Weak Signal and slow tx Rate with RTL8723AE

Weak Signal and slow tx Rate with RTL8723AE

[David Pinilla Caparrós]

Hello,

I have mailed with Larry Finger asking for a problem and he has
pointed me to this list.

I am an Arch Linux User with a Clevo based laptop.

It ships with the RTL8723AE. I have been reading posts around the net
and found that some people are having problems and talking about the
driver and something about the RX or TX Power.


With the 2 APs wich I usually use I can only reach 18Mb/s of Bit rate
whatever the signal level or link quality is. Both of them are 802.11
G and not N I think.

The connection is very unstable. Sometimes powering the wifi off and
on increases the performance a bit when it's impossible to do anything
(pings to gateway don't reply)

If they are related to the driver, I would be proud to help with
anything that I am able to. Testing for example.

I have a recent version of the stable Kernel but I dont know if the
firmware files are up to date.



Some data:

03:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8723AE
PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
    Subsystem: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device 0726
    Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
    I/O ports at d000 [size=256]
    Memory at f7900000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
    Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
    Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
    Capabilities: [70] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
    Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
    Capabilities: [140] Virtual Channel
    Capabilities: [160] Device Serial Number 01-23-87-fe-ff-4c-e0-00
    Kernel driver in use: rtl8723ae
    Kernel modules: rtl8723ae

 root  ~  dmesg | grep rtl
[    2.734124] rtl8723ae 0000:03:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0003)
[    2.749732] rtl8723ae: Using firmware rtlwifi/rtl8723fw_B.bin
[    2.752940] ieee80211 phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'rtl_rc'
[    2.753057] rtlwifi: wireless switch is on
[ 8838.570486] rtlwifi: wireless switch is o


 root  ~  uname -a
Linux DPini-Laptop 3.12.2-1-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Fri Nov 29 21:14:15
CET 2013 x86_64 GNU/Linux


Iwconfig:

wlp3s0    IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:"Pinis_AP"
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.462 GHz  Access Point: 00:1A:2B:12:34:56
          Bit Rate=18 Mb/s   Tx-Power=20 dBm
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr=2347 B   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=50/70  Signal level=-60 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:9   Missed beacon:0

 root  ~  rfkill list
0: phy0: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no
1: hci0: Bluetooth
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no

 root  ⋯  lib  firmware  rtlwifi  md5sum rtl8723fw*
ce50dfe07dbb1bfe9e14bdb315a4b28a  rtl8723fw_B.bin
69ccaffbe94cc0ef1b89c25290e19b2e  rtl8723fw.bin



Thank you for all, and sorry for my English.

Best regards,
David

Re: Weak Signal and slow tx Rate with RTL8723AE

[Larry Finger]

On 12/04/2013 03:40 PM, David Pinilla Caparrós wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I have mailed with Larry Finger asking for a problem and he has
> pointed me to this list.
>
> I am an Arch Linux User with a Clevo based laptop.
>
> It ships with the RTL8723AE. I have been reading posts around the net
> and found that some people are having problems and talking about the
> driver and something about the RX or TX Power.
>
>
> With the 2 APs wich I usually use I can only reach 18Mb/s of Bit rate
> whatever the signal level or link quality is. Both of them are 802.11
> G and not N I think.
>
> The connection is very unstable. Sometimes powering the wifi off and
> on increases the performance a bit when it's impossible to do anything
> (pings to gateway don't reply)
>
> If they are related to the driver, I would be proud to help with
> anything that I am able to. Testing for example.
>
> I have a recent version of the stable Kernel but I dont know if the
> firmware files are up to date.
>
>
>
> Some data:
>
> 03:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8723AE
> PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
>      Subsystem: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device 0726
>      Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
>      I/O ports at d000 [size=256]
>      Memory at f7900000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
>      Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
>      Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
>      Capabilities: [70] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
>      Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
>      Capabilities: [140] Virtual Channel
>      Capabilities: [160] Device Serial Number 01-23-87-fe-ff-4c-e0-00
>      Kernel driver in use: rtl8723ae
>      Kernel modules: rtl8723ae
>
>   root  ~  dmesg | grep rtl
> [    2.734124] rtl8723ae 0000:03:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0003)
> [    2.749732] rtl8723ae: Using firmware rtlwifi/rtl8723fw_B.bin
> [    2.752940] ieee80211 phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'rtl_rc'
> [    2.753057] rtlwifi: wireless switch is on
> [ 8838.570486] rtlwifi: wireless switch is o
>
>
>   root  ~  uname -a
> Linux DPini-Laptop 3.12.2-1-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Fri Nov 29 21:14:15
> CET 2013 x86_64 GNU/Linux
>
>
> Iwconfig:
>
> wlp3s0    IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:"Pinis_AP"
>            Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.462 GHz  Access Point: 00:1A:2B:12:34:56
>            Bit Rate=18 Mb/s   Tx-Power=20 dBm
>            Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr=2347 B   Fragment thr:off
>            Encryption key:off
>            Power Management:off
>            Link Quality=50/70  Signal level=-60 dBm
>            Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
>            Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:9   Missed beacon:0
>
>   root  ~  rfkill list
> 0: phy0: Wireless LAN
>      Soft blocked: no
>      Hard blocked: no
> 1: hci0: Bluetooth
>      Soft blocked: no
>      Hard blocked: no
>
>   root  ⋯  lib  firmware  rtlwifi  md5sum rtl8723fw*
> ce50dfe07dbb1bfe9e14bdb315a4b28a  rtl8723fw_B.bin
> 69ccaffbe94cc0ef1b89c25290e19b2e  rtl8723fw.bin

