QCA9565/AR9565 wireless quality problems Mint 17.2 Cinnamon

[jpaek1]

Hello all,

OS - Linux Mint 17.2 64bit
System - Dell Inspiron M731R (5735)
Hardware having issue - Dell Wireless 1705 (Atheros QCA9565 / AR9565)

I recently upgraded from 17.1 to 17.2 Cinnamon and was trying to figure out some odd issues with my wireless card. My system is a Dell Laptop - Latitude M731R with the Dell Wireless 1705 card (Atheros based QCA 9565/AR9565). I am about 7 feet away from the wireless router and when in Linux, my wireless signal strength fluctuates constantly from 95% down to 60% and the bit rate will often drop all the way down to 1Mb/s, fluctuating constantly. When sitting in the exact same spot and using Windows 8.1, I never go below 93%. I even tried sitting the laptop just a few inches from the wireless router and the signal strength still dips down into the 60% range.

The installed driver is ath9k. I tried updating the kernel from 3.13.0-24 to 3.16.0-38 to see if it would make any difference and it has not.

I've looked all over the net for a solution but I am not finding any and was wondering if anyone else had any solutions that might fix this problem or have any other ideas of things I could try.

Thanks in advance.

[Pjotr]

This might help:
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinux ... decryption
(item 2.2, right column)

[jpaek1]

It was already off but thank you for the suggestion.

[jpaek1]

I guess another question at this point would be if anyone has tried using ndiswrapper with any degree of success on this card using the Dell drivers from their website? And if so, if the signal strength has been an issue or not.

[Pjotr]

Have you already tried the 3.19 kernel? Select the latest of the 3.19 series. Then reboot.

[jpaek1]

Have you already tried the 3.19 kernel? Select the latest of the 3.19 series. Then reboot.

I haven't yet. I am using the recommended kernel at the moment. Didn't want to just keep stabbing wildly in the dark if someone else knew of a solution.

[jpaek1]

Updated to the latest Kernel listed in the Update Manager , 3.19.0-25 , and am still having the exact same problem. I just got out from Windows 8.1 again and confirmed the lowest signal strength I got over 2 hours was 91%. My I had cell phone testing the whole time too and the lowest I saw it go to was 89%.

This laptop got down to 61% and then sat showing a 1Mb/s connection speed for 15 minutes straight. Definitely something wrong with the ath9k driver with this card. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.