Hi everyone,
I'm writing here hoping that someone can help me to fix this aberrant issue. Let me give you some information about my system before get into the issue:
LAPTOP = Asus GL503VS -> Intel I7-7700HQ + GeForce GTX 1070M
[DUAL BOOT WINDOWS + LINUX]
WIRELESS CARD = Intel Corporation Dual Band Wireless-AC 8265
NETWORK = Gigabit network (Max speed 1Gbps [capped by the ISP]) -> WiFi 5Ghz -> WPA3.
Now let me explain the issue:
Same machine, same network, same distance from the router
- Windows:
WiFi -> Download: 885 Mbps Upload: 483 Mbps - Arch Linux (Linux 6.13.1-arch2-1):
WiFi -> Download: 84 Mbps Upload: 155 Mbps
Speed tests done on speedtest.net and also speedtest-cli. Also tried fast.com and downloading a file with wget. (No differences at all)
IMPORTANT: No issues on linux using the ethernet cable which let me reach 1Gbps in download.. The problem is the WiFi. Also as shown by the speed tests above I don't have any issues on Windows or even on my android phone and other devices.
While checking the router's settings for potential causes I ran into the 802.11 mode. It was set to "802.11 a/n/ac/ax Mixed" so I did a little research about the wifi standards to brush up my knowledge about that.
As shown in the image above theoretically everything should work fine, as the mixed mode supports up to 802.11ax (which has a maximum link rate from 0.4 - 9608 Mbit/s).
I tried to change the mode from "Mixed" to "802.11ac Only" (highest available).
Magically the speed test on linux reached 678 Mbps in download and 460 Mbps in upload (though still 200 Mbps slower than Windows in Mixed mode).
But re-testing Windows, and other devices too, after this change showed reduced speeds (~680Mbps in download), matching Linux one.
ISSUE = This suggests that the wireless card (only on linux) use only the 802.11a mode when the router's setting "802.11 mode" is set on "Mixed" (802.11a as shown in the image above has a maximum link rate of 54 Mbps and in fact the download speed on linux doesn't go beyond 84Mbps). I don't understand why is not using the best one possible (802.11ax - WiFi 6). The situation changes when that setting is set on "802.11ac Only" which force the wireless card to use only 802.11ac, this improve the performance on linux but it's still not using the full power of the network.. Secondly as well as the performance get better on linux get a little worse on Windows and on other devices too which are forced to use the 802.11ac mode, without using the full power of the network.
At this point I think that the linux driver likely struggles with mixed mode 802.11. Is there a way to fix the driver to resolve this? Can we do something?
Follows a list of what I tried without success:
Disabled power management of the wireless card (as you can see below from iwconfig command)
$ cat /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/wifi-powersave-off.conf
# File to be place under /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d
[connection]
# Values are 0 (use default), 1 (ignore/don't touch), 2 (disable) or 3 (enable).
wifi.powersave = 2
Changed some params of the iwlwifi,iwlmvm and cfg80211 modules (as you can see below from the systool commands)
$ cat /etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi.conf
options iwlwifi 11n_disable=8 power_save=false power_level=0 uapsd_disable=0 swcrypto=1
options iwlmvm power_scheme=1
options cfg80211 ieee80211_regdom=IT
Also tried as options for iwlwifi disable11_ac=true, disable11_ax=true, disable11_be=true in every possible combination
Disabled PCIe Active State Power Management by adding pcie_aspm=off to kernel parameters
Tried to change router settings: Disabled 2.4Ghz (As of now I have only 5Ghz enabled), disabled 5Ghz and having only 2.4Ghz enabled (The speed was worse in this case), changed security from WPA3 to WPA2 or from WPA3 to WPA2/WPA3 also tried to disable it at all, created two separate networks for 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz (always the same nothing changed)[*/]
Tried Arch Live ISO and it was always the same (I tried also an old iso of the 2018 to see if it was a kernel problem)[*/]
Tried other distro (live) like Ubuntu, Endevaour, Zorin OS, Pop!_OS, Elementary OS (All had the same problem)
Tried to test speed on multiple websites (speedtest.net, fast.com) and also with wget
$ wget -O /dev/null --show-progress https://ash-speed.hetzner.com/10GB.binTried to remove ethernet module to see if there could be a conflict of drivers.. (command below)
Tried to remove and readd wifi module (command below)
$ sudo modprobe --verbose --remove r8169
rmmod r8169
rmmod mdio_devres
rmmod realtek
rmmod libphy
$ sudo ip link set dev wlp3s0 down
$ sudo modprobe --verbose --remove iwlmvm && sudo modprobe --verbose iwlmvm
rmmod iwlmvm
rmmod ptp
rmmod mac80211
rmmod iwlwifi
insmod /lib/modules/6.12.10-arch1-1/kernel/drivers/ptp/ptp.ko.zst
insmod /lib/modules/6.12.10-arch1-1/kernel/net/mac80211/mac80211.ko.zst
