(SOLVED) Wifi Dropping Connection

Hello all!
Madvinegar helped with my previous issue of installing the airlink 101 adapter. Now I have noticed another issue. My wife's laptop is running mint 13. (Yeah, I know, this is a Zorin forum. But I like this forum much better than the Mint counterpart. ) The wireless works great. It recognizes the connection on boot. However, after about an hour of connection, it just drops the signal. The only way, and I mean ONLY way to get it to reconnect is to shut down and restart. As said before, it instantly connects upon startup and works flawlessly for another hour or so. I don't understand why. I don't see this as an OS issue. Possibly the router? It is an Asus RT-N10+. I pull up the router firmware and it sees the laptop and claims no connection issues, which, to me, points blame at the wireless adapter. My wired connection never drops. I tried to search the site so I wouldn't have to post anything so quick, but the search really gets under my skin. It likes to leave out "common words" like "wireless, wifi, problems, etc" and I just find it annoying. Feel free to direct me to any posts that have similar issues, or point me in the right direction. Thanks in advance for your help!

So we are talking about a new laptop with a different wireless card, correct?

Please post the result of the commands:

Code:

lspci
lsusb
sudo lshw -c network
sudo rfkill list all

Hi,

further to MV's suggestion. Please make sure your PC is up-to-date:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2247

Regards Wolfman

Madvinegar-Nope. Same laptop. I'll try the commands this afternoon when I have some time.
Wolfman-Yes. I am pretty sure the laptop is up to date. The update icon in the corner has a green check. I will also do this when I get home. Unfortunately, this only has Mint as the sole OS. It doesn't boot into grub. Any potential harm from running the commands from the normal mode?
Thanks to you both.

Flyboy I have checked the post again. Your wireless card driver is rtl8192cu.
This driver is very new, and this is why it may have some problems.
There is a bug reported about it (0bda:8176) here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... ug/1030858,
but there is also a workaround until this problem is fixed.
Follow the advice/workaround in the 1st post of the above link, namely:

WORKAROUND:
Installing the third party driver from realtek, blacklisting the built-in driver, and adding the realtek module to `/etc/modules':
While the USB dongle is not plugged in:
---
sudo apt-get install build-essential
wget ftp://WebUser:fh7SkVT4@209.222.7.36/cn/ ... 120622.zip
unzip ./RTL819xCU\ _USB_linux_v3.4.3_4369.20120622.zip
cd ./RTL819xCU\ _USB_linux_v3.4.3_4369.20120622
cmod a+x ./install.sh
sudo ./install.sh
echo -e "# RTL8188CUS wifi\nblacklist 8192cu\nblacklist rtl8192c_common\nblacklist rtlwifi" | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
echo "8192cu" | sudo tee -a /etc/modules

If you have any problem with the instructions, let me know to try and make it more clear to you.

Madvinegar, I had no problem with the first sudo line. The second one;
wget ftp://WebUser:fh7SkVT4@209.222.7.36/cn/ ... 120622.zip
did this;
Connecting to 209.222.7.36:21... connected.
Logging in as WebUser ...
Login incorrect.
I tried clicking the link on the actual page only to get a similar log in error.

Ok, try the following:

Code:

wget ftp://WebUser:AxPL9s3k@95.130.192.218/cn/wlan/RTL819xC_USB_linux_v3.4.4_4749.20120806.zip
cd Downloads
unzip RTL819xC_USB_linux_v3.4.4_4749.20120806.zip
cd RTL8188C_8192C_USB_linux_v3.4.4_4749.20120806
cmod a+x install.sh
sudo install.sh
echo -e "# RTL8188CUS wifi\nblacklist 8192cu\nblacklist rtl8192c_common\nblacklist rtlwifi" | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
echo "8192cu" | sudo tee -a /etc/modules

Okay. No problems until here: cmod a+x install.sh
jenny@jenny-Portable-PC ~/Downloads/RTL8188C_8192C_USB_linux_v3.4.4_4749.20120806 $ cmod a+x install.sh
No command 'cmod' found, did you mean:
Command 'qmod' from package 'gridengine-client' (universe)
Command 'gmod' from package 'gmod' (universe)
Command 'chmod' from package 'coreutils' (main)
Command 'mod' from package 'monodoc-base' (main)
cmod: command not found

Sorry, its "chmod" (not cmod)
So the command should be

Code:

chmod a+x install.sh

It was a mistake of the person who filed the workaround of the bug and I haven't noticed it.

