WIFI drops to zero when bluetooth device is connected

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1

Hi, I am new to Linux and Fedora.

I have installed Fedora 36 beta on my old laptop Gigabyte p34 v3 :
The problem is that, when I connect any Bluetooth device to the laptop, the WIFI signal drops to zero. I am not sure if it is related to:

  1. Power save mode issue
  2. Issue is with drivers for Centrino Wireless-N 2230
  3. Just missing drivers

Can you please let me know the following:

  1. What I need to check to see if the problem is related to bluetooth drivers?
  2. Any guidance will be appreciated.

Thank you in advance. The details are below

         .';:cccccccccccc:;,.            ------------------ 
      .;cccccccccccccccccccccc;.         OS: Fedora Linux 36 (Workstation Edition Prerelease) x86_64 
    .:cccccccccccccccccccccccccc:.       Host: P34V3 
  .;ccccccccccccc;.:dddl:.;ccccccc;.     Kernel: 5.17.1-300.fc36.x86_64 
 .:ccccccccccccc;OWMKOOXMWd;ccccccc:.    Uptime: 1 hour, 19 mins 
.:ccccccccccccc;KMMc;cc;xMMc:ccccccc:.   Packages: 2139 (rpm), 3 (flatpak) 
,cccccccccccccc;MMM.;cc;;WW::cccccccc,   Shell: zsh 5.8.1 
:cccccccccccccc;MMM.;cccccccccccccccc:   Resolution: 3440x1440 
:ccccccc;oxOOOo;MMM0OOk.;cccccccccccc:   DE: GNOME 42.0 
cccccc:0MMKxdd:;MMMkddc.;cccccccccccc;   WM: Mutter 
ccccc:XM0';cccc;MMM.;cccccccccccccccc'   WM Theme: Adwaita 
ccccc;MMo;ccccc;MMW.;ccccccccccccccc;    Theme: Adwaita [GTK2/3] 
ccccc;0MNc.ccc.xMMd:ccccccccccccccc;     Icons: Adwaita [GTK2/3] 
cccccc;dNMWXXXWM0::cccccccccccccc:,      Terminal: gnome-terminal 
cccccccc;.:odl:.;cccccccccccccc:,.       CPU: Intel i7-4720HQ (8) @ 3.600GHz 
:cccccccccccccccccccccccccccc:'.         GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M 
.:cccccccccccccccccccccc:;,..            GPU: Intel 4th Gen Core Processor 
  '::cccccccccccccc::;,.                 Memory: 4773MiB / 15909MiB

Running lshw -C network shows

  *-network                 
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
       vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
       logical name: enp3s0
       version: 10
       serial: fc:aa:14:7d:5f:a1
       capacity: 1Gbit/s
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix vpd bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=5.17.1-300.fc36.x86_64 firmware=rtl8168g-3_0.0.1 04/23/13 latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=twisted pair
       resources: irq:17 ioport:c000(size=256) memory:f7304000-f7304fff memory:f7300000-f7303fff
  *-network
       description: Wireless interface
       product: Centrino Wireless-N 2230
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:04:00.0
       logical name: wlp4s0
       version: c4
       serial: 84:a6:c8:d6:63:bb
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwlwifi driverversion=5.17.1-300.fc36.x86_64 firmware=18.168.6.1 2030-6.ucode ip=192.168.1.16 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11
       resources: irq:37 memory:f7200000-f7201fff
2

While I don’t know if your device is one affected, it is known that certain wifi chipsets share the radio and antenna with bluetooth. It seems that some are not capable of maintaining a good signal on both services when both are activated. It has been reported by some that activating bluetooth on those devices interferes with wifi and disabling bluetooth restores good wifi service.

It likely is due to the fact that the drivers are open source and have to be built from scratch with each new device released, and even when there is a small change in the chipset it requires driver rework.

My suggestion is to not use both bluetooth and wifi on the same device at the same time.

3

Thanks, if I will not be able to find something meaningful, will have to follow your advice :slightly_smiling_face:

4

The actual fix would be triggered by reporting a bug with your specific details, device, driver, os, etc. against the wifi &/or bluetooth drivers so the maintainer has specifics to look at for solving the conflicts.
bugzilla.redhat.com
Those devices work well in both modes in windows since the maker provides all the details to MS but they don’t help with open source drivers.

2 Likes
5

Wifi cards are cheap this days so i recommend buy a good one from killer or intel ax210 are a good option. And this is kind of a onetime investment you can you use it on other devices and it also support for newer protocols in both Bluetooth and wifi and contains a better chip as @computersavvy told in the previous post i know about issue and the card you have is very old. So think that is the issue.

1 Like
6

It seems in my specific case it is an issue with the card itself, had to order the replacement. Thank you all for the help