I recently discovered that only when I enable Wi-Fi, htop shows an abnormal CPU usage of more than 90% for /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-journald, which then leads to a bunch of problems.
I guess it's logging multiple errors in the background, maybe the PCIe Bus Error?
Anyways, I then disabled Wi-Fi & enabled Airplane mode. When I restarted my laptop, I was bombarded with multiple PCIe Bus Error for three seconds on the screen, then proceeds to restart.
After restarting my laptop & booted on my desktop (Wi-Fi is still disabled & Airplane mode enabled), I checked htop and the CPU usage this time was normal or mostly at 0.7% - 2%.
I restarted one more time and there were no PCIe Bus Error if Wi-Fi is disabled. Restarting was smooth & normal.
There is indeed something wrong with the Wi-Fi, specifically the Wi-Fi driver.
By the way, this issue doesn't occur on a Wired connection or when I use USB tethering from phone to laptop. The Wi-Fi driver in question and responsible for this headache is the RTL8821AE.
I've had this issue since 2017, made me pause using Linux for five years and I've been blaming it all on Nvidia. 
I searched on Google & the Garuda forum for similar or related issues for the rtl8821ae driver and I found some. Although I haven't attempted any of the fixes yet because I want to verify here first with you, the experts, for my particular case and because I don't know what I'm doing. I still need help.
#newbie
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Unable to install Mint due to PCIe bus error [SOLVED] - Linux Mint Forums
Nov 23, 2019- A user from Linux Mint had a similar encounter with PCIe Bus Error, their solution was to remove the kernel module or driver for rtl8821ae and adding the
pci=nomsikernel parameter to GRUB.
- A user from Linux Mint had a similar encounter with PCIe Bus Error, their solution was to remove the kernel module or driver for rtl8821ae and adding the
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[SOLVED]pcieport/RTL8821AE error messages / Kernel & Hardware / Arch Linux Forums
Apr 23, 2018- An Arch user had a similar issue and just added the
pci=nomsikernel parameter to GRUB.
- An Arch user had a similar issue and just added the
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PCIe Bus Error / Kernel & Hardware / Arch Linux Forums
Apr 29, 2017- Another discussion about rtl8821ae issue with maybe some more helpful & in-depth info. From what I've read, it also affects the root-port it's attached to.
- Another discussion about rtl8821ae issue with maybe some more helpful & in-depth info. From what I've read, it also affects the root-port it's attached to.
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RTL8821CE WiFi adapter - Screen freezes when connecting to wifi
Aug 1, 2021- A fellow Garuda Linux user had a similar issue with rtl8821ae, but on rtl8821ce instead. Installed an alternative Wi-Fi driver (rtl8821ce-dkms-git) from AUR, blacklisted the default Wi-Fi driver with a created blacklist.conf file that's stored at
/etc/modprobe.d/, then added apci=noaerkernel parameter to GRUB and set band to 2.4GHz.
- A fellow Garuda Linux user had a similar issue with rtl8821ae, but on rtl8821ce instead. Installed an alternative Wi-Fi driver (rtl8821ce-dkms-git) from AUR, blacklisted the default Wi-Fi driver with a created blacklist.conf file that's stored at
My thoughts, questions & concerns
- I'm thinking that removing the Wi-Fi driver or kernel module of rtl8821ae completely might reduce the internet speed significantly or there might be no internet connection at all.
- I know a little bit about the common kernel parameters for GRUB like
pci=noaer,pci=nomsi&pci=nommconf, but preferably I really want to make these the last or second to the last options. It just feels like I'm burying the problem or I'm disabling something systemwide which who knows, my system might need them too. But I'm also not against using them if I have no choice. - Someone said in this comment that the RTL8821AE and the RTL8821CE, uses the same driver (rtl8821ce-dkms). Is this true? Or can rtl8821ae use that driver? If it can, I might be able to follow the guide in number 4.
- Does rtl8821ae have any alternative driver at all?
- Are there any repository & list of versions to downgrade for rtl8821ae driver? Since the driver is baked to the kernel from version 3 & newer.
- What else can I do to solve this problem?
