Intermittent connection issues with Centrino Wireless-N 2200 wifi

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1

Ubuntu Version:

Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS 6.8.0-58-generic
Desktop Environment (if applicable):

GNOME
Problem Description:

I’ve been running an old Toshiba Satellite P875 laptop for a couple of years. The wifi connection has been rock solid until about 3-4 weeks ago. I’ve noticed the occasional drop out or delay and sometimes the wifi crashes. Power management is turned off.

Relevant System Information:

please let meknow if you need more details. I ran the wireless-info script and it’s in the pastebin: https://dpaste.com/ESJC3RP8Q

Screenshots or Error Messages:

What I’ve Tried:

I’m not sure what I should be doing to further troubleshooting.

2

Hello and welcome!

My first thought was on interference with other wifi networks. And if I get your wireless info right there are 11 channels available but most networks listed are using channel 1 and some are using channel 6. And some of them have a stronger signal than your own wifi.
You can try to change the configuration in your wifi hot spot to use another channel (not 1 or 6) or set it to automatically select a channel.

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Thanks. Good suggestion! Since this is a temp set up, I’m currently using the ISP’s modem/router combo and it was set to auto. I guess the Xfinity modem’s definition of auto is “put everyone on channel 1.” The cable is included with all the units so we’re all currently using the same equipment. Dove into the cable company’s app and deep in the advanced menu was the option to choose channels. Chose an empty one. So far so good, but that’s only anecdotal right now. I’ll check out some recordings (running a temporary MythTV PVR) so if they work again, my channel surfing might have been the fix.

And the list of AP’s includes two restaurants in the neighbourhood. How freaking strong is their signal? :rofl:

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4

Changing the channel does seem to have improved things a bit, but I’ve also noticed that WiFi will occasionally stop completely with this message in journalctl:

device (wlp2s0): no secrets: No agents were available for this request.

5

I didn’t have this error myself but searched the web for some help.

I found that storing wifi password for all users (not encrypted) may help.

[10331.292289] wlp2s0: deauthenticated from <MAC '(...)' [AC1]> (Reason: 2=PREV_AUTH_NOT_VALID)

In your wireless-info there is also above message. Searching for this gave me Wifi regularly disconnecting suggesting to change some settings for iwlwifi. You wrote ‘Power management is turned off.’ in your initial post but perhaps disabling ‘power saving’ for the intel wireless is helpful anyway.

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Thanks for those suggestions. I will do some further digging.

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I looked at changing the settings for iwlwifi.

I first looked at /etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi.conf

It contained the following:

remove iwlwifi \ (/sbin/lsmod | grep -o -e ^iwlmvm -e ^iwldvm -e ^iwlwifi | xargs /sbin/rmmod) \ && /sbin/modprobe -r mac80211

So I wasn’t 100% sure where to add the recommended line:

options iwlwifi 11n_disable=8 swcrypto=1

8

Did you already try storing your wifi password for all users? Then I would try to disable power saving. And after that I would try the software encryption option without the 11n_disable part.

As far as I know you need to add this option in its own line.

Searching for “remove …” within “iwlwifi.conf” gave me [SOLVED] Wireless Connection Drops Intermittently suggesting to disable power saving, too.

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I didn’t do the open password part…just wanted to see if the other steps would work without opening that hole.

So far the other steps have made the connection steady and when I’d usually have several network related glitches with the recordings, they worked fine last night. Will let it run a bit longer to check before I fly the mission accomplished banner.

Thanks so much again. I’ll update in a bit and keep my eye on the journalctl.

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