Wi-Fi slow and/or absent on Realtek RTL8111

Luigi · 2025-01-05 20:09

Slow and/or no wi-fi on Realtek RTL8111

Hi, I am completely new to Linux. I installed Q4OS yesterday, and I noticed that the internet connection is very slow, struggling to load web pages. I don't have the possibility to connect via cable, but only with Wi-fi. I have a button on my pc with a wi-fi light, white is on, red is off; now the wi-fi is seen, but the light is always red! Browsing the forum, I saw some solutions, but I'm not sure how to proceed.
Here is the result of the ‘inxi -Fzx’ command:

System:
Kernel: 6.1.0-27-amd64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 12.2.0
Desktop: Trinity v: R14.1.1 Distro: Q4OS 5.7.1-n1 base: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)
Machine:
Type: Laptop System: Hewlett-Packard product: HP Pavilion dv7 Notebook PC
v: 0595100000244710000020100 serial: <superuser required>
Mobo: Hewlett-Packard model: 1659 v: 10.22 serial: <superuser required>
BIOS: Hewlett-Packard v: F.06 date: 03/10/2011
Battery:
ID-1: BAT0 charge: 0.0 Wh condition: N/A volts: N/A
model: Hewlett-Packard 2600 status: full
CPU:
Info: quad core model: Intel Core i7-2630QM bits: 64 type: MT MCP
arch: Sandy Bridge rev: 7 cache: L1: 256 KiB L2: 1024 KiB L3: 6 MiB
Speed (MHz): avg: 920 high: 1100 min/max: 800/2900 cores: 1: 882 2: 935
3: 1017 4: 900 5: 865 6: 800 7: 1100 8: 867 bogomips: 31928
Flags: avx ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3
Graphics:
Device-1: Intel 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics
vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: i915 v: kernel arch: Gen-6 bus-ID: 00:02.0
Device-2: AMD Seymour [Radeon HD 6400M/7400M Series]
vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: radeon v: kernel arch: TeraScale-2
bus-ID: 01:00.0 temp: 44.5 C
Device-3: Suyin HP TrueVision HD Integrated Webcam type: USB
driver: uvcvideo bus-ID: 1-1.2:4
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.7 driver: X: loaded: modesetting
unloaded: fbdev,radeon,vesa dri: crocus gpu: i915 resolution: 1600x900~60Hz
API: OpenGL v: 3.3 Mesa 22.3.6 renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 3000 (SNB
GT2) direct-render: Yes
Audio:
Device-1: Intel 6 Series/C200 Series Family High Definition Audio
vendor: Hewlett-Packard 6 driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
API: ALSA v: k6.1.0-27-amd64 status: kernel-api
Server-1: PulseAudio v: 16.1 status: active
Network:
Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
vendor: Hewlett-Packard RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 driver: r8169 v: kernel
port: 4000 bus-ID: 07:00.0
IF: eno1 state: down mac: <filter>
Device-2: Broadcom BCM4313 802.11bgn Wireless Network Adapter
vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: bcma-pci-bridge v: N/A bus-ID: 0d:00.0
IF-ID-1: wlp13s0b1 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 447.13 GiB used: 5.89 GiB (1.3%)
ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Gigabyte model: GP-GSTFS31480GNTD size: 447.13 GiB
Partition:
ID-1: / size: 430.88 GiB used: 5.89 GiB (1.4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
Swap:
ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 8.29 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%)
dev: /dev/sda2
Sensors:
System Temperatures: cpu: 51.0 C mobo: N/A gpu: radeon temp: 44.5 C
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A
Info:
Processes: 207 Uptime: 8h 26m Memory: 3.77 GiB used: 1.44 GiB (38.1%)
Init: systemd target: graphical (5) Compilers: N/A Packages: 1407
Shell: Bash v: 5.2.15 inxi: 3.3.26

My goal is to have a good wi-fi connection. Now the questions:
1) It seems that the ‘Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet’ is not active, while I believe(but I'm not sure), that before the wi-fi connection went through there (or maybe it's just for ethernet connections).
Some posts suggested installing the r8168 driver instead of the r8169.
Should I do that? Could you explain how?
2)Does the wi-fi connection only depend on the ‘Device-2: Broadcom BCM4313 802.11bgn Wireless Network Adapter’?
3) How can I improve the situation?

Thank you all.

hchiper · 2025-01-05 21:39

1) According to inxi's output, your Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 is for Ethernet (wired with an RJ45 cable) networking, not WiFi.
The appropriate firmware is in the `firmware-realtek` package.
Open a Konsole/Terminal/Command Line window (I'm not sure how to do this with Trinity as I'm using Plasma here, but you should find it if you look in the menus and submenus). Then, to test if this package is already installed, type this command and press Enter: `apt list firmware-realtek`. If so, you should see a line with "[Installed]".
Otherwise, to install it, type this command: `sudo apt install firmware-realtek` and press Enter again. You will be prompted for your password. Type it carefully as the characters are not displayed on the screen, then press Enter.

2) Yes.

3) Maybe you are too far from your WiFi access point or there are too many walls in between. Check if the appropriate firmware is installed. I think it might be in the `firmware-b43-installer` package (it supports BCM43131). As before: `apt list firmware-b43-installer` and `sudo apt install firmware-b43-installer`.

Luigi · 2025-01-06 10:39

I really appreciated the reply, thank you.
I ran the suggested commands and they were both already installed.
Thank you!

Q4OS Forum

#1 2025-01-05 20:09

Wi-Fi slow and/or absent on Realtek RTL8111

#2 2025-01-05 21:39

Re: Wi-Fi slow and/or absent on Realtek RTL8111

#3 2025-01-06 10:39

Re: Wi-Fi slow and/or absent on Realtek RTL8111

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