2.6: Disable loading modules at boot

Wynd · 02-27-2007, 03:17 PM

Hello,

I am using the 2.6.18 kernel with Slackware 11. On boot, some modules load for hardware that I have but don't currently use (for example, a printer port or an extra network card). Is there a way to disable loading of certain modules or probing of hardware? I tried adding "nohotplug" at boot but that didn't work.

MS3FGX · 02-27-2007, 03:36 PM

I believe you will want to add the names of the modules you want to stop loading to:

/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

These will prevent them from being loaded automatically, but still allow them to be manually loaded.

uselpa · 02-27-2007, 04:02 PM

That solution never worked for me. Wynd, please tell me if it does for you.

mas7997 · 02-27-2007, 04:32 PM

You may also want to check in /etc/rc.d/rc.modules to make sure they aren't being loaded from there. There are some modules that are enabled by default that you may not use. Just comment out any modules that you don't want loaded. A quick way to see what is already enabled is the following command:

Code:

grep -v ^# /etc/rc.d/rc.modules |uniq

Hope this helps.

Wynd · 02-28-2007, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mas7997

You may also want to check in /etc/rc.d/rc.modules to make sure they aren't being loaded from there. There are some modules that are enabled by default that you may not use. Just comment out any modules that you don't want loaded. A quick way to see what is already enabled is the following command:

Code:

grep -v ^# /etc/rc.d/rc.modules |uniq

Hope this helps.

That worked with kernel 2.4, but not 2.6. I can add modules to this file if I want them to be loaded when they aren't automatically detected, but I can't comment them out to stop them from being loaded automatically.

I will try the blacklist file, thanks.

duns0014 · 03-02-2007, 11:26 AM

Can anyone tell me how modules are loaded anyway? I realize you can do it with modprobe, but how are they loaded automatically and how are they chosen? If I don't blacklist them, I get a bunch of modules for acpi for chipsets I don't have. Like four of them will load when I only need one. Is this because the automatic loader isn't that smart and just loads all the acpi it can when it detects acpi?

dive · 03-02-2007, 03:53 PM

It's more likely that the extra acpi modules were made when the kernel was compiled. If you really want to get rid of extra bits and pieces for chipsets that you don't have, or generic code, the best way is to compile your own kernel.

Have a look in /lib/modules/<kernel version>/

Wynd · 03-02-2007, 05:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dive

It's more likely that the extra acpi modules were made when the kernel was compiled. If you really want to get rid of extra bits and pieces for chipsets that you don't have, or generic code, the best way is to compile your own kernel.

Have a look in /lib/modules/<kernel version>/

Well, I don't want to take that step because even though I am not using the hardware now, I might use it in the future and I'd rather just delete a blacklist line in a file than recompile a kernel just to get a printer working or something.

duns0014 · 03-02-2007, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dive

It's more likely that the extra acpi modules were made when the kernel was compiled. If you really want to get rid of extra bits and pieces for chipsets that you don't have, or generic code, the best way is to compile your own kernel.

Have a look in /lib/modules/<kernel version>/

Thanks for the reply. sony_acpi gets loaded automatically unless I blacklist it, but there's plenty of other modules that don't get loaded that I still have on under /lib/modules. I'm using ubuntu with a stock kernel so I don't think it's compiled in. I'm probably going to compile my own kernel eventually, but I want to know how this works, why some modules are automatically loaded and some are not.

duns0014 · 03-04-2007, 02:19 PM

Ok, noticed something odd. There's a toshiba acpi driver in the /lib/modules directory just like the sony and asus and others, but that doesn't get loaded for my computer even though it's a toshiba! So why's sony and asus load, but not toshiba?