[SOLVED] Wifi on Mint 21.3 much slower than Fedora 37 on same hardware

[RatchaTowns]

I recently installed Mint 21.3 on a 7-ish year old laptop (Acer Swift 1 from 2017). Previously, the laptop had Fedora 37 installed. Before Mint, the laptop's wifi would function fine anywhere in the house. With Mint, it is seemingly only usable in the same room as the router.

Symptoms:

• In the same room as the wifi router, the laptop tests at around 250 Mbps download. This is great.
• In a more distant room (connection 50-60%), the laptop maxes out around 20 Mbps down, and frequently goes lower. The lowest it has tested in this room was 0.12 Mbps. This is unusable. Ordinary web pages frequently fail to load.
• Other devices in the more distant room (including a desktop that also has Mint 21.3) test at around 120-150 Mbps.

Things tried so far:

• Limiting the laptop to only use 5 Ghz. This made things worse, and frequently no data was getting through at all.
• Steps 2.1 and 2.4 in this guide. They had no effect.

Output from commands that I've run while doing 2.1 and 2.4 in that guide:

Code: Select all

$ iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

wlp2s0    IEEE 802.11  ESSID:"SETUP-1EF4"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:5.785 GHz  Access Point: 94:6A:77:59:1F:00   
          Bit Rate=9 Mb/s   Tx-Power=22 dBm   
          Retry short limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=48/70  Signal level=-62 dBm  
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:1104  Invalid misc:6676   Missed beacon:0

Code: Select all

$  lsmod | grep iwlwifi
iwlwifi               454656  1 iwlmvm
cfg80211              974848  3 iwlmvm,iwlwifi,mac80211

Is this just an unavoidable byproduct of having an older driver, or is there something I can tweak in Mint to make it better? Thanks for the help!

[xenopeek]

Can you add system information? Open System Reports program, go to System Information on the left and then click Copy button bottom left. Paste the copied information in a reply here.

[RatchaTowns]

Code: Select all

System:
  Kernel: 5.15.0-101-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.4.0 Desktop: Cinnamon 6.0.4
    tk: GTK 3.24.33 wm: muffin vt: 7 dm: LightDM 1.30.0 Distro: Linux Mint 21.3 Virginia
    base: Ubuntu 22.04 jammy
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Acer product: Swift SF113-31 v: V1.05 serial: <superuser required> Chassis:
    type: 10 serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: APL model: ASAHI_AP v: V1.05 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: INSYDE v: 1.05
    date: 05/10/2017
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 19.4 Wh (49.5%) condition: 39.2/43.0 Wh (91.3%) volts: 11.3 min: 11.4
    model: AP16A4K type: Li-ion serial: N/A status: Discharging
CPU:
  Info: quad core model: Intel Pentium N4200 bits: 64 type: MCP smt: <unsupported> arch: Goldmont
    rev: 9 cache: L1: 224 KiB L2: 2 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 2388 min/max: 800/2500 cores: 1: 2388 2: 2388 3: 2388 4: 2388 bogomips: 8755
  Flags: ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Celeron N3350/Pentium N4200/Atom E3900 Series Integrated Graphics
    vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: i915 v: kernel ports: active: eDP-1 empty: HDMI-A-1
    bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:5a84 class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: Chicony HD WebCam type: USB driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-7:4 chip-ID: 04f2:b5f7
    class-ID: 0e02
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.4 driver: X: loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa
    gpu: i915 display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x285mm (20.0x11.2") s-diag: 582mm (22.9")
  Monitor-1: eDP-1 model: AU Optronics res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 166
    size: 293x165mm (11.5x6.5") diag: 336mm (13.2") modes: 1920x1080
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 505 (APL 3) v: 4.6 Mesa 23.2.1-1ubuntu3.1~22.04.2
    direct render: Yes
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Celeron N3350/Pentium N4200/Atom E3900 Series Audio Cluster
    vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:0e.0 chip-ID: 8086:5a98
    class-ID: 0403
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.15.0-101-generic running: yes
  Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.99.1 running: yes
  Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.48 running: yes
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Wireless 7265 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1
    bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:095a class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel Bluetooth wireless interface type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 1-5:2
    chip-ID: 8087:0a2a class-ID: e001
  Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 7 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 2.1 lmp-v: 4.2
    sub-v: 1000 hci-v: 4.2 rev: 1000
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 58.25 GiB used: 34.43 GiB (59.1%)
  ID-1: /dev/mmcblk0 vendor: SK Hynix model: HCG8e size: 58.25 GiB type: SSD serial: <filter>
    rev: 0x7 scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 56.54 GiB used: 34.43 GiB (60.9%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/mmcblk0p2
  ID-2: /boot/efi size: 511 MiB used: 6.1 MiB (1.2%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/mmcblk0p1
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 2 GiB used: 380.4 MiB (18.6%) priority: -2 file: /swapfile
USB:
  Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: Hi-speed hub with single TT ports: 8 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s
    chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900
  Device-1: 1-5:2 info: Intel Bluetooth wireless interface type: Bluetooth driver: btusb
    interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s power: 100mA chip-ID: 8087:0a2a class-ID: e001
  Device-2: 1-6:3 info: Realtek RTS5129 Card Reader Controller type: <vendor specific>
    driver: rtsx_usb,rtsx_usb_ms,rtsx_usb_sdmmc interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s power: 500mA
    chip-ID: 0bda:0129 class-ID: ff00 serial: <filter>
  Device-3: 1-7:4 info: Chicony HD WebCam type: Video driver: uvcvideo interfaces: 2 rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s power: 500mA chip-ID: 04f2:b5f7 class-ID: 0e02
  Device-4: 1-8:8 info: LighTuning EgisTec Touch Fingerprint Sensor type: <vendor specific>
    driver: N/A interfaces: 1 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s power: 100mA chip-ID: 1c7a:0570 class-ID: 0000
    serial: <filter>
  Hub-2: 2-0:1 info: Super-speed hub ports: 7 rev: 3.0 speed: 5 Gb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0003
    class-ID: 0900
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 49.0 C mobo: 0.0 C
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Repos:
  Packages: apt: 2204
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/megasync.list
    1: deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/meganz-archive-keyring.gpg] https: //mega.nz/linux/repo/xUbuntu_22.04/ ./
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list
    1: deb http: //mirrors.usinternet.com/mint/packages virginia main upstream import backport
    2: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy main restricted universe multiverse
    3: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-updates main restricted universe multiverse
    4: deb http: //archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu jammy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
    5: deb http: //security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ jammy-security main restricted universe multiverse
Info:
  Processes: 249 Uptime: 6h 34m wakeups: 5 Memory: 3.66 GiB used: 3.01 GiB (82.1%) Init: systemd
  v: 249 runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 11.4.0 alt: 11/12 Client: Unknown python3.10 client
  inxi: 3.3.13