Those md5sums match those of the latest firmware.

Your signal is a bit lower than mine. My iwconfig shows

wlp14s0   IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:"NETGEAR81"
           Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.437 GHz  Access Point: 20:E5:2A:01:F7:EA
           Bit Rate=7.2 Mb/s   Tx-Power=20 dBm
           Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr=2347 B   Fragment thr:off
           Power Management:off
           Link Quality=60/70  Signal level=-50 dBm
           Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
           Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:2254   Missed beacon:0

My AP is 802.11n. Note that the 7.2 Mbps is misleading. When I pushed data 
through using netperf, it jumped to 72.2 Mbps, and my throughput was

TCP_MAERTS Test:  30.64 27.65 30.54 28.86 33.33 33.59 37.86 39.40 39.76 37.20
RX Results: max 39.76, min 27.65. Mean 33.88(4.22)

TCP_STREAM Test:  35.34 37.34 29.59 20.10 36.11 40.24 40.67 41.93 38.08 33.93
TX Results: max 41.93, min 20.10. Mean 35.33(6.13)

When I switch to an 802.11g AP, I get the following:

TCP_MAERTS Test:  10.77 10.81 11.53 11.69 10.46 10.16 11.04 10.66  7.34 10.90
RX Results: max 11.69, min  7.34. Mean 10.54(1.15)

TCP_STREAM Test:   5.74  6.24  6.76  6.43  7.37  6.23  7.63  7.07  7.07  6.50
TX Results: max  7.63, min  5.74. Mean  6.70(0.55)

Those numbers could probably be improved, but without any details on how the 
chip works, what could one do. Messing with power settings on the amplifiers 
could lead to destruction of radios. I cannot take that chance.

As to stability, I am in the middle of a long-term test of rtl8723ae. After 
roughly 86,000 seconds of connect time, I have had only 9 disconnections, and 
all were due to a bug in the roaming code that I have so far been unable to 
find. The interface thinks it has lost the APs beacons, does a disconnect, and 
immediately reconnects. Otherwise, the connection was stable until I forced a 
reconnect to my G AP for this reply.

Unfortunately, I have no idea what to do for your complaints. If you want higher 
throughput, then an 802.11n AP seems warranted.

Larry

Re: Weak Signal and slow tx Rate with RTL8723AE

[Larry Finger]

