Intermittent wifi connectivity problem

English Network/Internet
1

Every now and then, I’d estimate once every 10 boots or so, my laptop will be unable to establish a wifi connection to the router. I’m using KDE plasma. The NM applet will just sit forever on “connecting” but will fail to establish a connection. There are no errors in the logs, just messages about trying to negotiate a connection. If I manually unload and reload the kernel modules for the wifi driver, then restart the network service, it will connect. So, there is some sort of problem with loading the modules that only occurs intermittently. Anyone have some troubleshooting advice to help narrow this down? Restarting network, or networkmanager alone, does not fix the problem. The modules must be reloaded. Thanks.

2

Please specify your hardware.

3 
70: None 00.0: 1070a WLAN 
  [Created at net.126] 
  Unique ID: AYEt.QXn1l67RSa1 
  Parent ID: y9sn.D6QMyC7dbb5 
  SysFS ID: /class/net/wlan0 
  SysFS Device Link: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1c.6/0000:6d:00.0 
  Hardware Class: network interface 
  Model: "WLAN network interface" 
  Driver: "ath10k_pci" 
  Driver Modules: "ath10k_pci" 
  Device File: wlan0 
  HW Address: (removed) 
  Permanent HW Address: (removed) 
  Link detected: yes 
  Config Status: cfg=no, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown 
  Attached to: #30 (WLAN controller)
4

Some devices using that driver are notorious for wifi instability. Can you share the chipset details please?

/sbin/lspci -nnk | grep -iA3 net

Any interesting kernel messages?

dmesg | grep ath
5

chipset:

[FONT=monospace]6d:00.0 **Net**work controller [0280]: Qualcomm Atheros QCA6174 802.11ac Wireless **Net**work Adapter [168c:003e] (rev 32) 
        Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0310] 
        Kernel driver in use: ath10k_pci 
        Kernel modules: ath10k_pci
[/FONT]

I will reboot a few times and see if I can get the issue to present itself again and post the kernel messages here afterward.

6

Alright, I rebooted 4 or 5 times and the wifi connection failed to load. This was a bit different than it just being stuck on the negotiation stage, but still a failure:

dmesg:

    7.141043] ath10k_pci 0000:6d:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
    7.141694] ath10k_pci 0000:6d:00.0: pci irq msi oper_irq_mode 2 irq_mode 0 reset_mode 0
    7.415355] ath10k_pci 0000:6d:00.0: qca6174 hw3.2 target 0x05030000 chip_id 0x00340aff sub 1028:0310
    7.415357] ath10k_pci 0000:6d:00.0: kconfig debug 0 debugfs 0 tracing 0 dfs 0 testmode 0
    7.415735] ath10k_pci 0000:6d:00.0: firmware ver WLAN.RM.4.4.1-00157-QCARMSWPZ-1 api 6 features wowlan,ignore-otp,mfp crc32 90eebefb
    7.490017] ath10k_pci 0000:6d:00.0: board_file api 2 bmi_id N/A crc32 318825bf
   12.565363] ath10k_pci 0000:6d:00.0: wmi service ready event not received
   12.654204] ath10k_pci 0000:6d:00.0: could not init core (-110)
   12.654242] ath10k_pci 0000:6d:00.0: could not probe fw (-110)
7

Plese post:

zypper se -si firmware
8

Installed firmware:

i+ | kernel-firmware | package | 20210208-35.1 | noarch | kernel_stable

from the kernel-stable repo. Currently running kernel

[FONT=monospace]5.10.16-1.g11381f3-default

I switched to the newest kernel to see if it would resolve the problem. Both this, and another issue with the bios. Same results with this and the leap kernel.
[/FONT]

9

You can try the oldest firmware from the OSS Repo.

Do you restart your Router?

10

As suspected it does look like a firmware issue. Further investigation needed.

11

Alright, I installed the oldest firmware from the OSS repo. I’ll see if it helps, but I’m skeptical. It’s been a problem since I got this laptop, although it does sometimes go for long stretches without any problems. Should I submit this as a bug on kernel.org?

12

Yes, I would.

FWIW, a similar Ubuntu thread (one of many).

13

Thanks. I’ve been considering the same solution as that poster, just install an Intel wifi card. Path of least resistance.

14

I didn’t notice that comment from the OP. It was just a pointer to others having similar issues with the same hardware/firmware. However, I’d probably do the same with switching to something that works - life is too short. :wink:

15

Check whether you can use PCIe card with another chip. White list may be in place.

16

Yep, seems to work fine. The Intel card has about 100Mbps higher throughput as well. Much easier than dealing with the issues from the Qualcomm card.

17

Glad to read of your success with this. :slight_smile:

18

I am no expert so please bear with me.
But maybe this could be useful for you.

I have Qualcomm Atheros AR9485 Wireless Network Adapter.
The driver is ath9k.
The operating system i am currently running is: OpenSUSE Tumbleweed 15.2 (20210429).
linux computer 5.12.0-1-default #1 SMP Mon Apr 26 04:25:46 UTC 2021 (5d43652) x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

I have the same behavior as you have.
And it happened with previous version of kernel too (5.11).

I have changed the network manager to wicked.
It works much better, it still happens but very rarely now.
Maybe you should try it out, see if it works for you.

Regards,
Gigi Horhota

19

Thanks for the info, at least I know I wasn’t the only one having that problem. However, I swapped out the Atheros card for an Intel card, and I have no more problems. Wifi connects almost instantly now rather than waiting for several seconds and I’ve had zero issues with it not connecting. It’s also faster.