Linux Mint Cinnamon 20.2 WiFi Problem SOLVED

Alexzee

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I'm running Linux Mint Cinnamon 20.2 on a custom built 64-bit desktop and the WiFi works well for a while and than stop's working.

My ISP was working on the network yesterday (4/8/22). The text they sent me explained that the work would be done yesterday.
Nothing about today.

Is there a way to diagnose the wireless connection via the command line?
 


I usually check mine via the router management package, but first you need to find the router address and the admin log in details on the back of the router [the most common default for routers is 192.168 1.1 but it could be anything after the 168 ]
open browser, type the number sequence in the address bar and enter, then fill in the login details
 
Here are a couple of commands
Code:
ifconfig | more
Code:
iwconfig
here is my output for ifconfig | more the wlp3s0 is my WiFi
Code:
$ ifconfig | more
enp4s0f1: flags=4099<UP,BROADCAST,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        ether a8:1e:84:ad:cf:76  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING>  mtu 65536
        inet 127.0.0.1  netmask 255.0.0.0
        inet6 ::1  prefixlen 128  scopeid 0x10<host>
        loop  txqueuelen 1000  (Local Loopback)
        RX packets 3751  bytes 354974 (354.9 KB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 3751  bytes 354974 (354.9 KB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

wlp3s0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        inet 192.168.0.2  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 192.168.0.255
        inet6 fe80::a39e:3636:a941:a574  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>
        ether 3c:95:09:d5:33:93  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 34536  bytes 40067375 (40.0 MB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 19670  bytes 2399630 (2.3 MB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

These commands tell what your WiFi is doing between your machine and the WiFi router not from the WiFi to your ISP

you can use the ping command to check connectivity to website
Code:
ping google.com

To test your Speed in the terminal
Code:
wget -O /dev/null http://speedtest.wdc01.softlayer.com/downloads/test10.zip
The test basically downloads a 10MB dummy file using the wget command to pull a file from a remote server. The speed is displayed in the terminal when the file download has completed, so you know how fast your connection is running - if you want to test a larger file where it says /test10.zip change it to /test100.zip the will download a 100MB dummy file instead of a 10MB file
Here is my output from this
Code:
$ wget -O /dev/null http://speedtest.wdc01.softlayer.com/downloads/test10.zip
--2022-04-10 08:27:15--  http://speedtest.wdc01.softlayer.com/downloads/test10.zip
Resolving speedtest.wdc01.softlayer.com (speedtest.wdc01.softlayer.com)... 169.54.48.218
Connecting to speedtest.wdc01.softlayer.com (speedtest.wdc01.softlayer.com)|169.54.48.218|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 11536384 (11M) [application/zip]
Saving to: ‘/dev/null’

/dev/null           100%[===================>]  11.00M  1.12MB/s    in 9.9s   

2022-04-10 08:27:25 (1.11 MB/s) - ‘/dev/null’ saved [11536384/11536384]
I only have a 9MB DSL Line where I live, but I live out in the country and have no cable TV lines so from this I am getting all I can get out of my DSL connection
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks guys-
I'll try those commands and get back to you later.
 
Here's the output of those cmd's--

Code:
ifconfig | more~
enp4s0: flags=4099<UP,BROADCAST,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        ether d4:3d:7e:d6:eb:39  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0
        device interrupt 19 

lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING>  mtu 65536
        inet 127.0.0.1  netmask 255.0.0.0
        inet6 ::1  prefixlen 128  scopeid 0x10<host>
        loop  txqueuelen 1000  (Local Loopback)
        RX packets 841  bytes 89285 (89.2 KB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 841  bytes 89285 (89.2 KB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

wlp3s0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        inet 192.168.0.11  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 192.168.0.255
        inet6 fe80::8937:2074:3e3a:c1af  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>
        inet6 2601:155:1:1090:f5bf:a165:edb1:4d5a  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x0<glo
bal>
        inet6 2601:155:1:1090::1  prefixlen 128  scopeid 0x0<global>
 
Code:
iwconfig
enp4s0    no wireless extensions.

lo        no wireless extensions.

wlp3s0    IEEE 802.11  ESSID:"MOTOD40A" 
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.462 GHz  Access Point: DC:BF:E9:FD:39:EA 
          Bit Rate=144.4 Mb/s   Tx-Power=20 dBm 
          Retry short limit:7   RTS thr=2347 B   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:on
          Link Quality=70/70  Signal level=-38 dBm 
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:36   Missed beacon:0
 
There are 2 other Linux distro's on this box aside from Linux Mint Cinnamon 20.2.

