Wifi drops regularly - Intel Wireless 7260

[pewknee]

Hi all.
I need help getting a stable wifi connection.

The connection is great for about 4 minutes, then it just *poof* vanishes for a few seconds, then returns. It rarely disappears long enough for the Network Manager to even notice (the panel icon shows connection bars almost always, but occasionally will switch to the "connecting" icon). It works dandy in Windows 10 so I hope this is a setting or driver issue. It's annoying for most applications, but it's unaceptable when trying to play online or network games.

I've tried *most* of the tips here.
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinux ... t/internet

The troubleshooting guide says "Set the BSSID field to the MAC address of the router". In the router configuration, I can see SSID (pronouncable name) and BSSID is 4C:9E:FF:DF:9A:2E. That's what I have for BSSID in the Network manager for that field as well - is this correct, or is the router's MAC address different from it's BSSID?

And I didn't mess with the Atheros encyrption because

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lsmod | grep ath

gave no output at all.

I didn't mess with signal boosting because my signal seems fine.

And I ignored the RealTek drivers advice because I don't have a RealTek card... I don't think.

-----------

Router:
ZyXEL P-660HN-51
Security, WPA2-PSK (other option is WPA-PSK)
IPv6 is disabled
Wireless channel is static (signal seems fine)
Firmware is up-to-date.
DNS is dynamic from ISP, but I've also used OpenDNS and google's DNS.
Wireless network mode = "802.11g Only"

Mate Network Connections -
I have IPv6 set to ignore.
I do not have "All users may connect..." ticked.
Everything else here is default, except the BSSID field is empty by default, and I have it set to the BSSID I see in the router configuration (mentioned above).
Under "Wifi>Device" my options are *sometimes* "E8:B1:FC:15:AB:DA" and "wlp6s0 (E8:B1:FC:15:AB:DA)". Othertimes it's "wlp6s0 (E8..." only. Whichever is selected or typed in seems to make no difference.

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laura@laura-XPS-15-9530 ~ $ inxi -Fxz
System:    Host: laura-XPS-15-9530 Kernel: 4.15.0-29-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)
           Desktop: MATE 1.18.0 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.3)
           Distro: Linux Mint 18.3 Sylvia
Machine:   Mobo: Dell model: XPS 15 9530 v: A06
           Bios: Dell v: A06 date: 07/16/2014
CPU:       Quad core Intel Core i7-4712HQ (-HT-MCP-) cache: 6144 KB
           flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 18356
           clock speeds: max: 3300 MHz 1: 991 MHz 2: 983 MHz 3: 1000 MHz
           4: 1702 MHz 5: 1665 MHz 6: 1402 MHz 7: 1634 MHz 8: 992 MHz
Graphics:  Card-1: Intel 4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller
           bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Card-2: NVIDIA GK107M [GeForce GT 750M] bus-ID: 02:00.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1600x900@60.00hz
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Haswell Mobile
           GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 18.0.5 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card-1 Intel 8 Series/C220 Series High Definition Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Card-2 Intel Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor HD Audio Controller
           driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:03.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.15.0-29-generic
Network:   Card: Intel Wireless 7260 driver: iwlwifi bus-ID: 06:00.0
           IF: wlp6s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 1532.3GB (16.1% used)
           ID-1: /dev/sda model: TOSHIBA_MQ02ABF1 size: 1000.2GB
           ID-2: /dev/sdb model: LITEONIT_LMS size: 32.0GB
           ID-3: USB /dev/sdc model: OneTouch size: 500.1GB
Partition: ID-1: / size: 440G used: 47G (12%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda7
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 17.08GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda8
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 64.0C mobo: N/A
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A
Info:      Processes: 254 Uptime: 45 min Memory: 1704.2/15943.8MB
           Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0
           Client: Shell (bash 4.3.481) inxi: 2.2.35 

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laura@laura-XPS-15-9530 ~ $ iwconfig
wlp6s0    IEEE 802.11  ESSID:"ZyXEL64624"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.462 GHz  Access Point: 4C:9E:FF:DF:9A:2E   
          Bit Rate=36 Mb/s   Tx-Power=22 dBm   
          Retry short limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=45/70  Signal level=-65 dBm  
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:69  Invalid misc:90   Missed beacon:0

lo        no wireless extensions.

