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Issue explanation

After 2.5 years of working with Ubuntu, my wifi disconnects every 5 to 10 mins, and needs to be restarted to connect again. Recently it is connected but the data doesn't go through, and then when i reconnect it it works at top speed.

What I did

It has been asked here and here but no answer worked for me.

People seem to point to "switching off power management" but it doesn't seem to be right command

user@user:~$ sudo iwconfig ra0 power off
Error for wireless request "Set Power Management" (8B2C) :
SET failed on device wlan1 ; No such device.

Hardware

Please help. I own a hp pavillion g6 laptop (AMD A6 processor)

lspci

02:00.0 Network controller: Ralink corp. RT3290 Wireless 802.11n 1T/1R PCIe

sudo lshw -C network

  *-network               
   description: Wireless interface
   product: RT3290 Wireless 802.11n 1T/1R PCIe
   vendor: Ralink corp.
   physical id: 0
   bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
   logical name: ra0
   version: 00
   serial: 1c:3e:84:57:29:a3
   width: 32 bits
   clock: 33MHz
   capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
   configuration: broadcast=yes driver=RALINK WLAN ip=192.168.2.33 latency=0 multicast=yes wireless=Ralink STA
   resources: irq:16 memory:f0210000-f021ffff

lsmod

Module                  Size  Used by
cfg80211              561152  0 
bnep                   20480  2 
rfcomm                 69632  0 
bluetooth             516096  10 bnep,rfcomm
kvm                   536576  0 
irqbypass              16384  1 kvm
crct10dif_pclmul       16384  0 
crc32_pclmul           16384  0 
uvcvideo               90112  0 
amdkfd                131072  1 
videobuf2_vmalloc      16384  1 uvcvideo
ghash_clmulni_intel    16384  0 
videobuf2_memops       16384  1 videobuf2_vmalloc
videobuf2_v4l2         28672  1 uvcvideo
amd_iommu_v2           20480  1 amdkfd
videobuf2_core         36864  2 uvcvideo,videobuf2_v4l2
hp_wmi                 16384  0 
v4l2_common            16384  1 videobuf2_v4l2
sparse_keymap          16384  1 hp_wmi
videodev              180224  4 uvcvideo,v4l2_common,videobuf2_core,videobuf2_v4l2
media                  24576  2 uvcvideo,videodev
aesni_intel           167936  0 
joydev                 20480  0 
input_leds             16384  0 
snd_hda_codec_idt      57344  1 
aes_x86_64             20480  1 aesni_intel
snd_hda_codec_generic    73728  1 snd_hda_codec_idt
radeon               1503232  3 
snd_hda_codec_hdmi     53248  1 
lrw                    16384  1 aesni_intel
snd_hda_intel          40960  5 
snd_hda_codec         135168  4 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_intel
snd_hda_core           73728  5 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep              16384  1 snd_hda_codec
gf128mul               16384  1 lrw
snd_pcm               106496  4 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_core
glue_helper            16384  1 aesni_intel
serio_raw              16384  0 
ablk_helper            16384  1 aesni_intel
cryptd                 20480  3 ghash_clmulni_intel,aesni_intel,ablk_helper
snd_seq_midi           16384  0 
snd_seq_midi_event     16384  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_rawmidi            32768  1 snd_seq_midi
k10temp                16384  0 
ttm                    94208  1 radeon
drm_kms_helper        151552  1 radeon
rt3290sta            1142784  1 
drm                   360448  6 ttm,drm_kms_helper,radeon
snd_seq                69632  2 snd_seq_midi_event,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_device         16384  3 snd_seq,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_midi
snd_timer              32768  2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
rtsx_pci_ms            20480  0 
i2c_piix4              24576  0 
snd                    81920  21 snd_hwdep,snd_timer,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_pcm,snd_seq,snd_rawmidi,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_seq_device
memstick               20480  1 rtsx_pci_ms
hp_wireless            16384  0 
hp_accel               28672  0 
i2c_algo_bit           16384  1 radeon
lis3lv02d              20480  1 hp_accel
soundcore              16384  1 snd
fb_sys_fops            16384  1 drm_kms_helper
syscopyarea            16384  1 drm_kms_helper
input_polldev          16384  1 lis3lv02d
sysfillrect            16384  1 drm_kms_helper
sysimgblt              16384  1 drm_kms_helper
wmi                    20480  1 hp_wmi
video                  40960  0 
shpchp                 36864  0 
parport_pc             36864  0 
ppdev                  20480  0 
lp                     20480  0 
parport                49152  3 lp,ppdev,parport_pc
mac_hid                16384  0 
hid_generic            16384  0 
usbhid                 49152  0 
hid                   118784  2 hid_generic,usbhid
rtsx_pci_sdmmc         24576  0 
psmouse               131072  0 
r8169                  81920  0 
mii                    16384  1 r8169
rtsx_pci               53248  2 rtsx_pci_ms,rtsx_pci_sdmmc
ahci                   36864  4 
libahci                32768  1 ahci
fjes                   28672  0

