Low WiFi Link Rate

nick987 · January 29, 2022, 2:58am

Hi all!
I’m having an issue where my PC refuses to negotiate any linkrate higher than 54MBit/s on wifi. My hardware is:
Gigabyte X570s Aorus Master (Which uses the intel AX210 WiFi chip)
Ryzen 5 5600X
Evga RTX 2080 super
2x 1TB NVMe drives (I have EndeavourOS installed on one and windows 10 on another)
All connecting to a Ubiquiti AC PRO access point

I have tried all number of things but I can’t get any higher speeds while my phone in the same room manages to connect to the same AP at around 450MBit/s. I have also tried connecting to my phones hotspot but it’s the same. I have set 11n_disable=1, swcrypto=1, and have also tried disable_AX=1 in ‘/etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi.conf’ but none of these changes made any difference. Here is an output of ‘iw dev wlan0 link’ :

Connected to 1e:e8:29:ee:0e:f6 (on wlan0)
	SSID: *MY SSID*
	freq: 5220
	RX: 388375 bytes (1505 packets)
	TX: 243101 bytes (714 packets)
	signal: -59 dBm
	rx bitrate: 54.0 MBit/s
	tx bitrate: 54.0 MBit/s

	bss flags:	short-slot-time
	dtim period:	3
	beacon int:	100

I am currently using 5.16.3-zen kernel but the issue happens with then original and the LTS kernels as well. The AP is showing that all other devices connecting to it are all at a much higher capacity than my PC so I don’t think thats the issue. I’m relatively new to linux in general but I am savvy enough to work out most issues but this one has me stumped. My router is on the other side of the house so I can’t try ethernet to compare unfortunately. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

tbg · January 29, 2022, 4:00am

Here’s some ideas:

Have you tested disabling IPv6?

If not, you can disable IPv6 in your router settings, in Network Manager for your connection, or via a kernel boot parameter.

Is your computers BIOS up to date?

Have you restarted your router, and Is your router firmware up to date?

Your router may support the following bandwidths, 20MHz, 40MHz, 80MHz, and 160MHz. Test setting different bandwidths.

Assigning a fixed channel in your router may also help with speed and dropped connections. Try to select a channel with the least interference when setting a fixed channel. There are free Wi-Fi analyzing apps you can install on your cell phone to help determine which may be the best channel to use.

Try enabling Quality of Service (QoS) in your router settings to help improve poor speed issues.

If possible, move your computer closer to the router.

If possible, increase the TX power in the router.

Sometimes it is necessary to reset your router back to the factory default configuration to correct connectivity issues. Your current configuration can be backed up to a file in case you may wish to restore your current settings. Often users think this is all unnecessary because their other devices work fine with their router. This is not always the case as a single device may experience issues with your router that others do not. Sometimes a factory reset is the only method that helps to correct this.

Some other adjustments you could try:

Lower the MTU (Maximum Transmission Unit) from 1500 to 1492
Lower the beacon interval from 100 to 50
Lower the fragmentation threshold from 2346 to 2306
Lower the RTS threshold from 2347 to 2304

Install and test different kernels, running speed tests on each.

Install and test the newest firmware available for your adapter.

sudo pacman -Syu linux-firmware-git

Or:

sudo pacman -Syu linux-firmware-iwlwifi-git

Try changing nameservers in your /etc/resolv.conf file

Use rfkill to temporarily disable bluetooth.

Try disabling wifi power saving.

That should give you something to do for a bit.

nick987 · January 29, 2022, 1:43pm

Thanks for the suggestions!

Have you tested disabling IPv6?

Yes, IPv6 is disabled

Is your computers BIOS up to date?

Yes

Have you restarted your router, and Is your router firmware up to date?

Yes

Your router may support the following bandwidths, 20MHz, 40MHz, 80MHz, and 160MHz. Test setting different bandwidths.

