14.04LTS and RTL8723BE [10ec:b723] WiFi drops - only reboot fixes

**themaninthewoods** · April 30th, 2014

I have a fresh Ubuntu 14.04LTS install on a new laptop with a Realtek RTL8723BE wireless adapter in it. Initially after installation I had no wireless, but I was able to get it working after following the instructions on this thread (thanks Chili555 and hyunil227

): http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2205497 . I had to checkout an earlier version of the driver from git as the thread says in order to get it to compile on my system.

The problem is that the connection eventually is lost within an hour or so, although Network Manager still shows it as connected. The problem seems pretty random, sometimes it's during active web browsing, sometimes not. Doesn't matter if I'm plugged in to AC power or battery. If I disable and re-enable the Wi-Fi or Networking it doesn't work. The wifi just endlessly tries to connect, but it never does, just times out.

If I reboot it works fine again for a while.

I ran the wireless diagnostic script after it went down and uploaded my results here:

http://pastebin.ubuntu.com/7355768/

I've been digging for a while and haven't found anything that works. Is the driver just wonky? I haven't tried ndiswrapper, but is that something I should give a shot?

I could use some help. Thanks!

**Eklipze1229** · May 14th, 2014

Sorry for the late response, but I may have a fix. Make a file:

$ sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/rtl8723be.conf

When the terminal window opens, copy paste this in:

#Prevents the WiFi card from automatically sleeping and halting connection
options rtl8723be fwlps=0 swlps=0

Tell me how it works. The drivers for this card are horrid at best, I'm trying to find a good replacement. The above fix works for me during browsing, but I lose connection a lot during gaming. At least it's better.

**gilbertstuart** · June 22nd, 2014

I was having the same issues with the wireless, it was disconnecting after some time with no avail but to restart the system. I got my wireless card to work continously in a similar fashion as described by Eklipse1229, in summary this are the steps I followed in a terminal (minus the hashtag comments).

Eklipze1229: I'm only following directions here, so for everyone's reference: can you explain why are you using "swlps=0"? The instructions I found don't have this extra command but they work.

Code:

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic build-essential git
    # needed only if you don't have yet that package

git clonehttp://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8723be
    # needed only if you don't have yet downloaded rtl8723be

cd rtl8723be

git checkout 604aa9058fb9e5bb1cf571c99989d081f8fc8b9
 # because of older kernel issues

make clean
make
sudo make install
sudo modprobe rtl8723be

echo "options rtl8723be fwlps=0" | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/rtl8723be.conf
   # Prevents the WiFi card from automatically sleeping and halting connection

from:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...x/+bug/1320070 post # 29

related post:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...x/+bug/1240940

I'm on a clevo W740SU / Sager NP2740 / Galago UltraPro with rtl8723be wireless card Ubuntu 14.04 64bit

**LinuXXuniL** · June 30th, 2014

Many thanks Eklipze, this works like a charm on my Ideapad Z50-70. This is the only fix that worked for me.

**o0larry0o** · July 1st, 2014

Hi,
I'm running on 14.04
I had to compile the driver manualy and I set the options, but the wifi continued dropping the connection.
2 days ago I did an update with the software updater, and I had an official upgrade for the driver.
Still dropping connection ...

How can I check the version of the driver, and how can I check that it actually uses the rtl8723be.conf file ?
because at first the file did not exist and I had to create it, and I don't know but maybe the permissions are wrong for now it's : -rw-r--r-- 1 root root

thx