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laura@laura-XPS-15-9530 ~ $ sudo lshw -C Network
[sudo] password for laura: 
  *-network               
       description: Wireless interface
       product: Wireless 7260
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:06:00.0
       logical name: wlp6s0
       version: 6b
       serial: e8:b1:fc:15:ab:da
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwlwifi driverversion=4.15.0-29-generic firmware=17.948900127.0 ip=192.168.1.4 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11
       resources: irq:37 memory:f7900000-f7901fff

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laura@laura-XPS-15-9530 ~ $ rfkill list all
0: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
1: nfc0: NFC
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
2: hci0: Bluetooth
	Soft blocked: yes
	Hard blocked: no

Thanks for any help or suggestions.

[Pjotr]

It's a shot in the dark, but you might try this:

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echo "options iwlwifi 11n_disable=8" | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi11n.conf

Reboot.

When no avail (or worse), undo it like this:

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sudo rm -v /etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi11n.conf

Reboot.

[pewknee]

No dice. But thank you for the suggestion.

It made me question a few other things -
your instructions involve adding the 11n_disable=8 to a *new* file,
iwlwifi11n.conf

I'm seeing similar instructions elswhere, but with 11n-disable=8 added to the *existing* file
iwlwifi.conf

Is the first method the prefered/newer method? Are both valid?

If I want to try suggestions from here (related to the iwlwifi.conf)
http://bernaerts.dyndns.org/linux/74-ub ... low-freeze
would I add them to the iwlwifi.conf file, or would each option have a seperate .conf like 11n does?

[JeremyB]

Both methods work, it is easier to reverse the change if you dont add it to /etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi.conf
With the 7260 also try

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sudo sed -i 's/3/2/' /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/*

Reboot

[pewknee]

Thanks JeremyB.

Makes sense about the .conf files - thanks!

What did
sudo sed -i 's/3/2/' /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/*
do?

My connection seem faster. The "Mate Netspeed" applet is not flatlining as usual, and my pinging google has about doubled. After ten minutes my connection cut out for a few seconds, then came back.

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64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=878 ttl=115 time=57.7 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=879 ttl=115 time=58.5 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=880 ttl=115 time=57.5 ms
ping: sendmsg: Network is unreachable
ping: sendmsg: Network is unreachable
ping: sendmsg: Network is unreachable
ping: sendmsg: Network is unreachable
ping: sendmsg: Network is unreachable
ping: sendmsg: Network is unreachable
ping: sendmsg: Network is unreachable
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=888 ttl=115 time=57.8 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=889 ttl=115 time=60.5 ms

That last number is usually 200-700ms with regular spikes as high as 3400ms.

I'm going to just watch the connection for a while, and see if the drop might have been a fluke with our ISP.

[tgwilt]

"What did
sudo sed -i 's/3/2/' /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/*
do?"

I believe it changes power management to off in /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/default-wifi-powersave-on.conf.

Changing the number 3 to 2 will make sure powermanagement is off after a reboot.

[pewknee]

So it seemed (and still seems) like

sudo sed -i 's/3/2/' /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/*sudo sed -

made a huge difference. Instead of every 3 minutes, I'm being dropped more like every 5-10, and the speed is better.
But iwconfig had already said "Power Management: off"
is this a different power management setting? Maybe I'd run iwconfig after something that only temporarily disabled power management?

Any suggestions on what to try next?

[JeremyB]

You could check the settings on the wif router, make the encryption WPA2 only without WPA/WEP/TKIP

[pewknee]

You could check the settings on the wif router, make the encryption WPA2 only without WPA/WEP/TKIP

Thanks.

The router security is
WPA2-PSK
the other option is
WPA-PSK