Possible udev problem. Help me learn.

DeadlyMuffin · 05-17-2008, 01:22 PM

I'm running slackware 12.1 on an older Acer laptop (500mhz, windows 98 era). I upgraded from 12.0 to 12.1 following the upgrade instructions, and everything seemed to work without a hitch.

I have, however, noticed that the modules for apm and for my ethernet card (uses the e100 module) no longer load automatically. My understanding was that udev is what detects hardware and loads the necessary modules. It that correct, or should I put them in rc.modules.conf? I didn't have any problem with these in 12.0, so I'm hoping someone could explain what has changed.

I realize I could simple stick them in rc.modules.conf and forget about the problem, but I"m trying to learn what's going on here. Thanks in advance.

symatic · 05-18-2008, 09:46 AM

Have a look at the changes and hints doc that you used to upgrade. I believe it provides information about how to handle the udev upgrade which could be affecting your setup.

Here part of it:

Code:

udev was upgraded - don't forget to move/merge all of the associated *.new 
  files into place or you will have problems.  We are now using as much of 
  the upstream udev rules as possible (and efforts are underway to further
  unify us with other distributions), so you'll notice a lot more udev rules
  files in that directory.  Be sure to heed the warnings about not editing 
  the included rules files, as they will be overwritten if/when the udev
  package is upgraded.  
  If you have more than one network card and have been using the
  75-network-devices.rules file, it is now called 70-persistent-net.rules
  (and is generated from 75-persistent-net-generator.rules).
  Rules for optical devices are now located in 70-persistent-cd.rules (and
  are generated from 75-cd-aliases-generator.rules). 
  You will need to remove the old rules files (75-optical-devices.rules and
  75-network-devices.rules) so that they don't conflict.

As stated above, Slackware's udev implementation will automatically create 
  rules files for your optical devices and network interfaces on first boot.
  If you add/remove/replace any of this hardware, and/or you "clone" a system
  to another hard drive for deployment, you will need to either remove these
  two rules files (so that udev will regenerate them to reflect the new or
  changed hardware) or edit them accordingly.

DeadlyMuffin · 05-18-2008, 03:11 PM

All the *.new rule files have been merged, and the file 75-network-devices.rules even has an entry with the correct mac address for my network card, but the module simply doesn't load.

T3slider · 05-18-2008, 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeadlyMuffin

All the *.new rule files have been merged, and the file 75-network-devices.rules even has an entry with the correct mac address for my network card, but the module simply doesn't load.

You didn't read carefully enough. 75-network-devices.rules needs to be deleted in 12.1 -- it is replaced by 70-persistent-net.rules.

You should also check your etc/modprobe.d/ folder. If you have a backup of your blacklist file from 12.0, you MUST delete it (or at least move it to a different directory), because BOTH the 12.1 AND 12.0 files will be checked.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CHANGES_AND_HINTS.TXT

The psmouse module is no longer blacklisted by default; instead, it is loaded
with the imps protocol per /etc/modprobe.d/psmouse -- if you need/want a
different protocol, edit that file. Note that options declarations have
no bearing on *if* a module is loaded - they only affect *how* it is loaded.
In other words, the module should now be loaded automatically (since it's no
longer blacklisted), and the options in /etc/modprobe.d/psmouse are the ones
applied when loading it.

The /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist file has been changed significantly; be sure to
move/merge the /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.new file in its place. Also, you
must NOT leave a backup of the old blacklist file (such as blacklist.orig)
in /etc/modprobe.d/ -- ALL files in that directory are checked, so if a
module is blacklisted in *any* of them, it won't be loaded.

Also check that /etc/rc.d/rc.modules-$(uname -r) exists (rc.modules-2.6.24.5-smp in a default Slackware 12.1 setup), though it shouldn't affect your problem here. If you manually `modprobe e100` as root, does your network work? If so, make sure the e100 module is not blacklisted in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist. If it DOESN'T work, try the eepro100 module (manually load it). If THAT works, you'll have to edit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist and de-blacklist eepro100 and blacklist e100.

I don't know too much about APM (most people, including me, use ACPI nowadays), so the only thing I can suggest is to look at the blacklist file -- or manually load the module (but that's bad advice, so I'd think twice before doing it).