Wireless not detecting router sometimes

[parcell_kenneth]

Still kind of new to Linux (been using Mint 20.1 since January), and I've removed Windows completely from my laptop.
For the past two weeks, I haven't been able to establish a stable connection with the D-Link wifi router at my new place. Most of the time, Mint can't recognise the router at all (it's 5 feet away), but it DOES recognise any other device (my portable wifi dongle, my phone hotspot, other routers), and all the other devices (my phone, other people's laptops and phones) can recognise the router with no problem.
Weird thing is, my system will randomly recognise the router once a day, work for a few hours, then suddenly drop the connection later like it never existed. Sometimes, if the connection is active, and there's a powercut (frequent for short periods in my area), the router will get not recognised when the electricity returns. Or the other way around. However switching it off and on manually doesn't have the same effect, nor does rebooting my laptop. I had this problem with the latest stable 5.4 kernel, and the router did get recognised when I updated to the current 5.11 one, but that didn't last long.

I've tried changing the channel but it didn't work. It's on automatic right now.

Plugging the ethernet cable in directly doesn't work either, cable gets detected but no internet connection.

The closest thing to a solution I've found was JeremyB's answer here: viewtopic.php?t=337816&start=40. It got my system to recognise the router without fail, although I had to enter

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sudo modprobe ath10k_pci

into the terminal on startup each time to enable wireless. This lasted a few days but after a powercut yesterday, it's back to not recognising the router as before. I've unblacklisted ath10k_pci but that only fixed the issue of having to start up the wireless through the terminal each time, not the original problem with the router. Had another powercut today, after which the connection is working. I'm constantly on edge with this uncertainty.

Here's the output for inxi -Fxxxrz:

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System:
  Kernel: 5.11.0-22-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: N/A 
  Desktop: Cinnamon 4.8.6 wm: muffin 4.8.1 dm: LightDM 1.30.0 
  Distro: Linux Mint 20.1 Ulyssa base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Acer product: Aspire A315-41 v: V1.18 
  serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: RR model: Metapod_RR v: V1.18 serial: <filter> UEFI: Insyde v: 1.18 
  date: 06/18/2020 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT1 charge: 11.1 Wh condition: 17.3/37.0 Wh (47%) volts: 7.4/7.7 
  model: PANASONIC 0x41,0x50,0x31,0x36,0x4D,0x35,0x000D type: Li-ion 
  serial: <filter> status: Discharging 
CPU:
  Topology: Quad Core model: AMD Ryzen 5 2500U with Radeon Vega Mobile Gfx 
  bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen L2 cache: 2048 KiB 
  flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm 
  bogomips: 31938 
  Speed: 1367 MHz min/max: 1600/2000 MHz boost: enabled Core speeds (MHz): 
  1: 1369 2: 1312 3: 1368 4: 1427 5: 1402 6: 1367 7: 1380 8: 1489 
Graphics:
  Device-1: AMD Raven Ridge [Radeon Vega Series / Radeon Vega Mobile Series] 
  vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: amdgpu v: kernel bus ID: 03:00.0 
  chip ID: 1002:15dd 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.9 driver: amdgpu,ati 
  unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: AMD RAVEN (DRM 3.40.0 5.11.0-22-generic LLVM 11.0.0) 
  v: 4.6 Mesa 20.2.6 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: AMD Raven/Raven2/Fenghuang HDMI/DP Audio 
  vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
  bus ID: 03:00.1 chip ID: 1002:15de 
  Device-2: AMD Family 17h HD Audio vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 03:00.6 chip ID: 1022:15e3 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.11.0-22-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet 
  vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 2000 
  bus ID: 01:00.1 chip ID: 10ec:8168 
  IF: enp1s0f1 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter 
  vendor: Lite-On driver: ath10k_pci v: kernel port: 2000 bus ID: 02:00.0 
  chip ID: 168c:0042 
  IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 931.51 GiB used: 480.08 GiB (51.5%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Western Digital model: WD10SPZX-21Z10T0 
  size: 931.51 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s rotation: 5400 rpm serial: <filter> 
  rev: 1A02 scheme: GPT 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 915.40 GiB used: 480.08 GiB (52.4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 43.2 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 43 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Repos:
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/additional-repositories.list 
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/dhor-myway-focal.list 
  1: deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/dhor/myway/ubuntu focal main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list 
  1: deb [arch=amd64] http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
  1: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com ulyssa 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
Info:
  Processes: 272 Uptime: 26m Memory: 3.31 GiB used: 1.57 GiB (47.3%) 
  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 

