Intermittent wifi: "wlan0: link is not ready"

[whonch]

I am using a raspberry pi 3 with the integrated wifi. It has been working perfectly fine for the last few months (or years), but since the last 3 or 4 weeks I have been experiencing intermittent disconnections. It seems to happen when a large number of files are transferred through the network (I have been used this Pi as a NAS, since it is connected to an external hard drive).

Looking at the kernel messages using the dmesg I see the following:

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[11314.878586] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[11314.878632] brcmfmac: power management disabled
[11315.459210] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan0: link becomes ready
[11322.600071] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[11322.600120] brcmfmac: power management disabled
[11323.155432] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan0: link becomes ready
[11334.005336] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[11334.005371] brcmfmac: power management disabled
[11334.607353] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan0: link becomes ready
[11343.398885] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[11343.398928] brcmfmac: power management disabled
[11344.036376] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan0: link becomes ready
[11350.465783] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[11350.465810] brcmfmac: power management disabled
[11351.112680] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan0: link becomes ready
[13931.070595] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[13931.070636] brcmfmac: power management disabled
[13937.301390] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan0: link becomes ready
[17982.074308] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[17982.074377] brcmfmac: power management disabled
[17984.058372] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan0: link becomes ready

Each block of "wlan0: link is not ready" appears at the moment the network disconnects. It comes back automatically a few seconds later, as you can see from that output, without the need of any action.

I am using Raspbian GNU/Linux 8.0 (jessie) with the 4.4.50-v7+ #970 SMP Mon Feb 20 19:18:29 GMT 2017 armv7l GNU/Linux kernel. (I know it's a bit old, I had my reasons, but it had been working properly until now).

I hope someone could shed some light on this issue. Thanks in advance.

[cpc464]

Hi Whonch, sorry for this boring and semi-helpful answer, but for services that need to be on all the time (eg a NAS), I would strongly recommend wired Ethernet over wireless. Wi-Fi is not really designed to offer stable, continuous connectivity, and speed variations and occasional disconnects are to be expected (though your wireless might have a particular issue).

[whonch]

I know, ethernet works much better, but I had been using it this way since, at least, 2015 without any issues. But yes, I'm planning of moving the rpi with the hard drive next to my router, so I can connect it via ethernet.

Anyway, I upgraded the kernel to the latest version, and made no difference. Then I substituted the power supply for a new one (another 5v 3A)... and, surprise, the connection was stable.

Then I tried the old power supply again... and it was stable again. Not a single disconnection for hours.

So I couldn't find the source of the problem, but the connection seems stable now. Maybe it just needed to be unplugged and plugged again?

Anyway, I would consider this issue solved by now.

Thanks anyway