I have old Dell Optiplex 980 and use Asus RTL8812AE 802.11ac PCIe to connect to my wifi network. I would prefer wired, but live in a small studio with odd layout and running CAT cable is not really an option for me.
I installed Ubuntu 18.04 fresh. To my knowledge there is some issue with full support of wifi cards with Realtek chipset on Linux. After installation, the wifi worked straight out of box but it was slow. Upgraded wifi drivers with rtlwifi_new stack from GIT. It allowed the card to have full speed, however next time after reboot, the pages were loading slow or timing out. I reloaded the wifi module and rebooted my machine a few times which had no effect on the connection's reliability. I turn my computer next day to gather some diagnostic data and post to forum and all of sudden it is working! :confused: During this whole time it has stayed on 5GHz frequency. During the same time I tested other devices to my wifi network with no issues.
Previously I had ubuntu 16.04 and after installing rtlwifi_new stack, I had no problems except it tended to drop randomly from 5 to 2.4 GHz and I figured out how to force it to stay on 5 Ghz. Sometimes it would had dropped wifi connection for a second and re-establish connection.
If anyone knows a good source of drivers to try or what settings I should look at with configuration files please share!
If these lead to no progress, I am thinking about switching to Mint to address reliability but is it worth it since it is based on Ubuntu? In worst case, if performance deteriorates and stays unstable, I may have to go full with Windows 10 and install Ubuntu as VM since the card works consistently well under that platform.
Quote:
lspci | grep Wireless
01:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8812AE 802.11ac PCIe Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)
iwconfig
eno1 no wireless extensions.
wlp1s0 IEEE 802.11 ESSID:"skywalker"
Mode:Managed Frequency:5.745 GHz Access Point: E4:F0:42:EB:EF:5A
Bit Rate=400 Mb/s Tx-Power=30 dBm
Retry short limit:7 RTS thr=2347 B Fragment thr:off
Power Management:off
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:389 Missed beacon:0
sudo lspci -vv -s 01:00.0
[sudo] password for tom:
01:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8812AE 802.11ac PCIe Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. RTL8812AE 802.11ac PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 28
Region 0: I/O ports at dc00 [size=256]
Region 2: Memory at f7afc000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1+ D2+ AuxCurrent=375mA PME(D0+,D1+,D2+,D3hot+,D3cold+)
Status: D0 NoSoftRst+ PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-
Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
Address: 00000000fee04004 Data: 4025
Capabilities: [70] Express (v2) Endpoint, MSI 00
DevCap: MaxPayload 128 bytes, PhantFunc 0, Latency L0s <4us, L1 <64us
ExtTag- AttnBtn- AttnInd- PwrInd- RBE+ FLReset- SlotPowerLimit 10.000W
DevCtl: Report errors: Correctable- Non-Fatal+ Fatal+ Unsupported-
RlxdOrd+ ExtTag- PhantFunc- AuxPwr- NoSnoop-
MaxPayload 128 bytes, MaxReadReq 512 bytes
DevSta: CorrErr- UncorrErr- FatalErr- UnsuppReq- AuxPwr+ TransPend-
LnkCap: Port #0, Speed 2.5GT/s, Width x1, ASPM L0s L1, Exit Latency L0s <512ns, L1 <64us
ClockPM+ Surprise- LLActRep- BwNot- ASPMOptComp-
LnkCtl: ASPM L0s L1 Enabled; RCB 64 bytes Disabled- CommClk+
ExtSynch- ClockPM+ AutWidDis- BWInt- AutBWInt-
