=58/70 Signal level=-52 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:8 Missed beacon:0

lo no wireless extensions.

-------------------------
* IV. querying ifconfig...
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:8c:fa:7f:2e:5a
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)
Interrupt:16

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:24410 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:24410 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:2659981 (2.6 MB) TX bytes:2659981 (2.6 MB)

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 48:d2:24:8d:4a:4f
inet addr:10.0.0.18 Bcast:10.0.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::4ad2:24ff:fe8d:4a4f/64 Scope:Link
inet6 addr: 2601:801:101:7622:3cd3:138b:119e:5b5c/64 Scope:Global
inet6 addr: 2601:801:101:7622:4ad2:24ff:fe8d:4a4f/64 Scope:Global
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:3660515 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:2175509 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:4893846604 (4.8 GB) TX bytes:217505777 (217.5 MB)

-------------------------
* V. querying DHCP...
RTNETLINK answers: File exists
-------------------------
* VI. querying nslookup google.com...
Server: 75.75.75.75
Address: 75.75.75.75#53

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: google.com
Address: 173.194.46.33
Name: google.com
Address: 173.194.46.34
Name: google.com
Address: 173.194.46.40
Name: google.com
Address: 173.194.46.38
Name: google.com
Address: 173.194.46.32
Name: google.com
Address: 173.194.46.39
Name: google.com
Address: 173.194.46.36
Name: google.com
Address: 173.194.46.46
Name: google.com
Address: 173.194.46.35
Name: google.com
Address: 173.194.46.37
Name: google.com
Address: 173.194.46.41


I will post any additional information needed. Thank you.
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.
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