e100 firmware loading issues in 2.6.29

kushalkoolwal · 04-20-2009, 02:23 PM

I am using Debian 5.0 with 2.6.28 Debian custom compile kernel. I generally build my kernel to load without INITRD.

Few days back I decided to try 2.6.29 and here is what I did:

Code:

cp config-2.6.28-custom /usr/src/linux-source-2.6.29/.config
make oldconfig
make-kpkg --append-to-version=-test kernel_image

After installing the 2.6.29 kernel I noticed that my network was gone. ifconfig didn't show any interface:

Code:

debian:/var/log# ifconfig

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:8 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:8 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:1104 (1.0 KiB)  TX bytes:1104 (1.0 KiB)

I tried doing dhclient and I got following warnings/error messages:

Code:

[   18.655447] e100 0000:00:0d.0: firmware: requesting e100/d102e_ucode.bin
[   18.727923] e100: eth0: e100_request_firmware: Failed to load firmware "e100/d102e_ucode.bin": -2
[   18.751022] e100 0000:00:0d.0: firmware: requesting e100/d102e_ucode.bin
[   18.773729] e100: eth0: e100_request_firmware: Failed to load firmware "e100/d102e_ucode.bin": -2
[   18.798889] e100 0000:00:0e.0: firmware: requesting e100/d102e_ucode.bin
[   18.821580] e100: eth1: e100_request_firmware: Failed to load firmware "e100/d102e_ucode.bin": -2
[   18.839898] e100 0000:00:0e.0: firmware: requesting e100/d102e_ucode.bin
[   18.862358] e100: eth1: e100_request_firmware: Failed to load firmware "e100/d102e_ucode.bin": -2

I usually build my ethernet module into the kernel:

Code:

debian:/var/log# cat /boot/config-2.6.29-test | grep E100
CONFIG_E100=y
CONFIG_E1000=m
# CONFIG_E1000E is not set
debian:/var/log#

I know that there was a long discussion on the future of firmware drivers in Debian Kernel on debian-devel mailing list. Wondering if that has to do anything with this issue.

Any ideas how to resolve it?

Jongi · 04-21-2009, 01:24 PM

<info from wrong computer>

Nonetheless I did have issues with my forcedeth driver using 2.6.29

farslayer · 04-21-2009, 03:38 PM

http://kerneltrap.org/mailarchive/li...9/3/13/5154224

Quote:

There have been several other reports of this but setting
CONFIG_FIRMWARE_IN_KERNEL=y seems to fix them in general.

Looks like this is upstream in the kernel rather than just in Debian.

Let us know if hte suggested 'fix' works for you or not.. This is all rather new apparently

kushalkoolwal · 04-21-2009, 04:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by farslayer

http://kerneltrap.org/mailarchive/li...9/3/13/5154224

Looks like this is upstream in the kernel rather than just in Debian.

Let us know if hte suggested 'fix' works for you or not.. This is all rather new apparently

Thanks farslayer for the link.

The fix CONFIG_FIRMWARE_IN_KERNEL=y does not work for Debian and me.

I do have:

Code:

CONFIG_FIRMWARE_IN_KERNEL=y
CONFIG_E100=y

and it still does not work. Not sure if the work around will be in update-initramfs but then it would be stupid because people who compile kernel without initrd support like me cannot get past it.

I have not tried copying firmware from different distro/system.

This is quite annoying.

flavio.suligoi · 10-14-2009, 03:50 AM

You need the e100 firmware.
You can easily find it in the vanilla 2.6.29 (or following) kernel directory:

linux-2.6/firmware/e100

copy the whole "e100" directory in you distro fw directory, generally:

/lib/firmware

dnm · 12-01-2009, 09:31 AM

If you're running a debian based distro, and you let debian manage your kernels, you need to type:

Code:

apt-get install firmware-linux

gnath · 12-22-2009, 09:13 AM

Hi,
dnm
as you told "apt-get install firmware-linux" solve e100 firmware for debian.

thanks a lot,
have fun