Wireless disconnecting Asus laptop rtl8821ae driver

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buksida

Wireless disconnecting Asus laptop rtl8821ae driver

Post by buksida »

See this is quite a common issue (only happens in Linux, not Windows 10).

Have tried the following:

Code: Select all

cd /etc
cd modprobe.d
mk file rtl8821ae.conf

sudo vi rtl8821ae.conf
add
options rtl8821ae debug=0 disable_watchdog=N fwlps=N swlps=Y swenc=Y ips=N msi=0
Also tried this: https://medium.com/@elmaxx/rtl8821ae-wi ... 1286524afa

Still does it so any other suggestions appreciated.
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.
amit97911

Re: Wireless disconnecting Asus laptop rtl8821ae driver

Post by amit97911 »

Give a try...

Get on drivers application ( Pre installed in linux mint ) and search for all the drivers. Check all the drivers (select all avaliable drivers) and use them as your default.
The system might ask for reboot, and after restarting your problem will be solved.
buksida

Re: Wireless disconnecting Asus laptop rtl8821ae driver

Post by buksida »

Where is the "drivers application"?

All I can find is Driver Manager, which only shows me this:
Screenshot from 2017-04-25 17-34-25.png
(I cant actually use Linux anymore as the wifi disconnects every 5 minutes).
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Re: Wireless disconnecting Asus laptop rtl8821ae driver

Post by Pjotr »

Tip: 10 things to do after installing Linux Mint 21.3 Virginia
Keep your Linux Mint healthy: Avoid these 10 fatal mistakes
Twitter: twitter.com/easylinuxtips
All in all, horse sense simply makes sense.
buksida

Re: Wireless disconnecting Asus laptop rtl8821ae driver

Post by buksida »

Thanks, given that a go - testing now, we'll see how long it stays connected!
samriggs

Re: Wireless disconnecting Asus laptop rtl8821ae driver

Post by samriggs »

I had the exact same wireless card on my asus, there is no real fix for this until kernel 4.11 which is a ways off.

Soooo I did the smart thing, I swapped out the dang wireless card for an intel 5300
it has three antennas but it works with mine with only 2, no issues since I swapped it out.
I swapped it, started it, it read it right away, no need for drivers to install they did it automatically.

realtek has real issues lately, especially this card, supposidly in their github they got it working in kernel 4.11 but I am on a LTS with 4.9 so that ain't gona happen aytime time soon.

You can try the fixes, I tried everything, but there is no fix until kernel 4.11 which is just in the testing stages and might bork your system if you use it right now.

If you need wireless do yourself a favor and use a dongle (usb wireless) or just swapped it out like I did for a reliable card.

The card is half size pci mini, for my asus I had to take the whole top off, the back is solid.
How to do it, get yourself a flat skinny bar ( i got one from a friend made for asus laptops, because you have to take all the screws out of the bottom, then flip it, and unhook all the top snaps holding it in, you'll see the card on the left mid section with a black and white wire clipped into it, and 1 screw, you read up on the new wireless card because it really does matter which way the antennas are clipped in, the intel went in reverse to the realtek with mine, the old card slides out easy, you slide the new one in where you slide the old one out, clip the antennas in the proper place, screw it in GENTLY, put the top back on (make sure you watch out for the wires hanging down from the keyboard, snap the snaps back in, put the screws back in and boot er up.

Sounds like a lot eh? :lol:

It took me less then 5 minutes actually

But no issues since I replaced it.
If your lucky to have a rog with the compartments on the bottom (something they started finally) it will only take you a minute

Orrrrrr just buy a half decent usb wireless and use that instead, but you ainy gona get that card working for awhile.

Speaking from my own nightmare experience.

If your gona swap the card their are some nice youtubes on how to do it properly on an asus.

sory for the bad the bad new but blame realtek for their lack of making things work properly.

Sam

EDIT there is no issue with the ethernet so need to change anything there
buksida

Re: Wireless disconnecting Asus laptop rtl8821ae driver

Post by buksida »

Thanks for that, yes the problem hasn't been resolved.

If I can source an internal wifi card easily I'll swap it out - but sadly it looks like I'll have to go back to Windows ... :( :( :(
samriggs

Re: Wireless disconnecting Asus laptop rtl8821ae driver

Post by samriggs »

awwwk windows, why why why :cry:

If it is to hard to swap out for you, I understand laptops are different to play with then desktops, but if you find it to difficult, just get a usb one, I dont like usb wireless myself, that's why I just chose to swap it out, but I used to build my own systems from scratch so I have some practise with it.

