Bug#1006708: hw-detect: Fails to reload iwlwifi module (modprobe: FATAL: Module iwlwifi is in use)
Hi,
Am Thu, Mar 03, 2022 at 10:04:55AM +0700 schrieb Arnaud Rebillout:
> A Kali Linux user reported a fail install on a Dell XPS 9510. For the
> background, the Kali Linux installer is a super lightweight fork of the
> Debian installer, kept in sync with Debian.
I experience the same issue with a shiny new Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon
X11 using the net-installer from 2023-12-07.
This model is using a Intel Wi-Fi® 6E AX211, 802.11ax 2x2 Wi-Fi +
Bluetooth 5.3 hardware.
The full specs is availabe here:
https://psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/ThinkPad/ThinkPad_X1_Carbon_Gen_11/ThinkPad_X1_Carbon_Gen_11_Spec.pdf
...
> The reason I'm opening this bug against Debian is because, while looking
> at the logs, a few lines caught my eyes. This is in the screenshot #3 in
> the imgur.com link above:
>
> check-missing-firmware: removing-and-loading kernel module iwlwifi
> check-missing-firmware: modprobe: FATAL: Module iwlwifi is in use.
>
> I wonder if those lines are harmless, or if it really indicates that the
> iwlwifi module can't be reloaded, therefore the wifi is not functional.
> Since someone documented on the Debian wiki that the firmware-iwlwifi is
> needed, and then the WiFi works, it seems that either those lines are
> harmless, or the iwlwifi is not always successfully reloaded.
No, these lines of course not harmless as they indicate that the iwlwifi
module couldn't be removed as the module is still in use. This happens
as this modul has dependencies as it's used by iwlmvm.
# lsmod | grep iwl
iwlmvm 589824 0
mac80211 1392640 1 iwlmvm
iwlwifi 544768 1 iwlmvm
cfg80211 1343488 3 iwlmvm,iwlwifi,mac80211
rfkill 40960 2 iwlmvm,cfg80211
The "trick" is to unload the iwlmvm module instead and load afterwards
the module iwlwifi again.
Doing so I was able to bring up a WLAN based interface on my X1 G11
after I provided the required firmware files for this chipset within the
installer was running.
I basically understand whats going on in check-missing-firmware.sh, I'm
not able to come up with a patch, if someone has some lines of code
where I can start with to dig deeper into I'm willing to work on this.
My guess is that once the needed firmware for the AX211 chipset is
included in the net-installer images the issue I currently see will not
be happen anymore. But in fact more users in the future will see this
issue as the unloading and new loading of the modules needs to be
handled differently to the current implementation.
Note: The needed firmware files for the X1 G11 are available by the
release of upstream linux-firmware 20231111
Regards
Carsten
Reply to: