HP Laptop Wifi not working correctly

[Pepealej]

Hi! I have just installed Linux Mint 19 Cinnamon in my HP Laptop, and I'm having some issues with my wifi.

I currently have both Windows 10 and Linux Mint installed. With Windows 10, wifi works perfectly. But in Linux Mint, it's not that it doesnt work, but the range of connectivity is about 10 times lower than when I connect to the same network with Windows. What is wrong?

Just in case, here I post the following command prompt:

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lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 net; rfkill list
02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8723BE PCIe Wireless Network Adapter [10ec:b723]
	Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company RTL8723BE PCIe Wireless Network Adapter [103c:81c1]
	Kernel driver in use: rtl8723be
	Kernel modules: rtl8723be
03:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller [10ec:8168] (rev 15)
	Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller [103c:832c]
	Kernel driver in use: r8169
	Kernel modules: r8169
0: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
1: hci0: Bluetooth
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no

Thanks for your help!!!

[JeremyB]

Have you set the ant_sel parameter? Post results for

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uname -a; grep [[:alnum:]] /sys/module/rtl8723be/parameters/*

[Pepealej]

Hi JeremyB, here are the results for what you posted:

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Linux Watermelon 4.15.0-34-generic #37-Ubuntu SMP Mon Aug 27 15:21:48 UTC 2018 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
/sys/module/rtl8723be/parameters/ant_sel:0
/sys/module/rtl8723be/parameters/aspm:1
/sys/module/rtl8723be/parameters/debug_level:0
/sys/module/rtl8723be/parameters/debug_mask:0
/sys/module/rtl8723be/parameters/disable_watchdog:N
/sys/module/rtl8723be/parameters/fwlps:Y
/sys/module/rtl8723be/parameters/ips:Y
/sys/module/rtl8723be/parameters/msi:N
/sys/module/rtl8723be/parameters/swenc:N
/sys/module/rtl8723be/parameters/swlps:N

(Watermelon is the name of my Laptop)

[JeremyB]

Do, in terminal

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echo "options rtl8723be ant_sel=2" | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/rtl8723be-ant.conf

Then reboot and use grub menu, advanced options to use an older kernel, press and hold Shift key at boot if you do not normally see grub menu

[Pepealej]

And then what am I supposed to do in the Grub menu? I'm sorry if this is a dumb question, I'm a beginner with Linux.

[JeremyB]

Once you see grub menu, scroll down to advanced options, press enter, then scroll down about 3-4 lines to an older kernel and then press enter to boot into the older kernel

[Pepealej]

An will this fix my problem permanently? Or do I have to run Linux in this way every time I start my laptop?

[Pepealej]

It worked! Thanks JeremyB!

PS: Is there a way of making this work permanently?

[jbh911]

For a permanent fix you need to remove the higher numbered kernel so that your now functional kernel is top of the list and will be selected auto when you boot.
For starters in Terminal

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uname -a

note the kernel number - write it down.
Select Update Manager > View > Linux kernel > Note Caution
> Continue
Select the same group as your kernel on LHS ie 4.4
Delete the higher kernels above your current kernel
Save and or Close out

All being well you will now boot from the current functional kernel.

[JeremyB]

For a permanent fix you need to remove the higher numbered kernel so that your now functional kernel is top of the list and will be selected auto when you boot.
For starters in Terminal

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uname -a

note the kernel number - write it down.
Select Update Manager > View > Linux kernel > Note Caution
> Continue
Select the same group as your kernel on LHS ie 4.4
Delete the higher kernels above your current kernel
Save and or Close out

All being well you will now boot from the current functional kernel.

Use those instructions to remove 4.15.0-33 and/or 4.15.0-34 as they are the problem kernels for now

[pranavsrivatsav]

Have the same issue (Hp laptop realtek rtl8723be)
I tried to boot with the oldest kernel available 4.15.0-20, but to no avail, is there any particular kernel version required?

should i be moving to mint 18.3, is there a fix available there?

I really love mint but cant really live with the weak wifi?

[JeremyB]

Have the same issue (Hp laptop realtek rtl8723be)
I tried to boot with the oldest kernel available 4.15.0-20, but to no avail, is there any particular kernel version required?

should i be moving to mint 18.3, is there a fix available there?

I really love mint but cant really live with the weak wifi?

Does it work better after

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sudo modprobe -r rtl8723be && sleep 10 && sudo modprobe rtl8723be ant_sel=2

[pranavsrivatsav]

No it does not.

[JeremyB]

I wonder if you don't already have a parameter set

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grep [[:alnum:]] /etc/modprobe.d/* | grep rtl8723be