On 12/04/2013 05:08 PM, David Pinilla Caparrós wrote:
> 2013/12/4 Larry Finger <Larry.Finger@lwfinger.net>:
>> On 12/04/2013 03:40 PM, David Pinilla Caparrós wrote:
>>>
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>> I have mailed with Larry Finger asking for a problem and he has
>>> pointed me to this list.
>>>
>>> I am an Arch Linux User with a Clevo based laptop.
>>>
>>> It ships with the RTL8723AE. I have been reading posts around the net
>>> and found that some people are having problems and talking about the
>>> driver and something about the RX or TX Power.
>>>
>>>
>>> With the 2 APs wich I usually use I can only reach 18Mb/s of Bit rate
>>> whatever the signal level or link quality is. Both of them are 802.11
>>> G and not N I think.
>>>
>>> The connection is very unstable. Sometimes powering the wifi off and
>>> on increases the performance a bit when it's impossible to do anything
>>> (pings to gateway don't reply)
>>>
>>> If they are related to the driver, I would be proud to help with
>>> anything that I am able to. Testing for example.
>>>
>>> I have a recent version of the stable Kernel but I dont know if the
>>> firmware files are up to date.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Some data:
>>>
>>> 03:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8723AE
>>> PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
>>>       Subsystem: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device 0726
>>>       Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
>>>       I/O ports at d000 [size=256]
>>>       Memory at f7900000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
>>>       Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
>>>       Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
>>>       Capabilities: [70] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
>>>       Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
>>>       Capabilities: [140] Virtual Channel
>>>       Capabilities: [160] Device Serial Number 01-23-87-fe-ff-4c-e0-00
>>>       Kernel driver in use: rtl8723ae
>>>       Kernel modules: rtl8723ae
>>>
>>>    root  ~  dmesg | grep rtl
>>> [    2.734124] rtl8723ae 0000:03:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0003)
>>> [    2.749732] rtl8723ae: Using firmware rtlwifi/rtl8723fw_B.bin
>>> [    2.752940] ieee80211 phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'rtl_rc'
>>> [    2.753057] rtlwifi: wireless switch is on
>>> [ 8838.570486] rtlwifi: wireless switch is o
>>>
>>>
>>>    root  ~  uname -a
>>> Linux DPini-Laptop 3.12.2-1-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Fri Nov 29 21:14:15
>>> CET 2013 x86_64 GNU/Linux
>>>
>>>
>>> Iwconfig:
>>>
>>> wlp3s0    IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:"Pinis_AP"
>>>             Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.462 GHz  Access Point:
>>> 00:1A:2B:12:34:56
>>>             Bit Rate=18 Mb/s   Tx-Power=20 dBm
>>>             Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr=2347 B   Fragment thr:off
>>>             Encryption key:off
>>>             Power Management:off
>>>             Link Quality=50/70  Signal level=-60 dBm
>>>             Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
>>>             Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:9   Missed beacon:0
>>>
>>>    root  ~  rfkill list
>>> 0: phy0: Wireless LAN
>>>       Soft blocked: no
>>>       Hard blocked: no
>>> 1: hci0: Bluetooth
>>>       Soft blocked: no
>>>       Hard blocked: no
>>>
>>>    root  ⋯  lib  firmware  rtlwifi  md5sum rtl8723fw*
>>> ce50dfe07dbb1bfe9e14bdb315a4b28a  rtl8723fw_B.bin
>>> 69ccaffbe94cc0ef1b89c25290e19b2e  rtl8723fw.bin
>>
>
> Inline reply
>
>> Those md5sums match those of the latest firmware.
>
> Thanks. It's a great notice
>
>> Your signal is a bit lower than mine. My iwconfig shows
>>
>> wlp14s0   IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:"NETGEAR81"
>>            Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.437 GHz  Access Point: 20:E5:2A:01:F7:EA
>>            Bit Rate=7.2 Mb/s   Tx-Power=20 dBm
>>
>>            Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr=2347 B   Fragment thr:off
>>            Power Management:off
>>            Link Quality=60/70  Signal level=-50 dBm
>>
>>            Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
>>            Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:2254   Missed beacon:0
>>
>> My AP is 802.11n. Note that the 7.2 Mbps is misleading. When I pushed data
>> through using netperf, it jumped to 72.2 Mbps, and my throughput was
>>
>> TCP_MAERTS Test:  30.64 27.65 30.54 28.86 33.33 33.59 37.86 39.40 39.76
>> 37.20
>> RX Results: max 39.76, min 27.65. Mean 33.88(4.22)
>>
>> TCP_STREAM Test:  35.34 37.34 29.59 20.10 36.11 40.24 40.67 41.93 38.08
>> 33.93
>> TX Results: max 41.93, min 20.10. Mean 35.33(6.13)
>>
>> When I switch to an 802.11g AP, I get the following:
>>
>> TCP_MAERTS Test:  10.77 10.81 11.53 11.69 10.46 10.16 11.04 10.66  7.34
>> 10.90
>> RX Results: max 11.69, min  7.34. Mean 10.54(1.15)
>>
>> TCP_STREAM Test:   5.74  6.24  6.76  6.43  7.37  6.23  7.63  7.07  7.07
>> 6.50
>> TX Results: max  7.63, min  5.74. Mean  6.70(0.55)
>
> Here at home I get similar results:
>
>   dpini  ~  iperf -c 192.168.1.102
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> Client connecting to 192.168.1.102, TCP port 5001
> TCP window size: 22.9 KByte (default)
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> [  3] local 192.168.1.117 port 36449 connected with 192.168.1.102 port 5001
> [ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth
> [  3]  0.0-10.3 sec  10.0 MBytes  8.13 Mbits/sec
>   dpini  ~  iperf -c 192.168.1.102
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> Client connecting to 192.168.1.102, TCP port 5001
> TCP window size: 22.9 KByte (default)
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> [  3] local 192.168.1.117 port 36450 connected with 192.168.1.102 port 5001
> [ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth
> [  3]  0.0-10.1 sec  7.50 MBytes  6.25 Mbits/sec
>
>
> I will try it tomorrow at school, where I have the most of the problems.
>
>
>> Those numbers could probably be improved, but without any details on how the
>> chip works, what could one do. Messing with power settings on the amplifiers
>> could lead to destruction of radios. I cannot take that chance.
>
> Im ok with that. When I was talking about the power is because I have
> read somwhere that there were problems with power management in the
> driver. I am trying to get working another wireless card in a router.
> I could be confused about the power problem.
>
>>
>> As to stability, I am in the middle of a long-term test of rtl8723ae. After
>> roughly 86,000 seconds of connect time, I have had only 9 disconnections,
>> and all were due to a bug in the roaming code that I have so far been unable
>> to find. The interface thinks it has lost the APs beacons, does a
>> disconnect, and immediately reconnects. Otherwise, the connection was stable
>> until I forced a reconnect to my G AP for this reply.
>
> Sorry for beeing the cause of this disconnection. I really appreciate
> the work that you and others do so everyone can use FLOSS drivers.
>
>> Unfortunately, I have no idea what to do for your complaints. If you want
>> higher throughput, then an 802.11n AP seems warranted.
>
> The hope that we can replace the wireless home router soon.
>
> But for the AP on the school I can't do anything. Thay have spent a
> lof of money buying HP AP with central management and I can't do
> anything to change them.
>
>> Larry
>>
>
> I think that the problems in the school can be because channel saturation.
>
> There are some APs reachable with the same SSID (every AP have 3 SSID
> I think). But the other students doesn't have any problems. I have
> checked with "other OS and the RTL drivers" on the laptop and the
> connection is ok.
>
> It coluld be related with the bug with roaming?
>
> Any tip for diagnosing this? I can help you with the bug providing
> data or doing any test?

