Strange update errors

Questions about Wi-Fi and other network devices, file sharing, firewalls, connection sharing etc
Forum rules
Before you post read how to get help. Topics in this forum are automatically closed 6 months after creation.
Locked
viking777

Strange update errors

Post by viking777 »

I haven't been around for a while, that is because I am not using Mint that much any more, although I still have it installed (mint17) and still keep it updated, and it is about this that I want to warn you.

A recent update affected me in the most peculiar manner. I could no longer use Frefox, I could no longer use Synaptic, I could no longer use apt-get and I could no longer use aptitude - none of them would connect to the internet, they all timed out.

However I could freely use Chrome, Thunderbird and the terminal ping command - they all connected normally.

I used fsarchiver to roll back to a 4 day old backup and everything was back to normal. I updated the 4 day old backup and the problem returned exactly as before. I investigated the updates and the only one that seemed capable of creating anything like this sort of problem was linux-firmware, so I downgraded that from version 1.127.11 to version 1.127.10, rebooted and everything was normal again.

I conclude therefore that if you have any problems whatsoever regarding internet connections after a recent upgrade that you should suspect linux-firmware and downgrade and pin it at the earlier version.

I posted this in the ethernet version of the forum, but it affected wireless as well, so nothing should be read into the location of the post.

Hope you are all well.

viking777
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.
User avatar
karlchen
Level 23
Level 23
Posts: 18173
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2011 7:21 am
Location: Germany

Re: Strange update errors

Post by karlchen »

Hello, viking777.

Telling from the changelog, the difference between linux-firmware 1.127.10 and 1.127.11 is an update for iwlwifi.
Hm, my Dell office notebook uses iwlwifi, should check my wlan connection I guess. Usually, in the office I am connected with the wired ethernet card and will not detect wifi problems.

Cheers,
Karl
Image
The people of Alderaan have been bravely fighting back the clone warriors sent out by the unscrupulous Sith Lord Palpatine for 762 days now.
Lifeline
User avatar
tdockery97
Level 14
Level 14
Posts: 5058
Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2010 8:54 am
Location: Mt. Angel, Oregon

Re: Strange update errors

Post by tdockery97 »

You must have level 4/5 updates enabled. I have 1-3 plus 4/5 security updates only and I have firmware 1.127.10 with 1.127.11 showing as available but not applied.
Mint Cinnamon 20.1
User avatar
karlchen
Level 23
Level 23
Posts: 18173
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2011 7:21 am
Location: Germany

Re: Strange update errors

Post by karlchen »

tdockery97 wrote:You must have level 4/5 updates enabled.
Uhm. The Dell notebook which I mentioned runs on Ubuntu 14.04.1 64-bit. On Ubuntu all levels of updates are always on. :wink:

On my Mint 17.1 32-bit all 5 levels are on, too. Got linux-firmware 1.127.11, but do not seem to experience any slowdown or connection problems. Very likely due to the fact that this machine does not use the iwlwifi driver.

Code: Select all

$ inxi -SNnz
System:    Host: unimatrix0 Kernel: 3.13.0-43-generic i686 (32 bit) Desktop: Xfce 4.11.6 Distro: Linux Mint 17.1 Rebecca
Network:   Card-1: Qualcomm Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) driver: ath9k 
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
           Card-2: NVIDIA MCP79 Ethernet driver: forcedeth 
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter>
Image
The people of Alderaan have been bravely fighting back the clone warriors sent out by the unscrupulous Sith Lord Palpatine for 762 days now.
Lifeline
viking777

Re: Strange update errors

Post by viking777 »

Thanks for the answers. I do use iwlwifi or rather I would do if I were connecting through wireless, but I am not, I am connecting through ethernet so it is difficult to explain whey iwlwifi would make a difference to that. In the end I will probably find out that it is some random error that has nothing to do with linux-firmware, but for the moment downgrading that software is still working for me.
GeneC

Re: Strange update errors

Post by GeneC »

Just wanted to say HI! to an old forum friend...
User avatar
karlchen
Level 23
Level 23
Posts: 18173
Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2011 7:21 am
Location: Germany

Re: Strange update errors

Post by karlchen »

karlchen wrote:Telling from the changelog, the difference between linux-firmware 1.127.10 and 1.127.11 is an update for iwlwifi.
Hm, my Dell office notebook uses iwlwifi, should check my wlan connection I guess.
At least this Dell Latitude E6330 does not seem to exhibit any slow wlan connection problems, nor disconnecting problems. Yet, this does not mean in any way that other machines which use iwlwifi may not be affected by a potential bug in linux-firmware 1.127.11.
(might start looking for Launchpad bug reports or similar things)
Image
The people of Alderaan have been bravely fighting back the clone warriors sent out by the unscrupulous Sith Lord Palpatine for 762 days now.
Lifeline
viking777

Re: Strange update errors

Post by viking777 »

GeneC wrote:Just wanted to say HI! to an old forum friend...
Very much appreciated, glad to know you are still around.

Back to the problem I was reporting. First, I was wrong, it has nothing to do with linux-firmware. After downgrading that piece of software the situation returned to normal for about 24 hours then, with no changes whatsoever to anything at all, the problem just reappeared again. I reasoned that as Mint was more or less crook anyway there was nothing to be lost by upgrading to Rebecca. This went perfectly normally and I thought the problem was fixed, but as soon as I booted Mint today it was all back again, exactly as described in my opening post. Totally inexplicable nonsense, chrome works, firefox doesn't, nothing will connect to an update server, but there is nothing wrong with my internet that I can tell, I am posting this from MInt with Chrome and I can do anything else I like online providing it doesn't involve Firefox or apt.

As I don't use MInt much any more there is probably not much point in carrying on trying to diagnose what is wrong, I will probably just wipe it and continue with Manjaro and Xubuntu, both of which work pretty well.

Thanks for the answers anyway.
viking777

Re: Strange update errors

Post by viking777 »

It is amazing how quickly things change in the world of computing. Last night I was all for ditching Mint as it was virtually unusable. I thought I would give it one more chance, so, as it was utterly impossible to connect to any update repo by any means at all from within Mint itself, I tried an upgrade via chroot from Manjaro. All that happened in the update was a kernel change, but since then Mint has worked normally again.

I wonder how long for?
Locked

Return to “Networking”