AH! I was curious if that might be it. Okay here is what was displayed. If you notice, the sudo install.sh part didn't work, so I tried the next line and it seemed to take.
jenny@jenny-Portable-PC ~/Downloads/RTL8188C_8192C_USB_linux_v3.4.4_4749.20120806 $ chmod a+x install.sh
jenny@jenny-Portable-PC ~/Downloads/RTL8188C_8192C_USB_linux_v3.4.4_4749.20120806 $ sudo install.sh
[sudo] password for jenny:
sudo: install.sh: command not found
jenny@jenny-Portable-PC ~/Downloads/RTL8188C_8192C_USB_linux_v3.4.4_4749.20120806 $ chmod a+x install.sh
jenny@jenny-Portable-PC ~/Downloads/RTL8188C_8192C_USB_linux_v3.4.4_4749.20120806 $ echo -e "# RTL8188CUS wifi\nblacklist 8192cu\nblacklist rtl8192c_common\nblacklist rtlwifi" | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
# RTL8188CUS wifi
blacklist 8192cu
blacklist rtl8192c_common
blacklist rtlwifi
jenny@jenny-Portable-PC ~/Downloads/RTL8188C_8192C_USB_linux_v3.4.4_4749.20120806 $ echo "8192cu" | sudo tee -a /etc/modules
8192cu
jenny@jenny-Portable-PC ~/Downloads/RTL8188C_8192C_USB_linux_v3.4.4_4749.20120806 $
Does this look correct? Thanks again.

You need to run the install.sh. Otherwise the new driver will not be installed.

Try it like this:

Code:

cd /home/jenny/Downloads/RTL8188C_8192C_USB_linux_v3.4.4_4749.20120806
chmod a+x install.sh
sudo ./install.sh

And just for letting you know what we are trying to do:

Code:

[b]This downloads the latest driver for your wireless card[/b]

wget ftp://WebUser:AxPL9s3k@95.130.192.218/cn/wlan/RTL819xC_USB_linux_v3.4.4_4749.20120806.zip


Code:

[b]This directs us to your Downloads folder[/b]

cd Downloads

Code:

[b]This unzips the file we downloaded in step1[/b]

unzip RTL819xC_USB_linux_v3.4.4_4749.20120806.zip

Code:

[b]This changes the directory to the unzipped file[/b]

cd RTL8188C_8192C_USB_linux_v3.4.4_4749.20120806

Code:

[b]This gives executable permissions to the file called "install.sh" which is located inside the above file.[/b]
chmod a+x ./install.sh

Code:

[b]This runs the "install.sh" file and installs the driver[/b]

sudo ./install.sh

Code:

[b]This blacklists the old driver[/b]

echo -e "# RTL8188CUS wifi\nblacklist 8192cu\nblacklist rtl8192c_common\nblacklist rtlwifi" | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

Code:

[b]This loads the new driver at each startup[/b]

echo "8192cu" | sudo tee -a /etc/modules

Okay. She tried it out. (I got the connection around 5:30 and she started surfing around 7:00. As of 9:20 not the first drop in service) So it looks like it is solved. Thank you a bunch, madvinegar. Now on to my next linux adventure.....

Glad I helped my friend.
So everything worked out well?
Did you manage to install the driver? (sudo ./install.sh)

Should we mark the topic as solved?

Yes, everything went great. The ./ in the sudo command was what it needed to accept the install. It does appear to have solved the problem. Thank you.

Just great!

Never have figured out how to give blue jewels I am indebted to madvinegar and wolfman....

flyboy129 wrote:Madvinegar-Nope. Same laptop. I'll try the commands this afternoon when I have some time.
Wolfman-Yes. I am pretty sure the laptop is up to date. The update icon in the corner has a green check. I will also do this when I get home. Unfortunately, this only has Mint as the sole OS. It doesn't boot into grub. Any potential harm from running the commands from the normal mode?
Thanks to you both.

Hi flyboy,

no!, you won't harm your system by running the commands because those commands work across the Linux world and it doesn't matter really what OS you are using, the important thing is the software sources settings, I did post this link earlier but I will risk it again so you can take a closer look when you have the time, I have updated the guide somewhat recently and there may be something new for you!!.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2247

Regards Wolfman