topic wifi adapter getting too cold? in Wireless

wifi adapter getting too cold?

Haas__Nicholas — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 17:55:58 GMT

Greetings,

Two laptops with internal Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 8265 wifi adapters (reports as `Intel 8265 / 8275 rev 78` in `lspci`) experienced disconnects. Troubleshooting revealed `iwlwifi` reporting microcode level crashes (`Microcode SW error detected. Restarting`) in Ubuntu 18.04. We are considering environmental issues...

They were outside and running most of the day and experienced gradual warming (in the AM) and gradual cooling (in the PM). When it started getting around 5C outside in the evening, the above errors started appearing. The laptop's OEM doesn't publish (or at least we couldn't locate it) the ambient/environmental temperature range this laptop model supports, so we contacted them, given these are the stock wifi adapters. Unfortunately, there was confusion since they thought we were asking about the temperature ranges experienced by the CPU...

So, my question to the community is, would said gradual cooling off result in crashes at the microcode level? We aren't sure what to expect (symptom wise) as we approach the lower threshold the adapter can tolerate. It would appear this adapter, based on Intel's specifications, can handle 0C, but that goes out the window when an OEM encapsulates it inside their product. The user reported the laptop being nearly unbearably cold to the touch when the issues manifested.

Re: wifi adapter getting too cold?

n_scott_pearson — Thu, 14 Jan 2021 00:37:14 GMT

Have you been reading the Wireless and Bluetooth problem reports being filed here? Your issues appear to be very similar to the issues being reported by literally hundreds of Windows users. I rather doubt that environmental factors have anything to do with this. I am starting to believe that there are systemic driver and firmware issues that are responsible.

Just saying,

...S

Re: wifi adapter getting too cold?

Haas__Nicholas — Thu, 14 Jan 2021 12:17:19 GMT

We have ran into our share of wifi adapter driver/microcode bugs, we are mulling forking the open-source drivers to fix some of the issues impacting us...

But, I think this is environmental because both laptops functioned fine all morning/afternoon, then both started experiencing this at around the same time when it started getting really cold outside.

Re: wifi adapter getting too cold?

n_scott_pearson — Fri, 15 Jan 2021 00:52:30 GMT

It may be; time will tell. I still think that it is a coincidence and buggy drivers/firmware is responsible. My pessimism get stronger with each new report that I see here and each crappy connection that I see (even with AX routers). Intel Customer Support should definitely report/investigate this temperature issue regardless.

...S

Re:wifi adapter getting too cold?

Maria_R_Intel — Mon, 18 Jan 2021 18:26:58 GMT

Hello Haas__Nicholas,

Thank you for posting on the Intel* Community.

To better assist you, and check this behavior, we will need more system information:

By any chance, do you have any systems with a different OS installed experiencing this same behavior? (For example Windows)
Are the wireless cards an integration you made to your system or they originally came with the laptops?

Please provide the SSU report of each system: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/26735/Intel-System-Support-Utility-for-the-Linux-Operating-System

Best regards,

Maria R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

Re:wifi adapter getting too cold?

Maria_R_Intel — Fri, 22 Jan 2021 03:22:18 GMT

Hello Haas__Nicholas,

Were you able to check the previous post?

Let me know if you need more assistance.

Best regards,

Maria R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

Re:wifi adapter getting too cold?

Maria_R_Intel — Tue, 26 Jan 2021 22:16:41 GMT

Hello Haas__Nicholas,

We have not heard back from you, so we will close this thread. If you need any additional information, please submit a new question as this thread will no longer be monitored.

Best regards,

Maria R.

Intel Customer Support Technician