System becoming VERY slow in starting applications, scripts etc when internet drops out from the connected network

[XNLFutureTechnologies]

I have discovered (by some bad luck) a rather strange issue.

I was working on some sh scripts, and to make it easier to test them I obviously use SSH and FTP from my pc on my console(s). BUT while doing this it suddenly started to be near impossible to start the scripts without a MASSIVE delay in them (just a black screen and then sometimes up to minutes before it responds and starts the script).

At first I thought it was my script, but then noticed all other stuff (starting emulators etc) did the same.
And that is when I discovered that my ISP went down. My console was still connected to the local network, but it (obviously) didn't had an internet connection anymore. But when having an active network connection but no internet on that connection (anymore), the Console/ArkOS becomes nearly unusable. It will however work normally once an application or script has started, but starting it will take AGES for some reason.

I know you don't support my R36S machines and same goes for the R36H, but my buddy who also has an original RG351MP made the same discovery with his console when he "would yank the WAN cable out of his router".🤷🏽‍♀️

We have confirmed that Netplay was not set to either client or host mode or whatever.

We are running the latest ArkOS image on all 4 devices (2x R363, 1 R3H and one RG351MP):
ArkOS_RG351MP_v2.0_12242024.img

Is there any reason why this would happen? And how would I be able to find out what is causing this issue?
As far as I could tell I could not see any 'weird processes' causing this using netstat and ps -aux (but then again I'm not a "Linux Pro" either 😉.

Any information on why this would happen and how I could prevent this would be great 😊

[christianhaitian]

What wireless chipsets were in use when this issue occured?

[XNLFutureTechnologies]

Oh! so stupid of me to forget to include this! Sorry man (I personally absolutely hate it when I get reports which forget crucial info like this, and even had wrote them down in notepad but forgot to paste them my bad😂)

I had the problem with the following card(s):
RTL8188ETV (a modified 3.3V board from an android tablet I modified) but to be sure It wasn't just that board or driver I also tested it with:

An Edimax EW-7811un (also widely supported on MANY linux distro's and for example also use(d) it for 'hacking' robot vacuums. Beside this issue it works GREAT on the ArkOS devices btw :)

And a huge 'vintage' SMC Wifi dongle: Accton SMCWUSB-G 80211bg (Just to make sure you could find this oldie, I checked on google if you paste the name of this one it will show up under images as a grey stick with a blue cap (very limited search results due to its age though😂).

Hope this info helps you.

Really wondering why it happens, if there is a process that tries to verify (or announce) started processes online etc..

Not sure which adapter my buddy was using when he tested it for me, but If I'm correct he also uses a RTL8188ETV

[christianhaitian]

Hi,

I created a package to update the NetworkManager to the latest stable version. I don't know if it will help with this issue or not but there were some updates that address some issues similar to what you reported here. Can you apply this update and let me know if this seems to help with your issue or not?

1. Take the attached compressed file (arkosbackup.tar.gz) and put it in your roms/backup folder. Do not uncompress the contents! Just place the file as is in your roms/backup folder. If you don't have a backup folder in the roms folder, just create it. If you're using a 2 SD card setup on your device, this must be done from SD1(TF1 Slot).

2. Then go into the Emulationstation Menu, scroll to Options, hit A, then go to Advanced, hit A, then scroll all the way down to Restore ArkOS Settings, hit A.

3. Once completed, restart your device.

4. Then once booted into Emulationstation, go to Options, hit A, then go to Tools, hit A, then scroll to NetManUpdate, Hit A.

5. The Network Manager update will start and complete, then reboot your device.

6. Once the unit is booted into Emulationstation again, see if this issue has been corrected or not and report your results here.

Thanks

arkosbackup.tar.gz

[XNLFutureTechnologies]

I will try to test this asap for you. I'm not sure if I will be able to manage that today due to some deadlines at work, but will try to do this in between considering it should just be a simple test :)

I do have a different (unrelated to this) question for you, considering I don't know/have other means of contact, I hope you don't mind me asking here.

