Score:2

Ubuntu

Wifi frequently stops working: replace hardware?

artfulrobot

4/21/23, 8:23 AM

My wifi has worked for years but recently it's been very patchy; often showing connected no internet; high packet loss between it and the router. Turning it off and on again seems to help most the time, but it's happening more frequently.

I'm not sure if it's likely to be to do with a change in kernel (I'm on Ubuntu 20.04, 5.4.0-91-generic #102-Ubuntu SMP) or a hardware failure. Do wifi cards just get old and stop working?

lshw gives this:

description: Wireless interface
product: Wireless 8265 / 8275
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
logical name: wlp2s0
version: 78
serial: f8:94:c2:8b:5d:c1
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwlwifi driverversion=5.4.0-91-generic firmware=36.77d01142.0
               ip=192.168.1.118 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11
resources: irq:142 memory:ddc00000-ddc01fff

Running sudo journalctl -k -g iwlwifi gives only this:

iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: Applying debug destination EXTERNAL_DRAM
iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: FW already configured (0) - re-configuring

I read at wireless.wiki.kernel.org/...iwlwifi to download files firmware from:

https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/tree/

and place in /lib/firmware but that just causes errors like

iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: uCode file size 12055247 does not match expected size

I'm thinking of just buying new hardware in the hope that that will fix it. But if anyone here knows whether it's more likely iwlwifi's fault and what to do, that would be very helpful. Also, I typically have thought that Intel wifi hardware is generally well supported on Ubuntu, so if it's a likely recent bug in iwlwifi I'd be jumping from the frying pan into the fire by buying a new Intel wifi card.

0 + 0

kernel

networking

drivers

iwlwifi

20.04

sleepyhead

4/21/23, 9:04 AM

consumer hardware running for years, especially when under heat seem to degrade over time. Replacing is sometimes the solution. But for me most wifi patchiness comes from signal distortion. Best signal you get when placing the device with least obstruction. Metal/walls degrade the signal. Worst are neighbors beaming on the same frequency. I use apps on my phone to show me the least occupied channels. 1, 6 and 11 are not overlapping. In Europe also channel 13. Also check the 5Ghz channels. Ubuntu keeps microcode uptodate, no need to do it yourself, if you don't see errors in dmesg

Rinzwind

4/21/23, 9:54 AM

Is there a Microwave near you? Speakers? Any other hardware in between you and your router? and yes, what sleepyhead says: try to change channel. If the issue is with Ubuntu there will be traces in /var/log about this. The router itself also has a log so do check that one too.

artfulrobot

4/22/23, 9:59 AM

There was interferance from my neighbours' wifi, so am trying different channels.

Score:0

Ubuntu

MikroPower

4/21/23, 10:00 AM

There are several possibilities.

Your Hardware is faulty

Remove or disable the Hardware and try with an other working one from a friend/neighbour

Your environment is very noisy, then you can see it:

Install "wavemon" (sudo apt-get install wavemon)
start it: sudo wavemon
press F2 to see the signal strength
press F3 to see the other networks in your environment
with ALT + Q you can quit the program

Interpretation of the seen data (here as example):

HomeWifi       00:00:00:00:00:00 100%, -36 dBm, ch   6, 2437 MHz 8 sta, Radio Measure                                                                                                         

FRITZ!Box 7490 AA:AA:AA:AA:AA:AA  40%, -82 dBm, ch   1, 2412 MHz 5 sta, 11% chan, Radio Measure                                                                                               

<hidden ESSID> BB:BB:BB:BB:BB:BB  39%, -83 dBm, ch   1, 2412 MHz 3 sta, 7% chan

If the dB value is -36dB, then the received-signal power is better that -82dB. (should be clear)

If there are a low number of other router using the same channel as you, this is better.

There are other noise-creators which can not be seen during this scan. To example a microwave oven is creating 1000 Watt of power in the area of 2.4GHz and your router can only create 0.1Watt of power. The housing of a microwave-oven is not perfectly sealed.

An other possibility to scan the wifi-network is the command:

$ nmcli device wifi list

0 + 0

artfulrobot

4/22/23, 8:08 AM

OP here: why has this been marked down? I wish people would explain in a comment why they -1 something.

MikroPower

4/22/23, 8:39 PM

I want to help you, but could not add a comment, because I had under 50 points. So I had to give an answer. Possibly someone do not like this. The normal procedure would be to ask you over the comments and then give a good and specific answer, but this does not work as new user with <50 points. Did you use one of the scan-commands or did you look into your router to solve the problem?

artfulrobot

4/23/23, 9:04 AM

So far switching the channel has worked, it's been solid for 24 hours! Woop. Can't believe I didn't try that before. wavemon helped, thanks. When I set up the wifi I chose a quiet channel, but I guess my neighbours must have changed theirs, causing conflict again.

MikroPower

4/23/23, 2:52 PM

Your wifi-card support 2.4GHz and 5GHz, if your router support 5GHz too, then you can switch the channel to 5GHz in your Network-Manager. But normally the output-power of the device of your neighbour should be limited. :-/ Possibly you can talk with your neighbour, so that he set his router on one fixed channel.