The WiFi issues plaguing my Thinkpad T490
INTRODUCTION
For two-thirds of the time I've owned my ThinkPad T490, I have had quite an experience using it. For a long time, nothing went really wrong on it, just a little scary here and there. That was just for VMs, some booting issues on the occasion, and then random virus popups in the Windows install. Ever since I've installed Ubuntu on this, and began daily driving it, there have been two big issues that come to mind when I think of it. 1, the graphics card can sometimes think it's melting at 57 degrees Celsius, and throttling itself to prevent that. Or now, the issue of today: number two! The WiFi cuts out just as it pleases!
Now, you might think that this is some weird specific Linux bug that only happens on Linux. Well, I'd be inclined to agree with you, but despite Linux' maturing ecosystem, and recent progress, it's not all sunshine and rainbows. Sometimes, you DO have to be on your toes, and fix something that breaks just because "fuck you". I can assure you, that this is not the case. This has happened in the Windows 10 install as well, and it's actually been worse. For a while, it was really just a weird issue that I messed up on once. Then I found a random working solution. Just something that fucking worked.
When I rebooted, I decided to go into the advanced boot menu, and willingly boot into the previous Ubuntu kernel option. Think from 6.40 generic to 6.30. This actually worked amazingly. For a while. This issue happened once before, and I made a very unnecessary decision to just re-install my Operating System. This was also by mistake, since I listened to an AI agent like a retard. So the second time this ever happened, I tried to be a little more clever, and see what happened. So, booting into the previous version worked, and it ran like a dream. Problem solved, probably something the guys who made the new version accidentally broke.
Until last week, when it happened again. And again, and again, and again. Enough times, that I was going into recovery mode, reinstalling drivers with an Ethernet cable, and booting into EVERY version I had available. This was a hardware issue. The current issue, is that the drivers I install externally, don't survive a reboot. But I found ANOTHER solution, just fucking around with it. You go into the GUI version of the Network Manager, forget connection, reconnect. That would work after a few tries, sometimes it would not. Eventually, I found that if you FORGOT the connection completely, and then tried connecting to a "hidden network", it worked a little more consistently. So, seeing as that worked, I had an idea.
I'm learning Rust, so I wrote a script. I wrote a script that I call "wifi-kick", that will do all that happy horse shit for me. Problem is, it's not a perfect fix. Sometimes, the issue will just happen again, depends on how much it decides to fuck you that time. Sometimes the script gets it first try, sometimes the script will take 10 tries. It's always the same error. "Authentication failed". The WiFi password never changes, so it's always correct. There's always just some authentication issue I have yet to determine. In reality, it just knows it wants to fuck you, so it does. And it does it WELL.
So that's why I'm writing about this, gets it off my chest, makes it easier to know exactly what's happening, and maybe someone can come up with some solutions to help me.
HARDWARE
Ubuntu 24.04.5 LTS
Lenovo Thinkpad T490
00:14.3 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Cannon Point-LP CNVi [Wireless-AC] [8086:9df0] (rev 30)
Subsystem: Intel Corporation Cannon Point-LP CNVi [Wireless-AC] [8086:0030]
Kernel driver in use: iwlwifi
Kernel modules: iwlwifi
--
00:1f.6 Ethernet controller [0200]: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection (6) I219-LM [8086:15bd] (rev 30)
Subsystem: Lenovo Ethernet Connection (6) I219-LM [17aa:2279]
Kernel driver in use: e1000e
Kernel modules: e1000e
01:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS522A PCI Express Card Reader [10ec:522a] (rev 01)
SOLUTIONS I'VE TRIED (WITH THEIR CONSISTENCY RATING)
Deleting connection profile and reconnecting manually - 4/10 (you get lucky)
Rebooting - 2/10 rarely works if ever
Restarting the Network Manager and drivers - 0/10 never worked
Reinstalling drivers such as IWLWIFI - 1/10 won't persist/survive reboot and doesn't work
Using other drivers - 1/10 doesn't work/breaks everything
Using wifi-kick - 5/10 CAN work, sometimes the issue wants to be really stubborn and still not do it.
Reinstalling my Operating System - 5/10 HAS worked, but obviously this is the LAST thing you want to do. And no guarantee.
CONCLUSION
Really, these fixes are like jiggling the keys a specific way in your shitty locks to your house, and I can't GET IN to the thing without smaller screwdrivers. Which I don't have. So I'm tweaking out over this, and I have been, for going on two-weeks now. God help me.