Please do not drop the mailing list from the reply. Always use "Reply-to-All". I 
have added the Cc on my reply, but because it was not on your mail, I dare not 
trim the reply.

You will see messages like the following if you have the bug:

finger@larrylap:~/realtek> dmesg | grep watchdog
[24098.632094] rtlwifi:rtl_watchdog_wq_callback():<0-0> AP off, try to reconnect now
[88203.348090] rtlwifi:rtl_watchdog_wq_callback():<0-0> AP off, try to reconnect now
[88221.856380] rtlwifi:rtl_watchdog_wq_callback():<0-0> AP off, try to reconnect now
[88228.360104] rtlwifi:rtl_watchdog_wq_callback():<0-0> AP off, try to reconnect now
[88238.520095] rtlwifi:rtl_watchdog_wq_callback():<0-0> AP off, try to reconnect now
[88346.876102] rtlwifi:rtl_watchdog_wq_callback():<0-0> AP off, try to reconnect now
[88353.032106] rtlwifi:rtl_watchdog_wq_callback():<0-0> AP off, try to reconnect now
[88377.196053] rtlwifi:rtl_watchdog_wq_callback():<0-0> AP off, try to reconnect now
[88417.776110] rtlwifi:rtl_watchdog_wq_callback():<0-0> AP off, try to reconnect now

As you can see this happens quite infrequently. Finding it will not be easy.

Larry

Re: Weak Signal and slow tx Rate with RTL8723AE

[David Pinilla Caparrós]

