# Network driver compiled but not used

## saffronsnail

Hello,

I recently installed Gentoo onto my HP Chromebook 14 using the amd64 Gentoo Installation Guide. When I used the live usb I was able to connect to the internet using wpa_supplicant. However, when I boot into the installed system, the driver is not loaded (I made sure it was enabled in the kernel) and the networking card does not appear when I iwconfig.

Output from `lspci -k` on the liveusb:

```

[...]

Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros AR9462 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)

Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 1864

Kernel driver in use: ath9k

Kernel modules: ath9k

```

Output from `iwconfig` on the livusb:

```

wlp1s0    IEEE 802.11abgn ESSID:off/any

              Mode:Managed Access Point: Not-Associated  Tx-Power=16 dBm

              Retry short limit:7    RTS thr:off    Fragment thr:off

              Encryption key:off

              Power Management:off

lo            no wireless extensions.

```

Output from `lpsci -k` on the installed system:

```

[...]

Network Controller: Qalcomm Atheros AR9462 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)

Subsystem: Hewlett-ackard Company Device 1864

```

Output from `iwconfig` on the installed system:

```

lo             no wireless extensions

```

When I issue `modprobe ath9k` I get no output:

```

```

When I check `dmesg | grep ath9k`, I again get no output:

```

```

If I then issue `iwconfig` again, I get the same output:

```

lo             no wireless extensions

```

Thanks for your time.

UPDATE

Output of `zgrep -E '(_ATH|WEXT|(MAC|CFG)80211)' /proc/config.gz`:

```

# CONFIG_BT_HCIUART_ATH3K is not set

CONFIG_WEXT_CORE=y

CONFIG_WEXT_ROC=y

CONFIG_WEXT_SPY=y

CONFIG_WEXT_PRIV=y

CONFIG_CFG80211=m-------------------------------------------------->PROBLEM LINE 1

# CONFIG_CFG80211_DEVELOPER_WARNINGS is not set

# CONFIG_CFG80211_REG_DEBUG is not set

CONFIG_CFG80211_DEFAULT_PS=y

CONFIG_MAC80211=m

CONFIG_MAC80211_HAS_RC=y

CONFIG_MAC80211_RC_MINISTREL=y

CONFIG_MAC80211_RC_MINISTREL_HT=y

CONFIG_MAC80211_RC_DEFAULT_MINSTREL=y

CONFIG_MAC80211_RC_DEFAULT="minstrel_ht"

# CONFIG_MAC80211__MESH is not set

CONFIG_MAC80211_LEDS=y

# CONFIG_MAC80211_MESSAGE_TRACING is not set

# CONFIG_MAC80211_DEBUG_MENU is not set

CONFIG_NET_VENDOR_ATHEROS=y

# CONFIG_MAC80211_HWSIM is not set

# CONFIG_ATH_CARDS is not set----------------------------------->PROBLEM LINE 2

```

The two lines marked 'PROBLEM LINE X' worry me, becuase I had thought that I had set CONFIG_CFG80211 and CONFIG_ATH_CARDS to be included ('y') in menuconfig previously. (if there's a better way to call out lines in code blocks, please let me know; when I tried to bold them, it quite understandably didn't work). I went back and made sure that the modules were enabled in menuconfig, and I rebuilt and reinstalled the kernel just to be safe. Those lines still appear.Last edited by saffronsnail on Sun Jan 18, 2015 11:59 pm; edited 2 times in total

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## khayyam

saffronsnail ... welcome to gentoo.

you should probably post the output of the following:

```
zgrep -E '(_ATH|WEXT|(MAC|CFG)80211)' /proc/config.gz
```

best ... khay

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## saffronsnail

Hy khayyam, thanks for your reply.

I updated the op with the output you requested, and called out two lines that I think may indicate part of the problem. I'm looking into them now.

EDIT: I made sure that the two modules were enabled, and rebuilt and reinstalled the kernel just to be safe. The output remained unchanged.

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## khayyam

 *saffronsnail wrote:*   

> I updated the op with the output you requested, and called out two lines that I think may indicate part of the problem. I'm looking into them now.

 

saffronsnail ... yes, there is no ath9k driver enabled (that can be found under CONFIG_ATH_CARDS) ... you may have built the kernel with that enabled but copied it to /boot while it wasn't mounted (or something of that nature).

I have ath5k which is somewhat similar and this is what's enabled:

```
% awk '!/^#/ && /(_ATH|WEXT|(MAC|CFG)80211)/' <(zcat /proc/config.gz)

CONFIG_WEXT_CORE=y

CONFIG_WEXT_PROC=y

CONFIG_CFG80211=m

CONFIG_CFG80211_DEFAULT_PS=y

CONFIG_CFG80211_WEXT=y

CONFIG_MAC80211=m

CONFIG_MAC80211_HAS_RC=y

CONFIG_MAC80211_RC_MINSTREL=y

CONFIG_MAC80211_RC_MINSTREL_HT=y

CONFIG_MAC80211_RC_DEFAULT_MINSTREL=y

CONFIG_MAC80211_RC_DEFAULT="minstrel_ht"

CONFIG_MAC80211_LEDS=y

CONFIG_ATH_COMMON=m

CONFIG_ATH_CARDS=m

CONFIG_ATH5K=m

CONFIG_ATH5K_PCI=y
```

HTH & best ... khay

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## saffronsnail

Sorry, this is my first time using gentoo, or configuring a kernel. Is there a way for me to manually change those options? Would that even work? When I created the kernel, I just ran make && make modules_install && make_install. I was under the impression that that would do everything that needed to be done in order to install and enable modules. Was there a step for mounting modules that I missed? I already made sure tha the modules were enabled in menuconfig.

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## khayyam

 *saffronsnail wrote:*   

> Sorry, this is my first time using gentoo, or configuring a kernel. Is there a way for me to manually change those options? Would that even work? When I created the kernel, I just ran make && make modules_install && make_install. I was under the impression that that would do everything that needed to be done in order to install and enable modules. Was there a step for mounting modules that I missed? I already made sure tha the modules were enabled in menuconfig.

 

saffronsnail ... yes, generally you run "make menuconfig", this will provide an interface to the kernel .config. Once in menuconfig typing "/" will bring up a search dialog ... if you need to know where some item is in the menu, or if its enabled or not.

EDIT:

 *saffronsnail wrote:*   

> I already made sure tha the modules were enabled in menuconfig

 

sorry, I missed that ... well, it sounds as though you run 'make install' when /boot wasn't mounted (assuming you have a separate boot). From the above its certain that the kernel you configured (and enabled the ath9k driver) is not the same as the one your booting (/proc/config.gz doesn't lie). So, something happened, perhaps you didn't save the .config when exiting menuconfig, or you copied to boot but grub.cfg points to a different kernel ... difficult to tell from this distance :)

best ... khay

----------

