16.04 LTS wifi connection issues with Realtek RTL8723BE adapter

Question

I discovered several issues with wifi connection after installing 16.04 LTS.

First, wifi doesn't reconnect normally after sleep or hibernation. Sometimes the network icon turns into a "up and down arrows"(I don't know what it is for) after waking up but is still connected. Sometimes network is simply lost and it doesn't display any network in the list so there's simply no way to use wifi at all.

I first tried restarting network manager by running sudo service network-manager restart. It worked but was not a permanent resolution.

Then according to another thread, I added SUSPEND_MODULES="iwlwifi" to /etc/pm/config.d/config.

After doing this, the reconnect issue seems to be fixed (can automatically reconnect and icon doesn't change any more). However, I find the wifi connection gets lost randomly (about every 30 minutes) even when the computer is running and the network icon remains the connected state when connection is lost.

Another issue after adding the code is, when I put my computer to sleep, the screen will turn off for a second but then turns back on for around 5 seconds(during which the system will cut off wifi connection). And then the computer will go to sleep after this unusual "two-phase" process.

Wireless cards info below

*-network               
       description: Wireless interface
       product: RTL8723BE PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
       vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
       logical name: wlp2s0
       version: 00
       serial: b0:c0:90:5c:1c:d5
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rtl8723be driverversion=4.4.0-21-generic firmware=N/A ip=192.168.0.8 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bgn
       resources: irq:16 ioport:d000(size=256) memory:df200000-df203fff

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Sky Lake Host Bridge/DRAM Registers (rev 07)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sky Lake PCIe Controller (x16) (rev 07)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Sky Lake Integrated Graphics (rev 06)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H USB 3.0 xHCI Controller (rev 31)
00:14.2 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H Thermal subsystem (rev 31)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H CSME HECI #1 (rev 31)
00:17.0 SATA controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H SATA controller [AHCI mode] (rev 31)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PCI Express Root Port #1 (rev f1)
00:1d.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PCI Express Root Port #9 (rev f1)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H LPC Controller (rev 31)
00:1f.2 Memory controller: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H PMC (rev 31)
00:1f.3 Audio device: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H HD Audio (rev 31)
00:1f.4 SMBus: Intel Corporation Sunrise Point-H SMBus (rev 31)
00:1f.6 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection (2) I219-V (rev 31)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GK208 [GeForce GT 730] (rev a1)
01:00.1 Audio device: NVIDIA Corporation GK208 HDMI/DP Audio Controller (rev a1)
02:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8723BE PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
03:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd NVMe SSD Controller (rev 01)

05/01/2016 Update
I don't know what happened but the issue gets worse now. Wifi connection gets lost about every 5 minutes and I have to reconnect or restart network-manager.

Solution 1

Finally I was able to fix the issues after trying out numbers of different methods.

1. Get details of your PCI wireless card by running sudo lshw -class network

2. Get your card model info according to the product line.
   For instance, as you can see in the question description it says
   product: RTL8723BE PCIe Wireless Network Adapter so the model of my card is RTL8723BE

   Or product: RTL8101/2/6E PCI Express Fast/Gigabit Ethernet controller so the model of my card is RTL8101/2/6E

3. Give the permission sudo chmod 755 /etc/pm/config.d/

4. Open or create config and add SUSPEND_MODULES="rtl8723be"(replace rtl8723be with your own model number)
   Then run
   echo "options rtl8723be fwlps=N" | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/rtl8723be.conf
   (note that when replacing rtl8723be with my card which is RTL8101/2/6E i should only type .../modprobe.d/RTL8101.conf; and /2/6E shouldn't be written)

Finaly restart your system.

Now your system should be able to reconnect automatically after sleep, and wifi connection never got lost once for me after doing this.

"The up/down arrows is likely a network manager bug that results in network manager thinking the wifi device is actually ethernet.", according to Jeremy31.see bug info here You should be able to fix it by installing NetworkManager-1.2.0.

Thanks to Jeremy31 for providing the solutions.

