Wifi Drop/slow conn. | MSI GF65 Thin 10ser | Intel WiFi 6 AX201 14.3 | Ubuntu 20.04.2

[JulioLT]

Hi there!

I have been struggling with wifi problems in the past 2 months. I did a fresh Kubuntu install on a brand new MSI laptop (GF65 Thin 10ser 884xes 15.6''), the `lsb_release -a` gives back:

[CODE]
▶ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS
Release:        20.04
Codename:       focal
[/CODE]

The symptoms are:

- I boot up the device, `NetworkManager` launches correctly and I can connect to my WiFi connection (both 2.4 and 5GHz, visible networks with WPA/WPA2 Personal secured)
- Randomly, webpages start to freeze or completely prevent to being loaded either with Firefox 87.0 or Chrome 89.0.4389.90. Maybe it is a new google search being loaded forever or a refresh page in Jira/Github

I have checked my router configuration and channels, which seems ok as the rest of devices and laptop can connect smoothly. Even I my previous laptop (which was another MSI), with the very same router and Wifi connections, worked perfectly well. So I end up thinking about drivers or some specific problem in the new MSI.

Some more information:

[CODE]
▶ dmesg | grep iwlwifi
[    3.354582] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
[    3.376121] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: TLV_FW_FSEQ_VERSION: FSEQ Version: 58.3.35.22
[    3.376123] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: Found debug destination: EXTERNAL_DRAM
[    3.376124] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: Found debug configuration: 0
[    3.376322] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: loaded firmware version 50.3e391d3e.0 op_mode iwlmvm
[    3.395971] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: Detected Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6 AX201 160MHz, REV=0x354
[    3.407249] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: Applying debug destination EXTERNAL_DRAM
[    3.407651] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: Allocated 0x00400000 bytes for firmware monitor.
[    3.559420] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: base HW address: 90:cc:df:f7:d2:4e
[    3.572863] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3 wlo1: renamed from wlan0
[    4.679607] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: Applying debug destination EXTERNAL_DRAM
[    4.826374] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: FW already configured (0) - re-configuring
[ 1080.953902] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: reached 10 old SN frames from f4:69:42:40:ef:ef on queue 7, stopping BA session on TID 1
[ 1341.941682] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: reached 10 old SN frames from f4:69:42:40:ef:ef on queue 8, stopping BA session on TID 1
[ 1733.836242] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: No beacon heard and the time event is over already...
[ 1760.519551] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: No beacon heard and the time event is over already...
[ 1761.498167] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: No beacon heard and the time event is over already...
[ 1844.453065] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: No beacon heard and the time event is over already...
[ 2044.202728] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: Unhandled alg: 0x707
[ 2044.259979] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: Unhandled alg: 0x707
[ 2063.668064] iwlwifi 0000:00:14.3: reached 10 old SN frames from f4:69:42:40:ef:ef on queue 8, stopping BA session on TID 0
...

[/CODE]

[CODE]
▶ lsmod | grep iwl
iwlmvm                380928  0
mac80211              847872  1 iwlmvm
iwlwifi               331776  1 iwlmvm
cfg80211              704512  3 iwlmvm,iwlwifi,mac80211

[/CODE]

[CODE]
▶ iwconfig  
wlo1      IEEE 802.11  ESSID:"XXXX"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.462 GHz  Access Point: XXX    
          Bit Rate=144.4 Mb/s   Tx-Power=22 dBm    
          Retry short limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=56/70  Signal level=-54 dBm  
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:14   Missed beacon:0

[/CODE]

[CODE]
▶ lshw -C network  
WARNING: you should run this program as super-user.
  *-network                  
       description: Wireless interface
       product: Wi-Fi 6 AX201
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 14.3
       bus info: pci@0000:00:14.3
       logical name: wlo1
       version: 00
       serial: XX
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwlwifi driverversion=5.4.0-70-generic firmware=50.3e391d3e.0 ip=192.168.1.69 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11
       resources: irq:16 memory:c5414000-c5417fff

[/CODE]

I have already tried some solutions I found on the Internet/Intel forums but with no luck at all. As you can see, I have the `power management` of the card set to off. I have also tried seting the wireless connection to hidden, fixed IPs, requiring `IPv4` for the current connection (2.4GHz) and some other more.

Of course, there is no problem if I connect through Ethernet but that solution is not possible in my actual office.

Can anyone help me with the issue?

Thank you!

Julio

[DeividA_Intel]

Hello JulioLT, 

Thank you for the update, I hope that the previous steps have worked for you. I will be waiting for the results.

Regards,  

Deivid A. 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[JulioLT]

Hi all,

still no luck. The following days I faced the same problem. Even changing both WiFi connection bands to others with less traffic or switching between them.

Traces from the `dmesg` command are attached.

[DeividA_Intel]

Hello JulioLT, 

Thanks for the response.

With the information provided, I will proceed to check further and I will post back as soon as I have any details.

Regards,  

Deivid A.  

Intel Customer Support Technician  

[DeividA_Intel]

Hello JulioLT, 

Based on the information provided I would like to confirm the following:

1. What is the failure rate of Microcode SW errors? And, do these Microcode errors occur when you are trying to Share Screen on Zoom/Google Meet/Teams?

2. Can you update to newer Intel wireless firmware 62? You can do it by upgrading to Linux Kernel 5.12, and let us know if the issue persists.

3. How many devices are being impacted by this slow/drop connection issue at your job?

Regards,  

Deivid A.  

Intel Customer Support Technician  

[JulioLT]

Hey @DeividA_Intel, 

I did check your post some days ago and I tried to upgrade again the Linux kernel to 5.12. I had no luck with that I reverted the kernel to its previous version (5.11).

1. I don't understand your question. I cannot calculate that rate at the moment. The errors, as I have described some times along the post, occur randomly. I have uploaded an example entering to `Jira` web app from Atlasian. Just browsing the Internet, some of the requests to load `js` randomly stuck and are not being processed so I got part of the webs loaded or a completely blank screen.

2. Cannot upgrade to 5.12 at the moment. I was waiting some days to try it again.

3. It's only me and this laptop. I was thinking that the Intel WiFi card is not correct from factory...

Thank you.

[DeividA_Intel]

Hello JulioLT, 

Were you able to check the previous post? Please let me know if you need more assistance.   

Regards,  

Deivid A.  

Intel Customer Support Technician  

[DeividA_Intel]

Hello JulioLT, 

Thanks for the update, 

You mentioned that you will try to update the kernel, while you are trying it I will perform some additional research and post back as soon as I have any information.

Best regards, 

Deivid A.  

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[DeividA_Intel]

Hello JulioLT, 

I would like to apologize since I could not provide you a direct/solid solution.

At this point what I can recommend you is to get in contact with MSI for further steps and keep the kernel up-to-date as we continually improving or fixing issues in a future release.

Thanks for your time.

Regards,  

Deivid A. 

Intel Customer Support Technician