Arch Linux User Repository

This is the vanilla Arch package with a patch that prevents the iwlwifi driver from becoming unusable due to a beacon timeout firmware issue. (See https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=203709)

To use this, use the following kernel module parameter (e.g., in /etc/modprobe.d/wifi-fix.conf): options iwlwifi beacon_timeout=256

Here the number 256 is the number of beacons that must be missed before the driver disconnects.

Binary builds available here: https://github.com/mikezackles/linux-beacon-pkgbuild/releases

@kotrfa seems pretty plausible? Worth trying. It seems like this code should make its way into the Arch repos eventually, so you could potentially wait it out and see.

Apologies for not updating this. For whatever reason I haven't been experiencing the issue recently using a vanilla kernel, and I haven't had any time to spare for kernel builds.

Seems that someone managed to get just the iwlwifi driver thingie: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=203709#c276 . wouldn't that be potentially a replacement for this, therefore not having to mess with the whole kernel but only tweaking the driver?

@rpodgorny, if the bug is fixed, I am not aware, but I haven't tried a vanilla kernel in a while. This is a bug in intel's closed firmware, which they don't seem particularly motivated to reproduce and fix internally. If they've fixed it, they haven't mentioned it in the kernel bugzilla.

I update this package and the binaries whenever I get a chance to do a kernel build, but that tends to be somewhat infrequent right now. Maybe every few months? I'll try to fit one in soon, but of course feel free to edit the PKGBUILD in the meantime. (Probably next weekend would be the earliest.)

will there be an update for current kernels? ...or maybe even better - is the bug fixed in vanilla yet?

Awesome, glad it's working for you!

After a few days, works flawlessly! Thank you a lot!

I would recommend passing the parameter in /etc/modprobe.d/ as described in the readme here: https://github.com/mikezackles/linux-beacon-pkgbuild

I think if you pass it directly to the kernel as you are, you need to namespace it something like iwlwifi.beacon_timeout=256, but maybe I'm missing/forgetting something. If you leave it the way you have it I don't think the kernel will pick it up, so it wouldn't fix the issue.

EDIT: Also, you're welcome!

Thanks for a quick fix and also referencing the compiled releases, I used those directly. If anyone is unsure what to do, it's really just downloading those 3 linux-beacon-*.pkg.tar from the github releases page, then using pacman -U linux-beacon*.pkg.tar and then making this available in your bootloader. I use bootctl so I created:

# File: /boot/loader/entries/arch-beacon.conf
title Arch Linux 5.12.9 Wifi Fix
linux /vmlinuz-linux-beacon
initrd /initramfs-linux-beacon.img
initrd /intel-ucode.img
options root=PARTUUID=8d411a1d-fd6b-4916-b21f-f745a70a39d3 rw intel_iommu=off

and then bootctl set-default arch-beacon.conf.

Going to test this now, but thanks a ton @mikezackles!

EDIT: removing the option from the options line above, use /etc/modprobe.d/wifi-fix.conf with options iwlwifi beacon_timeout=256 instead.

Thanks for letting me know. It looks like they just switched from hosting this on archlinux.org to github. I bumped to the latest and fixed the repository. I verified that it downloads and validates and that the patch applies, but I don't have time to do a full build right now. There's also the binary uploaded to my github repo at https://github.com/mikezackles/linux-beacon-pkgbuild/releases/tag/v5.12.9.arch1 if you'd prefer not to build. Let me know if it works out!