[JeremyB]

I would try in terminal

Code: Select all

sudo sed -i 's/wifi.powersave = 3/wifi.powersave = 2/' /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/default-wifi-powersave-on.conf
echo "options iwlwifi 11n_disable=8"|sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/iwlopts.conf

Reboot

[RatchaTowns]

Thanks JeremyB, but I already tried both those interventions (using this guide):

Code: Select all

$ cat /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/default-wifi-powersave-on.conf
[connection]
wifi.powersave = 2

Code: Select all

$ cat /etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi-3options.conf
options iwlwifi swcrypto=1 11n_disable=8

I noticed that the filename for the second command was different, though. "iwlwifi-3options.conf" vs "iwlopts.conf". Does that matter, or does any file in the modprobe.d directory have the same effect?

[JeremyB]

Thanks JeremyB, but I already tried both those interventions (using this guide):

Code: Select all

$ cat /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/default-wifi-powersave-on.conf
[connection]
wifi.powersave = 2

Code: Select all

$ cat /etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi-3options.conf
options iwlwifi swcrypto=1 11n_disable=8

I noticed that the filename for the second command was different, though. "iwlwifi-3options.conf" vs "iwlopts.conf". Does that matter, or does any file in the modprobe.d directory have the same effect?

It doesn't matter what the name is in /etc/modprobe.d
What kernel was Fedora 37 using?

[RatchaTowns]

I don't remember what the minor version was, but it was a 6.0 kernel.

[JeremyB]

You could use the Mint Update Manager, view menu, linux kernels to install the 6.5 kernel and try that

[xenopeek]

Fedora 37 used a 6.3 kernel.

[RatchaTowns]

I'm not sure if I'm prematurely declaring victory, but upgrading to the newer kernel seems to have helped a lot. As far as I can tell, everything is back to the speed I'd expect. Hopefully it lasts!

Thanks a lot JeremyB, xenopeek! I'll mark as solved.

[222029]

Can I ask withch kernel did you put exactly because i am having the same problem on my laptop and upgrating to 6.5.0-26 didn't help me :/

[RatchaTowns]

6.5.0-26 is the version I have installed. Sorry, that's not very helpful!