Slow WIFI speeds when booted with Linux, but not with Windows using AX210 and AC 7260 WIFI Cards

[JG1900]

Hello,

I want to bring to your attention an issue that I am seeing with two different computers with two different Intel WIFI cards having very slow WIFI speeds when booted with Linux, but not with Windows.

PC #1:

Dell Inspiron 5521 with Intel I7 CPU, 8GB RAM and Intel AC-7260 WIFI card. This computer is configured as a Windows 10/Linux Mint Cinnamon 22.2 dual-boot. This computer had an Intel N 2230 card originally, and I upgraded it to the AC-7260 about a month ago because I wanted 5Ghz capability with my upgraded ISP gateway. When I booted this PC in Windows 10 in WIFI mode, the AC-7260 card was not detected. I went to Intel's website to download the drivers, and found out that since this card is discontinued, Intel would not provide the old drivers anymore. Luckily I was able to find a private individual that archived the latest version at the time of non-support, so I installed them and the card performs perfectly, giving me the full 175 Mbps upload/download performance of my ISP plan. But when I booted into Linux, the UL/DL speeds are between 20 and 40Mbps at best.

PC #2:

Dell Optiplex 7000 with Intel 12th Gen Core i5-12500 × 6 CPU, 16GB RAM and Intel AX210 WIFI card. This computer is configured as a Windows 11/Linux Mint Cinnamon 22.2 dual-boot. This computer was shipped from Dell with a MediaTek MT7921 card and I upgraded it to the AX210 about a month ago due to the 7921 having very slow WIFI speeds when booted in Linux. When this PC is booted in Windows 11 in WIFI mode, the AX210 card performs perfectly, giving me the full 175 Mbps upload/download performance of my ISP plan. When booted into Linux, the UL/DL speeds are between 20 and 40Mbps at best.

Troubleshooting Steps:

For several weeks I searched the Internet for recommended fixes to increase the speed for Linux for both cards, and found that slow WIFI speed is a very common issue with both of them when using Linux. The suggested fixes were:

Change Powersave from 3 to 2.
Disable IPV6
Disable Bluetooth Coexistance
Set Reg Domain Country Code to US
Disable Fast Start or Fast Boot in Windows
Set power mode to maximum performance in Windows and Linux
.
.
.
iwlwifi 11n_disable=8

ALL of the recommendations that I tried made no improvement at all in speed, EXCEPT for the last item, and for PC #1 only. Specifically, after PC #1 was booted in Linux, I would open a terminal and enter the following two commands:

sudo modprobe -r iwlwifi
sudo modprobe iwlwifi 11n_disable=8

These two commands restored full 175Mbps upload and download. I ran a ping test for 24 hours and there no issues at all. I was so happy to have this PC at full speed, and I immediately entered these commands into PC #2.

To my dismay, these commands had no effect at all. Still very slow speeds. I tried all of the other fixes that didn't work for PC #1 and they didn't work for PC #2 either.

Findings:

I think the reason PC #1 responds and PC #2 doesn't is based on the firmware file that loads on each PC. PC #1 is using kernel 6.8.0-111 which loads FW file ty-a0-gf-a0-86.ucode. PC #2 is using kernel 6.17.0-23 which loads FW file ty-a0-gf-a0-89.ucode. When I installed kernel 6.8.0-111 on PC #2 (loads FW file ty-a0-gf-a0-86.ucode) and entered the two commands above, this card (AX210) is now at full WIFI speeds, and no issues with the 24 hour ping test.

To confirm this theory, I changed the kernel on PC #1 from 6.8.0-111 to 6.17.0-23 and now the AC-7260 will not respond to the two commands above. I looked at the FW file that it loaded and it is ty-a0-gf-a0-89.ucode which makes sense.

I think it is interesting that when I boot with kernel 6.8.0-111 and look in the /lib/firmware folder, FW file ty-a0-gf-a0-89 is present in this folder but is not loaded.

I looked on the Internet trying to find out how to force the 6.17.0-23 kernel to load the ty-a0-gf-a0-86.ucode file but couldn't find anything. Although I have used Linux for over 15 years I still do not know how much of it works under the hood.

So I have both PC's set to use kernel 6.8.0-111 and created a script that executes on boot to set the cards to high speed. So I am good for now and until April 2029 at which time this kernel will be unsupported. I wish that Intel would implement this setting as a default. Since I use Linux 99% of the time and only use Windows when there is no other option, it is critical to me to resolve this issue.

Since Ubuntu recently released version 7.0.0-14-generic kernel, I launched Ubuntu 26.04 using a live USB image and confirmed that ty-a0-gf-a0-89 is still being loaded with this kernel for this card, and the WIFI speed was slow.

Questions:

1. Is there a reason that FW file ty-a0-gf-a0-89.ucode doesn't respond to the iwlwifi 11n_disable=8 command?

2. Is there an equivalent command for this FW version that I should be using instead of the iwlwifi 11n_disable=8 command?

3. Is there a different reason that the AX210 card cannot perform at full speed without the use of the iwlwifi 11n_disable=8 command?

4. If the fault is caused by the ty-a0-gf-a0-89.ucode file, what would be the ETA when a fix could be pushed out to the Linux community?

I didn't want to post a bunch of log file dumps at this time, I just wanted to start a dialog and see where it goes from here. I can post command outputs later if requested.

Looking forward to your responses.

Thank you for your time.

[NathanielN_Intel]

Hello JG1900,

Thank you for posting in the Intel Community. I appreciate the effort you’ve taken to thoroughly document your troubleshooting steps and to describe the Wi‑Fi performance issues you’re experiencing across your systems using Intel wireless adapters under Linux.

First, I would like to note that we generally do not recommend installing or upgrading to different Intel wireless adapters on systems originally configured with a specific adapter. Changing to a different adapter model, especially one tied to different wireless software can lead to compatibility issues, including connection instability or software errors. These limitations are often defined by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM).

Additionally, please be advised that we no longer provide interactive support for the Intel Dual Band Wireless‑AC 7260 due to its age. However, I can assist you regarding the Intel Wi‑Fi 6E AX210. Regarding your concern, please note that Linux drivers are part of the upstream Linux* kernel. They're available through the regular channels, distributions, or the Linux* kernel archives.

We support use of the drivers only with the specific kernel version in which they were originally included. Since you are currently running on kernel version 6.17.0, you may consider updating to the stable version 6.19.14 and get the latest wireless firmware iwlwifi-ty-a0-gf-a0-89.

If the issue persists after updating, could you please confirm whether you are able to reproduce the problem using other Linux distributions or the latest releases of those distributions?

I'll be waiting for to your update.

Best regards,

Nathaniel N

Intel Customer Support Technician