Network becoming unresponsive after a few minutes - Asus PCE-AC66, ndiswrapper, 12.04

[ovymoont]

Hi,

I've got the AsusPCE-AC66 wireless adapter on my desktop PC and I'm getting some really strange behaviour.

There are no Linux drivers available for this card from Asus so I'm using the WinXP drivers (6.30.77.0) with ndiswrapper (1.58) compiled from source and everything seems to be working fine - almost.

I've set the kernel module to load automatically, so when I boot into Ubuntu it connects straight away and it works absolutely fine for while, but then the network suddenly become unresponsive - it stays connected but there is no data transfer.

If I just unload and then reload the ndiswrapper kernel module (see code below) it starts working again for a while and then it stops again, and so on...

sudo modprobe -r ndiswrapper
sudo depmod -a
sudo modprobe ndiswrapper

However, I've noticed that sometimes it works for hours and sometimes it becomes unresponsive after a very short time, and it seems to be directly related to how much data I download. For example, if I just check my e-mail, browse a few basic sites (i.e. no streaming, low data requirement), etc. it keeps working for hours. But if I start downloading something it stops really quickly, after a few MBytes. But in both circumstances it seems to stop after I download roughly the same amount of data. It's almost like there's a data buffer of some sort which gets filled, and when that happens it stops working.

Anyone any ideas as to what might be causing this problem and how it could possibly befixed?

[ovymoont]

Sorry about the bump...

[chili555]

Are there any clues in the syslogs run immeadiately after an incident?

cat /var/log/syslog | grep -e ndis -e etwork | tail -n25

Have you seen this? http://askubuntu.com/questions/31595...-asus-pce-ac66

I'm not sure what package we might install for 12.04.

[ovymoont]

Hey, thanks for your response.

I've had a look through the other thread that you pointed out and after some research I found out that the latest bcmwl-kernel-source package (i.e. bcmwl-kernel-source_6.30.223.30+bdcom-0ubuntu3_amd64.deb) does have support for the Asus PCE-AC66 (i.e. chipset Broadcom BCM4360, PCI-ID 14e4:43a0), even if somewhat incomplete (it only connects at 130 Mbps, whereas with ndiswrapper and the WinXP driver it went up to 270 Mbps). The catch is that this package will be part of the upcoming Saucy release (i.e. Ubuntu 13.10) so for now it needs to be installed manually in Precise (i.e. Ubuntu 12.04).

Once I get some time I'll write a separate thread to explain how to install this package and get this network card working. But for now, for those who are more knowledgeable and know what to do with it, the relevant deb file can be downloaded from here:

Download page: https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/saucy/a...bdcom-0ubuntu3
Download deb: http://launchpadlibrarian.net/143917...ntu3_amd64.deb

[artscoop]

I seem to have the exact same problem but with an Hercules HWNUp150 USB Wifi adapter (Realtek RTL8188CUS/8192CU).
The wifi dies on me sometimes after a few seconds of wlan0 inactivity, and it does not matter if I use ndiswrapper or the kernel driver, the behaviour is the same. Unplugging and plugging the adapter again restores the connection, which dies again a few minutes later (network manager thinks the connection is still active, yet transfers nothing, not even in the LAN environment).

I've found that opening a terminal and pinging (with an interval of 5 seconds, for example) any machine, preferably one in the local network, allowed me to stay connected endlessly. Stop the ping and the connection dies quickly (less than 10 minutes).
Absolutely no answer could be found on the internet, yet it seems to be a very frequent problem.

@ovymoont, if ever you happen to find a solution or if your issue gets solved, don't forget to tell us

[chili555]

Once I get some time I'll write a separate thread to explain how to install this package and get this network card working. But for now, for those who are more knowledgeable and know what to do with it, the relevant deb file can be downloaded from here:

Download page: https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/saucy/a...bdcom-0ubuntu3
Download deb: http://launchpadlibrarian.net/143917...ntu3_amd64.deb

It should be as easy as downloading the package appropriate to your architecture; either 32- or 64-bit, to your desktop and then:

sudo dpkg -i Desktop/bcmwl*.deb

The process is a little lengthy to execute, so please be patient.

I don't currently have a 12.04 installation so I can't test it and tell you it works as expected. I have tested it in 13.04 and it installs without any problem, although I don't have the Broadcom device so I can test no further.

Frankly, if it's working as expected for you with ndiswrapper, I'd be happy and stop there.

chili@Think410:~$ lsb_release -d
Description:	Ubuntu 13.04
chili@Think410:~$ sudo dpkg -s bcmwl-kernel-source | grep Version
Version: 6.30.223.30+bdcom-0ubuntu3

[chili555]

I seem to have the exact same problem but with an Hercules HWNUp150 USB Wifi adapter (Realtek RTL8188CUS/8192CU).
The wifi dies on me sometimes after a few seconds of wlan0 inactivity, and it does not matter if I use ndiswrapper or the kernel driver, the behaviour is the same. Unplugging and plugging the adapter again restores the connection, which dies again a few minutes later (network manager thinks the connection is still active, yet transfers nothing, not even in the LAN environment).

I've found that opening a terminal and pinging (with an interval of 5 seconds, for example) any machine, preferably one in the local network, allowed me to stay connected endlessly. Stop the ping and the connection dies quickly (less than 10 minutes).
Absolutely no answer could be found on the internet, yet it seems to be a very frequent problem.

@ovymoont, if ever you happen to find a solution or if your issue gets solved, don't forget to tell us

This doesn't relate at all to the subject of the original post. You haven't the same Broadcom device, nor, I don't believe, need to use ndiswrapper. I suggest you start your own new thread. I suspect your issue is either related to power management or probe response from the router. Check /var/log/syslog and Google.

[ovymoont]

Frankly, if it's working as expected for you with ndiswrapper, I'd be happy and stop there.

Well, that's exactly the point, it wasn't working as expected with ndiswrapper, that's why i started this thread...
Anyway, thanks for your help.

[chili555]

So, are you going to try the .deb?

[ovymoont]

So, are you going to try the .deb?

Huh? What do you mean am I going to try the deb???

I've already got rid of ndiswrapper and installed the deb and it works absolutely fine! Otherwise I wouldn't have made so much fuss about it.

The only thing, which for me is not a relevant issue anyway, is that with this deb driver the wireless only connects at 130 Mbps whereas with ndiswrapper and the WinXP driver it connects at 270Mbps and so does in Windows 7. But now at least the connection is stable and it doesn't freeze anymore.