Linux Mint Debian 4 and Kubuntu 20.04 and the internet connection/WiFi doesn't cut out at all.
 
Sounds like a driver problem
From terminal in Mint run $ sudo apt-get update then run $ sudo apt-get update --fix-missing



 
Ran those cmd's--

Code:
~$ sudo apt-get update
[sudo] password for sifu:         
Ign:1 http://packages.linuxmint.com uma InRelease
Hit:2 http://packages.linuxmint.com uma Release                               
Hit:4 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal InRelease                       
Hit:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates InRelease               
Hit:6 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security InRelease             
Hit:7 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports InRelease             
Hit:8 http://ppa.launchpad.net/pkgcrosswire/ppa/ubuntu focal InRelease       
Hit:9 http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu focal InRelease                   
Reading package lists... Done

-------

:~$ sudo apt-get update --fix-missing
Ign:1 http://packages.linuxmint.com uma InRelease
Hit:2 http://packages.linuxmint.com uma Release                               
Hit:4 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal InRelease                       
Hit:5 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates InRelease               
Hit:6 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports InRelease             
Hit:7 http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu focal InRelease                     
Hit:8 http://ppa.launchpad.net/pkgcrosswire/ppa/ubuntu focal InRelease
Hit:9 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security InRelease
Reading package lists... Done
 
shoud'nt need to, but won't hurt.
 
Now in mint run sudo inxi -Nn and see if it has installed the right drivers
 
Now in mint run sudo inxi -Nn and see if it has installed the right drivers
Code:
~$ sudo inxi -Nn
[sudo] password for sifu:        
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8192CE PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
  driver: rtl8192ce
  IF: wlp3s0 state: up mac: 08:10:76:c5:4b:2c
  Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros Killer E220x Gigabit Ethernet driver: alx
  IF: enp4s0 state: down mac: d4:3d:7e:d6:eb:39

Looks like the driver for the Realtek RTL8192CE is installed-
 
Looks like the driver for the Realtek RTL8192CE is installed-
yep, that's the network card, but the Atheros is down,, in Mint click menu, all applications, scroll down and find the driver manager and run it, in theory it should find and install the kernel drivers for Atheros Wi-Fi
 
I am going off-line for a short while
If that hasn't worked, then open the software manager, search ath9k and do a manual instal, if it's showing as being installed then uninstal and re-instal
 
yep, that's the network card, but the Atheros is down,, in Mint click menu, all applications, scroll down and find the driver manager and run it, in theory it should find and install the kernel drivers for Atheros Wi-Fi
His Atheros is not wifi but Ethernet connection. It most likely down because there is no cable connected to it.
The WiFi is the Realtek card.
@Alexzee try this suggestion found on easy Linux-
Your card is not the same but it may work You may have to be connected via Ethernet to install the drivers/firmware. Your cad is not listed but I would try the one for 8192eu. The other problem is that you may actually be using a too new of a Kernel. what is the output of
Code:
uname -r
?
Good luck.
 
His Atheros is not wifi but Ethernet connection. It most likely down because there is no cable connected to it.
The WiFi is the Realtek card.
@Alexzee try this suggestion found on easy Linux-

Your card is not the same but it may work You may have to be connected via Ethernet to install the drivers/firmware. Your cad is not listed but I would try the one for 8192eu. The other problem is that you may actually be using a too new of a Kernel. what is the output of
Code:
uname -r
?
Good luck.
Your correct kc1di-
I am not using any Ethernet cables at all.
Even my printer is wireless. :)

I'm not on that machine right now but will be later.
I'll let you know than what kernel Mint Cinnamon 20.2 is using.
 
on this machine 5.4.0-107-generic
on the test rig 5.13.0-39
 
Hello there, I am facing same issue with my wifi card for a long time now.
Actually I can't find a solution. What I can suggest you is to check in "Linux Hardware" page if your chip is still supported by Kernel. (probably not).
The best solution is an external (USB) wifi card. I know not the best actually, but you get it.
 


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