Qualcomm Atheros AR816x/AR817x Troubles

[tristan3214]

Hi I have installed Linux Mint 16 Petra 64 bit with the Cinammon desktop on my laptop, and when I got to the internet on wireless or ethernet my home internet caps at 200 kb/s. This sight list very similar if not the exact same symptoms as me http://tinyurl.com/ce8ylad. They describe it as the compatibility of the Realtek ethernet card, which I don't have. Mine is an Qualcomm one seen inthe subject title.

So my biggest issue is if someone agrees that I am having network compatability issues and that I should install the proprietary drivers accordingly? Also I am not exactly sure how to install the drivers either.

As a subject of further specs on my laptop I have the following:
First off is this a custom made laptop.
CPU: i7 4700 MQ at 2.4/3.4 GHz
Wireless Card: Intel(R) Centrino(R) Wireless-N 2230 BGN
Ram: 8 GB of Crucial Ram
Ethernet Card: Qualcomm Atheros AR816x/AR817x
Intel Integrated Graphics HD4600 (I believe, which ever one comes with Haswell).

[JeremyB]

Please post the terminal output for the commands

Code: Select all

lsmod

and

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inxi -n

[tristan3214]

lsmod
Module Size Used by
ums_realtek 18029 0
usb_storage 62062 1 ums_realtek
alx 32255 0
mdio 13807 1 alx
nvram 14362 0
parport_pc 32701 0
ppdev 17671 0
rfcomm 69070 12
bnep 19564 2
binfmt_misc 17468 1
joydev 17377 0
btusb 28267 0
bluetooth 371874 22 bnep,btusb,rfcomm
x86_pkg_temp_thermal 14162 0
coretemp 13435 0
kvm_intel 138538 0
kvm 431315 1 kvm_intel
crct10dif_pclmul 14289 0
crc32_pclmul 13113 0
ghash_clmulni_intel 13259 0
aesni_intel 55624 2
aes_x86_64 17131 1 aesni_intel
lrw 13257 1 aesni_intel
gf128mul 14951 1 lrw
glue_helper 13990 1 aesni_intel
ablk_helper 13597 1 aesni_intel
cryptd 20329 3 ghash_clmulni_intel,aesni_intel,ablk_helper
arc4 12608 2
iwldvm 237440 0
mac80211 596969 1 iwldvm
msi_wmi 13354 0
sparse_keymap 13948 1 msi_wmi
snd_hda_codec_hdmi 41276 1
snd_hda_codec_realtek 51465 1
dm_multipath 22843 0
scsi_dh 14882 1 dm_multipath
snd_hda_intel 48171 5
snd_hda_codec 188738 3 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep 13602 1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm 102033 3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
iwlwifi 165398 1 iwldvm
microcode 23518 0
snd_seq_midi 13324 0
snd_seq_midi_event 14899 1 snd_seq_midi
cfg80211 479757 3 iwlwifi,mac80211,iwldvm
psmouse 97626 0
serio_raw 13413 0
snd_rawmidi 30095 1 snd_seq_midi
lpc_ich 21080 0
snd_seq 61560 2 snd_seq_midi_event,snd_seq_midi
snd_page_alloc 18710 2 snd_pcm,snd_hda_intel
snd_seq_device 14497 3 snd_seq,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_midi
snd_timer 29433 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
mei_me 18421 0
mei 77692 1 mei_me
snd 69141 21 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hwdep,snd_timer,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_pcm,snd_seq,snd_rawmidi,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_seq_device,snd_seq_midi
soundcore 12680 1 snd
lp 17759 0
parport 42299 3 lp,ppdev,parport_pc
mac_hid 13205 0
dm_mirror 22056 0
dm_region_hash 20784 1 dm_mirror
dm_log 18411 2 dm_region_hash,dm_mirror
i915 655752 7
i2c_algo_bit 13413 1 i915
drm_kms_helper 52651 1 i915
drm 296739 6 i915,drm_kms_helper
ahci 25819 2
libahci 31898 1 ahci
wmi 19070 1 msi_wmi
video 19318 1 i915

inxi -n
Network: Card-1: Qualcomm Atheros AR8161 Gigabit Ethernet driver: alx
IF: eth0 state: down mac: 8c:89:a5:0e:21:9f
Card-2: Intel Centrino Wireless-N 2230 driver: iwlwifi
IF: wlan0 state: up mac: 68:17:29:4c:67:f1

[JeremyB]

This might be a kernel specific issue, one bug report is already filed although it isn't the same kernel as what LM16 uses

[tristan3214]

I should have mentioned earlier that I have tried xubuntu and kubuntu in a search for the right linux for me, and when using those they also seem to exhibit the same issue. Though I never specifically looked at my system monitor there was a definitive notice is slow as internet, slower than usual anyway. Do you think I should try a different linux, like the new debian mint, or report this issue?

As always this could be a router issue. Unless there is something that tells you otherwise.

[JeremyB]

I should have mentioned earlier that I have tried xubuntu and kubuntu in a search for the right linux for me, and when using those they also seem to exhibit the same issue. Though I never specifically looked at my system monitor there was a definitive notice is slow as internet, slower than usual anyway. Do you think I should try a different linux, like the new debian mint, or report this issue?

As always this could be a router issue. Unless there is something that tells you otherwise.

Have you tried Ubuntu 14.04 LTS? Trying a different router wouldn't cause any more issues, when I updated the software on my smartphone it would no longer connect to my old wifi router at all

[tristan3214]

I think I will be looking into other OS's. I have ubuntu 14.02 on a live usb write now and will likely test if the internet is better for me there. My only thing is I like a little more minimalistic desktop that isn't quite so app oriented, and linux mint cinnamon did that for me, while ubuntu I don't think will. I may try Fedora and Mageia all on a live usb. I just need to download them all which takes forever when you have 333 kbs/s.

[JeremyB]

I think I will be looking into other OS's. I have ubuntu 14.02 on a live usb write now and will likely test if the internet is better for me there. My only thing is I like a little more minimalistic desktop that isn't quite so app oriented, and linux mint cinnamon did that for me, while ubuntu I don't think will. I may try Fedora and Mageia all on a live usb. I just need to download them all which takes forever when you have 333 kbs/s.

It sounds like mint 17 is less than a month away. The latest stable kernel release is 3.14.2 but 3.14.0 might help, just go here http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/ma ... 14-trusty/
and since you have 64 bit you nee the http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/ma ... 35_all.deb
http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/ma ... _amd64.deb
http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/ma ... _amd64.deb

And with LM you should be able to double click on the downloaded files in the order above, it should bring up the GDEBI installer. After all 3 are installed use terminal to enter

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sudo update-grub

and once you restart you should be running the 3.14 kernel

[tristan3214]

Ok so as a very strange turn of events my computer is no longer capping at 200 kbs/s. The only things that could have maybe have "fixed" it was I did a check disk and repair in recovery mode yesterday, but it didn't look like those did anything as far as I could tell. To prove it I have a picture of my system monitor during the anomaly take a look or not this is strange.

On another note my grub launcher shows that it is using linux kernal 3.11 should I be upgrading this, or is this the one LM 16 runs on?

[JeremyB]

You can use the kernel you have as long as you want with LM16.

[tristan3214]

You can use the kernel you have as long as you want with LM16.

Well I suppose problem solved (I hope). This was a very strange predicament considering computers don't generally fix themselves for me. Anyway thanks for your help.