1

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).

nightcod3r
  • 586

1 Answers1

3

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?

chili555
  • 61,330