[TRACKING] RZ616 download problem

Framework Laptop 13 Linux
1

Hello,

I received my Framework 13 7640u a couple of days ago and I have encountered one major issue.

The WiFi is simply terrible.

I get 65% of signal power in linux mint and all bars in windows (whatever that means) but I get at most 40Mb/s download in both OSs.
And it’s extremely unstable, with response latencies all over the place.

I do get 150Mb/s upload tough.

My desktop PC and macbook both get a snappy 300Mb/s download in the same spots.

On windows I tried forcing wifi AC, tried using 2.4 and 5Ghz bands only, no improvements.

When I get about 5m away from the AP I get 500Mb/s down and up on my macbook, whereas the framework I get 350Mb/s tops.

My SSD’s read/writes performance aren’t the problem, it’s not faulty.

The antenna’s are properly connected and do not appear to be damaged (And again I do get a nice signal according to windows and mint).

My WiFi AP is a TP-link eap-245.
The drivers used are : 3.3.0.825

Does anyone else experience bad wifi connection?
Is there a possible software solution or should I just get another card?

Thank you for any leads.

1 Like
2

mhm mine shows the same behaviour. Much faster upload then download. But it is interesting that the download is the same on windows. I just have thought it is a linux thing.

3

Welcome to the community!

For the best experience, we’d recommend Fedora 39 or Ubuntu 22.04.3 using the OEM C kernel, as described in the guides.

All of this said, there is an unofficial guide to get Mint into a better state for a Linux Mint installation.

If you still are not happy with the wireless after getting onto a tested, supported kernel as described above, installing an Intel card will work and we do have some users who have done this.

4

Thank you but the problem is exactly the same on Windows 11 build 226331.
I did install the driver package.

I used many laptops, new and old in my room, all had good WiFi performance here.

The confusing part being : the laptop sees a good signal but can’t make use of it.
I don’t know if it’s a weird driver problem or if the card is somehow half-dead.

5

Ah, gotcha. This is not something I have experienced myself. As this is happening on multiple OS’, it’s worth contacting support to see what we can do to remedy this.

6

Alright I’ll do that, thanks.

7

Are you able to test it on a different AP to see if you have the same issues? I have two 11th gen systems, one with a mediatek 7922, the other with an intel ax210, and they both have similar upload and download speeds to a server in my network as a macbook air m2. My router and APs are running the asus-merlin firmware.

8

I don’t really see why the AP would make a difference but I will try just to make sure.

And again I do believe that something’s wrong with my card, as you have mentioned most don’t have any problems.

1 Like
9

FYI
I am running Mint, and do not seem to have any wifi issues. As I am typing this, my connection shows 60% to my SSID, I use tp-link eap650’s and get reasonable speeds and latancy.

Just did a quick iperf3 to a server in my lab:

Connecting to host 10.1.161.13, port 5201
[  5] local 10.1.20.78 port 55338 connected to 10.1.161.13 port 5201
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr  Cwnd
[  5]   0.00-1.00   sec  32.0 MBytes   269 Mbits/sec    0   1.18 MBytes       
[  5]   1.00-2.00   sec  31.2 MBytes   262 Mbits/sec    0   1.73 MBytes       
[  5]   2.00-3.00   sec  26.2 MBytes   220 Mbits/sec    0   2.17 MBytes       
[  5]   3.00-4.00   sec  35.0 MBytes   294 Mbits/sec    0   2.17 MBytes       
[  5]   4.00-5.00   sec  33.8 MBytes   283 Mbits/sec    0   2.57 MBytes       
[  5]   5.00-6.00   sec  35.0 MBytes   294 Mbits/sec    0   2.72 MBytes       
[  5]   6.00-7.00   sec  35.0 MBytes   294 Mbits/sec    0   2.86 MBytes       
[  5]   7.00-8.00   sec  35.0 MBytes   294 Mbits/sec    0   3.01 MBytes       
[  5]   8.00-9.00   sec  32.5 MBytes   273 Mbits/sec    0   3.01 MBytes       
[  5]   9.00-10.00  sec  32.5 MBytes   273 Mbits/sec    0   3.01 MBytes       
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate         Retr
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec   328 MBytes   275 Mbits/sec    0             sender
[  5]   0.00-10.05  sec   326 MBytes   272 Mbits/sec                  receiver

iperf Done.
10

I have a feeling that the problem might be the antenna design, it is very directional.

My AP is in the room above mine, when the computer is open, the screen faces a wall (30cm away but still) and I get 20Mb/s, closing it gets me twice the download and if I place it just right I get 80Mb/s (still the macbook never goes below 150Mb/s no matter the position).

This makes it more manageable but I suspect I will be forced to get some third party antennas.

Before that I will try to get an Intel WiFi card, too many people reported issues with this Mediatek one and I can’t even find a driver download page from the manufacturer - I find this very annoying - as if it’s some crappy OEM part.

11

I’m getting similar performance RZ616 performance issues on W11. 20 Mbps download/upload tops on any wifi network. My phone pulls 250 Mbps download and upload without a sweat (on the same network). It’s literally less than 10% of the performance I’m getting from other devices. Quite disappointing.

[edit:]

I updated my driver to this one (device manager was showing I was using an older version, sadly I didn’t take a screenshot): [DRIVERS] AMD|MediaTek WiFi/Bluetooth - Republic of Gamers Forum - 857576

My wifi speed instantly increased to 400 Mbps.

@Matt_Hartley please consider shipping the updated driver (3.3.0.908) in the driver bundle. For the reference, I think the current driver bundle includes the 3.3.0.825 driver.

1 Like
12

Damn it, my hopes were so high for those new driver but it made no improvements to my case (it actually got much worse for the download speed) :smiling_face_with_tear:

Thanks for the info though! I was finding it quite annoying that Windows never updated the WiFi card but given the messy drivers I should be glad I guess :joy:

I did test my framework on a Archer C6 rooter and the speed is generally better at around 80 Mbits/s download and it seemed to be more stable but then again the performance was still very bad compared to other laptops and smartphones in the same spots.

And I don’t want to replace my AP with a rooter just to get better performance on one struggling device.

I guess there isn’t much to do other than trying another WiFi card.

13

Will pass this onto those providing Windows support.

1 Like
14

Update on slow wi-fi with MediaTek.

Fedora has the update, Ubuntu LTS is next.

The change in question for everyone else.

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