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I have a ProBook HP laptop with 12.04 (PB-1), it connects to the WIFI and works fine. Now, I have just installed another ProBook (PB-2) with 14.04 (not 12.04), also connected to the WIFI, and sometimes this second computer loses or slows down dramatically its connectivity. The router is configure with DHCP, and, as I can see with ifconfig, they have different IP addresses (192.168.1.41 and 192.168.1.34). Eventually, other computers/mobile devices get connected to the network, but always with different numbers, so it doesn't seem to be a collision problem.

The laptop has a fresh installation, didn't change anything in its configuration.

I've checked that there's an interaction between both laptops. Most of the times, PB-2 can't access if PB-1 is connected (but once I could do a speed test of both connected at the same time, and yielded similar results). Verified with firefox and chrome. (Of course, PB-1 is not heavy-downloading anything, this lasts for a week, since I first installed 14.04.)

Edit:

00:19.0 Ethernet controller 
[0200]: Intel Corporation 82579V Gigabit Network Connection 
[8086:1503] (rev 04) Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 
[103c:1621] Kernel driver in use: e1000e -- 24:00.0 Network controller 
[0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11bgn Wireless Network Adapter 
[14e4:4727] (rev 01) Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 
[103c:145c] Kernel driver in use: wl 

The only difference is at the very end of the message: wl for the first ProBook (the one working fine), and bcma-pci-bridge for the second one (slow).

Edit:

The Broadcom Wireless Card indentified for both laptops is

[14e4:4727] (rev 01)

corresponding to this entry in the PCI.ID table:

PCI.ID              12.04 LTS                      14.040 / 14.10 LTS 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------    
14e4:4727           Special Case #3                 Special Case #1    

which reads as:

Special Case #1 - This device uses the driver combination bcma and brcmsmac. It shouldn't be necessary to install anything at all. Required firmware is installed by default in the package linux-firmware.

Wireless script result for PB-1.

Wireless script result for PB-2.

Wireless script result for PB-1 after removing the STA driver.

Edit:

HW configuration of both ProBooks:

  • 7,7GiB memory

  • Intel Core i5-2410M CPU @ 2.30GHz x 4

  • Intel Sandybridge Mobile

  • 64-bit

  • plenty of disk in PB-2, same HD in PB-1, but here there's only some 1GB left (sharing with Windows).

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  • In network management, some network administrator used MAC Address instead of IP address to manage the network traffic. Those malfunction might be caused by the administrator network regulation. Jan 6, 2015 at 1:53
  • @Fabby, done for both laptops...
    – nightcod3r
    Jan 8, 2015 at 21:04
  • Looking... In the mean time: Could you delete all your comments? They're in the question anyway...
    – Fabby
    Jan 8, 2015 at 21:10
  • OK, I left a message for s.o. else to come and have a look: I'm stumped and need some sleep... :/ What time zone are you in? (somewhere in Spain or Latin America)
    – Fabby
    Jan 8, 2015 at 21:31

1 Answer 1

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I believe the STA driver is incorrect for your 14e4:4727 device. Let's remove it:

sudo apt-get purge bcmwl-kernel-source
sudo modprobe -r wl
sudo modprobe brcmsmac

Then, please reboot. Is performance improved all around?

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  • Did you mean removing from PB-1? This is the one that accesses the internet without any problem.
    – nightcod3r
    Jan 8, 2015 at 22:25
  • In every laptop that uses the 14e4:4727 wireless device. It is well known to cause connection problems for other computers, even Windows, on the same router.
    – chili555
    Jan 8, 2015 at 22:41
  • nightcod3r: this is the second pair of eyes I was talking about... He's the resident expert on Broadcom. If he says something, simply bow, mumble "thank you" and then do exactly as he says! ;-) :D So if changing the FIRST laptop doesn't solve the problem on the SECOND laptop, drop me a note immediately @Fabby and we'll take it from there!
    – Fabby
    Jan 9, 2015 at 10:40
  • @Fabby - After removing the STA driver and some testing, I can see that sometimes both computer can access the internet without problems, but PB-2 keeps experiencing the slow access eventually (expends a long time connecting, waiting for servers). I've updated the wireless script and the results of the commands (after having executed them once, I mean: this is the echo for the second time). At this point I understand that the problem is in PB-1, so by upgrading it to 14.04 it might work fine, but let's keep it running until we get to the problem...
    – nightcod3r
    Jan 9, 2015 at 21:47
  • Confirmed: when PB-2 has no access, the problem simply vanishes putting PB-1 to sleep... Always.
    – nightcod3r
    Jan 9, 2015 at 21:47

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