LnkSta: Speed 2.5GT/s, Width x1, TrErr- Train- SlotClk+ DLActive- BWMgmt- ABWMgmt-
DevCap2: Completion Timeout: Not Supported, TimeoutDis+, LTR+, OBFF Via message/WAKE#
DevCtl2: Completion Timeout: 50us to 50ms, TimeoutDis+, LTR-, OBFF Disabled
LnkCtl2: Target Link Speed: 2.5GT/s, EnterCompliance- SpeedDis-
Transmit Margin: Normal Operating Range, EnterModifiedCompliance- ComplianceSOS-
Compliance De-emphasis: -6dB
LnkSta2: Current De-emphasis Level: -6dB, EqualizationComplete-, EqualizationPhase1-
EqualizationPhase2-, EqualizationPhase3-, LinkEqualizationRequest-
Capabilities: [100 v1] Advanced Error Reporting
UESta: DLP- SDES- TLP- FCP- CmpltTO- CmpltAbrt- UnxCmplt- RxOF- MalfTLP- ECRC- UnsupReq- ACSViol-
UEMsk: DLP- SDES- TLP- FCP- CmpltTO- CmpltAbrt- UnxCmplt- RxOF- MalfTLP- ECRC- UnsupReq- ACSViol-
UESvrt: DLP+ SDES+ TLP- FCP+ CmpltTO- CmpltAbrt- UnxCmplt- RxOF+ MalfTLP+ ECRC- UnsupReq- ACSViol-
CESta: RxErr- BadTLP- BadDLLP- Rollover- Timeout- NonFatalErr-
CEMsk: RxErr- BadTLP- BadDLLP- Rollover- Timeout- NonFatalErr+
AERCap: First Error Pointer: 00, GenCap+ CGenEn- ChkCap+ ChkEn-
Capabilities: [140 v1] Device Serial Number 00-12-88-fe-ff-4c-e0-00
Capabilities: [150 v1] Latency Tolerance Reporting
Max snoop latency: 0ns
Max no snoop latency: 0ns
Capabilities: [158 v1] L1 PM Substates
L1SubCap: PCI-PM_L1.2+ PCI-PM_L1.1+ ASPM_L1.2+ ASPM_L1.1+ L1_PM_Substates+
PortCommonModeRestoreTime=150us PortTPowerOnTime=150us
L1SubCtl1: PCI-PM_L1.2- PCI-PM_L1.1- ASPM_L1.2- ASPM_L1.1-
T_CommonMode=0us LTR1.2_Threshold=0ns
L1SubCtl2: T_PwrOn=10us
Kernel driver in use: rtl8821ae
Kernel modules: rtl8821ae
nmcli -f GENERAL,WIFI-PROPERTIES dev show wlp1s0
GENERAL.DEVICE: wlp1s0
GENERAL.TYPE: wifi
GENERAL.NM-TYPE: NMDeviceWifi
GENERAL.VENDOR: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
GENERAL.PRODUCT: RTL8812AE 802.11ac PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
GENERAL.DRIVER: rtl8821ae
GENERAL.DRIVER-VERSION: 4.15.0-34-generic
GENERAL.FIRMWARE-VERSION: N/A
GENERAL.HWADDR: B0:6E:BF:DC:0D:90
GENERAL.MTU: 1500
GENERAL.STATE: 100 (connected)
GENERAL.REASON: 0 (No reason given)
GENERAL.UDI: /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.0/net/wlp1s0
GENERAL.IP-IFACE: wlp1s0
GENERAL.IS-SOFTWARE: no
GENERAL.NM-MANAGED: yes
GENERAL.AUTOCONNECT: yes
GENERAL.FIRMWARE-MISSING: no
GENERAL.NM-PLUGIN-MISSING: no
GENERAL.PHYS-PORT-ID: --
GENERAL.CONNECTION: skywalker
GENERAL.CON-UUID: 6a983e1f-ba82-4095-8875-e61d3ade306b
GENERAL.CON-PATH: /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/ActiveConnection/1
GENERAL.METERED: no (guessed)
WIFI-PROPERTIES.WEP: yes
WIFI-PROPERTIES.WPA: yes
WIFI-PROPERTIES.WPA2: yes
WIFI-PROPERTIES.TKIP: yes
WIFI-PROPERTIES.CCMP: yes
WIFI-PROPERTIES.AP: yes
WIFI-PROPERTIES.ADHOC: yes
WIFI-PROPERTIES.2GHZ: yes
WIFI-PROPERTIES.5GHZ: yes
modinfo rtl8821ae
filename: /lib/modules/4.15.0-34-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtlwifi/rtl8821ae/rtl8821ae.ko
firmware: rtlwifi/rtl8821aefw_29.bin
firmware: rtlwifi/rtl8821aefw.bin
description: Realtek 8821ae 802.11ac PCI wireless
license: GPL
author: Realtek WlanFAE <wlanfae@realtek.com>
srcversion: 2CE28F5AC9749CAF48145E8
alias: pci:v000010ECd00008821sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v000010ECd00008812sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
depends: rtlwifi,rtl_pci,btcoexist,mac80211
retpoline: Y
name: rtl8821ae