2013/12/5 Larry Finger <Larry.Finger@lwfinger.net>:
> On 12/04/2013 05:08 PM, David Pinilla Caparrós wrote:
>>
>> 2013/12/4 Larry Finger <Larry.Finger@lwfinger.net>:
>>>
>>> On 12/04/2013 03:40 PM, David Pinilla Caparrós wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Hello,
>>>>
>>>> I have mailed with Larry Finger asking for a problem and he has
>>>> pointed me to this list.
>>>>
>>>> I am an Arch Linux User with a Clevo based laptop.
>>>>
>>>> It ships with the RTL8723AE. I have been reading posts around the net
>>>> and found that some people are having problems and talking about the
>>>> driver and something about the RX or TX Power.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> With the 2 APs wich I usually use I can only reach 18Mb/s of Bit rate
>>>> whatever the signal level or link quality is. Both of them are 802.11
>>>> G and not N I think.
>>>>
>>>> The connection is very unstable. Sometimes powering the wifi off and
>>>> on increases the performance a bit when it's impossible to do anything
>>>> (pings to gateway don't reply)
>>>>
>>>> If they are related to the driver, I would be proud to help with
>>>> anything that I am able to. Testing for example.
>>>>
>>>> I have a recent version of the stable Kernel but I dont know if the
>>>> firmware files are up to date.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Some data:
>>>>
>>>> 03:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8723AE
>>>> PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
>>>>       Subsystem: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device 0726
>>>>       Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
>>>>       I/O ports at d000 [size=256]
>>>>       Memory at f7900000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
>>>>       Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
>>>>       Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
>>>>       Capabilities: [70] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
>>>>       Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
>>>>       Capabilities: [140] Virtual Channel
>>>>       Capabilities: [160] Device Serial Number 01-23-87-fe-ff-4c-e0-00
>>>>       Kernel driver in use: rtl8723ae
>>>>       Kernel modules: rtl8723ae
>>>>
>>>>    root  ~  dmesg | grep rtl
>>>> [    2.734124] rtl8723ae 0000:03:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0003)
>>>> [    2.749732] rtl8723ae: Using firmware rtlwifi/rtl8723fw_B.bin
>>>> [    2.752940] ieee80211 phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'rtl_rc'
>>>> [    2.753057] rtlwifi: wireless switch is on
>>>> [ 8838.570486] rtlwifi: wireless switch is o
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>    root  ~  uname -a
>>>> Linux DPini-Laptop 3.12.2-1-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Fri Nov 29 21:14:15
>>>> CET 2013 x86_64 GNU/Linux
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Iwconfig:
>>>>
>>>> wlp3s0    IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:"Pinis_AP"
>>>>             Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.462 GHz  Access Point:
>>>> 00:1A:2B:12:34:56
>>>>             Bit Rate=18 Mb/s   Tx-Power=20 dBm
>>>>             Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr=2347 B   Fragment thr:off
>>>>             Encryption key:off
>>>>             Power Management:off
>>>>             Link Quality=50/70  Signal level=-60 dBm
>>>>             Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
>>>>             Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:9   Missed beacon:0
>>>>
>>>>    root  ~  rfkill list
>>>> 0: phy0: Wireless LAN
>>>>       Soft blocked: no
>>>>       Hard blocked: no
>>>> 1: hci0: Bluetooth
>>>>       Soft blocked: no
>>>>       Hard blocked: no
>>>>
>>>>    root  ⋯  lib  firmware  rtlwifi  md5sum rtl8723fw*
>>>> ce50dfe07dbb1bfe9e14bdb315a4b28a  rtl8723fw_B.bin
>>>> 69ccaffbe94cc0ef1b89c25290e19b2e  rtl8723fw.bin
>>>
>>>
>>
>> Inline reply
>>
>>> Those md5sums match those of the latest firmware.
>>
>>
>> Thanks. It's a great notice
>>
>>> Your signal is a bit lower than mine. My iwconfig shows
>>>
>>> wlp14s0   IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:"NETGEAR81"
>>>            Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.437 GHz  Access Point:
>>> 20:E5:2A:01:F7:EA
>>>            Bit Rate=7.2 Mb/s   Tx-Power=20 dBm
>>>
>>>            Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr=2347 B   Fragment thr:off
>>>            Power Management:off
>>>            Link Quality=60/70  Signal level=-50 dBm
>>>
>>>            Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
>>>            Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:2254   Missed beacon:0
>>>
>>> My AP is 802.11n. Note that the 7.2 Mbps is misleading. When I pushed
>>> data
