Hi all, for some time now the wifi drops out on my ubuntu 1804 laptop,I know it’s not the router because my other machines don’t do it.My question is, is there a way to correct this or a method to isolate the problem, could this be a software issue ?When I go to WIFI settings it says that I am connected but I have a question mark in the WIFI icon and I really am not connected as I cant raise any web pages. The problem corrects itself after a minute or sometimes longer.Any help will be greatly appreciated.Thank you.
Are you using DHCP or static IPs?
If you are on DHCP try to give your Ubuntu machine a static IP for once to see, if this helps.
Just an idea, that worked for me in such situations.
Also, how much other machines do use the wifi?
Channel can be a thing to look at, too. Especially when in an area with lots of wifi around.
Such problems mostly need to be addressed in small steps of changes (ceteris paribus).
Maybe someone else has other needful ideas.
I would check your ISP isn’t throttling system. ‘Spectrum’ (Charter Communications?) was fined about $23million in New York for not adding the truth in their contracts. I know my system will go from 100Gb to as low as 12Kb sometimes. The FCC screwed everyone when they changed internet rules
it might be helpful to learn a little more about how long the wifi has been dropping out like this and if it is something that has always been that way or is a change.
this might be possible by checking system logs, though it is by no means a certainty. i found a log viewer in my 18.04 virtual machine by opening the programs menu and typing “log”. the top tab (“important”) seems like it might be helpful in addition to maybe checking out the hardware tab to see if it mentions your wifi adapter.
Hi Fast Edi, thanks for your input, 3 machines can be using the WIFI at any time, How do I know if I’m DHCP or on a single address? To answer 1crzypj recently when the problem showed up I called the ISP tech and he had me do a speed test etc… so no I don’t think any throttling is going on.And for cordx, this problem started about a month ago and WIFI is builtin to this computer, the only dongle is for bluetoot. Also only one other WIFI signal can be pickup at this location.
When you don’t know how to tell, then it might be sure, you (or better: your wifi) uses DHCP (automatic distribution of IPs in a network).
This is normally the default.
Sometimes connection problems can be avoided by assigning static IPs manually to the machines in a network.
However I experienced a similar problem with my Kubuntu. Now and then the wifi disconnected and connected again some seconds later.
Is this problem only on that particular machine, or on all 3?
The problem is only on this computer.
Got similar symptoms, Dell Latitude E7440, running Ubuntu 19.10… onboard WiFi hardly ever “stays on”… seems to “disappear” on closing lid (it doesn’t go into “standby”) and never comes online again (till I reboot it - and then only sometimes)…
I use a tiny little USB RT5370 dongle on it… it’s a PITA 'cause it only does 2.4 Ghz and about ~50 mbit/s… but at least I’m online… and I’ve got 4 of these and they work in Linux “out of the box”…
anything in the system log or journalctl that seems like it might help pinpoint the why?
I’ve find these instructions for WiFi - Ubuntu 18.04. A lot of positive replies!
1 Like
I would do a speed test with an independent checker. The ‘official’ Spectrum speed test always puts out maximum number when ‘unofficial’ sites show 30~60% lower speed at various times of day, Mine always gets real slow (17Kb) around 9:00am and again at 5:00pm. 3~5:00am I checked on ‘hard wired’ desktop and got similar results in the Kb range. It’s slower than the dial up I had in 1998.
Yahoo mail will ‘drop connection’ as it doesn’t like Firefox ad blockers, says ‘No Connection’ when all other sites work fine
I have the same problem, that is, my wifi drops after about 10-15 minutes of no use while the computer and software indicated that I am still connected. I have tried disabling my IPV6, no help there, and there are many solutions on the internet but I haven’t found the right one. I will be grateful for suggestions to overcome this problem.
qrp@qrp-MacBookAir
OS: Ubuntu 20.10 x86_64
Host: MacBookAir5,1 1.0
Kernel: 5.8.0-26-generic
Uptime: 1 min
Packages: 1480 (dpkg), 11 (snap)
Shell: bash 5.0.17
Resolution: 1366x768
DE: GNOME 3.38.1
WM: Mutter
WM Theme: Yaru-dark
Theme: Yaru-dark [GTK2/3]
Icons: Yaru [GTK2/3]
Terminal: gnome-terminal
CPU: Intel i5-3317U (4) @ 2.600GHz
GPU: Intel 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller
Memory: 980MiB / 3839MiB
qrp@qrp-MacBookAir:~$ sudo iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.
wlp2s0b1 IEEE 802.11 ESSID:“thinmints”
Mode:Managed Frequency:5.785 GHz Access Point: 5E:BA:BA:83:C7:0A
Bit Rate=144.4 Mb/s Tx-Power=21 dBm
Retry short limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality=65/70 Signal level=-45 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:1 Invalid misc:27 Missed beacon:0
Since my last post on this, we have had 3 ‘new’ modems and a lot of ‘line testing’ plus supposedly monitoring of system.
The same day tech told me it was ‘fixed’, 4:58pm, internet connection dropped completely. My router was showing 100% radio transmission which always means the ISP side has ‘gone down’ (I use laptop away from computer room, usually shows 60~70%)
I always have issues on some sites, mostly because I block most trackers and have ‘Do Not Track’ enabled in Firefox which sends banner message ‘a web page is slowing internet connection’ or something similar’ As Google is always tracking at least 80% of internet traffic I’m blaming them foe the slow downs (although it could be hackers attempting infiltration?)
I’m sure it isn’t the OS causing problems or the router or even microcode running chip-set but an external source pissed they can’t track you or a hacker trying to ‘get in’ to your system (could also be NSA, they seem to be above the law and do whatever they want?)
1 Like
The “solution” that is working for me is to disable the autoshutdown of power in Ubuntu: Settings > Power > Power Saving > Automatic Suspend > Off. I don’t know why, but it is working for me…
Thanks qrp,I always have AutoSuspend Off.The WiFi problem is solved for me now, I am connected via Ethernet cable.