Accessing certain sites causes wireless to drop out

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Darksun

Accessing certain sites causes wireless to drop out

Post by Darksun »

OK, here's a bit of a weird one. Been using Linux Mint 13 on my laptop for quite a while, the wireless chip on my laptop is a Realtek RTL8192E (see output of mintWifi.py below). Originally my home router was a netgear, never had any issues when using it. Then I changed ISPs and got a Talk Talk branded D-Link router. I found that when using Spotify to stream music or accessing the Twitter website, my wireless connection would drop. There would be no indication of this (the icon would still show connected), but the network connection was completely unresponsive. To correct it I had to switch wireless off and on again. No other devices (including my wife's laptop running Mint, a Windows laptop and various Android devices) seemed to be affected, and when running Windows on my laptop I didn't have any issues.

I tried playing around with various settings on my wireless network (channel, mode, security type) but nothing seemed to make a difference. Then I upgraded the firmware and it was resolved. Fast forward to today and I got a new TP Link router to replace the D-Link. Same issue has come up, I can cause my wireless connection to 'hang' by accessing the twitter website. Again, all other devices are fine, so the issue seems to be with my laptop only, and only in Mint.

Can someone point me in the right direction to start diagnosing this? Is there any kind of log I can review to see what happens at the point my wireless drops?

Code: Select all

$ sudo /usr/lib/linuxmint/mintWifi/mintWifi.py
-------------------------
* I. scanning WIFI PCI devices...
  -- Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8192E/RTL8192SE Wireless LAN Controller (rev 01)
      ==> PCI ID = 10ec:8192 (rev 01)
-------------------------
* II. querying ndiswrapper...
-------------------------
* III. querying iwconfig...
lo        no wireless extensions.

wlan0     802.11bgn  ESSID:"WiFiFoFum"  Nickname:"rtl8192E"
          Mode:Managed  Frequency=2.462 GHz  Access Point: A0:F3:C1:87:71:B0   
          Bit Rate=65 Mb/s   
          Retry:on   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:53DB-FA32-986F-A43F-8AC9-F897-282E-71A7   Security mode:open
          Power Management period:0us  mode:All packets received
          Link Quality=93/100  Signal level=-56 dBm  Noise level=-116 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

eth0      no wireless extensions.

-------------------------
* IV. querying ifconfig...
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:24:54:42:62:ea  
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:34028 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:25865 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:38125336 (38.1 MB)  TX bytes:4323893 (4.3 MB)
          Interrupt:19 

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:30227 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:30227 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:2622179 (2.6 MB)  TX bytes:2622179 (2.6 MB)

wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:e0:4c:00:00:01  
          inet addr:192.168.1.2  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::2e0:4cff:fe00:1/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:604858 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:484108 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:614736947 (614.7 MB)  TX bytes:65283261 (65.2 MB)
          Interrupt:16 Memory:f8060000-f8060100 

-------------------------
* V. querying DHCP...
Rather than invoking init scripts through /etc/init.d, use the service(8)
utility, e.g. service smbd reload

Since the script you are attempting to invoke has been converted to an
Upstart job, you may also use the reload(8) utility, e.g. reload smbd
RTNETLINK answers: File exists
-------------------------
* VI. querying nslookup google.com...
Server:		8.8.8.8
Address:	8.8.8.8#53

Non-authoritative answer:
Name:	google.com
Address: 173.194.34.128
Name:	google.com
Address: 173.194.34.129
Name:	google.com
Address: 173.194.34.137
Name:	google.com
Address: 173.194.34.133
Name:	google.com
Address: 173.194.34.134
Name:	google.com
Address: 173.194.34.135
Name:	google.com
Address: 173.194.34.136
Name:	google.com
Address: 173.194.34.132
Name:	google.com
Address: 173.194.34.142
Name:	google.com
Address: 173.194.34.131
Name:	google.com
Address: 173.194.34.130
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
Orbmiser

Re: Accessing certain sites causes wireless to drop out

Post by Orbmiser »

Yep for me happens with my rtl8187L wifi with occasional 1-3 disconnects every 12-18 hours when my win7 side zero issues same setup dual boot.

Found it's not a router or laptop issue so much as a immature wifi driver that is not as secure developed and robust as the win7 drivers.

Have yet to find a solution. As also bugs in nm-applet means it also isn't as stable. With disconnecting and not automatically reconnecting. Or password for WPA dialog pops up with password over and over even clicking on ok does not connect it again.
Requiring me to manually diable wifi and enable to get it to connect. And sometimes it tries to connect to other AP and not the one I have setup as auto. A real pain.
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