[ltp] T400 slow wifi connections

Joerg Mayer linux-thinkpad@linux-thinkpad.org
Tue, 17 Sep 2013 07:20:17 +0200


On Mon, Sep 16, 2013 at 04:28:23PM +0100, Paul Marwick wrote:
> >>The wifi card in the T400 is Intel PRO/Wireless 5100 AGN [Shiloh]
> >>Network Connection.
> >So the Windows througput should be very close to the therorectical
> >receive maximum for the 5100. Maximum transmit should be half that.
> 
> That was one of the things that struck me - it looks as though my
> connect speeds are around half the maximum.

That's not what I wanted to say: If I read the specs correctly, the
card has a theorectial max write speed that is half of its theorectial
max read speed (1 transmit stream but 2 receive streams).

> >Can you please post the output of the following commands:
> >
> >iw reg get
> 
> country GB: DFS-UNSET
> (2402 - 2482 @ 40), (N/A, 20)
> (5170 - 5250 @ 40), (N/A, 20)
> (5250 - 5330 @ 40), (N/A, 20), DFS
> (5490 - 5710 @ 40), (N/A, 27), DFS
> (57240 - 65880 @ 2160), (N/A, 40), NO-OUTDOOR
> 
> >iw dev wlan0 info
> 
> Interface wlan0
> ifindex 3
> wdev 0x1
> addr 00:1e:65:19:f9:be
> ssid ASUS_5G
> type managed
> wiphy 0
> channel 36 (5180 MHz), width: 40 MHz, center1: 5190 MHz

OK, so linux is using 40 MHz channels - I had expected to see only 20 MHz channels
here. There goes my main suspect.

> >iw dev wlan0 scan -u (only paste the data for your SSID)
> 
> BSS 10:bf:48:3c:df:b0(on wlan0) -- associated
>     TSF: 2266987624311 usec (26d, 05:43:07)
>     freq: 5180
>     beacon interval: 100 TUs
>     capability: ESS Privacy (0x0011)
>     signal: -35.00 dBm
>     last seen: 93 ms ago
>     Information elements from Probe Response frame:
>     SSID: ASUS_5G
>     Supported rates: 6.0* 9.0 12.0* 18.0 24.0* 36.0 48.0 54.0
>     DS Parameter set: channel 36
>     Unknown IE (60): 01 16 24 00
>     HT capabilities:
>         Capabilities: 0x1ee
>             HT20/HT40
>             SM Power Save disabled
>             RX HT20 SGI
>             RX HT40 SGI
>             TX STBC
>             RX STBC 1-stream
>             Max AMSDU length: 3839 bytes
>             No DSSS/CCK HT40
>         Maximum RX AMPDU length 65535 bytes (exponent: 0x003)
>         Minimum RX AMPDU time spacing: 4 usec (0x05)
>         HT RX MCS rate indexes supported: 0-23, 32
>         HT TX MCS rate indexes are undefined
>     HT operation:
>          * primary channel: 36
>          * secondary channel offset: above
>          * STA channel width: any
>          * RIFS: 0
>          * HT protection: no
>          * non-GF present: 0
>          * OBSS non-GF present: 0
>          * dual beacon: 0
>          * dual CTS protection: 0
>          * STBC beacon: 0
>          * L-SIG TXOP Prot: 0
>          * PCO active: 0
>          * PCO phase: 0
>     Secondary Channel Offset: no secondary (0)
>     RSN:     * Version: 1
>          * Group cipher: CCMP
>          * Pairwise ciphers: CCMP
>          * Authentication suites: PSK
>          * Capabilities: (0x0000)
>     WMM:     * Parameter version 1
>          * BE: CW 15-1023, AIFSN 3
>          * BK: CW 15-1023, AIFSN 7
>          * VI: CW 7-15, AIFSN 2, TXOP 3008 usec
>          * VO: CW 3-7, AIFSN 2, TXOP 1504 usec
>     BSS Load:
>          * station count: 0
>          * channel utilisation: 1/255
>          * available admission capacity: 31250 [*32us]
>     Vendor specific: OUI 00:0c:43, data: 07 00 00 00
>     Country: GB    Environment: Indoor/Outdoor
>         Channels [36 - 48] @ 16 dBm
> 

Remaining ideas: On a (more or less freshly booted and associated system)
do:

dmesg | grep -E -i 'iwl|80211|wlan0'
to see the kernel messages about the wifi setup and association, maybe there
is something in there that catches the eye.

find /etc -iname *"iwl*"
To see whether there are any modprobe parameters that disable some things.
If that doesn't help, you'll probably have to look for support:
http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Support

Ciao
     Jörg
-- 
Joerg Mayer                                           <jmayer@loplof.de>
We are stuck with technology when what we really want is just stuff that
works. Some say that should read Microsoft instead of technology.