Solution 2

I have the exact same problem. After waking from sleep, wifi still works but networks not showing. I solve the problem by restarting the network manager.

sudo service network-manager restart

Still very annoying. I hope they fix this issue soon.

Solution 3

This is a bug for sure. Bug has been filed at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/network-manager/+bug/1574347

Solution 4

Additional info: I have the same exact problem as OP describes, but only the problem where the nm-applet icon changes to arrows and does not display wifi info. The wifi still works when this happens.

$ killall nm-applet && nm-applet & 

Does the trick for getting the icon to display again, so it's just a workaround for now in case someone wants to put it into a script.

Can confirm this problem on two separate computers running xubuntu-desktop package.

Also, both computers I have run recent intel wifi cards. (something along the lines of AC-7260)

Solution 5

I was having the same problem. I fixed the suspend wake issue by creating this script at /etc/systemd/system/wifi-resume.service (the one the OP posted only worked for the active session; on reboot it had to be called again):

#/etc/systemd/system/wifi-resume.service
#sudo systemctl enable wifi-resume.service
[Unit]
Description=Restart networkmanager at resume
After=suspend.target
After=hibernate.target
After=hybrid-sleep.target

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/bin/systemctl restart network-manager.service

[Install]
WantedBy=suspend.target
WantedBy=hibernate.target
WantedBy=hybrid-sleep.target

Then just issue this command in terminal to activate it: sudo systemctl enable wifi-resume.service. This solution is from another askubuntu question answer, and works both after suspend and after reboot.

However, even after that was fixed, I get the same behavior that used to happen on wake from suspend when I try to switch wifi networks: the wifi is essentially dead, with the two arrows, and the applet says "device not ready." I can restart the wifi by issuing sudo service network-manager restart, but I can't switch networks.

Is anyone else experiencing this and/or have a solution???

View more solutions

Comments

[Admin]

The up & down arrows are for wired connections - I see them if I use tethering to an android device, for example. There are lots of bug reports related to your card for example this one where it seems installing new drivers worked for some folks. Maybe you will find something...

[Admin]

You should have used SUSPEND_MODULES="rtl8723be" instead of iwlwifi as you card doesn't use iwlwifi. Also try echo "options rtl8723be fwlps=N" | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/rtl8723be.conf and reboot

[Admin]

@Jeremy31 thx but is this for fixing the first issue?

[Admin]

It may fix both the fwlps option disables power management and that can cause disconnects and other issues

[Admin]

@Jeremy31 what is echo "options rtl8723be fwlps=N" | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/rtl8723be.conf for?

[Admin]

The up/down arrows is likely a network manager bug that results in network manager thinking the wifi device is actually ethernet

[Admin]

That command will disable power management for your wifi and you should have a more stable connection unless the whole problem is the network manager bug

[Admin]

@Jeremy31 is the the echo command supposed to produce any output

[Admin]

Let us continue this discussion in chat.

[Admin]

I have seen many question on wifi issue and don't understand one thing that why there is so many issue related to network, especially wifi in 16.04 LTS.

[Admin]

@RyanNerd and once they have the Mac, run Ubuntu on it of course! The one good reason to get the Mac in the first place :-)

[Admin]

@zwets I actually LOVE Linux. But very frustrated with this wifi situation. Researching this a bit more, it may not be the Debian/Ubuntu distro/devs fault, but the devs at Intel that created the Linux firmware driver for their hardware and Intel's hardware/firmware is a piece of crap.

[Admin]

In my case it was a faulty realtek driver, fix described for in this link has helped me; find your driver and act accordingly: https://sites.google.com/site/easylinuxtipsproject/reserve-7

[Admin]

askubuntu.com/questions/761180/… might help (it is a different but related issue).

[Admin]

Here is an answer relating to using Network Manager: askubuntu.com/questions/938321/…

[Admin]

I think the problem you mention in the Update (continuous disconnection) is different from the initial one (disconnection after sleep&hibernation). Notwithstanding the above, the answer marked as definitive (and therefore the question too) seems Realtek-specific. Also, it specifically addresses disconnection in relation to the suspend procedure.

