Getting frustrated - hope some geeks can figure out my problem.
Problem:
The wifi keeps disconnecting.
Setup:
The desktop has no wifi built-in. Instead I use a USB wifi dongle
to connect.
History:
I was on Linux Mint 15 XFCE. For a long time I had no problem.
Then gradually the wifi disconnects more and more often. A few
weeks ago I decided to reinstall (Linux Mint 15 XFCE was old anyway).
I used Linux Mint 16 XFCE and Linux Lite 1.0.8 and got the same
problem. Since one poster noticed these distros were ubuntu-based,
I gave Korora 20 (which is based Fedora 20) liveCD a whirl. Wifi
worked fine, so I installed it. For a week or so, there was no wifi
disconnect. Again, gradually the wifi disconnects more and more often.
[Korora is Fedora on "steriod" just as Linux Mint is Debian on
"steriod". Korora has mp3, flash, java, etc, on top of Fedora.
Korora 20, based on Fedora 20, was release 1/10/14.]
Right now I am using
TP-LINK TL-WN822N Wireless N300 High Gain USB Adapter, 300Mbps, Dual 3dBi External Antennas, WPS Button, Support Windows XP/Vista/7/8/Mac OS 10.4-10.8
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
although in the past, I used
Importer520 WiFi Wireless IEEE 802.11N/G/B WLAN 150Mbps Network Adapter USB2.0 Wireless Lan USB Adapter for Laptop Noteook Desktop PC Suport Vista/Windows 7(32bit & 64bit)/Linux
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Airlink Fully compatible Wireless N 150 Ultra Mini-USB Adapter (AWLL5099)
http://www.amazon.com/Airlink-compat...+micro+airlink
so I extremely doubt it a driver problem. I brought the TP-LINK USB
dongle (which has antennas) to be extra sure that the problem is not
connection.
When wifi is working, iwconfig gives
Code:
lo no wireless extensions.
em1 no wireless extensions.
wlp0s26f7u3 IEEE 802.11bgn ESSID:"WeKnowWhoYouAre!"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point: 30:85:A9:68:EE:F0
Bit Rate=72.2 Mb/s Tx-Power=20 dBm
Retry long limit:7 RTS thr=2347 B Fragment thr:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality=54/70 Signal level=-56 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:100 Missed beacon:0
When wifi is not working. iwconfig gives
Code:
lo no wireless extensions.
em1 no wireless extensions.
wlp0s26f7u3 IEEE 802.11bgn ESSID:"WeKnowWhoYouAre!"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point: 30:85:A9:68:EE:F0
Bit Rate=7.2 Mb/s Tx-Power=20 dBm
Retry long limit:7 RTS thr=2347 B Fragment thr:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality=54/70 Signal level=-56 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:145 Missed beacon:0
The only difference is the Bit Rate goes down significantly.
The problem is not update - I haven't updated the desktop for several
weeks. And I don't recall adding anything significant - last program
was abiword 2/17 before I started to have frequent wifi disconnections.
[I had frequent wifi disconnections a few days ago.]
I doubt this is a wifi driver's problem since the problem exists with
3 different USB wifi dongles. The TP-LINK USB wifi dongle, which I am
using now, is several years old - I am sure the linux drivers are in
the distro.
To double-check I used "ps -ef |grep wrap" and got
Code:
$ ps -ef |grep wrap
shengchieh 1330 1311 0 08:15 ? 00:00:00 /usr/lib/xfce4/panel/wrapper /usr/lib/xfce4/panel/plugins/libmixer.so 16 25165869 mixer Audio Mixer Adjust volume levels
shengchieh 1342 1311 0 08:15 ? 00:00:00 /usr/lib/xfce4/panel/wrapper /usr/lib/xfce4/panel/plugins/libsystray.so 6 25165870 systray Notification Area Area where notification icons appear
shengchieh 1344 1311 0 08:15 ? 00:00:00 /usr/lib/xfce4/panel/wrapper /usr/lib/xfce4/panel/plugins/libdatetime.so 21 25165871 datetime DateTime Date and Time plugin with a simple calendar
shengchieh 1346 1311 0 08:15 ? 00:00:05 /usr/lib/xfce4/panel/wrapper /usr/lib/xfce4/panel/plugins/libdatetime.so 17 25165872 datetime DateTime Date and Time plugin with a simple calendar
shengchieh 1349 1311 0 08:15 ? 00:00:00 /usr/lib/xfce4/panel/wrapper /usr/lib/xfce4/panel/plugins/libactions.so 2 25165873 actions Action Buttons Log out, lock or other system actions
At first glance it looks like wrapper is used for other stuffs. There
is no difference when using other USB wifi dongle. I suspect I am not
using ndiswrapper.
I suspect a wifi linux driver is being used. Again, TP-LINK is a few
years old model, so I would expect a linux driver to be included in most
linux distros, especially one released last month.
Questions:
Why wifi works fine for awhile, then gradually has disconnect problems
more and more frequent?
Do I have a hardware problem? The desktop lshw output is at
http://shengchieh.50webs.com/Desktoplshw.txt
Are there commands to check other network components? Is there anything
else I should be studying? Should I try reinstalling anything? If so,
what?
Thank in advanced for any help.
Sheng-Chieh
Wifi keeps disconnecting more and more