The hardest thing on asus laptops is getting the top off, the whole thing comes off tap pad and all you just have to get a skinny pice of metal inbetween the crack going all the way around the top, every few inches press (push in if it hits solid right away) twist until you hear the snap dislodge and continue to do so until the whole top comes off.

here is a video how to take the top off, there all pretty much the same
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1tupHjUKSg

the wireless card is only about an inch and a half with the white and black wire, which are your 2 antennas that go up behind the screen.
Just take real care when doing all this.
If you dont want to void the warranty if you got one, just use a usb wireless instead, I don't care about warranties myself, since I am always tearing things apart :lol:
buksida

Re: Wireless disconnecting Asus laptop rtl8821ae driver

Post by buksida »

Yes, I don't really want to go back to Windows after familiarising myself with Linux over the past 6 months (albeit very painfully with the wifi turning off every 5 minutes).

The laptop is currently on dual boot and is less than a year old so I don't really want to butcher it either. USB wifi adaptor seems to be the way forward if I'm to avoid life on Microshite.

You mentioned kernel 4.11, any idea on a time-frame for this?
samriggs

Re: Wireless disconnecting Asus laptop rtl8821ae driver

Post by samriggs »

I'm on manjaro for this laptop it has 4.11 in the testing phase right now but there is 4.9 in lts so I don't see it happening for quite a awhile, mint is still on 4.4 , I also have 4.4 as a back up in case 4.9 goes insane :lol:
here is more on it https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page= ... 1-Released
it is just in testing only and will probably bork your system if you use it right now, so you got a long wait, there is no time line at this point though from what I read,
in manjaro it hasn't even hit the unstable release yet and I'm at 4.9 mint is at 4.4 so yup you got a long wait.

You can read more about the driver in 4.11 here https://github.com/lwfinger/rtlwifi_new ... 0c63634c4e

Notice the person said there is a fix for both RTL8723BE and RTL8821AE but only tested with RTL8723BE which is not ours
We have the RTL8821AE card and driver so who knows how it will react then also, we just have a bad card for this linux driver.
so yup go get yourself a usb wireless card, there prety cheap and alot of folks use them.
Just make sure it is not realtek, do some study on the name before buying they might not say relatek until you go trying to find the driver, so maybe google top friendly usb wireless adapters and avoid anything with realtek drivers.

Sam
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austin.texas
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Re: Wireless disconnecting Asus laptop rtl8821ae driver

Post by austin.texas »

If you want a USB wireless, as Sam Riggs said, they are not expensive.
I have seen these comments on the forum:
How to buy a wireless dongle - by Spearmint2
So I got my new USB dongle in the mail today and it literally worked right out of the box when I booted mint 18 from a USB. This is the device I purchased:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KV ... UTF8&psc=1
Panda adapters are plug and play on Linux.
I have this one and it works: Panda Ultra 150Mbps Wireless N USB Adapter (PAU03)
Find a TP-Link WN722N 150mbps, it uses the ath9k_htc module.
It's size might be a deterrent with the external antenna but it works very well - by JeremyB
You can check the "Hardware Compatibility" page → https://community.linuxmint.com/hardware
and → https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users/Devices
Mint 18.2 Cinnamon, Quad core AMD A8-3870 with Radeon HD Graphics 6550D, 8GB DDR3, Ralink RT2561/RT61 802.11g PCI
Linux Linx 2018
samriggs

Re: Wireless disconnecting Asus laptop rtl8821ae driver

Post by samriggs »

Thanks austin.texas

Just make sure you double check to make sure the dongle isn't realtek, that's all, I know someone who tried one over at manjaro who has issues with their dongle as well because it was realtek. best to avoid it and use one that works out of the box.

Sam
buksida

Re: Wireless disconnecting Asus laptop rtl8821ae driver

Post by buksida »

Cheers guys, will source a USB wifi dongle (not a Realtek one !!).
ciarly

Re: Wireless disconnecting Asus laptop rtl8821ae driver

Post by ciarly »

Hello, I had the same problem with Asus Vivo Pc VC 60 and the same driver RTL8821AE :evil: . After a lot of attempts without any solution, I have solved the dropping connection (see viewtopic.php?f=53&t=238460&p=1299229&h ... E#p1299229) installing, in Mint, WICD, an alternate network manager as explained on this website : https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WICD. I don't know, but this solution in my case solved the problem of the dropping connection
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Re: Wireless disconnecting Asus laptop rtl8821ae driver

Post by viper37 »

buksida wrote:See this is quite a common issue (only happens in Linux, not Windows 10).

