intel3945abg slow: internet speed/wifi connection [Solved]

[Matte88]

Hi all you sabayoneros!
I need help to understand why my Sabayon is really slow when browsing www or downloading and get it works like it should!
On Win7 and other distros I tried, my internet speed is good, both in surfin' and downloading. So I think it's not a router/connection issue. I'm connected via wireless.
Hope you can help me!

P. S.: i tried to disable IPv6 (other distros had it enabled and, I repeat, internet speed is good), but nothing changed.

[Fitzcarraldo]

Some things to try:

1. Are you using Firefox? If you are, try disabling IPv6 in Firefox even if you have disabled it in the OS:

about:config

Change network.dns.disableIPv6 to true

I don't use Chrome/Chromium but I believe the method for disabling ipv6 in that is along the following lines:

about:net-internals

Click on DNS tab

Click on Disable IPV6


2. Check the MTU to make sure you are not getting fragmented packets:

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# ping -M do -s <packet size in bytes> www.cisco.com

E.g.

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# ping -M do -s 1472 www.cisco.com

Vary the packet size in the ping command until “Frag needed and DF set” is not displayed. MTU = (max packet size that does not fragment + 28 bytes). E.g. if maximum packet size without fragmentation is 1464, then MTU should be set as 1492.

You can then set the MTU to the required value (which will stick until the next reboot) as follows:

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# ifconfig wlan0 mtu <mtu>

There are a couple of ways to make it stick over reboots, but the easiest is probably to put the command in a new file /etc/local.d/01network.start and make it executable:

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# chmod +x /etc/local.d/01network.start

3. I think you've already tried the following, but I'll include it for completeness anyway:

Uncomment the line "alias net-pf-10 off # IPv6" in the file /etc/modprobe.d/aliases.conf, then enter the following command as root user and reboot:

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update-modules

You can check if the ipv6 module is loaded or not by using the command:

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lsmod | grep ipv6

4. If you're experiencing slow updates in the Entropy package manager, try optimising the order of the mirrors. If you're using the weekly repositories (the default if you installed from the SL 6 or SL 7 LiveDVD), then try:

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# equo repo mirrorsort sabayon-weekly

If you're using the daily repositories:

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# equo repo mirrorsort sabayonlinux.org

5. Have you got your hostname set up correctly? See the SL Wiki article HOWTO: Changing the hostname for details. For information, here is my /etc/hosts file for you to compare with yours:

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# /etc/hosts: Local Host Database
#
# This file describes a number of aliases-to-address mappings for the for
# local hosts that share this file.
#
# In the presence of the domain name service or NIS, this file may not be
# consulted at all; see /etc/host.conf for the resolution order.
#

# IPv4 and IPv6 localhost aliases
127.0.0.1       meshedgedx      localhost.localdomain   localhost       meshedgedx.localdomain
::1     meshedgedx      localhost6.localdomain6 localhost6

("meshedgedx" is the hostname I chose for my main laptop; you will no doubt choose a different hostname.)

I don't have ipv6 disabled as I don't have any problems with it, but another thing you could try is commenting out the line beginning with "::1" in your /etc/hosts file, to see if there is an effect.


6. One of my laptops is dog slow on a wireless network unless the WPA encryption protocol is set to be only WPA-TKIP. That laptop even has a problem if my wireless router is configured to support WPA+WPA2, which should simultaneously be able to handle machines using WPA and machines using WPA2. So I had to configure my router to use WPA only, not WPA2 or WPA+WPA2. So, if your router is configured for WPA2 or WPA+WPA2, try changing your encryption to just WPA.

[Matte88]

Hey Fitz! Really ty for your support and advices, but... None of them worked!

BUT
using eth cable speed is like in Win7 (fast as should be)! Just for being sure I tried speed connection (internet surfin' and downloading, instaling pack with Entropy) via wifi an via eth in a Sabayon fresh install (no customization, no upgrades) and eth speed is correct, so... What should be the issue with my wifi card?

-> 08:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM5787M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 02)
-> 06:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] Network Connection (rev 02)

[Fitzcarraldo]

Google is showing me that your problem is common in various distributions, amongst them Ubuntu, with your model of WiFi controller. See Ubuntu Bug Report No. 621265, for example.

Try editing the file /etc/modprobe.d/iwl3945.conf and adding the following line to it:

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options iwl3945 disable_hw_scan=0

If that file does not exist, then create it.

Then run the command update-modules, reboot and see if there is a difference.

[Matte88]

btw... Why the drivers are not needed anymore for my card?

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equo search 3945
>>  @@ Cercando...
>>  Keyword:  3945
>>  Trovati:  0 voci

emerge -s 3945
Searching...   
[ Results for search key : 3945 ]
[ Applications found : 4 ]

*  net-wireless/ipw3945
      Latest version available: 1.2.2-r1
      Latest version installed: [ Not Installed ]
      Size of files: 196 kB
      Homepage:      http://ipw3945.sourceforge.net/
      Description:   Driver for the Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG miniPCI express adapter
      License:       BSD GPL-2

*  net-wireless/ipw3945-ucode
      Latest version available: 1.14.2
      Latest version installed: [ Not Installed ]
      Size of files: 62 kB
      Homepage:      http://www.bughost.org/ipw3945/
      Description:   Microcode for the Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG miniPCI express adapter
      License:       ipw3945

*  net-wireless/ipw3945d
      Latest version available: 1.7.22-r6
      Latest version installed: [ Not Installed ]
      Size of files: 58 kB
      Homepage:      http://www.bughost.org/ipw3945/
      Description:   Regulatory daemon for the Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG miniPCI express adapter
      License:       ipw3945

*  net-wireless/iwl3945-ucode
      Latest version available: 15.32.2.9
      Latest version installed: [ Not Installed ]
      Size of files: 65 kB
      Homepage:      http://intellinuxwireless.org/?p=iwlwifi
      Description:   Intel (R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection ucode                                                                                                       
      License:       ipw3945


[Fitzcarraldo]

^The firmware is now bundled in a new package sys-kernel/linux-firmware. The driver is iwlwifi and comes with the kernel: http://intellinuxwireless.org/?p=iwlwifi

There used to be a driver specific for the 3945 hardware (ipw3945 hosted on ipw3945.sourceforge.net). This project is deprecated, please use the iwlwifi driver instead.

[Matte88]

Try editing the file /etc/modprobe.d/iwl3945.conf and adding the following line to it:

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options iwl3945 disable_hw_scan=0

If that file does not exist, then create it.

Then run the command update-modules, reboot and see if there is a difference.

Works!!! Thank you Fitz!