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I have a ProBook HP laptop with 12.04 (PB-1), it connects to the WIFI and works fine. Now, I have just installed another ProBook (PB-2) with 14.04 (not 12.04), also connected to the WIFI, and sometimes this second computer loses or slows down dramatically its connectivity. The router is configure with DHCP, and, as I can see with ifconfig, they have different IP addresses (192.168.1.41 and 192.168.1.34). Eventually, other computers/mobile devices get connected to the network, but always with different numbers, so it doesn't seem to be a collision problem.

The laptop has a fresh installation, didn't change anything in its configuration.

I've checked that there's an interaction between both laptops. Most of the times, PB-2 can't access if PB-1 is connected (but once I could do a speed test of both connected at the same time, and yielded similar results). Verified with firefox and chrome. (Of course, PB-1 is not heavy-downloading anything, this lasts for a week, since I first installed 14.04.)

Edit: 

00:19.0 Ethernet controller 
[0200]: Intel Corporation 82579V Gigabit Network Connection 
[8086:1503] (rev 04) Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 
[103c:1621] Kernel driver in use: e1000e -- 24:00.0 Network controller 
[0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11bgn Wireless Network Adapter 
[14e4:4727] (rev 01) Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 
[103c:145c] Kernel driver in use: wl

The only difference is at the very end of the message: wl for the first ProBook (the one working fine), and bcma-pci-bridge for the second one (slow).

Edit:

The Broadcom Wireless Card indentified for both laptops is

[14e4:4727] (rev 01)

corresponding to this entry in the PCI.ID table:

PCI.ID              12.04 LTS                      14.040 / 14.10 LTS 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------    
14e4:4727           Special Case #3                 Special Case #1

which reads as:

Special Case #1 - This device uses the driver combination bcma and brcmsmac. It shouldn't be necessary to install anything at all. Required firmware is installed by default in the package linux-firmware.

Wireless script result for PB-1.

Wireless script result for PB-2.

Wireless script result for PB-1 after removing the STA driver.

Edit:

HW configuration of both ProBooks:

  • 7,7GiB memory

  • Intel Core i5-2410M CPU @ 2.30GHz x 4

  • Intel Sandybridge Mobile

  • 64-bit

  • plenty of disk in PB-2, same HD in PB-1, but here there's only some 1GB left (sharing with Windows).

nightcod3r
  • 576
  • In network management, some network administrator used MAC Address instead of IP address to manage the network traffic. Those malfunction might be caused by the administrator network regulation. – Santosa Sandy Jan 06 '15 at 01:53
  • @Fabby, done for both laptops... – nightcod3r Jan 08 '15 at 21:04
  • Looking... In the mean time: Could you delete all your comments? They're in the question anyway... – Fabby Jan 08 '15 at 21:10
  • OK, I left a message for s.o. else to come and have a look: I'm stumped and need some sleep... :/ What time zone are you in? (somewhere in Spain or Latin America) – Fabby Jan 08 '15 at 21:31

1 Answers1

3

I believe the STA driver is incorrect for your 14e4:4727 device. Let's remove it:

sudo apt-get purge bcmwl-kernel-source
sudo modprobe -r wl
sudo modprobe brcmsmac

Then, please reboot. Is performance improved all around?

chili555
  • 60,188
  • Did you mean removing from PB-1? This is the one that accesses the internet without any problem. – nightcod3r Jan 08 '15 at 22:25
  • In every laptop that uses the 14e4:4727 wireless device. It is well known to cause connection problems for other computers, even Windows, on the same router. – chili555 Jan 08 '15 at 22:41
  • nightcod3r: this is the second pair of eyes I was talking about... He's the resident expert on Broadcom. If he says something, simply bow, mumble "thank you" and then do exactly as he says! ;-) :D So if changing the FIRST laptop doesn't solve the problem on the SECOND laptop, drop me a note immediately @Fabby and we'll take it from there! – Fabby Jan 09 '15 at 10:40
  • @Fabby - After removing the STA driver and some testing, I can see that sometimes both computer can access the internet without problems, but PB-2 keeps experiencing the slow access eventually (expends a long time connecting, waiting for servers). I've updated the wireless script and the results of the commands (after having executed them once, I mean: this is the echo for the second time). At this point I understand that the problem is in PB-1, so by upgrading it to 14.04 it might work fine, but let's keep it running until we get to the problem... – nightcod3r Jan 09 '15 at 21:47
  • Confirmed: when PB-2 has no access, the problem simply vanishes putting PB-1 to sleep... Always. – nightcod3r Jan 09 '15 at 21:47
  • Chat? (you should have enough reputation by now!) – Fabby Jan 09 '15 at 21:49
  • Where is your updated script and may we all chat? – chili555 Jan 09 '15 at 21:52
  • Please join me @Fabby: http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/20128/discussion-with-chili555-and-nightcod3r – chili555 Jan 09 '15 at 22:05
  • @nightcod3r: click the above chat link, please! – Fabby Jan 09 '15 at 22:22
  • After rebooting, both laptops do share the internet, speed even increased for PB-2. Problem solved! Thanks, gurus, you're great!! – nightcod3r Jan 09 '15 at 23:01