WIFI becomes EXTREMELY slow ( ath9k ) making the connection unusable

[Lukasz Olszewski]

My wifi connection becomes practically unusable after some random time. Reseting the connection helps for a while. Link speeds drop severely even though the signal is strong. This problem doesn't occur with the same hardware on windows. Tested with several different access points. No specific output in logs. Previously I suffered from the following bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/736171 but now I don't get any messages and the connection is much more stable than before so I guess this might be a separate bug.
Screenshot attached with transfer speeds in my local network (after I reset the connection every think becomes fine for a while).

kernel: Ubuntu 3.0.0-5.6-generic 3.0.0-rc7

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: linux-image-3.0.0-5-generic 3.0.0-5.6
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-5.6-generic 3.0.0-rc7
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-5-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24.
Architecture: amd64
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: Intel [HDA Intel], device 0: ALC275 Analog [ALC275 Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: lukas 1930 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] Nie ma takiego pliku ani katalogu
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xea200000 irq 56'
   Mixer name : 'Realtek ALC275'
   Components : 'HDA:10ec0275,104d4f00,00100005'
   Controls : 19
   Simple ctrls : 11
Card1.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:1 'NVidia'/'HDA NVidia at 0xe3080000 irq 17'
   Mixer name : 'Nvidia GPU 14 HDMI/DP'
   Components : 'HDA:10de0014,104d4f00,00100100'
   Controls : 16
   Simple ctrls : 4
Date: Thu Jul 21 13:41:30 2011
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=2ef5145a-b4b5-470b-b7ee-0a3d37d8b5f5
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release amd64 (20101007)
MachineType: Sony Corporation VPCF1390X
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=pl_PL.UTF-8
 SHELL=/usr/bin/zsh
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-5-generic root=UUID=0a9d93d9-414c-4222-9472-a3ee68458db1 ro quiet splash nomodeset video=uvesafb:mode_option=1280x1024-24,mtrr=3,scroll=ywrap vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.0.0-5-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.0.0-5-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.56
SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to oneiric on 2011-07-18 (2 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 09/03/2010
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: R0180Y9
dmi.board.asset.tag: N/A
dmi.board.name: VAIO
dmi.board.vendor: Sony Corporation
dmi.board.version: N/A
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: N/A
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: Sony Corporation
dmi.chassis.version: N/A
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrR0180Y9:bd09/03/2010:svnSonyCorporation:pnVPCF1390X:pvrC607147L:rvnSonyCorporation:rnVAIO:rvrN/A:cvnSonyCorporation:ct10:cvrN/A:
dmi.product.name: VPCF1390X
dmi.product.version: C607147L
dmi.sys.vendor: Sony Corporation

[PA Parent (paparent)]

I had the same problem, and found that post: http://blog.homelinux.org/?p=327

it works for me..
btw, no need to reboot, just rmmod ath9k, and modprobe ath9k.

Hope it helps!

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

Do you happen to know if this only happens with wireless protocol N? This may be a duplicate of bug 836250

[Lukasz Olszewski (olszewskil)]

It occurs more often in N mode than in G mode but is not limited to it.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Lukasz Olszewski, thank you for reporting this and helping make Ubuntu better. This bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? Can you try with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO CD images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/ .

If it remains an issue, could you run the following command from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal). It will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report.

apport-collect -p linux <replace-with-bug-number>

Also, if you could test the latest upstream kernel available that would be great. It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-testing' tag. This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon next to the tag located at the bottom of the bug description and deleting the 'needs-upstream-testing' text. Please let us know your results.

Thanks in advance.

[Laurent Dinclaux (dreadlox)]

I don't have any issue with that bug and I use the same ath9k driver, but I face this issue: #945379

[Laurent Dinclaux (dreadlox)]

I meant bug 945379

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Original Reporter -> https://launchpad.net/~lcpak-deactivatedaccount