[SOLVED] Laptop can't connect to 802.11n network

bepaald · 2016-10-08 07:25:22

Hi!

I have a laptop whose wireless speeds always cap out at around 2MB/s, while most of my other devices happily get up to around 10~15MB/s. So I figured I'd log in to my router and see if anything is obviously wrong. Looking at the list of connected clients in my router's wifi menu, I see

Connected Clients	
MAC Address          Age(s)     RSSI(dBm)    IP Addr           Host Name    Mode   Speed (kbps)
58:48:22:XX:XX:XX    346        -68          192.168.178.12    android      n      24000
80:86:F2:XX:XX:XX    354        -57          192.168.178.13    laptop       g      6000

Checking lspci, the network device in the laptop is called 'Intel Corporation Dual Band Wireless-N 7260', which leads me to believe it supports n-mode (full lspci output below). A few relevant settings from the router:

802.11 Band       5GHz  Current :  5 GHz
802.11 mode       A/N-Mix
Control Channel   Auto  Current :  136 ***Interference Level: Acceptable
Bandwidth         40Mhz  Current :  40MHz

So, the first thing I tried was to set the mode to 'N-only' to force the laptop to connect in n-mode. For the other devices on the network that is fine, but the laptop is unable to establish a connection (though it still picks up the network and asks for a password).

So my questions: does anyone know wether this machine is actually capable of connecting to 802.11n networks? And if so, how? And if not, is there any way to speed up the g-mode connection?

Thanks!

Full lspci output:

03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wireless 7260 (rev 73)
	Subsystem: Intel Corporation Dual Band Wireless-N 7260
	Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
	Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
	Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
	Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 36
	Region 0: Memory at f7a00000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8K]
	Capabilities: [c8] Power Management version 3
		Flags: PMEClk- DSI+ D1- D2- AuxCurrent=0mA PME(D0+,D1-,D2-,D3hot+,D3cold+)
		Status: D0 NoSoftRst- PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-
	Capabilities: [d0] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
		Address: 00000000fee00398  Data: 0000
	Capabilities: [40] Express (v2) Endpoint, MSI 00
		DevCap:	MaxPayload 128 bytes, PhantFunc 0, Latency L0s <512ns, L1 unlimited
			ExtTag- AttnBtn- AttnInd- PwrInd- RBE+ FLReset+ SlotPowerLimit 0.000W
		DevCtl:	Report errors: Correctable- Non-Fatal- Fatal- Unsupported-
			RlxdOrd- ExtTag- PhantFunc- AuxPwr+ NoSnoop+ FLReset-
			MaxPayload 128 bytes, MaxReadReq 128 bytes
		DevSta:	CorrErr+ UncorrErr- FatalErr- UnsuppReq+ AuxPwr+ TransPend-
		LnkCap:	Port #0, Speed 2.5GT/s, Width x1, ASPM L0s L1, Exit Latency L0s <4us, L1 <32us
			ClockPM+ Surprise- LLActRep- BwNot- ASPMOptComp-
		LnkCtl:	ASPM L1 Enabled; RCB 64 bytes Disabled- CommClk+
			ExtSynch- ClockPM+ AutWidDis- BWInt- AutBWInt-
		LnkSta:	Speed 2.5GT/s, Width x1, TrErr- Train- SlotClk+ DLActive- BWMgmt- ABWMgmt-
		DevCap2: Completion Timeout: Range B, TimeoutDis+, LTR+, OBFF Via WAKE#
		DevCtl2: Completion Timeout: 16ms to 55ms, TimeoutDis-, LTR+, OBFF Disabled
		LnkCtl2: Target Link Speed: 2.5GT/s, EnterCompliance- SpeedDis-
			 Transmit Margin: Normal Operating Range, EnterModifiedCompliance- ComplianceSOS-
			 Compliance De-emphasis: -6dB
		LnkSta2: Current De-emphasis Level: -3.5dB, EqualizationComplete-, EqualizationPhase1-
			 EqualizationPhase2-, EqualizationPhase3-, LinkEqualizationRequest-
	Capabilities: [100 v1] Advanced Error Reporting
		UESta:	DLP- SDES- TLP- FCP- CmpltTO- CmpltAbrt- UnxCmplt- RxOF- MalfTLP- ECRC- UnsupReq- ACSViol-
		UEMsk:	DLP- SDES- TLP- FCP- CmpltTO- CmpltAbrt- UnxCmplt- RxOF- MalfTLP- ECRC- UnsupReq- ACSViol-
		UESvrt:	DLP+ SDES+ TLP- FCP+ CmpltTO- CmpltAbrt- UnxCmplt- RxOF+ MalfTLP+ ECRC- UnsupReq- ACSViol-
		CESta:	RxErr- BadTLP- BadDLLP- Rollover- Timeout- NonFatalErr-
		CEMsk:	RxErr- BadTLP- BadDLLP- Rollover- Timeout- NonFatalErr+
		AERCap:	First Error Pointer: 00, GenCap- CGenEn- ChkCap- ChkEn-
	Capabilities: [140 v1] Device Serial Number 80-86-f2-ff-ff-98-f4-f4
	Capabilities: [14c v1] Latency Tolerance Reporting
		Max snoop latency: 71680ns
		Max no snoop latency: 71680ns
	Capabilities: [154 v1] Vendor Specific Information: ID=cafe Rev=1 Len=014 <?>
	Kernel driver in use: iwlwifi
	Kernel modules: iwlwifi

Last edited by bepaald (2016-10-08 14:18:34)

bepaald · 2016-10-08 14:18:19

So, I guess I was a little too quick to post this problem as just a few more hours of google-fu has helped me out. For anyone else having this (or a similar) problem: from this page: https://communities.intel.com/thread/51814, I learned that this Intel wireless adapter will only connect to 802.11n networks if the network has the Wi-Fi Multimedia QoS features enabled. So, with all the settings the same (as described above) and WMM enabled, the laptop now connects in n-mode and also reaches wifi speeds around 12 MB/s.

For now I am very happy with this, but I still have to find out what WMM actually is so I can know if I should be angry about having to enable it

thanks!

Arch Linux

#1 2016-10-08 07:25:22

[SOLVED] Laptop can't connect to 802.11n network

#2 2016-10-08 14:18:19

Re: [SOLVED] Laptop can't connect to 802.11n network

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