How to set parameters for Realtek wifi rtl8723

Question

I have a realtek wifi card which is really messing up the internet connection on my laptop. As per a few launchpad bugs,they have suggested to disable msi and powersave. How do I set the parameters msi, swlps, ips and fwlps? details of the wifi card driver is below.

 modinfo rtl8723be
filename:       /lib/modules/3.16.3-031603-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rtlwifi/rtl8723be/rtl8723be.ko
firmware:       rtlwifi/rtl8723befw.bin
description:    Realtek 8723BE 802.11n PCI wireless
license:        GPL
author:         Realtek WlanFAE <wlanfae@realtek.com>
author:         PageHe  <page_he@realsil.com.cn>
srcversion:     8630CF9344D90D47240D1FF
alias:          pci:v000010ECd0000B723sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
depends:        rtlwifi,rtl_pci,btcoexist,mac80211
vermagic:       3.16.3-031603-generic SMP mod_unload modversions 
parm:           swlps:bool
parm:           swenc:using hardware crypto (default 0 [hardware])
 (bool)
parm:           ips:using no link power save (default 1 is open)
 (bool)
parm:           fwlps:using linked fw control power save (default 1 is open)
 (bool)
parm:           msi:Set to 1 to use MSI interrupts mode (default 0)

parm:           debug:Set debug level (0-5) (default 0) (int)
parm:           disable_watchdog:Set to 1 to disable the watchdog (default 0)
 (bool)

Wireless card

lspci  | grep -i wire
 02:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8723BE PCIe Wireless Network Adapter

if I set msi=0 i get the following error

[   18.096063] rtl8723be: unknown parameter 'msi' ignored

Answer 1

Before you start, you will need to install sysfsutils:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install sysfsutils

First, to show the options that are currently in use and the existing parameters, run the following command:

sudo systool -a -v -m rtl8723be | grep -A8 "Parameters:"

Under "Parameters:", you will see the available options and the existing parameters. Here is an example of that section:

  Parameters:
    debug               = "1"
    disable_watchdog    = "N"
    fwlps               = "Y"
    ips                 = "Y"
    msi                 = "Y"
    swenc               = "N"
    swlps               = "N"

It appears that the msi option can be set to Y or N.

To set msi to off, you should run the following commands:

sudo modprobe -r rtl8723be
sudo modprobe rtl8723be msi=N

Now, verify the change:

sudo systool -a -v -m rtl8723be | grep -A8 "Parameters:"

The output should now look like this:

  Parameters:
    debug               = "1"
    disable_watchdog    = "N"
    fwlps               = "Y"
    ips                 = "Y"
    msi                 = "N"
    swenc               = "N"
    swlps               = "N"

To make this change permanent, you should create a file /etc/modprobe.d/rtl8723be.conf. Run the following command:

sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/rtl8723be.conf

Now, copy and paste the following into the file:

options rtl8723be debug=1
options rtl8723be disable_watchdog=N
options rtl8723be fwlps=Y
options rtl8723be ips=Y
options rtl8723be msi=N
options rtl8723be swenc=N
options rtl8723be swlps=N

Press CTRL + o and then press ENTER to save the file. Press CTRL + x to exit nano.

Now you can make changes to this file to apply your desired settings. After you make changes to the file, run the following commands to apply the changes:

sudo modprobe -r rtl8723be
sudo modprobe rtl8723be

Answer 2

I'm using Ubuntu 14.04 with 14.10 kernel. It does work for me.

~$ sudo modprobe  rtl8723be msi=0
~$ more /sys/module/rtl8723be/parameters/msi 
N
~$ sudo modprobe -r rtl8723be
~$ sudo modprobe  rtl8723be msi=1
~$ more /sys/module/rtl8723be/parameters/msi 
Y

Same module version:

~$ modinfo rtl8723be
filename:       /lib/modules/3.16.0-23-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rtlwifi/rtl8723be/rtl8723be.ko
firmware:       rtlwifi/rtl8723befw.bin
description:    Realtek 8723BE 802.11n PCI wireless
license:        GPL
author:         Realtek WlanFAE <wlanfae@realtek.com>
author:         PageHe  <page_he@realsil.com.cn>
srcversion:     C94095C986767A931B924EF

Default is 0 for msi so no need for it, but you should for ips=0 fwlps=0

Try with both modprobe or insmod.

Answer 3

Regarding your question for how to set parameters, you could use something like (=0 meaning disable, =1 meaning enable, and as Sneetsher mentions msi is disabled by default): $ echo "options rtl8723be fwlps=0 ips=0" | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/rtl8723be.conf

Regarding your WiFi problem, you could check out my answer to the question My wifi drops the connection after a few minutes realtek8723be