Problem related to wifi disconnected and disappear

Kali Linux Forums Kali Linux General
1

Problem Description:

When I do a fresh install, the Wi-Fi works perfectly at first (I can connect, update, browse).
But after some time or after a reboot, the Wi-Fi completely disappears:

iwconfig shows wlan0 with Tx-Power = 30 dBm, ESSID: off/any

nmcli shows no networks available

rfkill shows not blocked

dmesg shows repeating errors like:

rtw89_8852be 0000:01:00.0: xtal si not ready(W): offset=90 val=10 mask=10
rtw89_8852be 0000:01:00.0: mac init fail, ret:-110

This persists even without any upgrade or kernel change. I also tried older ISOs like Kali 2024.2 (kernel 6.6.15) and got the same behavior: Wi-Fi works initially, then fails.

:white_check_mark: What I’ve Tried:

Using KDE and GNOME (same result)

Not upgrading or touching apt at all after install

Reinstalling Kali multiple times

Switching kernel (wanted to downgrade to 6.1.0-kali9 but couldn’t locate package)

Bluetooth and USB tethering (to try fallback internet)

:red_question_mark: My Questions:

  1. Is this an issue with the driver (rtw89_8852be), kernel, or something to do with suspend/power management?

  2. Does installing Kali on external SSD (via USB 3.0) affect Wi-Fi driver stability

2

set up wpa supplicant then it will reconnect after reboot

3

@Fred i tried this now but again wifi connected for sometime and got disconnected :sob: please help i am frustrated trying from 4 days still stuck on it

4

First off, Realtek are not the most compatible with Linux, they can often be problematic.

You haven’t actually said if Kali is running directly on hardware (which I’m assuming from your posts) or from a VM

And if hardware, is the wifi an inbuilt PCI card or are you using a USB plug in Wifi dongle?

From a driver perspective, it doesn’t make a difference, but from a power settings point of view could be very relevant.

The fact it works initially and then stops working is odd, but would need more info to try and help you figure out what is happening.

Getting all the devices working with Linux has always been at times frustrating, don’t give up else your back to wind-blows land

5

@Fred I followed advice to use wpa_supplicant manually instead of relying on NetworkManager.

Steps I followed:

  1. Created /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf with my SSID and password.

  2. Stopped NetworkManager and ran:

sudo wpa_supplicant -B -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
sudo dhclient wlan0

  1. I also applied this power management fix:

echo ‘options rtw89_core disable_clkreq=Y disable_aspm=Y disable_lps_deep=Y disable_swow=Y’ | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/rtw89_custom.conf
sudo update-initramfs -u

:white_check_mark: This allowed Wi-Fi to stay connected for longer — even after reboots.

:cross_mark: But the Problem Returns:

Despite this workaround:

Sometimes, the Wi-Fi still drops randomly after 10–15 minutes.

wlan0 fails to come back until a reboot.

Logs again show:

mac init fail, ret=-110
xtal si not ready
read rf busy swsi. My pc have inside pci card please fred i request you provide me solution please my classes are gonna start in 2 days

6

Before Realtek drivers were included ‘in kernel’ you had to create a DKMS driver package for them, and they worked OK, but since they have been ‘in kernel’ they have been very problematic, to the point I don’t even use Realtek devices with any Linux distro anymore (not just Kali has these issues)

Mediatek based devices are recommended, but even then, some of the adapters you can buy have a ‘windows driver’ included which means the adpater is seen as a CD or a media device, as well as a WiFi adapter, and again, you could ‘modeswitch’ a USB adapter to make it be seen as a WiFi device, but lately that has been problematic too.

So, best advice is a mediatek based adapter that is only ‘single mode’;