[SOLVED]rtl8723be disconnects randomly

momu · 2018-02-28 14:13:54

I have rtl8723be wireless card, and my WiFi disconnects by itself in intervals of 1-4 hours. ip a still shows that I have an IP address, and WiFi is shown as connected in the i3bar. But I can't access any website nor ping anything. I also tried what was suggested in the Arch wiki (here). Doesn't make any difference. I tried adding swlps=0 ips=0 as many people online suggested that, but again no difference. I tried ant_sel=1 and ant_sel=2, but with 1 it makes no difference, and with 2 I can't even connect.

I use Arch since June of last year, and wifi worked fine before the patch for KRACK Attack was applied to wpa_supplicant 4 months ago. That was the time when the issue appeared (doesn't mean that the problem is in the wpa_supplicant, maybe my problem and wpa_supplicant upgrade are only temporally linked).

Could it be the bug in the drivers or wpa_supplicant? If so, I need your help to find where it is so I can report it to the right developers. Before the issue is fixed, maybe you can help me to find a workaround.

My kernel version is 4.15.5, and my wpa_supplicant version is 2.6.

Last edited by momu (2018-04-01 13:28:13)

seth · 2018-02-28 15:23:00

systool -vm rtl8723be

And try

swenc=1 ips=0 swlps=0 fwlp=0

"ips=0" sould disable all power saving, rendering swlps and fwlp useless, but "ips=" is no legal parameter (and will just keep the default) and "swlps=0" is the default anyway (because fwlps=1 is default, meaning the FW controls the power saving)
"swenc=1" disables the HW encryption (causing slightly more CPU load but it's a popular cause for stale connections on atheros chips at least)

Lastly check whether you got a linux-firmware update over the critical time, which firmware is loaded (dmesg should know) and whether rolling back that firmware makes a difference.

momu · 2018-02-28 18:09:10

seth wrote:

systool -vm rtl8723be
And try
swenc=1 ips=0 swlps=0 fwlp=0
"ips=0" sould disable all power saving, rendering swlps and fwlp useless, but "ips=" is no legal parameter (and will just keep the default) and "swlps=0" is the default anyway (because fwlps=1 is default, meaning the FW controls the power saving)
"swenc=1" disables the HW encryption (causing slightly more CPU load but it's a popular cause for stale connections on atheros chips at least)
Lastly check whether you got a linux-firmware update over the critical time, which firmware is loaded (dmesg should know) and whether rolling back that firmware makes a difference.

I meant to write ips=0, not ips=.

Also, I must ask: if parameters returned by systool -vm rtl8723be list some values for some parameters as 1/0 or Y/N, I must use these for setting parameters too (for example, aspm is set to 1, if I want to turn it off I must use 0 and can't use N, or if msi is set to N, if I want to turn it on I must use Y and can't use 1)?

By the way, you meant fwlps, not fwlp, right?

seth · 2018-02-28 20:43:13

"fwlps", yes. 0/1 maps to N/Y, but you should use the values provided by modinfo (the parameters here are bool, but sometimes they're integer and then the outcome is arbitrary)
If you already tried "ips=0" (confirmed by systool output?) most of this is moot and the only things left are the swenc=0 parameter and downgrading the firmware.

momu · 2018-03-01 20:13:46

swenc=Y doesn't help. I downgraded the firmware and I'll use it for a few hours to see how it works.

Where should I report the issue?

seth · 2018-03-01 20:24:58

https://bugzilla.kernel.org/ see eg. https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=83641 (it's not necessarily the same bug!)

momu · 2018-03-02 15:17:33

Downgrading the firmware doesn't work. I'll wait for kernel 4.16 to see if it fixes my issue (reason).

momu · 2018-04-01 13:27:35

I tried linux 4.15.14, which yesterday came to the repos. It contains the fix that Larry Finger talked about.

I am on Wi-Fi for 12 hours already and there wasn't a single disconnect.

So I consider this solved.

Arch Linux

#1 2018-02-28 14:13:54

[SOLVED]rtl8723be disconnects randomly

#2 2018-02-28 15:23:00

Re: [SOLVED]rtl8723be disconnects randomly

#3 2018-02-28 18:09:10

Re: [SOLVED]rtl8723be disconnects randomly

#4 2018-02-28 20:43:13

Re: [SOLVED]rtl8723be disconnects randomly

#5 2018-03-01 20:13:46

Re: [SOLVED]rtl8723be disconnects randomly

#6 2018-03-01 20:24:58

Re: [SOLVED]rtl8723be disconnects randomly

#7 2018-03-02 15:17:33

Re: [SOLVED]rtl8723be disconnects randomly

#8 2018-04-01 13:27:35

Re: [SOLVED]rtl8723be disconnects randomly

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