>>> through using netperf, it jumped to 72.2 Mbps, and my throughput was
>>>
>>> TCP_MAERTS Test:  30.64 27.65 30.54 28.86 33.33 33.59 37.86 39.40 39.76
>>> 37.20
>>> RX Results: max 39.76, min 27.65. Mean 33.88(4.22)
>>>
>>> TCP_STREAM Test:  35.34 37.34 29.59 20.10 36.11 40.24 40.67 41.93 38.08
>>> 33.93
>>> TX Results: max 41.93, min 20.10. Mean 35.33(6.13)
>>>
>>> When I switch to an 802.11g AP, I get the following:
>>>
>>> TCP_MAERTS Test:  10.77 10.81 11.53 11.69 10.46 10.16 11.04 10.66  7.34
>>> 10.90
>>> RX Results: max 11.69, min  7.34. Mean 10.54(1.15)
>>>
>>> TCP_STREAM Test:   5.74  6.24  6.76  6.43  7.37  6.23  7.63  7.07  7.07
>>> 6.50
>>> TX Results: max  7.63, min  5.74. Mean  6.70(0.55)
>>
>>
>> Here at home I get similar results:
>>
>>   dpini  ~  iperf -c 192.168.1.102
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> Client connecting to 192.168.1.102, TCP port 5001
>> TCP window size: 22.9 KByte (default)
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> [  3] local 192.168.1.117 port 36449 connected with 192.168.1.102 port
>> 5001
>> [ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth
>> [  3]  0.0-10.3 sec  10.0 MBytes  8.13 Mbits/sec
>>   dpini  ~  iperf -c 192.168.1.102
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> Client connecting to 192.168.1.102, TCP port 5001
>> TCP window size: 22.9 KByte (default)
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> [  3] local 192.168.1.117 port 36450 connected with 192.168.1.102 port
>> 5001
>> [ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth
>> [  3]  0.0-10.1 sec  7.50 MBytes  6.25 Mbits/sec
>>
>>
>> I will try it tomorrow at school, where I have the most of the problems.
>>
>>
>>> Those numbers could probably be improved, but without any details on how
>>> the
>>> chip works, what could one do. Messing with power settings on the
>>> amplifiers
>>> could lead to destruction of radios. I cannot take that chance.
>>
>>
>> Im ok with that. When I was talking about the power is because I have
>> read somwhere that there were problems with power management in the
>> driver. I am trying to get working another wireless card in a router.
>> I could be confused about the power problem.
>>
>>>
>>> As to stability, I am in the middle of a long-term test of rtl8723ae.
>>> After
>>> roughly 86,000 seconds of connect time, I have had only 9 disconnections,
>>> and all were due to a bug in the roaming code that I have so far been
>>> unable
>>> to find. The interface thinks it has lost the APs beacons, does a
>>> disconnect, and immediately reconnects. Otherwise, the connection was
>>> stable
>>> until I forced a reconnect to my G AP for this reply.
>>
>>
>> Sorry for beeing the cause of this disconnection. I really appreciate
>> the work that you and others do so everyone can use FLOSS drivers.
>>
>>> Unfortunately, I have no idea what to do for your complaints. If you want
>>> higher throughput, then an 802.11n AP seems warranted.
>>
>>
>> The hope that we can replace the wireless home router soon.
>>
>> But for the AP on the school I can't do anything. Thay have spent a
>> lof of money buying HP AP with central management and I can't do
>> anything to change them.
>>
>>> Larry
>>>
>>
>> I think that the problems in the school can be because channel saturation.
>>
>> There are some APs reachable with the same SSID (every AP have 3 SSID
>> I think). But the other students doesn't have any problems. I have
>> checked with "other OS and the RTL drivers" on the laptop and the
>> connection is ok.
>>
>> It coluld be related with the bug with roaming?
>>
>> Any tip for diagnosing this? I can help you with the bug providing
>> data or doing any test?
>
>
> Please do not drop the mailing list from the reply. Always use
> "Reply-to-All". I have added the Cc on my reply, but because it was not on
> your mail, I dare not trim the reply.
>
> You will see messages like the following if you have the bug:
>
> finger@larrylap:~/realtek> dmesg | grep watchdog
> [24098.632094] rtlwifi:rtl_watchdog_wq_callback():<0-0> AP off, try to
> reconnect now
> [88203.348090] rtlwifi:rtl_watchdog_wq_callback():<0-0> AP off, try to
> reconnect now
> [88221.856380] rtlwifi:rtl_watchdog_wq_callback():<0-0> AP off, try to
> reconnect now
> [88228.360104] rtlwifi:rtl_watchdog_wq_callback():<0-0> AP off, try to
> reconnect now
> [88238.520095] rtlwifi:rtl_watchdog_wq_callback():<0-0> AP off, try to
> reconnect now
> [88346.876102] rtlwifi:rtl_watchdog_wq_callback():<0-0> AP off, try to
> reconnect now
> [88353.032106] rtlwifi:rtl_watchdog_wq_callback():<0-0> AP off, try to
> reconnect now
> [88377.196053] rtlwifi:rtl_watchdog_wq_callback():<0-0> AP off, try to
> reconnect now
> [88417.776110] rtlwifi:rtl_watchdog_wq_callback():<0-0> AP off, try to
> reconnect now
>
> As you can see this happens quite infrequently. Finding it will not be easy.
>
> Larry
>


