Firmware will not load

[trek]

I downloaded the source for kernel version 2.6.16 and recompiled it for my system. Now, on boot, I get:

ipw2200: ipw-2.4-boot.fw load load failed: Reason -2
ipw2200: Unable to load firmware: -2
ipw2200: failed to register network device

I realize this means that it can't locate the firmware, and I have a copy of the firmware. But, where do I place it so that the kernel would be able to load it?

[trek]

All of the sources I have found have mentioned that the firmware needs to be copied to the hotplug's firmware directory. I have searched on my own system and have not be able to locate this directory. Furthermore, it was stated that the option "Hotplug loading firmware support" should be built into the kernel. But, I could not find this option anywhere in the kernel config.

Is it just that my udev / hotplugging support is messed up somehow?

[antidrugue]

I realize this means that it can't locate the firmware, and I have a copy of the firmware. But, where do I place it so that the kernel would be able to load it?

You can untar the firmware in /lib/firmware/

(The former location for firmwares was /usr/lib/hotplug/firmware/)

[trek]

I just tried copying it into /lib/firmware, but to no avail. It still flags the error.

[antidrugue]

Like that ?

tar zxf ipw2200-fw-2.4.tgz
cd ipw2200-fw-2.4/
sudo mv *.fw /lib/firmware/

Post the output of

ls -l /lib/firmware/

and of

dmesg | grep -i ipw2200

for more help.