All help will be appreciated!

[Larry78723]

Considering that you seem to be having a lot of power outages, you might want to consider getting a UPS. As far as the dropped connections are concerned, open a terminal and execute the following code:

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sudo sed -i 's/3/2/' /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/default-wifi-powersave-on.conf 

Reboot

[parcell_kenneth]

I've tried this already and it hasn't worked. I do have a UPS and other devices are able to connect to the router once the power returns.

[parcell_kenneth]

bump. Issue is still there, hope someone here can help!

[kelebek333]

Could You post outputs of wireless script.

[parcell_kenneth]

The url from the second line in that post is https://termbin.com/5x7q
I'm currently connected to my phone's hotspot "ponky", and the the connection which is not getting discovered is "DNA wifi"
Hope the code in the url reveals something to others...it's too confusing to me.

[parcell_kenneth]

The power outages seem to be the main factor. I was connected to the WiFi was fine all morning. The power just went, then returned in a few minutes so the WiFi is on again but the laptop isn't picking it up anymore. I just can't figure out why this happens, or why the power outages make things flip from one state to another.

[parcell_kenneth]

Could You post outputs of wireless script.

Any insights? The url is https://termbin.com/5x7q

[Larry78723]

I noticed two things in your wireless script output. First, Secure Boot is enabled; go into bios and turn it off. Second, disable IPV6 in your wireless connection.

[parcell_kenneth]

Thanks for the reply. I tried both and rebooted several times but unfortunately my system still can't detect the router.

[Larry78723]

See if running this code helps:

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sudo modprobe -r ath10k_pci && sudo modprobe ath10k_pci

[parcell_kenneth]

I tried that a few weeks ago after seeing it suggested here: viewtopic.php?t=337816&start=40 but it didn't work.

[parcell_kenneth]

What's the correlation between the router being hard reset by a power outage, and the way it seems to toggle my wireless' ability to discover it? I'm still trying to figure out the root cause.

[ivar]

just a shot in the dark but maybe worth to look into:

Got an Asus NT66-U here which is supposedly a very decent home unit. Worked perfectly with lots of stuff, but some laptops struggles with intermittent connevtions, eg my lenovo yoga 2 pro which is 2,4ghz only..
Checked the channel setup, it was setup for auto channel width 20MHz + 40Mhz. Set it to 20MHz only and things seems much more stable

[parcell_kenneth]

Thanks for the suggestion. I've read about this channel issue elsewhere but I can't find the setting to change it

[Larry78723]

Go to Network Connections -> Select your wireless connection and click on the gear. Under Band, change to the band you want to use then set a Channel.

[ivar]

the setting should be changed on the router

[parcell_kenneth]

the router and network provider don't have options to change the channel. And I've been trying out all the channels, one by one, on my Network Connections settings for the wifi, rebooting each time, and none of them seem to make a difference. Thank you for trying though.

[parcell_kenneth]

I reset the wifi router to see if that would help. It did not. Now the network manager cannot find the wifi at all, even after a power outage/unplugging. I want to try anything and everything possible before I go for the nuclear option and just reinstall. Please help!!

[JeremyB]

See if setting the wifi router to use channel 1-11 helps. Atheros uses a code in the chip that might keep it from using channels 12-14 even where it is legal