Have tried the following:

Code: Select all

cd /etc
cd modprobe.d
mk file rtl8821ae.conf

sudo vi rtl8821ae.conf
add
options rtl8821ae debug=0 disable_watchdog=N fwlps=N swlps=Y swenc=Y ips=N msi=0
Also tried this: https://medium.com/@elmaxx/rtl8821ae-wi ... 1286524afa

Still does it so any other suggestions appreciated.
I almost solved that problem. Well, see, my USB wifi adapter was still getting disconnected sometimes, but that was something else. I ended up using a cable for now, until I can find another solution.

Since it was USB, it was a matter of preventing the power from being cut to USB.

I used a software called TLP:
http://linrunner.de/en/tlp/tlp.html
Installation instructions: http://linrunner.de/en/tlp/docs/tlp-lin ... stallation

Now, in your case, with laptop, two settings might have to changed, wifi and radio.
http://linrunner.de/en/tlp/docs/tlp-con ... networking
http://linrunner.de/en/tlp/docs/tlp-con ... tml#radios

I had about 95% success with this software, but unfortunately, my wifi connection was still dropping sometimes, and since it's a server, I decided to leave where I had a cable for now, until I can find another way.

You could also totally disable power management in Cinnamon, but that's a little extreme for a laptop.
Linux Mint 18.1 Cinnamon
Intel Pentium G3240 3.1ghz dual-core
H81I-PLUS/CSM
256gb ADATA SSD (Ext4, OS drive)
WD Red 6TB (x2) (BTRFS, data drives)
16gb RAM
yquux
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Re: Wireless disconnecting Asus laptop rtl8821ae driver

Post by yquux »

@viper37:
Thanks a lot !
I have a Asus E202SA-FD0018T; and the last annoying thing was the wifi disconnections. I eventually installed the rtlwifi_new driver, but it was still disconnecting times to times.
And your comment about TLP made me think that it could mess things up with wifi.
I modifed "WIFI_PWR_ON_BAT=on" to "WIFI_PWR_ON_BAT=off" and now... no issues at all !

Yquux

EDIT:
Well - after some days I will review my enthusiasm.. it is still not perfect but an improvement, definitely.
Last edited by yquux on Tue May 02, 2017 2:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
ASUS MAXIMUS IX APEX - i7-6700T - 32Go - Mint 20.1 Cinnamon
Acer SF114-31 - N5030 - M.2 SSD 250 Go - Mint 20.1 XFCE
buksida

Re: Wireless disconnecting Asus laptop rtl8821ae driver

Post by buksida »

Thanks guys, I tried editing TLP but it said it didn't exist (new file).

Code: Select all

sudo vi /etc/default/tlp
Where do I find it (using Mint 18, 4.4.0-75)?

So I've now installed WICD, are there any settings I need to modify on it, or does it just run out of the box?
buksida

Re: Wireless disconnecting Asus laptop rtl8821ae driver

Post by buksida »

Ok, it still disconnects so WICD didn't help. It stays connected to the wifi router, just drops the internet connection.

How do I edit TLP?
samriggs

Re: Wireless disconnecting Asus laptop rtl8821ae driver

Post by samriggs »

yquux wrote:@viper37:
I modifed "WIFI_PWR_ON_BAT=on" to "WIFI_PWR_ON_BAT=off" and now... no issues at all !
Yquux
Above is what Yquux did to turn the power saving off

If you open up the /etc/default/tlp file as root scroll down until you see
"WIFI_PWR_ON_BAT=on"
change it to
"WIFI_PWR_ON_BAT=off"
all your doing is turning it off then

Just remember what you did in case it doesn't work to change it back.

Let me know also please I never tried this method.

It is in this this section of my tlp file

# WiFi power saving mode: on=enable, off=disable; not supported by all adapters.
WIFI_PWR_ON_AC=off
WIFI_PWR_ON_BAT=on

lines 150, 151 and the one to change 152 if you got line numbers turned on

Sam
ciarly

Re: Wireless disconnecting Asus laptop rtl8821ae driver

Post by ciarly »

Buksida have you verified that the kernal version is upgrade to 4.6.4 or later? The new drivers seems work well with version kernel 4.6.4 at least. In Mint there is a kernel version 4.4.xxx In my case the kernel version is 4.8.0-49. So i have first upgraded the version kernel to 4.6.4 or later, then i have installed the new drivers and then i have installed wicd, and all is ok.
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