Ethernet and Wifi simultaneously - surely some mistake?

[adam_hardy42]

I use an ethernet cable half of the time on my relatively new ASUS laptop and I soon discovered that I'm getting two connections. I checked out the dhcp logs on the dhcpd server and found that my laptop has in fact 3 MAC addresses.

Normally it works fine, but I have intermittent problems where the network slows down that's probably a direct result of having ethernet and wifi connecting simultaneously. Initially I thought that this was just a new configuration that somebody decided was best and I didn't think much of it until trying to fix speed issues.

What do I need to do to sort this one out?

Thanks
Adam

I'm running Linux Mint Cinnamon 20 64-bit.

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adam@erebor:~$ inxi -Fxxxrz
System:
  Kernel: 5.8.0-45-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: N/A 
  Desktop: Cinnamon 4.6.7 wm: muffin 4.6.3 dm: LightDM 1.30.0 
  Distro: Linux Mint 20 Ulyana base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:
  Type: Convertible System: ASUSTeK product: UX370UAR v: 1.0 
  serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: ASUSTeK model: UX370UAR v: 1.0 serial: <filter> 
  UEFI: American Megatrends v: UX370UAR.311 date: 10/15/2019 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 34.0 Wh condition: 34.4/39.0 Wh (88%) volts: 7.7/7.7 
  model: ASUSTeK ASUS Battery type: Li-ion serial: <filter> 
  status: Not charging cycles: 38 
  Device-1: hid-0018:04F3:24CC.0001-battery model: ELAN24CC:00 04F3:24CC 
  serial: N/A charge: N/A status: Discharging 
CPU:
  Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Core i5-8250U bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
  arch: Kaby Lake rev: A L2 cache: 6144 KiB 
  flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx 
  bogomips: 28800 
  Speed: 700 MHz min/max: 400/3400 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 700 2: 700 
  3: 700 4: 700 5: 700 6: 700 7: 700 8: 700 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel UHD Graphics 620 vendor: ASUSTeK driver: i915 v: kernel 
  bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:5917 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.9 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa 
  resolution: 1600x900~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel UHD Graphics 620 (KBL GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 20.2.6 
  direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio vendor: ASUSTeK 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1f.3 chip ID: 8086:9d71 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.8.0-45-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Wireless 8260 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: f040 
  bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 8086:24f3 
  IF: wlp1s0 state: up mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 238.47 GiB used: 136.82 GiB (57.4%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: SanDisk model: SD8SN8U256G1002 size: 238.47 GiB 
  speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> rev: 1002 scheme: GPT 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 233.24 GiB used: 136.80 GiB (58.7%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 42.0 C mobo: N/A 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): cpu: 0 
Repos:
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
  1: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com ulyana main upstream import backport #id:linuxmint_main
  2: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal main restricted universe multiverse
  3: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
  4: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
  5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-security main restricted universe multiverse
  6: deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ focal partner
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/skype-stable.list 
  1: deb [arch=amd64] https://repo.skype.com/deb stable main
Info:
  Processes: 285 Uptime: 2h 34m Memory: 15.50 GiB used: 3.77 GiB (24.3%) 
  Init: systemd v: 245 runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.3.0 alt: 9 Shell: bash 
  v: 5.0.17 running in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.0.38 
adam@erebor:~$ 

[Pjotr]

Some BIOS'es have a setting that allows the ethernet connection to act as a switch, that automatically disables WiFi when there's ethernet connection. You might check that on your machine.

[adam_hardy42]

Some BIOS'es have a setting that allows the ethernet connection to act as a switch, that automatically disables WiFi when there's ethernet connection. You might check that on your machine.

No, unfortunately. The BIOS only has an IPv4/IPv6 PXE wake event switch.

[Pjotr]

Looks like some smart guy has found a solution:
https://askubuntu.com/questions/112968/ ... wired?rq=1

Not very recent (except for the last message in the thread), but probably still useful.

[adam_hardy42]

What I'm not sure about is why I would need to do this manually - with my previous laptop using plain ol' Ubuntu, the automatic switching was the default mode after installation.

I'll have a go at putting the configuration in myself, but I'm not too confident about setting it up and maintaining it properly.

[adam_hardy42]

Adding the code to the network-manager hooks brings in a bit of automation which is definitely progress, but it seems to go wrong and need manual intervention fairly regularly. Shutdown sometimes hangs as well if I pull the cables out before it's finished.

I'm still surprised that the user would have to do any configuration work like this at all.

Does everybody's linux mint work this way? I find it hard to believe that a configuration item for mint has just gone missing. I must be looking at a bug or a glitch in my installation surely?

[mikeflan]

On my LM19.3 I can left click on the network icon in the panel - select Network Settings - then select Wired or Wireless and click the green slider to turn either off. But I don't normally have to do this. It just goes to wired every time.

[adam_hardy42]

Good to hear that I'm not going crazy.

I assume your machine also disables the wifi when it's plugged in with a cable?

I didn't discover this for a while. The network icon in the panel shows the wired LAN symbol, but it doesn't disconnect the wifi. Clicking on the symbol to get the network menu to pop up then shows that the sliders for both LAN and Wifi are green, and I have 2 IP addresses for the machine, which sometimes causes speed issues.

The Stack Overflow solution above partly works, but it would be good to find out what's wrong and maybe fix it completely.

Can you have a quick look for me and list your files from

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/etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d

- that's where I put the work-around script from Stack Overflow.