vermagic: 4.15.0-34-generic SMP mod_unload
parm: swenc:Set to 1 for software crypto (default 0)
(bool)
parm: ips:Set to 0 to not use link power save (default 1)
(bool)
parm: swlps:Set to 1 to use SW control power save (default 0)
(bool)
parm: fwlps:Set to 1 to use FW control power save (default 1)
(bool)
parm: msi:Set to 1 to use MSI interrupts mode (default 1)
(bool)
parm: debug:Set debug level (0-5) (default 0) (int)
parm: disable_watchdog:Set to 1 to disable the watchdog (default 0)
(bool)
parm: int_clear:Set to 0 to disable interrupt clear before set (default 1)
lsmod
Module Size Used by
ccm 20480 6
snd_hda_codec_hdmi 49152 1
snd_hda_codec_realtek 106496 1
snd_hda_codec_generic 73728 1 snd_hda_codec_realtek
snd_hda_intel 40960 6
snd_hda_codec 126976 4 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_gen eric,snd_hda_codec_realtek
snd_hda_core 81920 5 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd _hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec_realtek
snd_hwdep 20480 1 snd_hda_codec
gpio_ich 16384 0
snd_pcm 98304 4 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_core,snd_hda_c odec_hdmi
arc4 16384 2
snd_seq_midi 16384 0
snd_seq_midi_event 16384 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_rawmidi 32768 1 snd_seq_midi
rtl8821ae 233472 0
btcoexist 172032 1 rtl8821ae
rtl_pci 32768 1 rtl8821ae
rtlwifi 98304 3 rtl_pci,btcoexist,rtl8821ae
snd_seq 65536 2 snd_seq_midi_event,snd_seq_midi
intel_powerclamp 16384 0
coretemp 16384 0
snd_seq_device 16384 3 snd_seq,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_midi
kvm_intel 212992 0
snd_timer 32768 2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
dcdbas 16384 0
sch_fq_codel 20480 6
mac80211 778240 3 rtl_pci,rtlwifi,rtl8821ae
kvm 598016 1 kvm_intel
irqbypass 16384 1 kvm
intel_cstate 20480 0
snd 81920 23 snd_hda_intel,snd_hwdep,snd_seq,snd_hda_codec,snd_ timer,snd_rawmidi,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec _generic,snd_seq_device,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_ pcm
joydev 24576 0
input_leds 16384 0
sparse_keymap 16384 0
dell_wmi_descriptor 16384 0
wmi_bmof 16384 0
cfg80211 622592 2 mac80211,rtlwifi
soundcore 16384 1 snd
serio_raw 16384 0
mei_me 40960 0
mei 90112 1 mei_me
lpc_ich 24576 0
shpchp 36864 0
mac_hid 16384 0
parport_pc 36864 1
ppdev 20480 0
lp 20480 0
parport 49152 3 lp,parport_pc,ppdev
ip_tables 28672 0
x_tables 40960 1 ip_tables
autofs4 40960 2
hid_generic 16384 0
usbhid 49152 0
hid 118784 2 hid_generic,usbhid
i915 1617920 31
video 45056 1 i915
i2c_algo_bit 16384 1 i915
psmouse 147456 0
drm_kms_helper 172032 1 i915
ahci 36864 1
libahci 32768 1 ahci
syscopyarea 16384 1 drm_kms_helper
sysfillrect 16384 1 drm_kms_helper
sysimgblt 16384 1 drm_kms_helper
e1000e 249856 0
fb_sys_fops 16384 1 drm_kms_helper
drm 401408 17 i915,drm_kms_helper
ptp 20480 1 e1000e
pps_core 20480 1 ptp
pata_acpi 16384 0
wmi 24576 2 wmi_bmof,dell_wmi_descriptor
lshw -C network
WARNING: you should run this program as super-user.
*-network
description: Wireless interface
product: RTL8812AE 802.11ac PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
logical name: wlp1s0
version: 01
serial: b0:6e:bf:dc:0d:90
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rtl8821ae driverversion=4.15.0-34-generic firmware=N/A ip=192.168.86.32 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11
resources: irq:28 ioport:dc00(size=256) memory:f7afc000-f7afffff