Wireless Troubleshooting

If your computer can’t connect to wireless networks or the connection is unstable, this guide can help you diagnose and fix the issue.

Initial Troubleshooting

Reboot the router/modem and the computer.
Toggle Airplane Mode from the system menu in the top-right corner of the screen, or using a keyboard shortcut (most commonly Fn + F11, depending on your System76 model).
If you've installed the backport-iwlwifi-dkms package for your Intel wireless card and your Wi-Fi issues began after an update, removing that package may resolve the issue. Run this command:
```
sudo apt remove backport-iwlwifi-dkms
```
...then restart your computer.
Temporarily use a phone hotspot to confirm whether the network or your computer is the issue.
Boot from a Live USB of your distribution to determine whether the issue exists outside your installed system.

Router and Access Point Recommendations

Make sure your access point is configured for stability and compatibility.
Use 2.4 GHz channels 1, 6, or 11 to minimize overlap.
Set the channel width to 20 MHz for crowded networks.
For 5 GHz, use an explicit channel instead of “Auto” when troubleshooting.
Use mixed mode (b/g/n/ax) if devices vary by generation.
If a single device struggles, temporarily set your router to a widely supported mode (such as 802.11n-only) and test connectivity.
Avoid complex access point features such as:
- Band steering
- Aggressive airtime fairness
- Deep MAC filtering
Ensure your device’s MAC address isn’t being filtered.
- Check your MAC address with:
```
ip link show | grep ether
```
Then confirm that MAC address is allowed in your router’s admin panel.

Confirm what channel and frequency your connection is using:

iw dev
iwlist wlan0 scan | grep -E 'SSID|Channel|Frequency'

Device-Level Checks and Commands

These commands help verify whether your wireless card and drivers are functioning correctly.

List all wireless network interfaces to confirm that your Wi-Fi interface (usually wlp2s0 or wlan0) is recognized:
```
ip a
```
Show wireless devices and their states:
```
iw dev
```
Check for hardware or software Wi-Fi blocks:
```
sudo rfkill list
```
Check NetworkManager device states:
```
nmcli device status 
```
Restart the network stack (safe to run at any time):
```
sudo systemctl restart NetworkManager 
```
View network-related boot logs:
```
journalctl -b | grep -i network
```

View driver and firmware kernel logs:

sudo dmesg | grep -i -E 'wifi|wlan|firmware|ieee80211|rtl|brcm|ath'

To save the logs to a file:

sudo dmesg | grep -i -E 'wifi|wlan|firmware|ieee80211|rtl|brcm|ath' > ~/wireless-dmesg.txt

Driver and Firmware Checks

If the device is detected but unstable, verify the driver and firmware setup.

Check for missing firmware messages:
```
dmesg | grep -i firmware
```

Reinstall firmware packages:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install --reinstall linux-firmware

Test with a different router or mobile hotspot.

NetworkManager and Configuration Tips

NetworkManager controls Wi-Fi connections on many Linux systems, including Pop!_OS and Ubuntu systems by default.

To restart NetworkManager, run this command:

sudo systemctl restart NetworkManager

To delete and recreate saved connections, run these commands:

nmcli connection delete <SSID>
nmcli device wifi connect <SSID>

If network connectivity seems unstable, try setting IPv6 to “Ignore” in the network settings:

Open Settings → Network.
Select your Wi-Fi connection.
Go to the IPv6 tab → change the method to Ignore.

Bluetooth and Airplane Mode Interactions

The rfkill command can be used to view whether Bluetooth, Wireless LAN (Wi-Fi), or both are disabled at a software or hardware level:

sudo rfkill list

Sample output where Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are both enabled looks like this:

0: hci0: Bluetooth
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no

If anything is blocked, check that airplane mode is off and that Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are enabled in your system settings.