[SMG]

What's odd is your inxi data only shows WiFi. Normally, even if Ethernet is not up, the devices show in the output. Maybe part of the issue is not that both are running, but the hardware for one disappears?

This is yours from above:

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Network:
  Device-1: Intel Wireless 8260 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: f040 
  bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 8086:24f3 
  IF: wlp1s0 state: up mac: <filter> 

This is mine. My only access in my current location is wireless, but my laptop does have an Ethernet port.

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Network:
  Device-1: Intel 82579V Gigabit Network vendor: Hewlett-Packard 
  driver: e1000e v: 3.2.6-k port: 4060 bus ID: 00:19.0 chip ID: 8086:1503 
  IF: enp0s25 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Broadcom and subsidiaries BCM43224 802.11a/b/g/n 
  vendor: Hewlett-Packard WMIB-275N Half-size Mini PCIe Card driver: wl 
  v: kernel port: 4040 bus ID: 24:00.0 chip ID: 14e4:4353 
  IF: wlo1 state: up mac: <filter> [/quote]

[mikeflan]

I assume your machine also disables the wifi when it's plugged in with a cable?

I honestly don't know, but I think both are shown as active via the green slider. There is no conflict or problem that I am aware of.

Can you have a quick look for me and list your files from

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/etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d

My portable computer is the one that has wifi and wired. Not this desktop I use. It only has 2 wired connections listed. I will probably have the portable computer running tomorrow and I will try to report on the contents of that directory. This desktop shows this:

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mike@mike-linuxmint:/etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d$ tree
.
├── 01-ifupdown
├── no-wait.d - this is an empty directory
├── pre-down.d - this is an empty directory
└── pre-up.d - this is an empty directory

[adam_hardy42]

OK that looks pretty straight-forward for a desktop, but the wifi + cable portable will be interesting.
What I'd really like to see is your ifconfig output. Mine shows that I get 2 IP addresses for my laptop host if I don't disable wifi when I plug in the lan cable:

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adam@erebor:~$ ifconfig 
enxd45d645c12ed: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        inet 192.168.0.4  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 192.168.0.255
        inet6 fe80::cb6a:9e79:1777:e285  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>
        ether d4:5d:64:5c:12:ed  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 261793  bytes 252567717 (252.5 MB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 6  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 211754  bytes 59589728 (59.5 MB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING>  mtu 65536
        inet 127.0.0.1  netmask 255.0.0.0
        inet6 ::1  prefixlen 128  scopeid 0x10<host>
        loop  txqueuelen 1000  (Local Loopback)
        RX packets 6925  bytes 760041 (760.0 KB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 6925  bytes 760041 (760.0 KB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

wlp1s0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        inet 192.168.0.28  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 192.168.0.255
        inet6 fe80::c05d:58bc:f3e3:423d  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>
        ether 34:e1:2d:c3:7c:51  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 14  bytes 1774 (1.7 KB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 41  bytes 7001 (7.0 KB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

[AZgl1800]

I have an 18 month old ASUS, it switches automatically, turns off the WiFi if the LAN is connected.

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System:    Host: FX705GM Kernel: 5.4.0-70-generic x86_64 bits: 64 Desktop: Cinnamon 4.4.8 
           Distro: Linux Mint 19.3 Tricia 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: ASUSTeK product: TUF Gaming FX705GM_FX705GM v: 1.0 serial: <superuser required> 
           Mobo: ASUSTeK model: FX705GM v: 1.0 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: American Megatrends v: FX705GM.307 
           date: 05/25/2020 

[adam_hardy42]

Ah, OK - you're on 19, I'm on 20 Ulyana - maybe the critical difference.

However your screenshot gives me an idea. Here's mine:

Notice how my machine thinks it's got an ethernet connection that's not plugged in? And yet it recognises that there is an ethernet connection plugged in on ASIX electronics AX88179 Gigabit Ethernet....

Just a wild guess, but do you think Mint is looking for a default ethernet NIC and for some reason not finding one, but then finding the ASIX card and deciding to set it up as a second, non-default port? And therefore it doesn't switch between the LAN and the Wifi like it should normally?

[AZgl1800]

I can only "assume" that the LAN connection is given priority, if you have not done something to prevent that from happening.

On my Win7 desktop, it can connect to both the LAN and the WiFi simultaneously.

which one is carrying the load, I don't know, but the LAN is faster than WiFi by quite a bit.

sigh!
I don't have that option anymore, I had to change ISPs and now have only a cellular Hotspot providing me with 2.4g and 5g WiFi signals.

the 5G does NOT give me any speed increase, because the cellular signal is so weak, that 5-10 Mbps is the best I will ever see anyway.

[mikeflan]

I will probably have the portable computer running tomorrow and I will try to report on the contents of that directory.

All my computers are LM 19.3 Cinnamon. On the laptop when I have both wifi and ethernet connected the Network Connections shows them both connected and browsing works fine. I think it is a little slower than when I manually turn the wifi off and go 100% ethernet, but it's hard to tell. Not much difference.

What is different is that the light on the wifi card blinks from red to blue and back quite fast - about once per second. Never mind about this - it does that when I am on 100% wifi too. So probably not important.

I leave it with wifi turned off and ethernet turned on. All is good.

The names of the 3 directories and 1 file in /etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d/ remain the same regardless of what I turn on or off.

[adam_hardy42]

Hi, thanks everybody. I figure it's the networking setup. My ethernet card should be THE ethernet card, I bet.