[Admin]

@Jeremy31 - what you have suggested in your comment (SUSPEND_MODULES="rtl8723be" instead of iwlwifi ) is what the accepted answer says after a few days. In order to make that answer more general (not Realtek specific) shouldn't it be edited by saying that the option after SUSPEND_MODULES= should be taken not from product: line but from configuration: ...driver:?

[Lixu]

have you found out any solution

[Lixu]

This is only a temp solution. Do you think it's a bug with 16.04 LTS?

[Lixu]

Since you still got the issue, what good does the script do anyway?

[Rsync]

The script FIXES the OP's first problem: no wifi on wake from suspend. However, it does NOT fix the second problem (for me): can't switch wifi networks without losing wifi access. If I wasn't clear, the second problem exists independently of the first. The script does not create the second problem, it merely corrects the first.

[Lixu]

I dont think this script does anything for my situation. It turned out wifi connection gets lost more frequently after using it.

[avi software]

that work for me. it is probably a bug.

[Rsync]

Try one of the other scripts around (e.g., askubuntu.com/questions/761180/…). Both worked for the wake suspend issue. However, the inability to switch networks issue caused me to roll back to 15.10. Also, on a fresh install of 16.04, I encountered a third issue: network manager created a new wifi connection each time I connected to a network (e.g., WIFI_1; WIFI_2; WIFI_3). As a result, I needed to input the password each time.

[gwarah]

I've installed ubuntu 16.04 few hours ago and got the same issue (wrong icon + wifi lost randomly). Seemed solved with sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade. After reboot, everything was all right: connections more stable and no wrong icon.

[Rick-777]

also works to use nmcli con up wifi-sid, if you want a quick bodge.

[john400]

Is it working till now?In the echo command, you have used the model number in small letters .So that shouldn't be a problem right?Because I am losing my internet connection in just 5 mins.

[Dronz]

My Ubuntu has been messing up this way since 16.04 too. This command did the trick for me.

[James Bowery]

There is no "product: " attribute returned for my wifi dongle. Only "configuration: ... driver=r8712u ..."

[Gabriel Staples]

This did not work for me. I'm running Xubuntu 16.04 LTS and was connected to a Windows shared drive when my computer went to sleep. Running sudo service network-manager restart just froze my system up even worse. I then did a Log off and back on--even worse still, & now my desktop icons disappeared. Then I did a full restart and now my desktop icons are still disappeared. No idea why, but I'll be disabling sleep for sure. This is a bad deal. These types of problems where simple stuff should work really make me miss Windows, and I don't like that feeling. I hope Ubuntu/Xubuntu gets better.

[RyanNerd]

Using LM18 as well. All other solutions killed my networking. This solution seems to be working. I am using Cinnamon and the kernel upgrade borked my Nvidia driver -- Not the kernel's fault. I'm certain the devs at Nvidia are on acid b/c they can't follow their own specs every time I do a major kernel upgrade I spend an hour or more fighting the nvidia driver stupidity.

[RyanNerd]

Be careful with this solution. It completely borked my networking on LM18. I had to remember what commands I did so I could remove the configuration files and reboot. Print this page in case you need to reference the process. I'm not saying it is bad, it obviously worked for some people. But thought a warning is in order here.

[RyanNerd]

I upvoted this and leaving it upvoted because upgrading to the latest kernel works for LM18 where I looked other places did not do nice things to my system. Unfortunately upgrading to kernel 4.6.3 did not solve my wifi going stupid at random times. Only happens at home. I have the exact same router at home that I have at work. Not sure what is going on here. My laptop has an Intel Wireless 7260 which apparently is a badly drainbramaged wireless adapter version that has several issues in Linux and Windows. So I guess I'm stuck until the driver is updated for this piece of s__t hardware.

[Emad Arshad Alam]

Did you find a solution yet?