insmod /lib/modules/6.12.10-arch1-1/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/iwlwifi.ko.zst 11n_disable=8 power_save=false power_level=0 uapsd_disable=0 swcrypto=1
insmod /lib/modules/6.12.10-arch1-1/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/intel/iwlwifi/mvm/iwlmvm.ko.zst power_scheme=1
$ sudo ip link set dev wlp3s0 up
USEFUL INFO ABOUT MY SYSTEM:
$ lspci -k
03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wireless 8265 / 8275 (rev 78)
Subsystem: Intel Corporation Dual Band Wireless-AC 8265 [Windstorm Peak]
Kernel driver in use: iwlwifi
Kernel modules: iwlwifi
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 15)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. Device 208f
Kernel driver in use: r8169
Kernel modules: r8169$ sudo lshw -class network
*-network
description: Wireless interface
product: Wireless 8265 / 8275
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
logical name: wlp3s0
version: 78
serial: XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwlwifi driverversion=6.12.10-arch1-1 firmware=36.ca7b901d.0 8265-36.ucode ip=192.168.1.28 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11
resources: irq:137 memory:ec200000-ec201fff
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:04:00.0
logical name: enp4s0
version: 15
serial: 18:31:bf:1f:ed:2d
capacity: 1Gbit/s
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=6.12.10-arch1-1 firmware=rtl8168h-2_0.0.2 02/26/15 latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=twisted pair
resources: irq:19 ioport:d000(size=256) memory:ec104000-ec104fff memory:ec100000-ec103fff$ iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.
enp4s0 no wireless extensions.
wlp3s0 IEEE 802.11 ESSID:"enel-WiFi"
Mode:Managed Frequency:5.28 GHz Access Point: XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
Tx-Power=20 dBm
Retry short limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality=70/70 Signal level=-36 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:83 Missed beacon:0$ rfkill list all
0: hci0: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no$ lsmod | grep iwlwifi
iwlwifi 602112 1 iwlmvm
cfg80211 1396736 3 iwlmvm,iwlwifi,mac80211$ sudo dmesg | grep iwlwifi
[ 5.373082] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
[ 5.377250] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: Detected crf-id 0xbadcafe, cnv-id 0x10 wfpm id 0x80000000
[ 5.377436] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: PCI dev 24fd/0010, rev=0x230, rfid=0xd55555d5
[ 5.377444] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: Detected Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless AC 8265
[ 5.413416] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: loaded firmware version 36.ca7b901d.0 8265-36.ucode op_mode iwlmvm
[ 5.688826] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: base HW address: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx, OTP minor version: 0x0
[ 5.764899] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: iwlmvm doesn't allow to disable HW cryptõ, check swcrypto module parameter
[ 5.779269] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0 wlp3s0: renamed from wlan0
[ 6.579451] iwlwifi 0000:03:00.0: Registered PHC clock: iwlwifi-PTP, with index: 0$ systool -vm iwlwifi
Module = "iwlwifi"
Attributes:
coresize = "602112"
initsize = "0"
initstate = "live"
refcnt = "1"
srcversion = "561400357405AA33153380C"
taint = ""
uevent = <store method only>
Parameters:
11n_disable = "8"
amsdu_size = "0"
bt_coex_active = "Y"
debug = "0"
disable_11ac = "N"
disable_11ax = "N"
disable_11be = "N"
enable_ini = "16"
fw_restart = "Y"
led_mode = "0"
nvm_file = "(null)"
power_level = "0"
power_save = "N"
remove_when_gone = "N"
swcrypto = "1"
uapsd_disable = "0"
Sections:$ systool -vm iwlmvm
Module = "iwlmvm"
Attributes:
coresize = "757760"
initsize = "0"
initstate = "live"
refcnt = "0"
srcversion = "6D9948DCFB11B64FAEE5493"
taint = ""
uevent = <store method only>
Parameters:
power_scheme = "1"
Sections:
Thank you for reading all and for your future help
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Unfortunately yes, I tried an old kernel with an old version of the driver and got no diffs at all. For the newer version the one included in the kernel is the latest, then yes I tried an older version and the latest (current one).
By the way the link that you provided doesn't list my wireless card (8265) as supported for that type of the driver.
The latest firmware is the 36 and that's the one I have but I also tried to use older versions (21, 22, 27, 31, 34, 36). Obviously I checked (with dmsg) that the firmware was changing but also in this case no luck
I also tried to adjust other settings on the router like specifying manually a channel and other things, that I wrote in the first post, but the only one that produces an improvement on linux is using the "802.11ac Only" as mode and not the mixed one.
I don't know if can help but my router is a Zyxel DX3301-T1.
Thank you a lot again. I hope that something can be done
