Can't Load Wireless USB NIC

[Michael Steele_2]

What Up?

/lib/modules/2...../kernel/drivers/net/wireless/rt2870sta.ko

/lib/modules/2...../kernel/drivers/usb/net/rt2870sta.ko

/lib/modules/2...../kernel/drivers/wireless/rt2870sta.ko

Eenee Meanee Minee Mo, where does this driver go?

From console during bootup error message = 'ra0' does not seem to be present delaying..."

/etc/modules.conf
alias ral rt2870sta.ko

/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-ra0

Note that I can manually insmod rt2870sta.ko and see it afterwards in lsmod, but it will not survive a reboot.

[Michael Steele_2]

oops, typo

alias ral rt2870sta.ko
-should be-
alias ra0 ...

[Ivan Ferreira]

Suddenly your kernel version is not shown on the post.

If you are using 2.6 kernel, you should add a line to /etc/modprobe.conf instead of /etc/modules.conf

Also, when you add a line to the file, you don't need to specify the .ko part of the filename.

[Michael Steele_2]

Hi Ivan:

a)
2.6.18-53.15 is the version under /lib/modules/2.6.18-53.15/kernel/drivers/

b)
I don't think the sub directory makes a difference as long as its under /lib/modules/2.6.18-53.15/kernel/drivers - (Y/N?)

c)
I deleted /etc/modules.conf and added the same line into /etc/modules.conf, as requested, but no change.

d)
I'm just no surviving a reboot. When I insmod from the command line the rt2870sta.ko module loads and can be seen with lsmod.

e)
Driver does not work with the .o version. Only works with the .ko version.

[J. Maestre]

Is the device actually called ra0 when discovered? (Check /etc/sysconfig/hwconf).

[Matti_Kurkela]

Ivan> Also, when you add a line to the file, you don't need to specify the .ko part of the filename.

I would go a bit further, and say that you *must not* specify the .ko suffix. If you add the suffix, the alias does not work.

i.e. the correct alias line would be:

alias ra0 rt2870

MK

[Michael Steele_2]

Matt:

Changed to
alais ra0 rt2870sta

..so I took off the .ko extention but not the 'sta'. Relevent? How?

No progress

[Matti_Kurkela · Accepted solution]

Oops, you're correct. It should have been "alias ra0 rt2870sta", as you guessed. My typo.

> I deleted /etc/modules.conf and added the same line into /etc/modules.conf,

I assume this is a typo too, and you are now configuring /etc/modprobe.conf. Right?

When the system has been freshly rebooted and the module has failed to load, run "modprobe -v ra0" (i.e. attempt to load the module using the alias, like the NIC configuration mechanism would do it). Does the "-v" option (extra verbosity) produce any enlightening messages?

The modprobe command should automatically translate your request into an insmod command + a full pathname of the module file, if all goes well.

Does the kernel message buffer (use the "dmesg" command to see it) contain anything relevant-looking?

Have you run "depmod" after editing /etc/modprobe.conf? If you haven't, try it and see if it makes a difference. Modern distributions will generally run "depmod" automatically in some phase of system boot-up, and modern kernel-module-tools should detect if the pre-generated dependency file is out of date, so it *should* not be a factor. But try it anyway - at least it won't hurt, and just might help.

You could also review the configuration used by the modprobe command, with "modprobe -c". If "modprobe -c | grep ra0" produces nothing, the modprobe command is not reading the configuration file you're writing the alias into.

MK

[Michael Steele_2]

Matti:

Hi

a) modprobe -v ra0
Fatal rt2870sta not found
b) depmod
c) modprobe -v ra0
# insmod /lib/modules/2.6.28-53.el5/kernel/drivers/usb/net/rt2870sta.ko

Note: Looks like 'depmod' is what was needed, for now the module is found properly and loaded.

Thank you very much.