Iwlwifi connectivity problems

Issues & Assistance Networking Support
1

This problem is happening since I started Linux (in Linux Mint, Ubuntu, Manjaro and still in Garuda). Till now I haven't found a proper resolution. WiFi works fine until sometime, and then the connection drops and I need to disable and re-enable WiFi to make it work again for another while. Few months back I posted here, but the problem I found (may or may not be) that Intel doesn't want to continue developing drivers for linux (especially iwlwifi) (I read it somewhere by someone, I don't remenber where..). Now a days I work with Ethernet cable, got fed up with WiFi.

λ inxi -Fxxxza:

System:    Kernel: 5.10.8-112-tkg-bmq x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.0
           parameters: intel_pstate=passive BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-tkg-bmq
           root=UUID=23773b4a-65c6-4ee3-8155-ee0f10eb3c2c rw rootflags=subvol=@ quiet splash
           rd.udev.log_priority=3 vt.global_cursor_default=0 systemd.unified_cgroup_hierarchy=1
           resume=UUID=fe6d3cf6-59f4-4e49-9ee6-b3eeeb6e0d66 loglevel=3
           Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.20.5 tk: Qt 5.15.2 info: latte-dock wm: kwin_x11 dm: SDDM
           Distro: Garuda Linux
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: HP product: OMEN by HP Laptop v: Type1ProductConfigId
           serial: <filter> Chassis: type: 10 serial: <filter>
           Mobo: HP model: 8257 v: 82.39 serial: <filter> UEFI: Insyde v: F.53 date: 12/12/2019
Battery:   ID-1: BAT0 charge: 59.8 Wh condition: 59.8/59.8 Wh (100%) volts: 13.1/11.6
           model: Hewlett-Packard Primary type: Li-ion serial: N/A status: Full
CPU:       Info: Quad Core model: Intel Core i7-6700HQ bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Skylake-S
           family: 6 model-id: 5E (94) stepping: 3 microcode: E2 L2 cache: 6 MiB
           flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 41646
           Speed: 1484 MHz min/max: 800/3500 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1484 2: 1511 3: 1522
           4: 1481 5: 1756 6: 1454 7: 1437 8: 1459
           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: spec_store_bypass
           mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp
           Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization
           Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Full generic retpoline, IBPB: conditional, IBRS_FW,
           STIBP: conditional, RSB filling
           Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode
           Type: tsx_async_abort mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel HD Graphics 530 vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: i915 v: kernel
           bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:191b
           Device-2: NVIDIA GM107M [GeForce GTX 960M] vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: nvidia
           v: 460.32.03 alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 10de:139b
           Device-3: Cheng Uei Precision Industry (Foxlink) HP Wide Vision HD integrated webcam
           type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus ID: 1-4:2 chip ID: 05c8:038e serial: <filter>
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.10 compositor: kwin_x11 driver: modesetting,nvidia
           alternate: fbdev,intel,nouveau,nv,vesa display ID: :0 screens: 1
           Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x285mm (20.0x11.2")
           s-diag: 582mm (22.9")
           Monitor-1: eDP-1 res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 142 size: 344x194mm (13.5x7.6")
           diag: 395mm (15.5")
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 530 (SKL GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 20.3.3
           direct render: Yes
Audio:     Device-1: Intel 100 Series/C230 Series Family HD Audio vendor: Hewlett-Packard
           driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1f.3 chip ID: 8086:a170
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.10.8-112-tkg-bmq
Network:   Device-1: Intel Wireless 7265 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: 4000 bus ID: 08:00.0
           chip ID: 8086:095a
           IF: wlo1 state: up mac: <filter>
           Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
           vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 3000 bus ID: 09:00.0
           chip ID: 10ec:8168
           IF: eno1 state: down mac: <filter>
           IF-ID-1: anbox0 state: up speed: 10000 Mbps duplex: unknown mac: <filter>
           IF-ID-2: vethIa9Ep2 state: up speed: 10000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 931.51 GiB used: 187.32 GiB (20.1%)
           SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
           ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: HGST (Hitachi) model: HTS721010A9E630
           size: 931.51 GiB block size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
           serial: <filter> rev: A3T0
Partition: ID-1: / raw size: 914.14 GiB size: 914.14 GiB (100.00%) used: 187.32 GiB (20.5%)
           fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
           ID-2: /boot/efi raw size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%) used: 560 KiB (0.2%)
           fs: vfat dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1
           ID-3: /home raw size: 914.14 GiB size: 914.14 GiB (100.00%) used: 187.32 GiB (20.5%)
           fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
           ID-4: /var/log raw size: 914.14 GiB size: 914.14 GiB (100.00%)
           used: 187.32 GiB (20.5%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
           ID-5: /var/tmp raw size: 914.14 GiB size: 914.14 GiB (100.00%)
           used: 187.32 GiB (20.5%) fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
Swap:      Kernel: swappiness: 10 (default 60) cache pressure: 75 (default 100)
           ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 17.08 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2
           dev: /dev/sda3 maj-min: 8:3
           ID-2: swap-2 type: zram size: 1.94 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767
           dev: /dev/zram0
           ID-3: swap-3 type: zram size: 1.94 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767
           dev: /dev/zram1
           ID-4: swap-4 type: zram size: 1.94 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767
           dev: /dev/zram2
           ID-5: swap-5 type: zram size: 1.94 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767
           dev: /dev/zram3
           ID-6: swap-6 type: zram size: 1.94 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767
           dev: /dev/zram4
           ID-7: swap-7 type: zram size: 1.94 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767
           dev: /dev/zram5
           ID-8: swap-8 type: zram size: 1.94 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767
           dev: /dev/zram6
           ID-9: swap-9 type: zram size: 1.94 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 32767
           dev: /dev/zram7
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 57.0 C mobo: N/A
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Info:      Processes: 352 Uptime: 4h 07m wakeups: 1769 Memory: 15.52 GiB used: 5.13 GiB (33.1%)
           Init: systemd v: 247 Compilers: gcc: 10.2.0 clang: 11.0.1 Packages: pacman: 1902
           lib: 538 Shell: fish v: 3.1.2 running in: alacritty inxi: 3.2.01
2

