Ubuntu – Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1000 Again ! Ubuntu 13.04 x64

64-bitintel-wirelesswireless

First I have to say that I tried everything written about this concept.
The problem is that it stops working randomly in 3 main forms:

  1. sometimes it disconnect from wireless network and reconnect automatically
  2. sometimes it disconnect and wont connect no matter what (needs reboot)
  3. some times it's still connected but cannot ping or surf or whatever.

I already tried disabling N mod using these commands:

sudo modprobe -r iwlwifi
modprobe iwlwifi 11n_disable=1 (or 0, whatever)

it didn't help.
these are the results of lspci, sudo lshw -C network, ifconfig, iwconfig, rfkill list when it disconnected and didn't connect till reboot:

ifconfig:

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr c8:0a:a9:34:65:77  
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:1563213476557380 errors:9379306629148050 dropped:3126435543049350 overruns:1563217771524675 frame:7816088857623375
          TX packets:1563217771524675 errors:6252871086098700 dropped:0 overruns:1563217771524675 carrier:3126435543049350
          collisions:7816088857623375 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:1563217771524675 (1.5 PB)  TX bytes:1563217771524675 (1.5 PB)

ham0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 7a:79:19:a5:e4:93  
          inet addr:25.165.228.147  Bcast:25.255.255.255  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::7879:19ff:fea5:e493/64 Scope:Link
          inet6 addr: 2620:9b::19a5:e493/96 Scope:Global
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1404  Metric:1
          RX packets:7743 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:1250 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:500 
          RX bytes:665642 (665.6 KB)  TX bytes:204056 (204.0 KB)

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:65536  Metric:1
          RX packets:41138 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:41138 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:6420962 (6.4 MB)  TX bytes:6420962 (6.4 MB)

wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:1e:64:45:fb:70  
          inet6 addr: fe80::21e:64ff:fe45:fb70/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:286999 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:226966 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:324386887 (324.3 MB)  TX bytes:30674804 (30.6 MB)

iwconfig:

ham0      no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

lo        no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11bg  ESSID:off/any  
          Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=14 dBm   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off

lshw -C network:

*-network               
       description: Wireless interface
       product: Centrino Wireless-N 1000 [Condor Peak]
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:07:00.0
       logical name: wlan0
       version: 00
       serial: 00:1e:64:45:fb:70
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwlwifi driverversion=3.8.0-30-generic firmware=39.31.5.1 build 35138 latency=0 link=no multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bg
       resources: irq:46 memory:c0400000-c0401fff
  *-network
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: AR8131 Gigabit Ethernet
       vendor: Qualcomm Atheros
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:09:00.0
       logical name: eth0
       version: c0
       serial: c8:0a:a9:34:65:77
       capacity: 1Gbit/s
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress vpd cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=atl1c driverversion=1.0.1.1-NAPI latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=twisted pair
       resources: irq:47 memory:c0900000-c093ffff ioport:5000(size=128)
  *-network
       description: Ethernet interface
       physical id: 2
       logical name: ham0
       serial: 7a:79:19:a5:e4:93
       size: 10Mbit/s
       capabilities: ethernet physical
       configuration: autonegotiation=off broadcast=yes driver=tun driverversion=1.6 duplex=full ip=25.165.228.147 link=yes multicast=yes port=twisted pair speed=10Mbit/s

lspci:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Memory Controller Hub (rev 07)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset PCI Express Graphics Port (rev 07)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 03)
00:1a.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 03)
00:1a.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 4 (rev 03)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 6 (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.3 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #6 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev 93)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation ICH9M LPC Interface Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801IBM/IEM (ICH9M/ICH9M-E) 4 port SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation G98M [GeForce G 105M] (rev a1)
07:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Centrino Wireless-N 1000 [Condor Peak]
09:00.0 Ethernet controller: Qualcomm Atheros AR8131 Gigabit Ethernet (rev c0)

rfkill list:

1: acer-wireless: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no
2: acer-bluetooth: Bluetooth
    Soft blocked: yes
    Hard blocked: no
9: phy0: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no

Best Answer

I have had this same issue since 12.04 LTS and it has been an extreme annoyance. Let me preface this answer that as of today things seem to be working right and the instructions are for 13.10 but I suspect the solution is compatible with 13.04; I will edit my answer accordingly if the issue persists.

I upgraded to 13.10 today in hopes that this issue had been resolved only to be disappointed once again. After a bit of researching the official/community documentation and reading some unrelated but relevant questions [2], [3], [4], and [5] I ventured down what seemed like the next logical path: checking to see if Ubuntu was using the drivers and firmware provided by Intel. A quick look at /lib/firmware revealed that the firmware specific to the Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 1000 was not there!

-rw-r--r--  1 root root  337572 Apr 25 11:55 iwlwifi-100-5.ucode
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  689680 Apr 25 11:55 iwlwifi-105-6.ucode
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  701228 Apr 25 11:55 iwlwifi-135-6.ucode
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  695876 Apr 25 11:55 iwlwifi-2000-6.ucode
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  707392 Apr 25 11:55 iwlwifi-2030-6.ucode
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  670172 Jul 10 10:59 iwlwifi-3160-7.ucode
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  150100 Apr 25 11:55 iwlwifi-3945-2.ucode
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  187972 Apr 25 11:55 iwlwifi-4965-2.ucode
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  340696 Sep 30 10:33 iwlwifi-5000-5.ucode
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  337400 Apr 25 11:55 iwlwifi-5150-2.ucode
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  454608 Apr 25 11:55 iwlwifi-6000-4.ucode
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  444128 Apr 25 11:55 iwlwifi-6000g2a-5.ucode
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  677296 Apr 25 11:55 iwlwifi-6000g2a-6.ucode
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  679436 Apr 25 11:55 iwlwifi-6000g2b-6.ucode
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  469780 Apr 25 11:55 iwlwifi-6050-5.ucode
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  682892 Jul 10 10:59 iwlwifi-7260-7.ucode

You can find the firmware download for your device hardware here with instructions on how to install it here. In your case, as was mine, I downloaded the firmware for Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 1000. NOTE: the link provided is for kernel versions 3.2+. If memory serves correctly that should work for 13.04 but to be sure run the command: uname -a. As per the instructions perform the following after downloading the firmware:

$ tar -xvzf iwlwifi-1000-ucode-39.31.5.1.tgz 
$ cd iwlwifi-1000-ucode-39.31.5.1/
$ sudo cp iwlwifi-1000-5.ucode /lib/firmware/

That's it! As I stated this has worked so far. If the issue manifests itself again I will modify or delete this answer, but for mine and everyone with this problem I hope this is a permanent fix.

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