updating network driver in initrd

[um_nirvani]

i have a new desktop(dell 790) and it is not getting the network connection while installing via kickstart.

I downloaded network drivers from Intel site(for intel network gigabit 82579LM). I compiled the package and placed it in initrd file.

Now when im booting using the new initrd file, it is throwing errors like:

------------
no network devices in choose network device
no network drivers for doing kickstart
------------

and hence the installation is failing to get the kickstart from network.

I have done the below steps in creating new initrd:

---------------------
1. compiled the driver on another machine running same kernel
2. copied the e1000e.ko file and update to initrd/modules.cgz(using gunzip and cpio)
3. changed the entry in modules-info file
4. added below line to pci.ids:
1029 82579 Gigabit Ethernet Controller
5. created the initrd file and copied it to isolinux
6. created iso using the isolinux

Could someone please point where im missing?

thank you

[atreyu]

Do you know that driver you downloaded to work with your hardware?

Did you create/modify the modules.alias file? Reference here.

I assume your pci.ids file has this line above it?

8086  Intel Corporation

(although that file is not really important, i think)

Everything else looks good, assuming you followed all the steps correctly.

[um_nirvani]

Yes, I have modified the alias file and pci.ids is also updated correctly(i replaced old driver with new driver details)

I installed ubuntu 11 first, which worked just fine and I was able to get the driver info like the driver version, nic module etc.
I also installed redhat using a CD and network was not working. Then I installed the driver and it worked. I copied the same e1000e.ko to initrd and its not working.

there is a strange issue on redhat though, it fails to get the correct version of the adaptor. i get something like below output:
lspci | grep -i ethernet
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Unknown Network Connection (rev 05)

whereas on Ubuntu i was getting:
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection (rev 05)


Also I noticed that when initrd is loaded, scsi driver gets installed and then the network error comes up.

Do I need to update modules.dep file? If yes, where should I put the e1000e in that file?

[atreyu]

Yes, I have modified the alias file and pci.ids is also updated correctly(i replaced old driver with new driver details)

I installed ubuntu 11 first, which worked just fine and I was able to get the driver info like the driver version, nic module etc.
I also installed redhat using a CD and network was not working. Then I installed the driver and it worked. I copied the same e1000e.ko to initrd and its not working.

As long as the version on the installed RH system is the same as the one used in the initrd (which you already said it is), it should work...

there is a strange issue on redhat though, it fails to get the correct version of the adaptor. i get something like below output:
lspci | grep -i ethernet
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Unknown Network Connection (rev 05)

whereas on Ubuntu i was getting:
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection (rev 05)

This purely has to do with the contents of pci.ids file. The output of lspci is generated in part via the contents of this file. By default, it is in /usr/share/hwdata/pci.ids. It belongs to the hwdata package on RHEL machines. You can replace it with an updated copy from here.

Do I need to update modules.dep file? If yes, where should I put the e1000e in that file?

I thought that file was regenerated during the steps that are performed to update modules.cgz. Perhaps you are on to something there.

[um_nirvani]

atreya, thanks for the suggestions. finally after hours of trial and errors. I got it working.

somehow, the network driver was not getting loaded so i forced a dependency such that e1000e gets loaded. Updated modules.dep file with the following lines:

e1000e: 8021q
nfs: some_module e1000e

also, i used 'depmod -n path-to-e1000e.ko' to generate all the aliases and added them to modules.alias

now the kickstart is working as expected.

thank you

[atreyu]

That's great! Way to stick with it and thanks for posting your solution.