Cannot detect mobile hotspot

Question

I am using lubuntu (Ubuntu 18.04.06 LTS) linux 4.15 on my ancient 32 bit dual core T540 @ 1.66GHz. But recently I have been facing internet issues with network manager where the machine is unable to detect my mobile hotspot for at most 90% of times but it easily detects and connects my home wifi. I am using 2.4GHz of band with both mobile and home wifi. There is a rare chance to find the network if I keep restarting network manager. Network Manager version is 1.10. I have tried many solutions from forums but none of those have worked till now. I do have power management turned off.

iwlist freq

lo        no frequency information.
enp6s0    no frequency information.
wlp4s0    24 channels in total; available frequencies :
          Channel 01 : 2.412 GHz
          Channel 02 : 2.417 GHz
          Channel 03 : 2.422 GHz
          Channel 04 : 2.427 GHz
          Channel 05 : 2.432 GHz
          Channel 06 : 2.437 GHz
          Channel 07 : 2.442 GHz
          Channel 08 : 2.447 GHz
          Channel 09 : 2.452 GHz
          Channel 10 : 2.457 GHz
          Channel 11 : 2.462 GHz
          Channel 36 : 5.18 GHz
          Channel 40 : 5.2 GHz
          Channel 44 : 5.22 GHz
          Channel 48 : 5.24 GHz
          Channel 52 : 5.26 GHz
          Channel 56 : 5.28 GHz
          Channel 60 : 5.3 GHz
          Channel 64 : 5.32 GHz
          Channel 149 : 5.745 GHz
          Channel 153 : 5.765 GHz
          Channel 157 : 5.785 GHz
          Channel 161 : 5.805 GHz
          Channel 165 : 5.825 GHz
          Current Frequency=2.417 GHz (Channel 2)

Is this a recent issue? In that case, can you try booting from an older kernel in the grub menu? — Archisman Panigrahi, Mar 14 '22 at 18:23
I think so. I just noticed the issue with new mobile. Though mobile is fine since I get detected fine on wifi-menu on another Arch system. I couldn't find any older lubuntu iso. Though I tried searching for device on Linux Mint 19.2 running network manager and it couldn't get detected there as well. — Iwantroca, Mar 14 '22 at 18:32
Though mobile is fine since I get detected fine on wifi-menu on another Arch system -- May be a driver issue or something. Consider upgrading to a recent operating system that supports 32 bit, like Debian LXDE or Arch i386 LXDE. See https://askubuntu.com/a/1361780/124466 First run it from a live USB, and check if the wifi works there. — Archisman Panigrahi, Mar 14 '22 at 19:35
on another Arch system. - Just for clarification, did you mean Arch Linux? — Archisman Panigrahi, Mar 14 '22 at 19:36
Yes I meant Arch Linux. Acutally I also installed Linux Mint 19.2 earlier today and I only installed it after making sure it was detecting mobile device fine in live environment but after installation it is giving same issue.
I also noticed that if I remove security from mobile hotspot then it have slightly better chance to get detected and also my another gets detected better even with wpa2/psk security. — Iwantroca, Mar 14 '22 at 20:03
Edit your question and show me iwlist freq and tell me what channel the hotspot is using. Start comments to me with @heynnema or I'll miss them. — heynnema, Mar 14 '22 at 20:53
@heynnema udpated the post. But how do I look for the channel of hotspot? — Iwantroca, Mar 15 '22 at 03:39
@Iwantroca You have to log into the admin page of your hotspot device and check the channel there. — heynnema, Mar 15 '22 at 14:23
@heynnema Since I am using hotspot of an android device, I used another android device to check the first device's channel and it is between 11 to 14 and if I change security of hotspot, the channels width may change. So my device was not detecting the hotspot because of channel. But I have yet to figure how to change broadcast channel on android device. — Iwantroca, Mar 18 '22 at 14:04
@Iwantroca Yes, that's your problem. In the 2.4Ghz range, your wireless card can only use channels 1-11, and the hotspot must use one of those. Channels 12-14 in the hotspot won't work. Changing the security won't do it, and that wouldn't change the channel width anyway. Are you outside of the US? — heynnema, Mar 18 '22 at 14:50
@Iwantroca If you can't change the channel in the hotspot, see if there's a place to identify the country, and if there is, set it to US. Retest. Report back. — heynnema, Mar 19 '22 at 15:26

Cannot detect mobile hotspot

0 Answers0