My AP allows for 40 and 80mhz on 5ghz with no luck. 20 and 40mhz on 2.4ghz doesn’t change anything either.

Assigning a fixed channel in your router may also help with speed and dropped connections.

All channels around me are free but I’ve tried channels 44, 112, and 136 to no avail.

Try enabling Quality of Service (QoS) in your router settings to help improve poor speed issues.

The internet speed isn’t so much the issue as its lower than 54mbits anyway, It’s more for when I’m trying to backup to my NAS or sending files between my PC and laptop over the LAN

If possible, move your computer closer to the router.

My PC is about 12m from my AP with only 1 gyprock wall in between so I don’t think thats the issue. -59dbm should be plenty strong enough for a good signal anyways.

If possible, increase the TX power in the router.

It’s already set to 22dbm which is the max for Australia on 5ghz

Sometimes it is necessary to reset your router back to the factory default configuration to correct connectivity issues.

I haven’t factory defaulted my router but I have reset my AP and that did not help.

Some other adjustments you could try:
Lower the MTU (Maximum Transmission Unit) from 1500 to 1492
Lower the beacon interval from 100 to 50
Lower the fragmentation threshold from 2346 to 2306
Lower the RTS threshold from 2347 to 2304

These did not help.

Install and test different kernels, running speed tests on each.

As mentioned in the post, I’ve tried the regular kernel, zen kernel, and LTS kernel with no luck.

Install and test the newest firmware available for your adapter.

I couldn’t find these in the official repository nor the AUR but I do have the latest linux-firmware from the official repo installed.

Try changing nameservers in your /etc/resolv.conf file

I’ve got my routers IP address as well as 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 in there.

Use rfkill to temporarily disable bluetooth.

No luck there

Try disabling wifi power saving.

Again, no change

Thanks again for the suggestions, they definitely kept me busy but unfortunately still no luck with it.

tbg · January 29, 2022, 7:05pm

I would highly suggest testing the linux-mainline kernel as well as linux-firmware-iwlwifi-git to get the newest improvements coming down the pipeline.

There have been many bugs reported in the last year with both the AX200 and AX210 Intel cards. I would suggest searching both model numbers on the Arch Linux forum. I would try any fixes that seemed promising for either of these adapters posted on the Arch forum as both models are very similar. I seem to recall disabling TSO was found to be a fix recently on the AX200, so that might be worth testing on the AX210.

There’s still a fair bit of problems with these cards because of their relative newness, but they are getting better. Hopefully, a fix is coming down the pipe to correct your issue soon.

nick987 · January 30, 2022, 11:34pm

Thanks for your help. I’ll try the mainline Kernel tonight and see if that fixes things. Unfortunately nothing I’ve found this far has helped but I will keep searching!

tbg · January 31, 2022, 12:03am

One thing I forgot to suggest on the router front was to eliminate one of either 2.4 or 5 GHz connections entirely as a troubleshooting step.

Sometimes having only one band available can correct connectivity issues. Not great as a solution, but it can help narrow down a cause of your problem.

nick987 · February 4, 2022, 7:35am

Sorry for the late reply. This is the first chance I’ve had to load up the kernel and unfortunately still no luck. I tried splitting up the 2.4 and 5ghz bands on the access point as well as disabling each one at a time but of course no go.

nick987 · February 5, 2022, 11:21am

I seem to recall disabling TSO was found to be a fix recently on the AX200, so that might be worth testing on the AX210.

I somehow managed to miss this part of the post and lo and behold, we have a fix! I’m not quite sure what exactly TSO is but disabling it fixed my issue and I am now connecting at 650mbits! Thankyou so much!

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=262111 was where I found the issue mentioned.

tbg · February 5, 2022, 2:07pm

TSO & GSO often interfere with proper network adapter operation (more so with Ethernet). It is always worth disabling either or both just in case that is a factor.

Glad to hear that helped.

system · February 7, 2022, 2:07pm

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