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Old Zorin Forum archive → Help and Support

Wifi card detected, but very slow

Andy0306

Fri Jan 06, 2017 9:53:23 pm

Hi everyone,
First post here and a complete (well almost) noob with Linux. After looking at the numerous distros available, I decided to give Zorin a try. Everything went well with the install and I'm up and running. However, my internet speed over wifi seems to be very slow.

I have a (up to) 100mb fibre connection, which over wifi on windows (sorry for swearing) is about 75mb as expected. I tried going to speedtest.net but it took so long to load I gave up waiting.

Has anyone else experienced anything similar to this? I did search the forum, but nothing jumped out at me.

Thanks in advance

Andy

Swarfendor437

Fri Jan 06, 2017 11:36:58 pm

Have you checked your network settings by selecting 'Edit Network Settings' from the 'wifi' icon in the panel? I live in the UK and even though I am on medium fibre I still have to set the MTU to 1432. Also check what channel you are connecting to. If you can get access to an old free version of inssider, it might help determine the issue and also check if your neighbours are on same channel. ;) :D

Andy0306

Sat Jan 07, 2017 9:38:18 am

I do have innsider on my windows side, which I check often but nothing causing any issues there.

I might be missing it, but there's no option to change the MTU setting in the area you mention. I don't want to start changing things too much in my router, as I know it works.

Swarfendor437

Sat Jan 07, 2017 9:46:48 am

Hi I meant the MTU setting in Zorin not the router!

Andy0306

Sat Jan 07, 2017 12:20:27 pm

Well I thought I had been a little hasty with my problem, as the internet was flying this morning. I left my laptop for a few minutes and it went to sleep, since then I'm getting about 0.3mb/s download speed.

How did you change the MTU in Zorin? As I mentioned in my first post, I'm very much a noob to Linux.

Swarfendor437

Sat Jan 07, 2017 10:24:42 pm

Hi, Apologies! Right-click the wifi/network icon in the tray and select 'Edit Connections'. A new window opens showing Ethernet and Wifi - select the Wifi then click on Edit to the right. Then you should see a window like this (the top bit has been removed as it shows my router name):

MTU.png

Andy0306

Sun Jan 08, 2017 10:38:11 am

Hi,
Your router name is still showing mate :shock:

If I right or left click on the wifi icon, I don't get an option to edit connections. I get the image below, and if I click on the ssid I just get the list of other signals in the area.

Screenshot from 2017-01-08 10-24-45.png


EDIT *no idea why it's showing twice??*

Swarfendor437

Sun Jan 08, 2017 11:28:23 am

Ah, Sorry - forgot - this is another bugbear of GnomeShell - look for Networking in 'Settings' and take it from there - you should eventually get an interface showing network and wireless connections. I think there is a glitch in the forum - I spotted the error and edited the image and after posting the first image did not show up - until today! Thanks for the headsup! :D

Andy0306

Sun Jan 08, 2017 7:18:20 pm

Ok, finally found it by going to System tools - Windows wifi drivers. MTU was set to automatic, so changed it to 1432. Unfortunately it has made no difference and I'm still getting DL speeds of around 0.5mb/s :(

Any other thoughts on what might be causing this?

Swarfendor437

Sun Jan 08, 2017 11:27:51 pm

What is the wifi card/chipset?

Andy0306

Mon Jan 09, 2017 7:27:27 pm

It's a Centrino Wireless-N 1000. I've done some googling and it seems to be a problem experienced by other users using Ubuntu based distros and this card. However it does seem to be an old problem as most of the posts are from 2011 ish. I've tried a couple of the suggested fixes and I'm now getting nearly 5mb/s, but it's still way off what it should be :(

Swarfendor437

Mon Jan 09, 2017 11:51:25 pm

Hi, all I can advise at this juncture is to invest in a usb wifi dongle - and I don't mean ones with mobile networks.

Take a look here for starters:

http://www.linux-drivers.org/network.html

and also here:

https://www.thinkpenguin.com

:D

MBMz10

Tue Jan 10, 2017 12:09:53 am

Perhaps it might be worth trying another Distro in live mode (even OS 12 in live mode) and see if it works any better, in case something went south during your install. Maybe a non Ubuntu Distro such as Manjaro. Also look at the default settings on the other Distro if it works better as a comparison.

