Very strange network issue with Linux Mint

[Korilic]

Hello all,

First off I would like to say I have full connectivity to the internet, as you can see, also Ethernet cable is out of the question.

So I've currently got Linux Mint 17.1 installed on an SSD also windows installed on a hard disk.(Not sure if that has anything to do with this issue)

Anyway,
I first noticed the issue when trying to download large files.(Not p2p)
But half way through an expected two hour download I receive Network Failure in Chrome.

Continuing my wifi will drop every now and then, and I'm pretty sure its not my router. I know this is probably the first thing I should check, but my check just consists of looking at the light on the router and checking if my phone can connect.(This isn't the most urgent issue considering normal web browsing is working fine)

When I say drop I mean there are no access points available. Also this happens very quickly so if I'm reading an article I will not notice. On top of this if I'm streaming video then the buffer is usually enough time for it to reconnect.

Finally I've noticed my speed test online is very inconsistent, and this is were it gets strange to me. Pinging the router gives me ~25 percent packet loss.

Wow that was long winded, but I thought I'd try to spare anyone from asking for any info.

Thank you for reading

 

[Brillis Wuce]

Does this occur when you're running both OS'es, or is just in Mint?

 

[skittle]

Which wifi card you have? Specifically what chipset?

I have a dlink dwa160 which uses ar9170 chip has has known issues with Linux (carl9170 driver). Packet loss and random dropped connection..

Probably similar issue with your card.

 

[Korilic]

Does this occur when you're running both OS'es, or is just in Mint?

I rarely use Windows, so I'm not truely sure.
But I am confident it is linux messing up here, as I used to use Windows with this same setup.

 

[Korilic]

Which wifi card you have? Specifically what chipset?

I have a dlink dwa160 which uses ar9170 chip has has known issues with Linux (carl9170 driver). Packet loss and random dropped connection..

Probably similar issue with your card.

I am using an Asus USB-N53...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320089

I'm not sure what the chipset is on the wireless card. I've linked it in case I was missing something.
EDIT: Just found this 'ASUS USB-N53 uses Ralink RT3572 chipset '
I do have an Intel Z97 board and that was giving me audio issues in the begining, now fixed though.

 

[skittle]

I have the same chipset (RT3572) and can confirm similar behavior. My only suggestions are as follows:

1) Try using nohwcrypt=1
sudo rmmod rt2800usb && sudo modprobe rt2800usb nohwcrypt=1

2) Try newer kernel. As you can see from following link there is somewhat active development on rt2800usb driver. And as you may know all drivers are provided by the kernel!
http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/?qt=grep&q=rt2800usb
3) use ndiswrapper (use the windows driver in Linux)

4) use a better supported wifi card, in particular Intel and Atheros chipsets are good. You can find Linux certified wifi cards from here (and if you search you can find cards with same chipsets for cheaper)
https://www.thinkpenguin.com/catalog/wireless-networking-gnulinux

 

[Korilic]

I have the same chipset (RT3572) and can confirm similar behavior. My only suggestions are as follows:

1) Try using nohwcrypt=1
sudo rmmod rt2800usb && sudo modprobe rt2800usb nohwcrypt=1

2) Try newer kernel. As you can see from following link there is somewhat active development on rt2800usb driver. And as you may know all drivers are provided by the kernel!
http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/?qt=grep&q=rt2800usb
3) use ndiswrapper (use the windows driver in Linux)

4) use a better supported wifi card, in particular Intel and Atheros chipsets are good. You can find Linux certified wifi cards from here (and if you search you can find cards with same chipsets for cheaper)
https://www.thinkpenguin.com/catalog/wireless-networking-gnulinux

Ok well I entered that command, no idea what it's going to do, but I will post back how things go.

 

[skittle]

This driver does not have complete hardware encryption implemented. Nohwcrypt=1 disables hardware encryption (offload this task to CPU).

Unsure if this will help or not, doesn't seem to stop random disconnect on my card.

This command simply unloads the driver then reloads the driver with the option nohwcrypt=1.

 

[skittle]

I also see that there is a proprietary driver provided by realtek 'rt3572sta'. I have never tried this driver. Don't know if it will even compile for modern kernel. I will investigate further with my own card

 

[Korilic]

Well,

After trying your methods I had no improvement.
I started tinkering and eventually lost any wireless option, thing, command you name it.

*I actually had to resort to using a tethered phone to try to fix it, pretty great speeds might I say.*

So, I'm now on a fresh install of Linux Mint 17.1.

Going to try compiling the drivers on Asus's website.
Last time I tried this I was running into issue's with some file, rt_linux.so? I think it was.

Anyway will post back here if I find anything consistent.

 

[Korilic]

MY SOLUTION:

Ok so instead of trying to compile this driver from either Asus's website or MediaTek(Ralink),

I have found a .debi with all the Ralink drivers for Jessie Debian (Mint 17.1 is Jessie currently).

Here's a link,
https://packages.debian.org/jessie/firmware-ralink

Let us know if this helps anyone else.
Also not sure how to chose my own answer as the solution.

 

[skittle]

I'm curious how could this work when that package almost assuredly the same firmware is already in Linux mint/Ubuntu? rt3572 chip uses the rt2870.bin firmware

You can see here these are in atleast Ubuntu 14.04 (and also 10.04)
http://packages.ubuntu.com/trusty/all/linux-firmware/filelist
These are just the firmware to work with rt2800usb driver. Not the same as rt3572sta driver.

 

[Korilic]

I'm curious how could this work when that package almost assuredly the same firmware is already in Linux mint/Ubuntu? rt3572 chip uses the rt2870.bin firmware

You can see here these are in atleast Ubuntu 14.04 (and also 10.04)
http://packages.ubuntu.com/trusty/all/linux-firmware/filelist
These are just the firmware to work with rt2800usb driver. Not the same as rt3572sta driver.

I'm at the point were as long as it works I'm not going to bother.
And for me, I did notice our driver 3572 was not included, however

After installing that exact package on this fresh'ish install on Mint, it Worked and is staying consistent.

The time I will notice anything will be on the weekend.
If I do start having issues I'll continue discussion.