*dmesg | grep cache; cat /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/default-wifi-powersave-on.conf

[    0.013210] Dentry cache hash table entries: 524288 (order: 10, 4194304 bytes)
[    0.014500] Inode-cache hash table entries: 262144 (order: 9, 2097152 bytes)
[    0.015133] Mount-cache hash table entries: 8192 (order: 4, 65536 bytes)
[    0.015145] Mountpoint-cache hash table entries: 8192 (order: 4, 65536 bytes)
[    4.205779] PCI: pci_cache_line_size set to 64 bytes
[    4.954299] VFS: Dquot-cache hash table entries: 512 (order 0, 4096 bytes)
[    5.970887] sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
cat: /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/default-wifi-powersave-on.conf: No such file or directory

modinfo -p rt3290sta

mac:rt28xx: wireless mac addr (charp)

P.S

I posted a similar question, with no answers after 9 days. So I deleted it and posted again with better wordings better keywords and having spent more hours on it!

Pandian Le
  • 197
  • Next time: just edit your question in place. Deleting your old question and then reposting the same answer again can be misconstrued as spamming or against the rules, or trying to circumvent things. This also is not a real-time forum, so you need to have patience (MORE than 5 hours) before getting responses. – Thomas Ward Jan 29 '18 at 20:37
  • "NO answers after 9 days" means nothing. You still do not delete and repost to try and garner more attention. It just adds noise to the site and causes issues. – Thomas Ward Jan 29 '18 at 20:46
  • sorry! wont happen again! – Pandian Le Jan 29 '18 at 21:53
  • Please edit the question to include results from terminal for dmesg | grep cache; cat /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/default-wifi-powersave-on.conf – Jeremy31 Jan 29 '18 at 23:09
  • @Jeremy31 I have done as requested. thanks a lot for your help! Please let me know. – Pandian Le Jan 30 '18 at 18:58
  • Please add results for modinfo -p rt3290sta There might be a module parameter that sets power save – Jeremy31 Jan 30 '18 at 21:59
  • @Jeremy31 I have updated it! thanks for the continued efforts! – Pandian Le Jan 31 '18 at 19:16
  • Have you tried Ubuntu 16.04.1 to see if it works there? Have you turned the wifi router off and back on? Is the wifi router using TKIP encryption? – Jeremy31 Jan 31 '18 at 22:10
  • No I have not tried 16.04. I don't want update to new OS. I have everything setup here.
    • – Pandian Le Feb 01 '18 at 19:35
  • I switched on and off the router already, no use. I used to use this wifi for 3 months and I didn't use it for 1 month and then when I tried again it was never the same. My Wifi "security" is WPA & WPA2 personal". Not sure if this answers the TKIP question.
    • – Pandian Le Feb 01 '18 at 19:41
  • @Jeremy31 I should tag you I guess! – Pandian Le Feb 03 '18 at 21:39
  • I would make the wifi WPA2 only and see if it works better – Jeremy31 Feb 03 '18 at 22:32
  • I didn't know what it means to just use WPA2, I looked around and came to nothing. Meanwhile I re-installed 16(fresh install). Wifi doesn't work. Lan connection switches off everytime the laptop sleeps. I had been having other problems with my laptop namely that it started hanging. – Pandian Le Feb 24 '18 at 13:54