Hi,

On my Centos system, this is my nvme driver:

/lib/modules/3.16.0-38-generic/kernel/drivers/block/nvme.ko

When system boots this driver gets loaded automatically. Running lsmod shows that this driver is loaded and using modprobe -r or rmmod I can unload the driver.

I deleted this driver file and rebooted the system but the driver still loads! lsmod detects the driver and I can unload the driver. modinfo nvme says it cant find /lib/modules/3.16.0-38-generic/kernel/drivers/block/nvme.ko.

find / -name nvme.ko does not find any nvme driver on the system.

I know I can add the driver to the blacklist so it wont load, but what I want to know is where on earth is Linux loading the driver from?

TIA
Nisha

Howto: Linux Add or Remove a Linux Kernel Modules / Drivers

and / or

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...kernel-801334/

Thank you for your response. But I already know all that. What I want to know is where is Linux finding the nvme driver even though I have deleted it from disk.

And sorry about the dual post. I hit my browser refresh and that msg got reposted.

TIA
Nisha

The /lib/modules/... directory you specified...are you absolutely certain that it matches your running kernel? "uname -a" will tell you. If not, that module may be present for several other kernels on your system, and you only removed one. Run "sudo find /lib/modules -name nvme.ko", and see what you find.

I'm absolutely certain that my /lib/modules dir matches my running kernel. I made sure of that. Besides, as root, I ran find / -name nvme.ko and it finds nothing. That is why I'm so perplexed!

TIA
Nisha

Sorry...something here isn't correct.

That file/module comes from somewhere....if you did a find on the root ("/") directory, as you said (and you RAN that find as root/sudo), it'll return a name. I have that module in several of my kernel directories. So either it doesn't match, or the find wasn't run with sufficient permissions to actually find the file.

Re-run the find AS ROOT, for the /lib/modules directory ONLY, as specified.

Could it be in ramfs?

1 members found this post helpful.

you did not look into this post far enough where someone within it goes into how to blacklist as you asked how to do.
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...kernel-801334/

also, as others in here stated. you may have more then one kernel / source / modules installed on your system using

$(uname -r) to be sure you are getting the one that is loaded on boot up is important.

my system shows this (because I do not rid my kernels every time they are updated)

but to get the one I am running I use this to get the right one.

another thought - it maybe built into the kernel itself so no need for a module?

I already know how to blacklist my driver. I'm trying to understand where Linux finds the nvme driver although I have deleted all intances of nvme.ko

If the driver was built into the kernel, then lsmod would not show it and rmmod nvme would not work, both of which work for me.

Nisha

As root I did:

find /lib/modules -name nvme.ko and nothing was displayed. Then I did

cd /lib/modules
find . -name nvme.ko

and again nothing was displayed.

I logged modprobe output to a file while the system was booting, and in the log I see this:

alias pci:v*d*sv*sd*bc01sc08i02* nvme

could this point to something?

TIA
Nisha

I checked. Its not in ramfs.

thanks
Nisha

interesting:
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=kernel+module+alias
i think you're on to something...

The issue was initramfs. After deleting the driver I had to run dracut -f to regenerate initramfs. Once I did that it worked!

Nisha

3 members found this post helpful.

I did wonder but I'm not confident enough in my kernel compiling and installation skills to have questioned it any further.
Glad you sorted it and thanks for posting your solution so others can benefit.