Wifi regularly disconnects and short battery life

[VulpesLagopus]

Hello,

I've just started using Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS on my Alienware M14x. And I'm having some trouble.
The wifi keeps disconnecting every 5 to 15min. I've read a lot about this on the Internet, but the only solution I found didn't work for me (it was to deactivate the IPv6).
And the other problem is that my battery life is really short since I have a dual-boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu. On Ubuntu it lasts 3 hours maximum!!!

So I'm really new to all this stuff, I know I have to give you a lot more details but I just don't know what. So if someone is kind enough to help me, I'll do anything .

Thank you in advance.

[offgridguy]

Hello,

I've just started using Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS on my Alienware M14x. And I'm having some trouble.
The wifi keeps disconnecting every 5 to 15min. I've read a lot about this on the Internet, but the only solution I found didn't work for me (it was to deactivate the IPv6).
And the other problem is that my battery life is really short since I have a dual-boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu. On Ubuntu it lasts 3 hours maximum!!!

So I'm really new to all this stuff, I know I have to give you a lot more details but I just don't know what. So if someone is kind enough to help me, I'll do anything .

Thank you in advance.

I would be real happy with 3 hours of battery life. I usually never get much more than 2.

[VulpesLagopus]

Yeah I'm not really happy because before the dual-boot I had like 7 or 8 hours on Windows 7. So it is kind of a big change for me

[wildmanne39]

Hi, copy and paste this command in the terminal (ctrl+alt+t) please:

wget -N -t 5 -T 10 http://dl.dropbox.com/u/57264241/wireless_script && chmod +x wireless_script && ./wireless_script

It will download a script and create a text file in your home folder with wireless information so we can see the condition of your wireless at this time and the Mac address, WPA key and WEP key are removed for your security, then reply back and attach the netinfo.txt file.
Thanks

[VulpesLagopus]

Hi,
so I pasted your command and I think all went good, but the file was to big so I parsed it into smaller pieces with the split command on the terminal, hope that's ok.

[wildmanne39]

Hi, please do:

echo "options ath9k nohwcrypt=1" | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/ath9k.conf
sudo modprobe -rfv ath9k
sudo modprobe -v ath9k

Thanks

[idoitprone]

Hello,

I've just started using Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS on my Alienware M14x. And I'm having some trouble.
The wifi keeps disconnecting every 5 to 15min. I've read a lot about this on the Internet, but the only solution I found didn't work for me (it was to deactivate the IPv6).
And the other problem is that my battery life is really short since I have a dual-boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu. On Ubuntu it lasts 3 hours maximum!!!

So I'm really new to all this stuff, I know I have to give you a lot more details but I just don't know what. So if someone is kind enough to help me, I'll do anything .

Thank you in advance.

lspci -nnk

battery life is based on hardware

I suspect your have nvidia optimus

[Aaron Christianson]

laptop-mode-tools is the best one-stop solution for battery life. Just install it and restart, and your power usage will be significantly improved. It can also be tweaked, but the default settings are good.

Some of the programs gbrowning mentioned are also good, but some are out of date. laptop-mode-tools should be the first thing you try these days, though some of the others may be used to supplement it.

Also, turn off bluetooth when not it use.

[idoitprone]

laptop-mode-tools is the best one-stop solution for battery life. Just install it and restart, and your power usage will be significantly improved. It can also be tweaked, but the default settings are good.

Some of the programs gbrowning mentioned are also good, but some are out of date. laptop-mode-tools should be the first thing you try these days, though some of the others may be used to supplement it.

Also, turn off bluetooth when not it use.

laptop tools are not kernel drivers.
Alienware M14X is a gaming laptop which mean it will probably have nvidia optimus.

If he does have nvidia optimus, that suggest will not help much when there is a graphic chip draining all the power. I never understand laptop-tools. The user is usually not better than the kernel at optimizing power performance

[VulpesLagopus]

Idoitprone hi,

I've run your command and got the following

00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Ivy Bridge DRAM Controller [8086:0154] (rev 09)
    Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0552]
    Kernel driver in use: agpgart-intel
00:01.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Ivy Bridge PCI Express Root Port [8086:0151] (rev 09)
    Kernel driver in use: pcieport
    Kernel modules: shpchp
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Ivy Bridge Graphics Controller [8086:0166] (rev 09)
    Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0552]
    Kernel driver in use: i915
    Kernel modules: i915
00:14.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation Panther Point USB xHCI Host Controller [8086:1e31] (rev 04)
    Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0552]
    Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd
00:16.0 Communication controller [0780]: Intel Corporation Panther Point MEI Controller #1 [8086:1e3a] (rev 04)
    Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0552]
    Kernel driver in use: mei
    Kernel modules: mei
00:1a.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation Panther Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 [8086:1e2d] (rev 04)
    Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0552]
    Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation Panther Point High Definition Audio Controller [8086:1e20] (rev 04)
    Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0552]
    Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
    Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Panther Point PCI Express Root Port 1 [8086:1e10] (rev c4)
    Kernel driver in use: pcieport
    Kernel modules: shpchp
00:1c.2 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Panther Point PCI Express Root Port 3 [8086:1e14] (rev c4)
    Kernel driver in use: pcieport
    Kernel modules: shpchp
00:1c.3 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Panther Point PCI Express Root Port 4 [8086:1e16] (rev c4)
    Kernel driver in use: pcieport
    Kernel modules: shpchp
00:1d.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation Panther Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 [8086:1e26] (rev 04)
    Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0552]
    Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation Panther Point LPC Controller [8086:1e57] (rev 04)
    Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0552]
    Kernel modules: iTCO_wdt
00:1f.2 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation Panther Point 6 port SATA Controller [AHCI mode] [8086:1e03] (rev 04)
    Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0552]
    Kernel driver in use: ahci
00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation Panther Point SMBus Controller [8086:1e22] (rev 04)
    Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0552]
    Kernel modules: i2c-i801
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation Device [10de:0fd1] (rev a1)
    Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0552]
    Kernel modules: nouveau, nvidiafb
01:00.1 Audio device [0403]: NVIDIA Corporation Device [10de:0e1b] (rev ff)
    Kernel driver in use: snd_hda_intel
07:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Atheros Communications Inc. AR8151 v2.0 Gigabit Ethernet [1969:1083] (rev c0)
    Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0552]
    Kernel driver in use: atl1c
    Kernel modules: atl1c
08:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9462 Wireless Network Adapter [168c:0034] (rev 01)
    Subsystem: Bigfoot Networks, Inc. Device [1a56:2003]
    Kernel driver in use: ath9k
    Kernel modules: ath9k
09:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS5116 PCI Express Card Reader [10ec:5209] (rev 01)
    Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0552]
    Kernel driver in use: rts_pstor
    Kernel modules: rts_pstor
09:00.1 SD Host controller [0805]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS5116 PCI Express Card Reader [10ec:5209] (rev 01)
    Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:0552]
    Kernel driver in use: sdhci-pci
    Kernel modules: sdhci-pci

So I tried to read, it I don't know if it's optimus but I surely have something from Nvidia. In the case where the battery life is shorten beacause of the Nvidia optimus is there a possible solution ? And I don't understand because under Windows 7 I still have at least 6 hours when the battery is full and with Ubuntu only three.

Aaron Christianson hi,

thank you for your answer and I will certainly test your laptop-mode tools, but yesterday I installed something like this called Jupiter. Maybe yours will be better.

gbrowning hi,

Like you said it seems "a bit" complicated for a new on Linux, but i will try to figure it out. Maybe something will help me.