The iwlwifi driver from Intel is not related to the rtl8822ce wifi adapter from Realtek. The intel iwlwifi driver is a module included with all recent kernels, The realtek drivers are often proprietary (not included in the kernel) and often need to be installed separately. Some modern Realtek wifi drivers are now making there way into the kernel, but these drivers are rather immature at this point and many have problems.

If you want to open a separate thread on your issue I may be able to help you with your intel wifi problem. If it can’t be fixed I have written a service that will reconnect your wifi automatically within 6 or so seconds if the connection drops. Hardly a proper fix, but it helps quite a bit if nothing else works (and you cant use Ethernet).

Be sure to post your inxi output if you open your own support thread.

2 Likes
3

As per your request I have split this into a separate topic. Simply edit your initial post to include all the pertinent info such as:

inxi -Fxxxza
1 Like
4

Sadly this is an older Intel adapter that really isn't actively supported by Intel anymore. There are some driver options that sometimes help with this adapter you can try this:

sudo -u $USER /bin/bash -lc 'lsmod | grep -o -e ^iwlmvm -e ^iwldvm -e ^iwlwifi | xargs sudo rmmod && sleep 3 && sudo modprobe iwlwifi 11n_disable=8 bt_coex_active=0'

That command will load new driver options. The changes will only remain in place for the current session. If those options help then a permanent driver options configuration file must be created for the changes to be made persistent.

Please post the output of that command, and any changes you notice in your connectivity afterwards.

3 Likes
5

If I press enter, it is just getting into a new line as if I'm on a text editor, by hitting back the command is also getting erased.. :thinking:

6

Sorry, the apostrophe at the end of the command was truncated when I pasted it into my post. Try running the command again now that I added the trailing apostrophe back i into the above command.

Sorry about that, it should run correctly now. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

7

The command just executed with no reply, but WiFi got disconnected and reconnected.

8

That is expected if the command executed correctly. Now you need to test your connection (without rebooting) to see if there is improvement.

9

I'll keep on using it and download some big stuff to see if the problem still exists. Thanks! I hope I'll not have this issue.

1 Like
10

I see you've now marked my answer as the solution after a week of testing. If you don't know how to make the driver option permanent you'll need to create a driver configuration file named iwlwifi.conf in /etc/modprobe.d. You can search for info online on what options can be set for the iwlwifi driver and how to set the options in the iwlwifi.conf file.

If you get stuck ill gladly help you further, we simply like to encourage users to do some research after pointing them in the right direction.

That is a rather old and mostly unsupported Intel adapter you are using, and only so much can be done to improve its performance. It's pretty easy to replace most older laptop wifi adapters as they're usually easily accessible and are only attached by a couple of removable clips. However, you often need to replace it with a model whitelisted as approved for your MOBO's bios.

At least the old one is working for now.

Glad I could help, and you're welcome.

2 Likes
11

I'm about to get a new laptop by the way. This laptop's hard disk is also reported as FAILED! by SMART and prompting me to replace it. Anyway thanks for taking your time to help me out. Until I get the new one I can manage with the current one :smiley: I'll do a search on out how to deal with iwlwifi.conf.

1 Like