Wireless issues on Lubuntu 12.10, with RTL8187/RTL8187B USB wireless driver, 2wire 2701hgv-e modem.

luslec · 07-15-2012, 02:22 AM

Distro is Lubuntu 12.10 and Hardware Info Report lists wireless device as rtl8187, running on RTL8187/RTL8187B USB wireless driver.
Modem is 2wire 2701hgv-e.

Internet seems to disconnect at random and tends to get really slow + laggy at times. I've no idea what the cause is. Under Windows, I may or may not have encountered the same issue but I was unable to find the cause.

Please go easy on me since I've only started using Lubuntu for a few days, with some scratchy knowledge of Linux commands from a few years ago. To put it, I'm just trying out random commands from threads and sites. Now, I've no idea where to go next or what the issue is. :(

ifconfig

Quote:

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:26:6c:6b:4c:fd
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:43 Base address:0xa000

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:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:6951 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:6951 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:809399 (809.3 KB) TX bytes:809399 (809.3 KB)

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr b4:82:fe:6d:ce:94
inet addr:192.168.1.80 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::b682:feff:fe6d:ce94/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:189486 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:132199 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:200990198 (200.9 MB) TX bytes:18537645 (18.5 MB)

sudo service networking restart did nothing to resolve the issue.

sudo ethtool lo; sudo ethtool wlan0:

Quote:

Settings for lo:
Link detected: yes
Settings for wlan0:
Link detected: yes

iwconfig

Quote:

lo no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:"SotongKia"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point: 34:EF:44:53:05:19
Bit Rate=11 Mb/s Tx-Power=20 dBm
Retry long limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality=51/70 Signal level=-59 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:7815 Invalid misc:3012 Missed beacon:0

eth0 no wireless extensions.

sudo lshw -c network

Quote:

*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller
vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
logical name: eth0
version: 02
serial: 00:26:6c:6b:4c:fd
size: 10Mbit/s
capacity: 100Mbit/s
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix vpd bus_master cap_list rom ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=2.3LK-NAPI duplex=half firmware=N/A latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=MII speed=10Mbit/s
resources: irq:43 ioport:2000(size=256) memory:90410000-90410fff memory:90400000-9040ffff memory:90420000-9043ffff
*-network
description: Wireless interface
physical id: 2
bus info: usb@2:6
logical name: wlan0
serial: b4:82:fe:6d:ce:94
capabilities: ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rtl8187 driverversion=3.2.0-26-generic firmware=N/A ip=192.168.1.80 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bg

Okay, I've read that it is possible the packets are dropping at the NIC level. And from the below link: Increase the size of the ethernet device ring buffer. Is this a good solution to try? I'm too much of a newbie to know how to fix the system if I break it by mistake.

http://linux-troubleshooting.blogspo...-in-linux.html

sudo ethtool -g wlan0

Quote:

Ring parameters for wlan0:
Pre-set maximums:
RX: 0
RX Mini: 0
RX Jumbo: 0
TX: 0
Current hardware settings:
RX: 0
RX Mini: 0
RX Jumbo: 0
TX: 0

Thanks everyone for reading! =)

TobiSGD · 07-15-2012, 06:50 PM

At first, you are nor using Ubuntu 12.10, you are using Ubuntu 12.10 Alpha. This version is intended to be used by developers and contributors to work out bugs and add new features. If you don't intend to do just that you shouldn't use this version at all, it is known to be buggy.
Having said that, I would recommend to install 12.04 and see if you have the same issues. Which will be very likely if you had the same issues on Windows, in that case I would think that this is a hardware error.

rokytnji · 07-15-2012, 07:33 PM

On my eeepc 701 with same chip number but not a usb wireless but internal pci wireless card.

Code:

~$ inxi -Fxz
System:    Host: antiX1 Kernel: 3.4.4-antix.2-486-smp i686 (32 bit, gcc: 4.7.1) 
           Desktop: IceWM 1.3.7 Distro: antiX-M8.5-686-update 27 July 2010
Machine:   System: ASUSTeK product: 701SD version: 0303
           Mobo: ASUSTeK model: 701SD version: x.xx Bios: American Megatrends version: 0303 date: 07/23/2008
CPU:       Single core Intel Celeron M (-UP-) cache: 512 KB flags: (nx sse sse2) bmips: 1795.49 clocked at 897.745 MHz 
Graphics:  Card: Intel Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller bus-ID: 00:02.0 
           X.Org: 1.11.4 driver: intel Resolution: 800x480@60.0hz 
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel 915GM x86/MMX/SSE2 GLX Version: 1.4 Mesa 7.11.2 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card: Intel 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) High Definition Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture ver: 1.0.25
Network:   Card-1: Realtek RTL8187SE Wireless LAN Controller driver: r8180 port: d800 bus-ID: 01:00.0
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Atheros AR8121/AR8113/AR8114 Gigabit or Fast Ethernet driver: ATL1E port: ec00 bus-ID: 03:00.0
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 8.1GB (-) 1: id: /dev/sda model: ASUS size: 8.1GB 
Partition: ID: / size: 7.4G used: 4.0G (56%) fs: ext2 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 55.0C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: 1420 
Info:      Processes: 93 Uptime: 3:48 Memory: 247.2/1000.7MB Runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 4.6.3 Client: Shell inxi: 1.8.13

driver: r8180 gives me no problems what so ever even with wpa encrypted network connections.

My install is based on

Code:

$ cat /etc/issue
Debian GNU/Linux wheezy/sid \n \l

though instead of Ubuntu. Like TobiSG said. It might be the wireless usb is giving up the ghost as that chip has been supported for quite some time in the Linux kernel since 2.6

http://wiki.debian.org/rtl818x

So it sounds like maybe a new wireless usb stick needs to be bought.

luslec · 08-04-2012, 10:58 AM

Okay in the end, I reinstalled Ubuntu with the right version number. The problems are still there and as everyone has confirmed, it's definitely the onboard wireless card giving up. Ah well, time to get a new one.

Thanks everyone, for your help!