This command can be used to restart the Bluetooth stack:

sudo systemctl restart bluetooth

If Wi-Fi drops after you've used Bluetooth (or vice versa), run the following command to add modprobe configuration to allow both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to transmit at the same time:

echo "options iwlwifi bt_coex_active=0" | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi.conf

Reboot after running this command. Note that transmitting both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth at the same time can cause interference between the two; only certain wireless cards that don't track transmission properly (e.g. acting as if Bluetooth is always transmitting) need this option applied.

Advanced Troubleshooting

If the above steps aren't working, or you would like to fine tune and improve you connection, see the following steps.

IPv6

Unless specifically required, you can set IPv6 to Ignore in Network Manager. Go to System Settings → Network and click the orange arrow next to your network, then click Settings → Network → Ethernet → Gear Icon → IPv6 Settings then change Automatic to Disable.

Antenna Aggregation

If these changes do not help, you can try enabling antenna aggregation:

sudo modprobe -r iwlwifi
sudo modprobe iwlwifi 11n_disable=8

Then, test to see if that helps. To make it permanent:

sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi.conf

Then, add this line to the bottom (effective upon reboot):

options iwlwifi 11n_disable=8

N Mode

You can try disabling N mode completely by using 11n_disable=1 in the previous settings. N mode can be more unstable than G mode, and the speed gained isn't typically useful as total bandwidth available in/out from/to the Internet is less than N speeds.

Bluetooth Coexistence

If you have trouble with a Bluetooth headset and keeping a steady downlink speed, try disabling Bluetooth coexistence in the configuration file above:

options iwlwifi bt_coex_active=0

Power Management

Another way to help with Wi-Fi issues is to turn off Wi-Fi power management. This can be done by adding the appropriate NetworkManager configuration using the following command, then rebooting your computer:

echo -e "[connection]\nwifi.powersave = 2" | sudo tee /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/default-wifi-powersave-off.conf

If TLP is installed, it may also enable Wi-Fi power saving. You can review its configuration in /etc/default/tlp.

Useful Programs

The program wavemon can be used to see info about nearby access points, such as power levels, channels, and BSSIDs. It can be installed with this command:

sudo apt install wavemon

And run with this command:

sudo wavemon

Useful Commands

These are miscellaneous commands that may be useful for troubleshooting.

To watch what the Wi-Fi hardware is doing, including disconnection reasons and scan logs:
```
iwevent
```
To check what hardware network controllers are detected by your system:
```
lspci | grep Network
lsusb | grep Network
```
To check if the Intel Wi-Fi kernel module is loaded:
```
lsmod | grep iwlwifi
```
To erase all saved network information, such as Wi-Fi passwords and other configuration:
```
sudo rm /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/*
```
To reinstall NetworkManager:
```
sudo apt install --reinstall network-manager
sudo systemctl poweroff
```
After the system has completely powered off, power it back on. (This allows network hardware to fully reset.)

Additional Info

Wi-Fi Speeds and Frequencies:

54 Mb/s uses the 802.11g & 802.11b standards.
145 Mb/s and 300 Mb/s modes use the 802.11n standard and 20MHz or 40MHz bandwidths.
300Mbps / 40Mhz will provide the maximum performance in most cases.
145Mbps / 20MHz will work better in areas with more access points.
450Mbps uses a 60Mhz channel width and 600Mbps uses a 80Mhz channel width, and is typically less stable.

The name of the Linux driver for Intel Wi-Fi cards is called iwlwifi and is included in the kernel by default. All information about the driver can be found on the Kernel.org wiki.

Sometimes the newest version of the linux-firmware package will clear up occasional bugs. You can download the newest .deb package from the Kernel.org Ubuntu mirror.

Windows Dual Boot

If you're dual booting Windows, you may lose access to your Wi-Fi card entirely after running driver/OS updates in Windows. You may be able to gain access to your Wi-Fi card again by disabling "Fast Startup" in the Windows power options before booting back into Pop!_OS.

Contact System76 Support

If you purchased a System76 computer and you’ve tried all the steps above, but your wireless connection still isn’t working as expected, please collect the output from the diagnostic commands and contact System76 support.