Is your Windows running on the same machine?

Andy0306

Tue Jan 10, 2017 7:09:38 pm

I'd rather fix the issue than start buying more hardware, or as MBMz10 suggests, try a different distro.

Windows is running on the same machine and there's no issue with the internet speed.

Swarfendor437

Tue Jan 10, 2017 9:22:02 pm

Check this post out and see if you have similar listings and can edit in the way the solution was posted there:

https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2041403

Andy0306

Tue Jan 10, 2017 9:31:03 pm

I've already disabled n mode using that option, sadly no joy.

I've kind of made it worse now, as I've lost all wifi lol. I don't even get a wifi icon in the tray anymore, so had to drop back on windows to post.

How easy is it to perform a reinstall of either Zorin or a different distro?

Swarfendor437

Tue Jan 10, 2017 9:41:44 pm

Well before going any futher, if you haven't done already, make a windows repair disc, because if you are using GRUB which will have overwritten the mbr (master boot record) to access Windows, once you remove Zorin you won't be able to boot into Windows - to get your Windows boot back you need to boot off the repair disc, select 'Repair Windows' then choose the command prompt option under 'Advanced' and logon to C:/ - by default you will be on 'X' off the boot media. Once you are on C: drive in the DOS prompt you need to enter at the prompt command:

Code:
bootrec.exe /FixBoot


followed by (for good measure)

Code:
bootrec.exe /FixMbr


When you get to install another distro I would use the EasyBCD from NeoSmart Technologies, covered by Matthew Moore - check out the sticky installations I have written on dual-booting and my video tutorial here:

https://vimeo.com/110085401

Andy0306

Tue Jan 10, 2017 9:48:26 pm

Thanks for your help.

I like Zorin and would be happy to stick with it, is there an option to do a repair install on it?

MBMz10

Tue Jan 10, 2017 10:10:36 pm

Have you tried using the install disc/usb in live session (without reinstalling that is) mode as a test yet?

Andy0306

Wed Jan 11, 2017 7:40:40 pm

Booted into the live disk and wifi was there, but again painfully slow :(

Sadly, I think I will have to look at a different distro.

I tried to watch your video Swarfendor437 but the voice on it drove me mad, so didn't get past 10min :lol:

Swarfendor437

Wed Jan 11, 2017 11:07:48 pm

Andy0306 wrote:Booted into the live disk and wifi was there, but again painfully slow :(

Sadly, I think I will have to look at a different distro.

I tried to watch your video Swarfendor437 but the voice on it drove me mad, so didn't get past 10min :lol:


Ok, here's the written version! :D

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7981

Andy0306

Thu Jan 12, 2017 8:08:07 pm

Thanks for that, I'll have a read before my next venture into Linux.

Oh BTW, I booted into a live version of ElementaryOS and the wifi on that was dire. So I'm starting to think Ubuntu based Distros don't like my wifi.

I'll try a different distro and let you know how it goes.

Swarfendor437

Thu Jan 12, 2017 8:25:37 pm

Keep us posted! :D If you think GNU/Linux is bad, colleagues at work lost their wifi connection on their HP Surface Pros running Windows 10 (Marvel chipset) - the Win10 update screwed the network chipset! :lol:

Andy0306

Fri Jan 13, 2017 8:53:17 pm

Downloaded Manjaro and ran it from the USB drive. Guess what? The damn internet was crawling.

Makes me think there is a definite hate between the Centrino wireless adapter and Linux. Guess it means more searching for a solution :(

Swarfendor437

Sat Jan 14, 2017 4:01:15 am

Well let's face it, some people don't want you to use anything but Windoze! ;)

Del369

Sun Jan 15, 2017 2:09:50 am

This might help As the URL says good luck.

Swarfendor437

Sun Jan 15, 2017 2:54:30 am

Great find friend! :D

Del369

Sun Jan 15, 2017 10:47:36 am

Swarfendor437 wrote:Great find friend! :D


Lol, It was 3:45am and I was just toddling off to bed (hence the extreme shortness of the reply) and I saw the thread, and well it's my job, I'm not the best wireless engineer around but I know some stuff :mrgreen: oh the InSSIDer suggestion, very nice, we use it regularly to.