- If somebody else has another solution, please let me know. I'm really excited to keep using Linux with this gorgeous distro.
garuda-inxi
System:
Kernel: 5.19.4-zen1-1-zen arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen
root=UUID=cfffd233-6046-4b46-b192-bbf52416bc7a rw rootflags=subvol=@
quiet quiet splash rd.udev.log_priority=3 vt.global_cursor_default=0
resume=UUID=fc447b58-5d55-401d-badd-2fc7e2b5325e loglevel=3
Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 5.25.4 tk: Qt v: 5.15.5 info: latte-dock
wm: kwin_x11 vt: 1 dm: SDDM Distro: Garuda Linux base: Arch Linux
Machine:
Type: Laptop System: ASUSTeK product: X441URK v: 1.0
serial: <superuser required>
Mobo: ASUSTeK model: X441URK v: 1.0 serial: <superuser required>
UEFI: American Megatrends v: X441URK.324 date: 08/27/2018
Battery:
ID-1: BAT0 charge: 24.9 Wh (99.2%) condition: 25.1/34.6 Wh (72.7%)
volts: 10.8 min: 10.8 model: ASUSTeK ASUS Battery type: Li-ion serial: N/A
status: not charging cycles: 1387
CPU:
Info: model: Intel Core i5-7200U bits: 64 type: MT MCP
arch: Amber/Kaby Lake note: check gen: core 7 built: 2017
process: Intel 14nm family: 6 model-id: 0x8E (142) stepping: 9
microcode: 0xF0
Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 2 tpc: 2 threads: 4 smt: enabled cache:
L1: 128 KiB desc: d-2x32 KiB; i-2x32 KiB L2: 512 KiB desc: 2x256 KiB
L3: 3 MiB desc: 1x3 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 2900 high: 3101 min/max: 400/3100 scaling:
driver: intel_pstate governor: powersave cores: 1: 3101 2: 2700 3: 3100
4: 2700 bogomips: 21599
Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Vulnerabilities:
Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: VMX disabled
Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT
vulnerable
Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable
Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI
Type: mmio_stale_data mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable
Type: retbleed mitigation: IBRS
Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via
prctl
Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
sanitization
Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: IBRS, IBPB: conditional, RSB filling,
PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected
Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode
Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel HD Graphics 620 vendor: ASUSTeK driver: i915 v: kernel
arch: Gen-9.5 process: Intel 14nm built: 2016-20 ports: active: eDP-1
empty: DP-1, DP-2, HDMI-A-1, HDMI-A-2, HDMI-A-3 bus-ID: 00:02.0
chip-ID: 8086:5916 class-ID: 0300
Device-2: NVIDIA GM108M [GeForce 930MX] vendor: ASUSTeK driver: nvidia
v: 515.65.01 alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm non-free: 515.xx+ status: current
(as of 2022-07) arch: Maxwell code: GMxxx process: TSMC 28nm
built: 2014-19 pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 4 link-max: gen: 3
speed: 8 GT/s bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:134e class-ID: 0302
Device-3: IMC Networks USB2.0 VGA UVC WebCam type: USB driver: uvcvideo
bus-ID: 1-6:3 chip-ID: 13d3:5a01 class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter>
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.4 with: Xwayland v: 22.1.3
compositor: kwin_x11 driver: X: loaded: modesetting,nvidia
unloaded: nouveau alternate: fbdev,intel,nv,vesa gpu: i915 display-ID: :0
screens: 1
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x285mm (20.00x11.22")
s-diag: 582mm (22.93")
Monitor-1: eDP-1 model: ChiMei InnoLux 0x14a7 built: 2013 res: 1920x1080
hz: 60 dpi: 158 gamma: 1.2 size: 308x173mm (12.13x6.81")
diag: 353mm (13.9") ratio: 16:9 modes: 1920x1080
OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 620 (KBL GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 22.1.7
direct render: Yes
Audio:
Device-1: Intel Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio vendor: ASUSTeK
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel alternate: snd_soc_skl,snd_soc_avs
bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:9d71 class-ID: 0403
Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.19.4-zen1-1-zen running: yes
Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 16.1 running: no
Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.56 running: yes
Network:
Device-1: Realtek RTL810xE PCI Express Fast Ethernet vendor: ASUSTeK
driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: d000
bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8136 class-ID: 0200
IF: enp2s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Device-2: Realtek RTL8821AE 802.11ac PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
vendor: AzureWave driver: rtl8821ae v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s
lanes: 1 port: c000 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8821 class-ID: 0280
IF: wlp3s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
Device-1: IMC Networks Bluetooth Radio type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8
bus-ID: 1-8:4 chip-ID: 13d3:3414 class-ID: e001 serial: <filter>
Report: bt-adapter ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: down
bt-service: enabled,running rfk-block: hardware: no software: yes
address: <filter>
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 931.51 GiB used: 8.79 GiB (0.9%)
SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: HGST (Hitachi) model: HTS541010A9E680
size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B
speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: HDD rpm: 5400 serial: <filter> rev: A560
scheme: GPT
Partition:
ID-1: / raw-size: 64 GiB size: 64 GiB (100.00%) used: 8.73 GiB (13.6%)
fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda9 maj-min: 8:9
ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%) used: 608 KiB
(0.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda7 maj-min: 8:7
ID-3: /home raw-size: 130.09 GiB size: 130.09 GiB (100.00%) used: 67.3
MiB (0.1%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda10 maj-min: 8:10
ID-4: /var/log raw-size: 64 GiB size: 64 GiB (100.00%) used: 8.73 GiB
(13.6%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda9 maj-min: 8:9
ID-5: /var/tmp raw-size: 64 GiB size: 64 GiB (100.00%) used: 8.73 GiB
(13.6%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda9 maj-min: 8:9
Swap:
Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 3.71 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100
dev: /dev/zram0
ID-2: swap-2 type: partition size: 8 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2
dev: /dev/sda8 maj-min: 8:8
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 58.0 C pch: 41.5 C mobo: N/A
Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 3400
Info:
Processes: 201 Uptime: 33m wakeups: 1 Memory: 3.71 GiB used: 1.51 GiB
(40.6%) Init: systemd v: 251 default: graphical tool: systemctl
Compilers: gcc: 12.2.0 Packages: pacman: 1219 lib: 312 Shell: fish v: 3.5.1
default: Bash v: 5.1.16 running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.20
Garuda (2.6.6-1):
head: cannot open '/var/log/pacman.log' for reading: No such file or directory
System install date:
Last full system update: 2022-08-29
Is partially upgraded: No
Relevant software: NetworkManager
Windows dual boot: Probably (Run as root to verify)
Snapshots: Snapper
Failed units:
lspci -k
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v6/7th Gen Core Processor Host Bridge/DRAM Registers (rev 02)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 1600
Kernel driver in use: skl_uncore
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation HD Graphics 620 (rev 02)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 134e
Kernel driver in use: i915
Kernel modules: i915
00:04.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Xeon E3-1200 v5/E3-1500 v5/6th Gen Core Processor Thermal Subsystem (rev 02)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 1600
Kernel driver in use: proc_thermal
Kernel modules: processor_thermal_device_pci_legacy
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP USB 3.0 xHCI Controller (rev 21)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 201f
Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd
Kernel modules: xhci_pci
00:14.2 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP Thermal subsystem (rev 21)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 1600
Kernel driver in use: intel_pch_thermal
Kernel modules: intel_pch_thermal
00:15.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP Serial IO I2C Controller #0 (rev 21)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 1600
Kernel driver in use: intel-lpss
Kernel modules: intel_lpss_pci
00:15.1 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP Serial IO I2C Controller #1 (rev 21)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 1600
Kernel driver in use: intel-lpss
Kernel modules: intel_lpss_pci
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP CSME HECI #1 (rev 21)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 1600
Kernel modules: mei_me
00:17.0 SATA controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 21)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 1600
Kernel driver in use: ahci
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #1 (rev f1)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 1600
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #5 (rev f1)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 1600
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PCI Express Root Port #6 (rev f1)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 1600
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP LPC Controller (rev 21)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 1600
00:1f.2 Memory controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP PMC (rev 21)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 1600
00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio (rev 21)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 12a0
Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
Kernel modules: snd_hda_intel, snd_soc_skl, snd_soc_avs
00:1f.4 SMBus: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-LP SMBus (rev 21)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 1600
Kernel driver in use: i801_smbus
Kernel modules: i2c_i801
01:00.0 3D controller: NVIDIA Corporation GM108M [GeForce 930MX] (rev a2)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 134e
Kernel driver in use: nvidia
Kernel modules: nouveau, nvidia_drm, nvidia
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL810xE PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 07)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 200f
Kernel driver in use: r8169
Kernel modules: r8169
03:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8821AE 802.11ac PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
Subsystem: AzureWave Device 2161
Kernel driver in use: rtl8821ae
Kernel modules: rtl8821ae
: shouldn't it be rtl8821ae instead of rtl8723ae in those command sequences?
