# Intel Wifi 5300 keeps dropping (sort of?)

## widremann

The "sort of" is because both iwconfig and ifconfig show everything is fine.  But nevertheless, the connection is effectively dropped.  The only solution is to restart net.wlan0.  Suffice it to say, this is a tedious and annoying solution.  Googling hasn't revealed much except that this used to be a problem on Windows, too.

I have used kernel 2.6.31, 2.6.33 and 2.6.34-rc2 and they all have the same problem.  I'm running ~amd64 (though was running regular amd64) on an Lenovo ThinkPad T500.  Any thoughts?

Here's my /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf:

```

ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant

ctrl_interface_group=0

update_config=1

#ap_scan=2

fast_reauth=1

#eapol_version=1

network={

        key_mgmt=NONE

        priority=-99999

}

network={

        ssid="XXX"

        psk="XXX"

        priority=2

}

```

/etc/conf.d/net:

```

dns_domain_lo="local"

config_lo="127.0.0.1"

config_eth0=( "dhcp" )

modules=( "wpa_supplicant" )

wpa_supplicant_wlan0="wext"

```

----------

## Rexilion

It seems that you are using an eth0 and wlan0, don't use them at the same time.

Furthermore, I think that:

 *Quote:*   

> wpa_supplicant_wlan0="wext"

 

should be

 *Quote:*   

> wpa_supplicant_wlan0="-Dwext"

  # it's a wpa_supplicant parameter

If that does not fix your problem, try below:

Can you disable the net infrastructure (for a while):

```
/etc/init.d/net.wlan0 stop
```

Use this as your wpa_supplicant:

```
ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant

ctrl_interface_group=0

network={

        key_mgmt=NONE

        priority=-99999

}

network={

        ssid="XXX"

        psk="XXX"

        priority=2

}
```

And start it as:

```
wpa_supplicant -Dwext -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf -dd
```

Can you post the output of that please? Then, check if your connection works:

```
dhclient wlan0
```

or if you don't have dhclient

```
dhcpcd wlan0
```

Wait 10 seconds, you should be able to browse the net.

----------

## widremann

I think you missed the issue.  It's not that I *can't* connect; it's just that the connection drops after a bit and I have to restart net.wlan0.  Sometimes I can go an hour or more without a drop.  Other times it's 30 seconds.  But it does successfully connect, authenticate and all that jazz.  So your corrections make no difference to me (I did try them just in case -- the results were the same).

----------

## Rexilion

Do you see anything in dmesg when it disconnects?

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## widremann

 *Rexilion wrote:*   

> Do you see anything in dmesg when it disconnects?

 

Nothing anywhere.  Even ifconfig and iwconfig still show it as connected.  I just can't use the connection (ping fails, can't load web pages (they time out), etc).

----------

## Rexilion

What is the kernel name of your driver? (e.g. iwl3945?)

----------

## widremann

 *Rexilion wrote:*   

> What is the kernel name of your driver? (e.g. iwl3945?)

 

IWLWIFI or IWL5000 are the config options, but the module is named iwlagn.  I currently have it built-in to the kernel.

----------

## d2_racing

Can you post this :

```

# cd /usr/src/linux

# cat .config | grep -i 802

# cat .config | grep -i kill

# cat .config | grep -i iwl

```

----------

## widremann

 *d2_racing wrote:*   

> Can you post this :
> 
> ```
> 
> # cd /usr/src/linux
> ...

 

```

# CONFIG_VLAN_8021Q is not set

# CONFIG_IEEE802154 is not set

CONFIG_CFG80211=y

# CONFIG_NL80211_TESTMODE is not set

# CONFIG_CFG80211_DEVELOPER_WARNINGS is not set

# CONFIG_CFG80211_REG_DEBUG is not set

CONFIG_CFG80211_DEFAULT_PS=y

# CONFIG_CFG80211_DEBUGFS is not set

CONFIG_CFG80211_WEXT=y

CONFIG_LIB80211=y

# CONFIG_LIB80211_DEBUG is not set

CONFIG_MAC80211=y

CONFIG_MAC80211_RC_MINSTREL=y

# CONFIG_MAC80211_RC_DEFAULT_PID is not set

CONFIG_MAC80211_RC_DEFAULT_MINSTREL=y

CONFIG_MAC80211_RC_DEFAULT="minstrel"

# CONFIG_MAC80211_MESH is not set

CONFIG_MAC80211_LEDS=y

# CONFIG_MAC80211_DEBUGFS is not set

# CONFIG_MAC80211_DEBUG_MENU is not set

# CONFIG_MAC80211_HWSIM is not set

# CONFIG_LEDS_BD2802 is not set

# CONFIG_RTC_DRV_RX8025 is not set

# CONFIG_RTC_DRV_BQ4802 is not set

```

```

CONFIG_RFKILL=y

CONFIG_RFKILL_LEDS=y

CONFIG_RFKILL_INPUT=y

# CONFIG_TOSHIBA_BT_RFKILL is not set

```

```

CONFIG_IWLWIFI=m

CONFIG_IWLWIFI_SPECTRUM_MEASUREMENT=y

# CONFIG_IWLWIFI_DEBUG is not set

CONFIG_IWLAGN=m

# CONFIG_IWL4965 is not set

CONFIG_IWL5000=y

# CONFIG_IWL3945 is not set

```

----------

## Rexilion

Can you post the output of this?

```
for i in `ls /sys/module/iwl5000/parameters`; do echo ">>>"$i"<<<"; cat /sys/module/iwl5000/parameters/$i; done
```

----------

## widremann

 *Rexilion wrote:*   

> Can you post the output of this?
> 
> ```
> for i in `ls /sys/module/iwl5000/parameters`; do echo ">>>"$i"<<<"; cat /sys/module/iwl5000/parameters/$i; done
> ```
> ...

 

```
>>>11n_disable50<<<

0

>>>amsdu_size_8K50<<<

1

>>>fw_restart50<<<

1

>>>queues_num50<<<

0

>>>swcrypto50<<<

N
```

Although it wasn't iwl5000, but iwlagn.  So I guess that's the driver name.

----------

## Rexilion

Try starting the kernel with the following appended to the kernel bootline:

kernel /boot/kernel .. .. .. iwl5000.11n_disable50=1 iwl5000.fw_restart50=1 iwl5000.swcrypto50=1

Does it help?

----------

## widremann

 *Rexilion wrote:*   

> Try starting the kernel with the following appended to the kernel bootline:
> 
> kernel /boot/kernel .. .. .. iwl5000.11n_disable50=1 iwl5000.fw_restart50=1 iwl5000.swcrypto50=1
> 
> Does it help?

 

Before I reboot: I can't turn off n based networking (assuming that's what 11n_disable50 does) because that's what our router uses.  I don't currently have an option to do it differently.

----------

## widremann

Nope, those changes didn't help.  It dropped again after a few minutes.

----------

## qdii

I am experiencing the exact same problem. Have you found a solution?

----------