[navigaid]

I have met exactly the same problem as described here on the recently released manjaro-i3-20161201. And successfly have it fixed using this trick. Thank you!

[navigaid]

Another thing I found useful is, if you will, remove /etc/xdg/autostart/nm-applet.desktop to keep it from starting on boot and alternatively use the nmtui utility instead to connect to a wifi in terminal. I tried the method and the connection automatically reconnects when my laptop recovers from sleep, even after nmtui quit running.

[denis.peplin]

Works well, disconnection doesn't happen while I work. But after long sleep I found wifi dead. Dist-upgrade didn't help. So I've put network-manadger restart into resume script and now everything is fine.

[SDsolar]

This never happened under 14.04 LTS for me. The upgrade to 16.04 LTS is so great I'll keep it, but it keeps forgetting my WiFi password. The service is clearly running; just that it forgets the password and doesn't connect. I posted this: askubuntu.com/questions/934958/… - I don't see a product line but it does say driver=rt2800usb - I don't think altering these files are going to solve my problem.

[SaidbakR]

I think that it is a bug in Ubuntu generally from long time ago, it is not only related with 16.04.

[Ads20000]

That bug's been closed, do you know of another one that I can mark myself as affected by? :)

[SDsolar]

Maybe that bug was closed, but mine does still drop occasionally; and I never use suspend. askubuntu.com/questions/938321/…

[SDsolar]

I don't use resume but this looks promising. Thank you for posting this. Here is my question and a good answer on the issue: askubuntu.com/questions/938321/…

[nyxee]

this doesnt solve the problem on Ubuntu 16.04.3

[user1993]

My config.d folder is empty. How should I implement open or create config? I would be grateful if you could answer

[KillABug]

Hey I am trying to chceck this solution but my lshw -class network only shows product: Qualcomm Atheros and no model no. Also tried lspci but same result. Could you point how can I make it work with it? Also I checked the /etc/modprobe.d/ dir and did not find any conf file with model no. I found a file ath10k.conf, but did not have info regarding the fwlps option. Could you please throw some light on it?

[Admin]

wasn't rtl8723be the logical name too? If so, the logical should be mentioned instead of the product name, as it may apply to more cases. For example, when the product name is Centrino Wireless-N 1000 [Condor Peak] there is no way to translate that as you did.

[Admin]

@KillABug - you could try using the logical number as said here. I would also try this, as the accepted answer seems to work (if it does) mainly if not exclusively for Realtek.

[KillABug]

@cipricus You have been a great help here. After a lot of updates and upgrades probably the latest upgrade has it fixed as this hasn't occurred since last upgrade. Your responses appreciated.

[Admin]

@KillABug - The above problem and/or solution may be Realtek specific; with the Centrino device I have no problems after sleep but lose connection randomly maybe especially during downloading. Ignoring IPv6 didn't fix it.

[Admin]

@KillABug - In order to use the accepted answer in other cases than Realtek, instead of the logical name as I said above maybe we should use the name of the driver mentioned in the line configuration: ...driver: . But I doubt that would help me much, as I never have reconnection issues after sleep with my Intel Centrino adapter, but random ones during normal operation and more often during download.

[KillABug]

Yes, I haven't been facing it lately with my driver too, but I believe connectivity being such an important aspect of any machine, we should have an out of the box solution going forward. I understand community driven OS's might have issues but this is something to be addressed on priority.

[Asclepius]

How or why would this help?

[kovinet]

This solution helped me to some extent. Before it sometimes took minutes to establish WiFI connection (I had to restart network-manager few times, sometimes I had to restart computer) but after explicitly setting REGDOMAIN now it works better. But after waking computer from sleep it still sometimes fails to connect and I have to manually restart network-manager. Annoying.

[blaha]

@user1993 I had this problem too and eventually assumed they mean /etc/pm/config.d/config as in OP's question

[Peter]

Nice recipe.. Works for me on 16.04 with model: 80E8055 by Marvell Technology Group.. Thanx pal !