Intel Wireless 7260 Poor Performance

Support Network
1

I am repurposing a Toshiba Chromebook 2 which has an Intel 7260 wireless card in it. Using the exact same network in the same location from a different machine with an Intel 8265 on it yields widely different results. The native Intel card 7260 disconnected frequently (not a congested network). It may be the card, the driver, settings, etc… Any suggestions? including potentially swapping out the card?

System:
  Kernel: 5.10.36-2-MANJARO x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.0 
  parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.10-x86_64 
  root=UUID=5c6d5623-f011-4294-8dd5-a8aed4ccb82a rw quiet udev.log_priority=3 
  Desktop: GNOME 3.38.4 tk: GTK 3.24.29 wm: gnome-shell dm: GDM 40.0 
  Distro: Manjaro Linux base: Arch Linux 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: GOOGLE product: Swanky v: 1.0 serial: <filter> Chassis: 
  type: 9 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: GOOGLE model: Swanky v: 1.0 serial: <filter> UEFI: coreboot 
  v: MrChromebox-4.13 date: 04/23/2021 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 29.3 Wh (66.9%) condition: 43.8/44.2 Wh (99.1%) 
  volts: 11.0 min: 10.8 model: Panason G71C000 type: Li-ion serial: <filter> 
  status: Discharging cycles: 29 
CPU:
  Info: Dual Core model: Intel Celeron N2840 bits: 64 type: MCP 
  arch: Silvermont family: 6 model-id: 37 (55) stepping: 8 microcode: 838 
  cache: L2: 1024 KiB 
  flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 8671 
  Speed: 537 MHz min/max: 500/2582 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 508 2: 561 
  Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected 
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected 
  Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT disabled 
  Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI 
  Type: spec_store_bypass status: Not affected 
  Type: spectre_v1 
  mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Full generic retpoline, IBPB: conditional, 
  IBRS_FW, STIBP: disabled, RSB filling 
  Type: srbds status: Not affected 
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Graphics & Display 
  driver: i915 v: kernel bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:0f31 class-ID: 0300 
  Device-2: Chicony TOSHIBA Web Camera - HD type: USB driver: uvcvideo 
  bus-ID: 1-3:3 chip-ID: 04f2:b48b class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter> 
  Display: wayland server: X.org 1.20.11 compositor: gnome-shell driver: 
  loaded: i915 note: n/a (using device driver) - try sudo/root display-ID: 0 
  resolution: <missing: xdpyinfo> 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics (BYT) v: 4.2 Mesa 21.0.3 
  compat-v: 3.0 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series High Definition Audio 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0 chip-ID: 8086:0f04 
  class-ID: 0403 
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.10.36-2-MANJARO running: yes 
  Sound Server-2: JACK v: 0.125.0 running: no 
S  Sound Server-3: PulseAudio v: 14.2 running: yes 
  Sound Server-4: PipeWire v: 0.3.28 running: yes 
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Wireless 7260 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel port: 1000 
  bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:08b1 class-ID: 0280 
  IF: wlp1s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel Bluetooth wireless interface type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 
  bus-ID: 1-4:4 chip-ID: 8087:07dc class-ID: e001 
  Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: up address: see --recommends 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 14.68 GiB used: 6.85 GiB (46.7%) 
  SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends 
  ID-1: /dev/mmcblk1 maj-min: 179:0 model: 016GE2 size: 14.68 GiB block-size: 
  physical: 512 B logical: 512 B rotation: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 0x7 
  scheme: GPT 
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 14.37 GiB size: 14.05 GiB (97.72%) used: 6.85 GiB (48.7%) 
  fs: ext4 dev: /dev/mmcblk1p2 maj-min: 179:2 
  ID-2: /boot/efi raw-size: 300 MiB size: 299.4 MiB (99.80%) 
  used: 296 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/mmcblk1p1 maj-min: 179:1 
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 60 (default) cache-pressure: 100 (default) 
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 512 MiB used: 7.2 MiB (1.4%) priority: -2 
  file: /swapfile 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 38.0 C mobo: N/A 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Info:
  Processes: 202 Uptime: 21h 22m wakeups: 20730 Memory: 3.76 GiB 
  used: 2.06 GiB (54.9%) Init: systemd v: 247 tool: systemctl Compilers: 
  gcc: 10.2.0 Packages: pacman: 985 lib: 280 Shell: Zsh v: 5.8 
  running-in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.3.04
2

I remember that one : I bought one in 2015 : Peut on passer à 300Mb/s ou mieux : en wifi ac sur une intel AC 7260 ? / WiFi / Forum Ubuntu-fr.org

Do you expect it to do what ?

3

Manjaro Gnome runs surprisingly well, but the WiFi is very weak as currently configured. I am 19 meters from the router. I just want to use the laptop on WiFi without it disconnecting.

4

I run Xfce, I’m 15 meters from wifi source, signal on the 7260 is 44%, I don’t expect it to be useful for intensive use ! :wink:

5

I am considering swapping the card (not sure how practical that is, and what would be better). Or getting an external USB adapter.

6

Need to know how to use a screwdriver.
Takes about 2 minutes.
Don’t spend more than 15€ on the card as it may become the more expensive part of the ordinosaurus :wink:

7

I have cracked this thing open, and have changed this type of card before. What’s a good card?

8

No real good card at this generation

9

Update. I bought an Intel Wireless WiFi Card 01AX703 8265NGW on eBay for $7.99 US and it’s about 50x faster. In case anyone is interested, here’s the card I bought: ASUS VivoBook Flip 14 TP412UA X420U Intel Wireless WiFi Card 01AX703 8265NGW | eBay

10