I'm currently working on a project for these devices (which will later on also be released open source of course), but I'm running into a hair pulling problem 😂.

For that project I need pulseaudio to be running in a way that the user Ark is able to use it. I have everything setup properly, and it all works fine as it should... EXCEPT... Pulseaudio is only active when I would login with the user Ark over SSH (and keep it logged in), or when I login with the user ark over Serial (ttyFIQ0).

But once I log off those Ark logins, then pulseaudio stops working on the device itself.
I do understand that it's tied to a user session and that EmulationStation etc don't have an active login/user session, but do you have any tips on how I could 'force' pulseaudio to keep running even if the users would not login via either SSH or ttyFIQ0?

For me this isn't a problem, but the whole usefulness of the project for others quite heavily depends on this functionality

the command which should basically be run is: pulseaudio --start

I could get around this by enforcing an automatic login on for example ttyFIQ0 for the user , but that's obviously not ideal, so If you have any tips or pointers on how to proceed, it would be highly appreciated.

I can get quite far, but I'm not that experienced with Linux and it's (user) sessions.

Again: Hope you don't mind me asking this here😊

[XNLFutureTechnologies]

UPDATE: The issue with applications hanging while starting them when the internet connection (ISP) drops out (but the network connection itself remains) seems to be resolved now😊👍🏽

It now seems to behave as it should, it will (obviously) still hang quite a while when you run a script/program which for example checks online for updates, but any other (non internet connected) script/program will run and start as normal 😊

Will this fix be in one of the upcoming ArkOS updates, or do you for example recommend me to 'hang on to this patch' for a while (considering I'm quite often re-installing ArkOS cards for testing purposes)?

[christianhaitian]

Thank you for testing and confirming this resolved the issue. It will be included in the next update.

[XNLFutureTechnologies]

Thanks for the update/info.👍🏽

If you have time, could you look into the previous message/comment I made/asked about the (non related) PulseAudio question I had?😊

[christianhaitian]

I will try to test this asap for you. I'm not sure if I will be able to manage that today due to some deadlines at work, but will try to do this in between considering it should just be a simple test :)

I do have a different (unrelated to this) question for you, considering I don't know/have other means of contact, I hope you don't mind me asking here.

I'm currently working on a project for these devices (which will later on also be released open source of course), but I'm running into a hair pulling problem 😂.

For that project I need pulseaudio to be running in a way that the user Ark is able to use it. I have everything setup properly, and it all works fine as it should... EXCEPT... Pulseaudio is only active when I would login with the user Ark over SSH (and keep it logged in), or when I login with the user ark over Serial (ttyFIQ0).

But once I log off those Ark logins, then pulseaudio stops working on the device itself. I do understand that it's tied to a user session and that EmulationStation etc don't have an active login/user session, but do you have any tips on how I could 'force' pulseaudio to keep running even if the users would not login via either SSH or ttyFIQ0?

For me this isn't a problem, but the whole usefulness of the project for others quite heavily depends on this functionality

the command which should basically be run is: pulseaudio --start

I could get around this by enforcing an automatic login on for example ttyFIQ0 for the user , but that's obviously not ideal, so If you have any tips or pointers on how to proceed, it would be highly appreciated.

I can get quite far, but I'm not that experienced with Linux and it's (user) sessions.

Again: Hope you don't mind me asking this here😊

Hi, sorry I didn't answer this sooner. You should consider creating a systemd process for pulseaudio if you'd like it to remain functional outside of an active session. See here for an idea on how to accomplish this. https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/338687/pulseaudio-as-system-wide-systemd-service

[XNLFutureTechnologies]

Thanks, and no worries (considering it's not even related to your releases/project at all, so I already highly appreciate you took the time to share some of the knowledge😊). Will look into that and experiment a bit with that solution, it looks promising from what I've read so far. Hoping to be able to test it next weekend.

When you are done with the initial issue of this ticket you can close it if you like (or when you have published the update, don't know your workflow of course😉), considering my initial issue has been resolved👍🏽