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My new installation of Linux Mint 17.1 32bit Cinnamon edition, installed as the sole OS on a Samsung N130 Netbook, consistently loses its wireless internet connection a few minutes after logging on but still shows as connected with a strong signal. I have to reboot to get it back. It works fine when connected to the router by the Ethernet cable and none of my other devices - phones etc - have any problem. I've tried installing version 13 of Linux Mint (and now reverted back to 17.1) but it has the same problem.

This is the output from mintwifi:

* I. scanning WIFI PCI devices...
  -- Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8192E/RTL8192SE Wireless LAN Controller (rev 01)
      ==> PCI ID = 10ec:8192 (rev 01)
-------------------------
* II. querying ndiswrapper...
-------------------------
* III. querying iwconfig...
wlan0     802.11bgn  ESSID:"MyNetwork"  Nickname:"rtl8192E"
          Mode:Managed  Frequency=2.412 GHz  Access Point: 58:98:35:5F:B8:23   
          Bit Rate=65 Mb/s   
          Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management period:0us  mode:All packets received
          Link Quality=90/100  Signal level=-55 dBm  Noise level=-115 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

-------------------------
* IV. querying ifconfig...
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:24:54:3e:59:bb  
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:65536  Metric:1
          RX packets:123 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:123 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:9184 (9.1 KB)  TX bytes:9184 (9.1 KB)

wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:26:b6:93:41:76  
          inet addr:192.168.1.219  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::226:b6ff:fe93:4176/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:35 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:122 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:3309 (3.3 KB)  TX bytes:16801 (16.8 KB)
          Interrupt:16 Memory:f85c0000-f85c0100 

-------------------------
* V. querying DHCP...
RTNETLINK answers: File exists
-------------------------
* VI. querying nslookup google.com...
Server:     192.168.1.254
Address:    192.168.1.254#53

Non-authoritative answer:
Name:   google.com
Address: 216.58.209.238
Name:   google.com
Address: 216.58.209.224

And this is the output from lspci:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GSE Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GSE Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family PCI Express Port 3 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB controller: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7-M Family) SATA Controller [IDE mode] (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation NM10/ICH7 Family SMBus Controller (rev 02)
02:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8192E/RTL8192SE Wireless LAN Controller (rev 01)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 02)

This is my first ever installation and use of Linux (coming from Windows XP and installed about two days ago) so I'm not used to it yet so if you need any further information please just tell what commands I need to run or specific logs I need to look at. Cheers.

2 Answers 2

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I did some research and found that I needed a Realtek RTL9182SE driver for the Wireless LAN Controller. Unfortunately Realtek only provides official drivers up to Kernel version 3.2.x but Linux Mint 17.1 is at 3.13. So in the end I just decided to look for a Linux distro that did have support for this device and found "PCLinuxOS MATE Desktop (2014.12)" and it works perfectly. In fact I've never seen my Netbook as fast and responsive as it is now, even when Windows was installed, so I can't recommend PCLinuxOS enough.

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Not sure if this helps anyone, but I've just installed Linux Mint 18.1 and had the same problem with the Wi-Fi dropping out after a few minutes. I tried lots of the suggestions offered on various sites. I had turned the Bluetooth off so I turned it back on again and so far the Wi-Fi has behaved perfectly????

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  • Did you read a page somewhere that suggested turning Bluetooth off and on again? If so, can you provide a link? Feb 25, 2017 at 21:44
  • Hello, sorry about not replying sooner... I haven't used this site... or Linux Mint (and have a different OS on that Netbook now... but that's no longer supported either) in a long time, so I'm afraid I'll be no help to whatever issues you're having.
    – mark_w
    Apr 30, 2017 at 14:36

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