I have been testing a little bit.
Right now I am on the school. I've used watch to watch for the signal level.
It's stable at ~-50 dBm sometimes it drops to ~25dBm for a bit (less
than 1 second)

When traffic increases the number of "Invalid misc" increases a lot.
For example for a Speed test of 1 minute of duration it increases 800.

The performance for the moment is acceptable. I will do more test when
the performance drops.

I haven't had any message related with the roaming bug.

Any tool for doing better diagnostics that I can use?

Thank you a lot.

David

Re: Weak Signal and slow tx Rate with RTL8723AE

[David Pinilla Caparrós]

Now at home I have had some performance issues.

With a signal between -40 to -50 dBm and link quality 65-70/70 I get
~3 Mbps with an iperf test with my home server.
I do not have any object between the AP and the computer itself.

Another time the number of "Invalid misc" packets increases a lot when
there are some traffic.

It is possible that this is related with a configuration problem?

I have recorded 2 videos to show the increase of invalid packets. I
will try to edit them to remove info like mac address and I upload
them. (Any service that you can recommend me?)

Thanks a lot again for your help.


David

2013/12/5 David Pinilla Caparrós <dpini@caliu.cat>:
> 2013/12/5 Larry Finger <Larry.Finger@lwfinger.net>:
>> On 12/04/2013 05:08 PM, David Pinilla Caparrós wrote:
>>>
>>> 2013/12/4 Larry Finger <Larry.Finger@lwfinger.net>:
>>>>
>>>> On 12/04/2013 03:40 PM, David Pinilla Caparrós wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Hello,
>>>>>
>>>>> I have mailed with Larry Finger asking for a problem and he has
>>>>> pointed me to this list.
>>>>>
>>>>> I am an Arch Linux User with a Clevo based laptop.
>>>>>
>>>>> It ships with the RTL8723AE. I have been reading posts around the net
>>>>> and found that some people are having problems and talking about the
>>>>> driver and something about the RX or TX Power.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> With the 2 APs wich I usually use I can only reach 18Mb/s of Bit rate
>>>>> whatever the signal level or link quality is. Both of them are 802.11
>>>>> G and not N I think.
>>>>>
>>>>> The connection is very unstable. Sometimes powering the wifi off and
>>>>> on increases the performance a bit when it's impossible to do anything
>>>>> (pings to gateway don't reply)
>>>>>
>>>>> If they are related to the driver, I would be proud to help with
>>>>> anything that I am able to. Testing for example.
>>>>>
>>>>> I have a recent version of the stable Kernel but I dont know if the
>>>>> firmware files are up to date.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Some data:
>>>>>
>>>>> 03:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8723AE
>>>>> PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
>>>>>       Subsystem: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device 0726
>>>>>       Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
>>>>>       I/O ports at d000 [size=256]
>>>>>       Memory at f7900000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
>>>>>       Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
>>>>>       Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
>>>>>       Capabilities: [70] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
>>>>>       Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
>>>>>       Capabilities: [140] Virtual Channel
>>>>>       Capabilities: [160] Device Serial Number 01-23-87-fe-ff-4c-e0-00
>>>>>       Kernel driver in use: rtl8723ae
>>>>>       Kernel modules: rtl8723ae
>>>>>
>>>>>    root  ~  dmesg | grep rtl
>>>>> [    2.734124] rtl8723ae 0000:03:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0003)
>>>>> [    2.749732] rtl8723ae: Using firmware rtlwifi/rtl8723fw_B.bin
>>>>> [    2.752940] ieee80211 phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'rtl_rc'
>>>>> [    2.753057] rtlwifi: wireless switch is on
>>>>> [ 8838.570486] rtlwifi: wireless switch is o
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>    root  ~  uname -a
>>>>> Linux DPini-Laptop 3.12.2-1-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Fri Nov 29 21:14:15
>>>>> CET 2013 x86_64 GNU/Linux
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Iwconfig:
>>>>>
>>>>> wlp3s0    IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:"Pinis_AP"
>>>>>             Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.462 GHz  Access Point:
>>>>> 00:1A:2B:12:34:56
>>>>>             Bit Rate=18 Mb/s   Tx-Power=20 dBm
>>>>>             Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr=2347 B   Fragment thr:off
>>>>>             Encryption key:off
>>>>>             Power Management:off
>>>>>             Link Quality=50/70  Signal level=-60 dBm
>>>>>             Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
>>>>>             Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:9   Missed beacon:0
>>>>>
>>>>>    root  ~  rfkill list
>>>>> 0: phy0: Wireless LAN
>>>>>       Soft blocked: no
>>>>>       Hard blocked: no
>>>>> 1: hci0: Bluetooth
>>>>>       Soft blocked: no
>>>>>       Hard blocked: no
>>>>>
>>>>>    root  ⋯  lib  firmware  rtlwifi  md5sum rtl8723fw*
>>>>> ce50dfe07dbb1bfe9e14bdb315a4b28a  rtl8723fw_B.bin
>>>>> 69ccaffbe94cc0ef1b89c25290e19b2e  rtl8723fw.bin
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> Inline reply
>>>
>>>> Those md5sums match those of the latest firmware.
>>>
>>>
>>> Thanks. It's a great notice
>>>
>>>> Your signal is a bit lower than mine. My iwconfig shows
>>>>
>>>> wlp14s0   IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:"NETGEAR81"
>>>>            Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.437 GHz  Access Point:
>>>> 20:E5:2A:01:F7:EA
>>>>            Bit Rate=7.2 Mb/s   Tx-Power=20 dBm
>>>>
>>>>            Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr=2347 B   Fragment thr:off
