Wireless connection intermittently dropping

rin · 2013-12-24 16:56:06

I'm on a Lenovo ThinkPad L430.
About once a minute, I lose internet access for generally around 5 seconds to 1 minute.
NetworkManager still claims I am connected to my router with good signal strength (at least 70%), I still have an IP address (from ifconfig), I can still find the network (iwlist scan).
There is no change in the outputs of any commands (ifconfig, iwconfig, ip show). I am still apparently connected to my network.

The only thing that changes is I can't ping my router (BT Home Hub), which is located at 192.168.1.254, and hence I can't ping anything else (e.g. 8.8.8.8). The ping command just hangs. Sample output taken from halfway through a ping command, note the missing icmp_seq numbers:

64 bytes from 192.168.1.254: icmp_seq=20 ttl=64 time=2.30 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.254: icmp_seq=21 ttl=64 time=1.84 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.254: icmp_seq=22 ttl=64 time=6.91 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.254: icmp_seq=23 ttl=64 time=998 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.254: icmp_seq=45 ttl=64 time=503 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.254: icmp_seq=46 ttl=64 time=999 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.254: icmp_seq=47 ttl=64 time=1000 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.254: icmp_seq=48 ttl=64 time=12.2 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.254: icmp_seq=49 ttl=64 time=70.4 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.254: icmp_seq=50 ttl=64 time=130 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.254: icmp_seq=51 ttl=64 time=995 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.254: icmp_seq=52 ttl=64 time=754 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.254: icmp_seq=149 ttl=64 time=1003 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.254: icmp_seq=150 ttl=64 time=4.24 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.254: icmp_seq=151 ttl=64 time=360 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.254: icmp_seq=152 ttl=64 time=3.35 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.254: icmp_seq=153 ttl=64 time=1.75 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.1.254: icmp_seq=154 ttl=64 time=1.78 ms
# many pings later...
319 packets transmitted, 183 received, 42% packet loss, time 318271ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 1.672/166.949/4003.070/530.736 ms, pipe 5

One thing I have tried is pinging my router constantly with
while true; do ping -c1 -W2 192.168.1.254 > /dev/null 2>&1 ; echo $?; sleep 1; done
And it often it will be up for a good minute, then drop the instant I click a web link or do a google search.
Edit: I added date logging to this command and the pings were successful for 51 seconds, but dropped the *instant* I hit the submit button for this thread. I don't think it's a coincidence.
Edit 2: Just to clarify, I probably have a bit of confirmation bias towards this cause. It does also drop by itself, when I am not doing anything except pinging.

I can still use my phone over the same wifi, and everyone else's laptops are fine. It's also not to do with low signal, I have the same problems sitting close to the router.

I hope this is enough to go off. Help would be much appreciated!
Thanks

Edit:
I've just noticed that output of "iwconfig wlp6s0" subtly changes.
While everything is working, I get "Bit Rate=72.2 Mb/s" in the output. When I can't connect properly, it's "Bit Rate=7.2 Mb/s"
The Bit Rate drops to 7.2 about 1 or 2 seconds before I lose connection (i.e. bit rate goes from 72.2 to 7.2 and then I can get in one last ping to 192.168.1.254 before it's lost).
I hope that means something to someone!

Last edited by rin (2013-12-27 21:55:49)

ewaller · 2013-12-24 18:23:07

Is there anything else trying to control your network connection? In other words, did you enable the netctl or dhcpcd services? Check the output of systemctl for such things.
Also, what make and model of wireless NIC does your machine have?

Oh, and welcome to Arch Linux

rin · 2013-12-24 18:35:11

ewaller wrote:

Is there anything else trying to control your network connection? In other words, did you enable the netctl or dhcpcd services? Check the output of systemctl for such things.
Also, what make and model of wireless NIC does your machine have?

$ systemctl|egrep -i '(net|dhcp)'
sys-devices-pci0000:00-0000:00:1c.1-0000:06:00.0-net-wlp6s0.device                          loaded active plugged   RTL8188CE 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter
sys-devices-pci0000:00-0000:00:1c.3-0000:0c:00.0-net-enp12s0.device                         loaded active plugged   RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
sys-subsystem-net-devices-enp12s0.device                                                    loaded active plugged   RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
sys-subsystem-net-devices-wlp6s0.device                                                     loaded active plugged   RTL8188CE 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter
NetworkManager.service                                                                      loaded active running   Network Manager
network.target                                                                              loaded active active    Network

It doesn't look like it. I did have netctl before I switched to NetworkManager, and I had them both for a day which causes a lot of problems, but I fixed that. This issue has only been happenning for a few days.

$ sudo lshw -C network 
  *-network               
       description: Wireless interface
       product: RTL8188CE 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter
       vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:06:00.0
       logical name: wlp6s0
       version: 01
       serial: 70:18:8b:f7:2a:ab
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rtl8192ce driverversion=3.12.5-1-ARCH firmware=N/A ip=192.168.1.64 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bgn
       resources: irq:17 ioport:3000(size=256) memory:f1d00000-f1d03fff
  *-network
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
       vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:0c:00.0
       logical name: enp12s0
       version: 07
       serial: 3c:97:0e:dd:6a:8b
       size: 10Mbit/s
       capacity: 1Gbit/s
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix vpd bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=2.3LK-NAPI duplex=half firmware=rtl8168e-3_0.0.4 03/27/12 latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=MII speed=10Mbit/s
       resources: irq:44 ioport:1000(size=256) memory:f1404000-f1404fff memory:f1400000-f1403fff

ewaller wrote:

Oh, and welcome to Arch Linux

Thanks

Edit:
It's definitely a problem with the router (BT Home Hub). I had no problems for a week in another house (can't remember the router but it was running ddwrt), and I've just been using my laptop all day in a third house (techniocolor) with no problems at all.

Last edited by rin (2013-12-27 21:53:24)

Konstantinos · 2015-06-04 15:17:42

Hey. The icmp_seq is going to 1000 for me. What I have to do?

This after ping www.google.com on installation.

Last edited by Konstantinos (2015-06-04 15:19:25)

WorMzy · 2015-06-05 15:24:42

Please don't necrobump again, Konstantinos. Create a new topic about your problem and link back to this one if you think it's still relevant.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fo … bumping.22

Closing.

Arch Linux

#1 2013-12-24 16:56:06

Wireless connection intermittently dropping

#2 2013-12-24 18:23:07

Re: Wireless connection intermittently dropping

#3 2013-12-24 18:35:11

Re: Wireless connection intermittently dropping

#4 2015-06-04 15:17:42

Re: Wireless connection intermittently dropping

#5 2015-06-05 15:24:42

Re: Wireless connection intermittently dropping

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