b44 module won't autoload after kernel upgrade

arielCo · 06-24-2009, 08:11 AM

Hello,
Since I upgraded Jaunty from 2.6.28-13 to 2.6.30, I have to modprobe b44 by hand every time I boot the latter. I used the .debs in http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/.

I know I could just add it to /etc/modules or some .rc, but it loads without that in .28 and I really want to understand what changed (something else in /etc?)

.

Code:

$ lshw -C network
...
  *-network
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX
       vendor: Broadcom Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
       logical name: eth0
       version: 02
       serial: 00:1c:23:96:3b:e7
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: bus_master cap_list ethernet physical
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=b44 driverversion=2.0 ip=192.168.1.100 latency=64 module=ssb multicast=yes
...

Code:

 $ lspci -v
...
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX (rev 02)
	Subsystem: Dell Device 01f1
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 64, IRQ 17
	Memory at f9bfe000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: b44
	Kernel modules: b44
...

business_kid · 06-24-2009, 01:32 PM

To answer your direct question - the kernel & modules, files like modules.dep and the modules themselves have all changes.

Have a hunt in your logs to see what's happening on bootup
less /var/log/messages

Then I suggest adding some little modprobe.d file.

arielCo · 06-24-2009, 06:14 PM

There's nothing in the dmesg output about eth[01], wl or b44. On 2.6.28, I get this:

Code:

[    9.627787] wl: module license 'MIXED/Proprietary' taints kernel.
[    9.629607] wl 0000:0c:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
[    9.629615] wl 0000:0c:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
[   10.150596] ieee80211_crypt: registered algorithm 'TKIP'
[   10.161072] eth0: Broadcom BCM4311 802.11 Wireless Controller 5.10.91.9
[   10.280252] b44 0000:03:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
[   10.345188] ssb: Sonics Silicon Backplane found on PCI device 0000:03:00.0
[   10.345276] b44.c:v2.0
[   10.365875] eth1: Broadcom 44xx/47xx 10/100BaseT Ethernet 00:1c:23:96:3b:e7

(The interface names are swapped later)

Also, different senders are seen in the messages. These are roughly the differences between both sets:

Code:

ariel@motoko ~
$ comm -3 senders-2.6.28-13 senders-2.6.30
AppArmor
b44
b44 0000
bdi 1
			bio
bus
cpufreq
			e820 update range
eth0
eth1
ieee80211_crypt
			node 0 low ram
			NR_IRQS
			nr_irqs_gsi
			nvidia
			pci_bus 0000
pci_express 0000
scsi 3
sr0
ssb
wl
wl 0000

(ssb is a driver for the "Sonics Silicon Backplane" - what's that?)

Now this is more interesting:

Code:

$ cat /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-bcm43.conf 
blacklist bcm43xx
blacklist b43
blacklist b43legacy
blacklist ssb
# load wl before b44 so that both work
blacklist b44
install wl modprobe -r b43 b44 b43legacy ssb; modprobe --ignore-install wl $CMDLINE_OPTS; modprobe --ignore-install b44

But it still applies to both kernels.

What now? I attached the logs just in case someone wishes to pore over them.

business_kid · 06-25-2009, 02:24 AM

That's the setup for the closed source driver. It has overwritten your modprobe.conf. So you found it. Just check the kernel config grep SSB your_kernel's_config
Remove all that. I have this line in my modprobe.d/

install b43 /sbin/modprobe ssb; /sbin/modprobe b43; /sbin/modprobe btusb

I have none of that. blacklisting. I don't have wl, and I use b43 with this line in /etc/modprobe.d/WiFi

Swap b44 for b43 and try it.