Realtek RTL8723BE weak wifi signal

[Jerry_Gorland]

Jinsujais, I started with Mint 17.2 (equivalent to Ubuntu 14.04) but noticed no difference. I also tried the rtlwifi_new driver and recompiled. Yes, BT 4.0 means Bluetooth. I disabled bluetooth and tried various other things recommended on various posts. No improvement.

[jinsujais]

I reverted to Windows.

Tried 14.04 with all previous solution, which didn't help to get wifi on the laptop.
Anyway, Thanks to all who spend the time for giving some tips.

Kindly inform the developers to find a solution for users having realtek RLT8723BE as the wifi adapter, in the next 16.04LTS.

[Jerry_Gorland]

Sad, indeed, but I understand. I went ahead an ordered a Panda USB adapter as recommended by Geoffrey_Arndt (http://www.amazon.com/Panda-150Mbps-.../dp/B00762YNMG) while the RTL8723be bugs are worked-out. I'll see if it works as expected. The RTL8723be is a big pain for Linux users so hopefully its drivers will get some attention by someone with skill and interest in it. I'd be interested in doing some debug work, but it's probably a huge learning curve.

[jeremy31]

Jerry_Gorland

Can you try this http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...4#post13400164

I am not sure if it will work but none of the normal fixes seem to work anymore

[Jerry_Gorland]

Thanks, Jeremy. However, no luck with that one. It remains a mystery.

[Geoffrey_Arndt]

Jerry, I am keeping a spreadsheet on wireless adaptor compatibility with various versions of the "Buntu" family.

When your Panda usb-wireless dongle arrives and you test it, I would appreciate an update here as I have't yet tested it on Xubuntu 15.10. Thanks much in advance , , , , as this would be an easy way for most folks to avoid going back to windows, and all that overhead expense at later times.

PS: I have tested it from Ubuntu 12.04 thru and including 15.04 (with full compatibility) . . . but haven't had chance to do just yet with 15.10 as that lappie is out of town just now.

[Jerry_Gorland]

I will definitely update this thread, Geoffrey. I lifted the lid on my laptop expecting to possibly replace the wi-fi card with another one I know works with Linux, but I see that an the card is an M.2 form factor PCIe card (not like the HMC "half height PCIe" card that I have). Plus, I've learned that HP whitelists specific WiFi cards in the BIOS so replacing it with a card not on the whitelist may fail at boot. However, I noticed that the laptop only has one antenna connected (the other is empty). Perhaps I should try moving the antenna over to the other connector...

SOLUTION for my particular case (HP Stream 11-r010 Cloudbook with N3050 Celeron and HP Model No. 792204-001 30x22mm M.2 Wi-Fi card): Moving the single antenna cable from one connector to the other (as shown in the attached diagram) solved the problem. This would explain why the laptop worked only when sitting right next to the Wi-Fi router: With Linux the card is configured to use the other connector compared to Windows. Now I am two floors up from my router and connected well with Xubuntu 14.04. With Xubuntu, all the hotkeys work. I tried Mint 17.2, but I was unable to adjust the display brightness. I am still going to test out the Panda Wi-Fi dongle when I get it.

[chili555]

Great information and thanks for sharing it.

I have been looking at driver parameters to try to force the driver to use one antenna or the other, but haven't found the solution...yet!

[Jerry_Gorland]

You bet. You would think that the WiFi controller would automatically switch to the antenna that has the highest power... that is the whole point of two antennas!

[chili555]

You bet. You would think that the WiFi controller would automatically switch to the antenna that has the highest power... that is the whole point of two antennas!

May I assume you tried the rtlwifi_new that I recommended above? I notice on the git page:

rtlwifi_new: Add "fix" for single-antenna RTL8723BE

If you did try it and there is no improvement, then I suggest you register and file an issue: https://github.com/lwfinger/rtlwifi_new/issues