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My wifi connection with the Edimax EW-7811Un adapter on Ubuntu Desktop 16 has been inconsistent to say the least. I can get it to connect to the network, but I have to manually tell it to connect. It recognizes the network but doesn't actually connect on boot or login. I have tried this on Ubuntu Server 16 (completely failure), Ubuntu Server 14 (got it to connect, but not consistently), and now it is on Ubuntu Desktop 16. The pattern I'm noticing is that if it is constantly connected to the internet (watching a video or something) it is perfectly fine. As soon as it is not actively doing anything for a period of time it just stops working and I have to reconnect it to the internet manually. I was planning on using this adapter which worked perfectly fine on my raspberry pi 2 for a while before I get to go home and use my server on ethernet.

I have resorted to logging in manually and starting a youtube playlist so that I can have a stable connection over SSH.

More Information:
- OS: Ubuntu Desktop 16
- Processor: Pentium G4400
- RAM: 4GB DDR4 2133
- Motherboard: MSI Intel Skylake H110 LGA 1151 Mini ITX Motherboard (H110I Pro)

Thanks for any help and I will respond to questions as soon as I can.

Edit #1 to answer question:

rtl8xxxu               73728  0
rtl8192cu              69632  0
rtl_usb                20480  1 rtl8192cu
rtl8192c_common        53248  1 rtl8192cu
rtlwifi                77824  3 rtl_usb,rtl8192c_common,rtl8192cu
mac80211              737280  4 rtl8xxxu,rtl_usb,rtlwifi,rtl8192cu
cfg80211              565248  2 mac80211,rtlwifi
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  • Please edit your question to add the result of the terminal command: lsmod | grep rtl. Welcome to Ask Ubuntu.
    – chili555
    Mar 23, 2017 at 23:56

1 Answer 1

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There are two possibly conflicting drivers loaded. I suggest that we blacklist and unload one and see if connectivity improves. Also, let's turn off power saving in Network Manager:

sudo -i
modprobe -r rtl8xxxu
echo "blacklist rtl8xxxu"  >>  /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
sed -i 's/3/2/' /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/*
exit

It may take a reboot. Is connectivity improved?

EDIT: We tried blacklisting rtl8xxxu so as to exclusively use rtl8192cu and it appears to be unsuccessful. Let's reverse it. From the terminal:

gksudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

Use nano or kate or leafpad if you don't have the text editor gedit.

Change the last line to read:

blacklist rtl8192cu

Instead of blacklisting rtl8xxxu. Reboot and tell us if connectivity is improved.

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  • Tidbit of information: When I log in I get a "Network service discovery disabled" pop up in the top right of my window. Not sure if that matters. This happened before and after th changes. I executed the commands listed and now I'm getting a "System program problem detected window" when I log in as well. The connection is just as flaky as well. I also decided to run a few speed tests with speedtest-cli and the ping/speeds were pretty awful compared to when I used the adapter with my Pi as well as what the expected speeds should be.
    – Mojo982
    Mar 25, 2017 at 2:11
  • I will edit my question to propose a different soltion in a few moments.
    – chili555
    Mar 25, 2017 at 12:59
  • I switched the blacklisted driver and it originally didn't connect to wifi at all, but after I rebooted (a second time) it worked perfectly and I've rebooted a few times since. It is completely stable now. Thank you!
    – Mojo982
    Mar 25, 2017 at 15:15
  • Awesome! Glad it's working.
    – chili555
    Mar 25, 2017 at 15:15
  • Blacklisting rtl8192cu worked. echo "blacklist rtl8192cu" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf. Yet to find out if turning off power saving made a difference.
    – code4kix
    Feb 9, 2018 at 16:26

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