From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.misc
On 2026-09-19, c186282 wrote:
On 9/18/26 23:55, c186282 wrote:
On 9/18/26 05:18, Andy Burns wrote:
c186282 wrote:
-a-a This didn't happen with the built-in wifi, but
-a-a DOES with the USB wifi dongle.
Sounds as though it'd be easy to try a different 'flavour' of
dongle? Depends how much you value your time, not much fun tracking
down an issue you can only test once or twice an hour...
-a I do have another one somewhere, but it's a very
-a short dongle and may not yield the same signal
-a quality. I remember it's not rated as fast.
-a Dunno WHICH little box I stashed it in alas :-)
-a Might be worth a try, experimentally, however.
-a Anyway, I'm fair at reading logs/journals and
-a just cannot find a reason for my problem. Power
-a save settings are off. Static IP, Google DNS,
-a no stupid pet tricks. The connection just DROPS
-a for about one second, nearly exactly every 30
-a minutes. Nothing obvious in the router settings
-a and my other devices do not do this. The distro
-a is MX ... which does come with a sysV AND systemd
-a version. Latest updates. Tried both.
Had TWO dongles ...
One was a "Tendra" - did NOT register at all, likely
needs some exotic driver. Only AC900 anyway.
The other was a little TP-Link ... same brand as the
problem one. AC1300. SO FAR it seems to be holding.
Not ideal, direct path to wifi router kinda blocked,
but we'll see.
Ordered a NetGear ... can't even keep track of all
the speed/etc ratings these days anymore. Probably
fast and good. DOES have a short extension cable
so with a little Alien Tape I can get it to peek
out from behind the TV.
These strongly look like marketing brands, you want the brand of the
*WLAN controller*. Marketing brands are almost useless when it comes to
harware questions, although they can still identify changes made in the
circuit fabricated for that branding.
Also, when you order or go shopping for a new one, the chip itself is
something you definitely want to identify beforehand. Might be
difficult, but do take that step, and maybe consider just refusing
something you can't identify, if you have alternatives that are
known-good.
And if you want less headaches, you'll look for something that carries
e.g. Atheros. You treat something with the letters "BCM" as if it were a metallic tube container with "DROP & RUN" etched on it.
And even inside the WLAN NIC manufacturer reputation, you'd still check
for specifics of the model you're about to buy, to see if there's some
caveat. (For example (although this one is probably too old to affect
new acquisitions?), maybe Intel isn't bad at all overall, but you'd
still avoid ipw2200 because of its power management issues.)
We shall see. Stay tuned.
Remember when WiFi was kinda cookie-cutter ? NOW,
just SO many protocols/options. Is this an
"improvement" ???
The only reason I wasn't so badly served in earlier years is because my
first WLAN card happened to be one that has Atheros. The box even said
so, even though back then I had no idea how lucky that was.
Oops ! JUST dropped out ... but no message. MIGHT
have been PlutoTV instead of the dongle. It's
always a bit 'iffy'. Basically commercial TV over
the net ... good content selection though.
Oops ! NOW got "the message" ... NO better than
the other dongle ! Will have to wait for the
NetGear and hope for better.
A very mysterious problem for which all the logs
teach pretty much NOTHING. Could even be the USB
buss cycling for some reason ... but can't fathom
the reason. Anyway, NOT gonna throw away the whole
mini-box JUST because the internal WiFi chip crapped.
New mini-boxes are now two or three times the price
due to the trade wars and dearth of memory chips.
"AI" has sucked up ALL the memory in the world ...
Honestly, dropping connections while the power listed is strong enough
for that not to happen, and networks disappearing then reappearing with
strong enough signal and connection instability in general, while it can
have other reasons, can also be a sign of Broadcom.
--
Nuno Silva
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