I’m having an enormous amount of difficulty in getting the Broadcom 57xx (bcm5700) driver to load in Suse 9.1 Personal. My problem thus far stems from the Suse kernel not having module loading enabled. I’ve tried several times to rebuild the kernel with module loading enabled, but it just will not enable it.

I have to be missing something here. I’ve followed the instructions from the Suse manual, but it just won’t do it. I get the same kernel message on startup saying that module loading is not enabled. The installation of the bcm5700 driver requires module loading.

Would somebody please help me figure out what I am doing wrong here? I’d really appreciate it.

Here’s what I’ve done:

Downloaded and installed:
kernel-source-2.6.4-52.i586.rpm
kernel-syms-2.6.4-52.i586.rpm

Made backup copy of the original kernel:
cp /boot/vmlinuz /boot/vmlinuz.old
cp /boot/initrd /boot/initrd.old

(From the Suse manual) The configuration of the current kernel is stored in the file /proc/config.gz. To modify this configuration, go to the directory /usr/src/linux as root and execute the following commands:

zcat /proc/config.gz > .config
make oldconfig

(I’ve tried it with and without make mrproper)

make menuconfig

The program said that module loading was already enabled. I exited, saving the changes. (I also tried make config, with the same results.)

(From the Suse manual) After customizing the kernel configuration, start compilation by entering (remember to change into the directory /usr/src/linux, first):

make clean
make bzImage

(From the Suse manual) If you have configured parts of your kernel to load as modules, launch the module compilation. Do this with

make modules

make modules_install

Then I made sure that Grub was pointed to the new kernel, and made an entry to give me access to the original kernel.

I reboot, using the new kernel, and I get the same message.

Again, any help will be greatly appreciated.

Actually, I've just got through upgrading my kernel for Suse 9.1. The personal version does not have nongpl drivers with it. But, don't be upset. The power of ftp will save you.

ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/projects/kernel/kotd/i386/

Download:

kernel-default-2.6.8cvsblahblahwhothefuckcares.1586.rpm
kernel-default-nongpl-2.6.8cvsblahblahsuckmyass.i586.rpm
kernel-source-2.6.8cvsjesusmyasshurts.i586.rpm

Now install in this order:

kernel-default-2.6.8cvsblahblahwhothefuckcares.1586.rpm
kernel-source-2.6.8cvsjesusmyasshurts.i586.rpm
kernel-default-nongpl-2.6.8cvsblahblahsuckmyass.i586.rpm

modprobe -ae
/sbin/lilo or for grub- I dunno, it's to complex for my brain.. BRAAAIIINNN!!

Reboot, and poof... all that crap gets added to /usr/src/linux/extras to let you know. Isn't that Super! OK, bye.


Thor

Oops, I misspoke. The extras modules are in /lib/modules/2.6.8.sdfsad-default. Not in /usr/src/linux/. I need more coffee.

Wow, that was FAST!!!

I hope it works. -- Downloading it now.

Thank you very much, Thor.

Thanks for your help, but I still get "No module symbols loaded - kernel modules not enabled."

Was I supposed to recompile the kernel again?

Any other ideas?

I really like Suse, but I'm about ready to give up and try a different distro on this box.

No, you were supposed to rm the crap in /lib/modules before you reinstalled the kernel.