Slow wifi connection KDE

Support Network
1

Hi there, I just switched to manjaro at the weekend. So far it has been a pleasant experience except a very slow wifi connection. Here is my system info:

System:    Kernel: 5.14.10-1-MANJARO x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.1.0 Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.22.5
           tk: Qt 5.15.2 wm: kwin_x11 vt: 1 dm: SDDM Distro: Manjaro Linux base: Arch Linux
Machine:   Type: Desktop Mobo: Micro-Star model: MPG Z390I GAMING EDGE AC (MS-7C04) v: 1.0 serial: <filter>
           UEFI: American Megatrends v: 1.80 date: 05/25/2020
CPU:       Info: 6-Core model: Intel Core i5-9400F bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Kaby Lake note: check rev: A cache:
           L2: 9 MiB
           flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 34814
           Speed: 995 MHz min/max: 800/4100 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 995 2: 800 3: 800 4: 800 5: 800 6: 800
Graphics:  Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Navi 10 [Radeon RX 5600 OEM/5600 XT / 5700/5700 XT]
           vendor: ASRock driver: amdgpu v: kernel bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:731f class-ID: 0300
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.13 compositor: kwin_x11 driver: loaded: amdgpu resolution: 1920x1080
           s-dpi: 96
           OpenGL: renderer: AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (NAVI10 DRM 3.42.0 5.14.10-1-MANJARO LLVM 12.0.1)
           v: 4.6 Mesa 21.2.3 direct render: Yes
Audio:     Device-1: Intel Cannon Lake PCH cAVS vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
           bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:a348 class-ID: 0403
           Device-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Navi 10 HDMI Audio driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel
           bus-ID: 03:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:ab38 class-ID: 0403
           Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.14.10-1-MANJARO running: yes
           Sound Server-2: JACK v: 1.9.19 running: no
           Sound Server-3: PulseAudio v: 15.0 running: yes
           Sound Server-4: PipeWire v: 0.3.38 running: yes
Network:   Device-1: Intel Cannon Lake PCH CNVi WiFi driver: iwlwifi v: kernel bus-ID: 00:14.3
           chip-ID: 8086:a370 class-ID: 0280
           IF: wlo1 state: up mac: <filter>
           Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: r8169
           v: kernel port: 3000 bus-ID: 05:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
           IF: enp5s0 state: down mac: <filter>
Bluetooth: Device-1: Intel Bluetooth 9460/9560 Jefferson Peak (JfP) type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8
           bus-ID: 1-14:4 chip-ID: 8087:0aaa class-ID: e001
           Report: rfkill ID: hci0 rfk-id: 1 state: down bt-service: enabled,running rfk-block: hardware: no
           software: yes address: see --recommends
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 1.84 TiB used: 653.91 GiB (34.7%)
           ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: A-Data model: SX8200PNP size: 953.87 GiB speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4
           type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 42AZS6AC temp: 34.9 C scheme: GPT
           ID-2: /dev/sda vendor: SanDisk model: SDSSDH3 1T00 size: 931.51 GiB speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD
           serial: <filter> rev: 00RL scheme: GPT
Partition: ID-1: / size: 937.53 GiB used: 133.24 GiB (14.2%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
           ID-2: /boot/efi size: 299.4 MiB used: 288 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1
Swap:      Alert: No swap data was found.
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 41.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 46.0 C mem: 48.0 C
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: amdgpu fan: 0
Info:      Processes: 234 Uptime: 38m wakeups: 0 Memory: 15.57 GiB used: 2.21 GiB (14.2%) Init: systemd v: 249
           Compilers: gcc: 11.1.0 Packages: pacman: 1259 Shell: Zsh v: 5.8 default: Bash v: 5.1.8
           running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.08

I tried the fix suggested in a previous thread on this topic, creating the file /etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi.conf with the contents

options iwlwifi bt_coex_active=0 swcrypto=1 11n_disable=8

I also tried disabling IPv6 by setting it to ‘ignored’ in the Connections section of the KDE system settings and hard resetting the router (as I have seen those tips in other threads). None of these fixes seemed to work.

I have confirmed the internet speed over wifi is performing as it should on another device. I am not able to permanently connect via wired ethernet. However, I tried this and got the full speed I expected to see.

Curiously, I downloaded a game through steam and at certain points saw download speeds equal to the maximum I saw on windows. Zoom, the software centre and firefox, however, behave in line with the measured download speed.

Also, using the speed test by ookla website I saw upload speeds at the normal level for the connection. The download speeds seem to be either 1/3 or 1/2 of the expected value, depending on what server the speed test tool connects to. That they are fairly precise fractions suggests there is some connection parameter I could tweak to get this sorted.

Any thoughts on this welcome and apologies if I failed to follow the proper posting beginners guide - I promise I tried!

2

Further information on the connection settings from a more verbose inxi

Network:   Device-1: Intel Cannon Lake PCH CNVi WiFi driver: iwlwifi v: kernel bus-ID: 00:14.3 chip-ID: 8086:a370
           class-ID: 0280
           IF: wlo1 state: up mac: 84:c5:a6:f2:a5:0d
           IP v4: 192.168.0.15/24 type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global broadcast: 192.168.0.255
           IP v6: 2a02:c7d:8e88:8700:5b48:5c4e:7e7e:2615/64 type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global
           IP v6: fdc4:9a:3b33:0:11aa:2ff8:5b7e:83e0/64 type: noprefixroute scope: global
           IP v6: fe80::d54a:75f8:9a6:9fd9/64 type: noprefixroute scope: link
           Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: r8169 v: kernel
           port: 3000 bus-ID: 05:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
           IF: enp5s0 state: down mac: 2c:f0:5d:07:37:66
           WAN IP: 2.125.200.228

And some information on the interface itself:

iw dev wlo1 link                                                                                     ✔ 
Connected to 3c:89:94:fa:1b:7a (on wlo1)
        SSID: NOWTVDVITT
        freq: 2462
        RX: 3995030 bytes (2885 packets)
        TX: 630639 bytes (2413 packets)
        signal: -71 dBm
        rx bitrate: 6.5 MBit/s MCS 0
        tx bitrate: 43.3 MBit/s MCS 4 short GI

        bss flags:      short-slot-time
        dtim period:    1
        beacon int:     100

Further troubleshooting failed attempt - I plugged in an external wifi dongle. Linux found it and connected flawlessly, but gave the same speeds.

3

Hey there, thanks for the good info and outlining steps already taken.

Please try:
/etc/modprobe.d/iwlmvm.conf 

options iwlmvm power_scheme=1
4

That damned well fixed it in one! Thank you so much :smiley:

For any other linux newbies like me reading this, I did sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/iwlmvm.conf, then pasted in the text in cscs’s post, then saved the file and rebooted.

2 Likes
5

yay.
I also had a heck of a time when the newer intel wireless driver put extra special power-savings ala the underlying iwlvm module. It seemed to affect every device using it.
Always glad for a ‘simple’ or ‘known’ fix.
Cheers :beers:

6

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