Cannot load ath_pci from madwifi

[Alexander Skwar]

Binary package hint: linux-restricted-modules-2.6.15-26-686

With linux-image-2.6.15-26-686_2.6.15-26.45, I'm unable to modprobe ath_pci. When I do so, I get:

alexander@knospe:~/tmp$ sudo modprobe -v ath_pci
Password:
insmod /lib/modules/2.6.15-26-686/madwifi/ath_rate_sample.ko
WARNING: Error inserting ath_rate_sample (/lib/modules/2.6.15-26-686/madwifi/ath_rate_sample.ko): Unknown symbol in module, or unknown parameter (see dmesg)
insmod /lib/modules/2.6.15-26-686/madwifi/ath_pci.ko
FATAL: Error inserting ath_pci (/lib/modules/2.6.15-26-686/madwifi/ath_pci.ko): Unknown symbol in module, or unknown parameter (see dmesg)

In dmesg, there's:

[17179725.368000] ath_rate_sample: Unknown symbol ath_hal_computetxtime
[17179725.368000] ath_pci: Unknown symbol ath_rate_tx_complete
[17179725.368000] ath_pci: Unknown symbol _ath_hal_attach
[17179725.368000] ath_pci: Unknown symbol ath_rate_attach
[17179725.372000] ath_pci: Unknown symbol ath_rate_newassoc
[17179725.372000] ath_pci: Unknown symbol ath_hal_computetxtime
[17179725.372000] ath_pci: Unknown symbol ath_rate_dynamic_sysctl_register
[17179725.372000] ath_pci: Unknown symbol ath_hal_mhz2ieee
[17179725.372000] ath_pci: Unknown symbol ath_hal_detach
[17179725.372000] ath_pci: Unknown symbol ath_hal_probe
[17179725.372000] ath_pci: Unknown symbol ath_rate_node_cleanup
[17179725.372000] ath_pci: Unknown symbol ath_rate_detach
[17179725.372000] ath_pci: Unknown symbol ath_rate_node_init
[17179725.372000] ath_pci: Unknown symbol ath_rate_findrate
[17179725.372000] ath_pci: Unknown symbol ath_hal_init_channels
[17179725.388000] ath_pci: Unknown symbol ath_rate_newstate
[17179725.388000] ath_pci: Unknown symbol ath_rate_setupxtxdesc
[17179725.388000] ath_pci: Unknown symbol ath_hal_getwirelessmodes

[Alexander Skwar (a.skwar)]

The problem is, that the ath_hal module isn't loaded. In 2.6.15-25, doing "modprobe ath_pci" would load ath_hal as well and all was fine. Not so with the current kernel.

alexander@knospe:~$ sudo modprobe -v ath_hal
FATAL: Module ath_hal not found.

Hm, why's that?

alexander@knospe:~$ ls -la /lib/modules/`uname -r`/volatile/
insgesamt 18317
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 400 2006-07-23 00:21 .
drwxr-xr-x 7 root root 568 2006-07-22 15:50 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 165272 2006-07-23 00:20 ath_hal.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 815000 2006-07-23 00:20 fcdsl2.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 890384 2006-07-23 00:20 fcdsl.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 815081 2006-07-23 00:21 fcdslsl.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 808538 2006-07-23 00:21 fcdslslusb.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 809293 2006-07-23 00:21 fcdslusb2.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 808569 2006-07-23 00:21 fcdslusba.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 709490 2006-07-23 00:21 fcdslusb.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 614555 2006-07-23 00:21 fcpci.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8779 2006-07-23 00:21 fcpcmcia_cs.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 606863 2006-07-23 00:21 fcpcmcia.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 607657 2006-07-23 00:21 fcusb.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 471141 2006-07-23 00:21 fglrx.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 654348 2006-07-23 00:21 fxusb.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 2006-07-23 00:20 .mounted
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 208279 2006-07-23 00:21 new_ath_hal.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 5176266 2006-07-23 00:21 nvidia.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4410619 2006-07-23 00:21 nvidia_legacy.ko

It seems, modprobe doesn't look into this volatile directory?

alexander@knospe:~$ sudo insmod /lib/modules/2.6.15-26-686/volatile/ath_hal.ko
alexander@knospe:~$ sudo modprobe -v ath_pci
insmod /lib/modules/2.6.15-26-686/madwifi/ath_rate_sample.ko
insmod /lib/modules/2.6.15-26-686/madwifi/ath_pci.ko

So, when I manually load the module, I can then modprobe ath_pci and thus access the WLAN just fine.

Thus I asume, that the real problem is, that modprobe doesn't check the volatile directory. Why does it not do this?

[Dennis Kaarsemaker (dennis)]

Try sudo depmod -a

[Alexander Skwar (a.skwar)]

After running sudo depmod -a, I was able to "modprobe ath_pci". This also worked after a reboot.

[Rouben (rouben)]

From other people's reports, this problem also seems to affect linux-restricted-modules-2.6.15-27-686 as well.

[Rouben (rouben)]

Here's a possible workaround suggested by Anita from bug # 53489 (marked as duplicate of this bug).

-----------------------------------------------

I solved this by using madwifi-old. I think the problem I am having is due to the wifi router (using the one of an upstairs neighbor with his approval, but don't know what chipset it has) using agere/orinoco: See http://madwifi.org/ticket/698. I think this is why some see a problem and some do not.

So to use the madwifi-old:

1. install the sharutils and the build-essential packages
2. uninstall the restricted-modules package
3. Get old madwifi http://snapshots.madwifi.org/madwifi-old-current.tar.gz
4. untar, make, sudo make install
5. Check to make sure old modules are not loaded and remove if they are.
6. sudo modprobe ath_pci
7. sudo dhclient ath0

This gets my connection as before in Dapper. Also, when I reboot, the connection is there automatically.

Anita

[Rouben (rouben)]

This was a tech support issue, not a bug.