>>>>            Power Management:off
>>>>            Link Quality=60/70  Signal level=-50 dBm
>>>>
>>>>            Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
>>>>            Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:2254   Missed beacon:0
>>>>
>>>> My AP is 802.11n. Note that the 7.2 Mbps is misleading. When I pushed
>>>> data
>>>> through using netperf, it jumped to 72.2 Mbps, and my throughput was
>>>>
>>>> TCP_MAERTS Test:  30.64 27.65 30.54 28.86 33.33 33.59 37.86 39.40 39.76
>>>> 37.20
>>>> RX Results: max 39.76, min 27.65. Mean 33.88(4.22)
>>>>
>>>> TCP_STREAM Test:  35.34 37.34 29.59 20.10 36.11 40.24 40.67 41.93 38.08
>>>> 33.93
>>>> TX Results: max 41.93, min 20.10. Mean 35.33(6.13)
>>>>
>>>> When I switch to an 802.11g AP, I get the following:
>>>>
>>>> TCP_MAERTS Test:  10.77 10.81 11.53 11.69 10.46 10.16 11.04 10.66  7.34
>>>> 10.90
>>>> RX Results: max 11.69, min  7.34. Mean 10.54(1.15)
>>>>
>>>> TCP_STREAM Test:   5.74  6.24  6.76  6.43  7.37  6.23  7.63  7.07  7.07
>>>> 6.50
>>>> TX Results: max  7.63, min  5.74. Mean  6.70(0.55)
>>>
>>>
>>> Here at home I get similar results:
>>>
>>>   dpini  ~  iperf -c 192.168.1.102
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> Client connecting to 192.168.1.102, TCP port 5001
>>> TCP window size: 22.9 KByte (default)
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> [  3] local 192.168.1.117 port 36449 connected with 192.168.1.102 port
>>> 5001
>>> [ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth
>>> [  3]  0.0-10.3 sec  10.0 MBytes  8.13 Mbits/sec
>>>   dpini  ~  iperf -c 192.168.1.102
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> Client connecting to 192.168.1.102, TCP port 5001
>>> TCP window size: 22.9 KByte (default)
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> [  3] local 192.168.1.117 port 36450 connected with 192.168.1.102 port
>>> 5001
>>> [ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth
>>> [  3]  0.0-10.1 sec  7.50 MBytes  6.25 Mbits/sec
>>>
>>>
>>> I will try it tomorrow at school, where I have the most of the problems.
>>>
>>>
>>>> Those numbers could probably be improved, but without any details on how
>>>> the
>>>> chip works, what could one do. Messing with power settings on the
>>>> amplifiers
>>>> could lead to destruction of radios. I cannot take that chance.
>>>
>>>
>>> Im ok with that. When I was talking about the power is because I have
>>> read somwhere that there were problems with power management in the
>>> driver. I am trying to get working another wireless card in a router.
>>> I could be confused about the power problem.
>>>
>>>>
>>>> As to stability, I am in the middle of a long-term test of rtl8723ae.
>>>> After
>>>> roughly 86,000 seconds of connect time, I have had only 9 disconnections,
>>>> and all were due to a bug in the roaming code that I have so far been
>>>> unable
>>>> to find. The interface thinks it has lost the APs beacons, does a
>>>> disconnect, and immediately reconnects. Otherwise, the connection was
>>>> stable
>>>> until I forced a reconnect to my G AP for this reply.
>>>
>>>
>>> Sorry for beeing the cause of this disconnection. I really appreciate
>>> the work that you and others do so everyone can use FLOSS drivers.
>>>
>>>> Unfortunately, I have no idea what to do for your complaints. If you want
>>>> higher throughput, then an 802.11n AP seems warranted.
>>>
>>>
>>> The hope that we can replace the wireless home router soon.
>>>
>>> But for the AP on the school I can't do anything. Thay have spent a
>>> lof of money buying HP AP with central management and I can't do
>>> anything to change them.
>>>
>>>> Larry
>>>>
>>>
>>> I think that the problems in the school can be because channel saturation.
>>>
>>> There are some APs reachable with the same SSID (every AP have 3 SSID
>>> I think). But the other students doesn't have any problems. I have
>>> checked with "other OS and the RTL drivers" on the laptop and the
>>> connection is ok.
>>>
>>> It coluld be related with the bug with roaming?
>>>
>>> Any tip for diagnosing this? I can help you with the bug providing
>>> data or doing any test?
>>
>>
>> Please do not drop the mailing list from the reply. Always use
>> "Reply-to-All". I have added the Cc on my reply, but because it was not on
>> your mail, I dare not trim the reply.
>>
>> You will see messages like the following if you have the bug:
>>
>> finger@larrylap:~/realtek> dmesg | grep watchdog
>> [24098.632094] rtlwifi:rtl_watchdog_wq_callback():<0-0> AP off, try to
>> reconnect now
>> [88203.348090] rtlwifi:rtl_watchdog_wq_callback():<0-0> AP off, try to
>> reconnect now
>> [88221.856380] rtlwifi:rtl_watchdog_wq_callback():<0-0> AP off, try to
>> reconnect now
>> [88228.360104] rtlwifi:rtl_watchdog_wq_callback():<0-0> AP off, try to
>> reconnect now
>> [88238.520095] rtlwifi:rtl_watchdog_wq_callback():<0-0> AP off, try to
>> reconnect now
>> [88346.876102] rtlwifi:rtl_watchdog_wq_callback():<0-0> AP off, try to
>> reconnect now
>> [88353.032106] rtlwifi:rtl_watchdog_wq_callback():<0-0> AP off, try to
>> reconnect now
>> [88377.196053] rtlwifi:rtl_watchdog_wq_callback():<0-0> AP off, try to
>> reconnect now
>> [88417.776110] rtlwifi:rtl_watchdog_wq_callback():<0-0> AP off, try to
>> reconnect now
>>
>> As you can see this happens quite infrequently. Finding it will not be easy.
>>
>> Larry
>>
>
>
> I have been testing a little bit.
> Right now I am on the school. I've used watch to watch for the signal level.
> It's stable at ~-50 dBm sometimes it drops to ~25dBm for a bit (less
> than 1 second)
>
> When traffic increases the number of "Invalid misc" increases a lot.
> For example for a Speed test of 1 minute of duration it increases 800.
>
> The performance for the moment is acceptable. I will do more test when
> the performance drops.
>
> I haven't had any message related with the roaming bug.
>
> Any tool for doing better diagnostics that I can use?
>
> Thank you a lot.
>
> David