Device Driver Management

Document revision 30-Sep-2002
This document applies to the MikroTik RouterOS V2.6

Overview

Device drivers represent the software interface part of installed network devices. For example, the MikroTik RouterOS includes device drivers for NE2000 compatible Ethernet cards and other network devices. Device drivers are included in the system software package and in the additional feature packages.

The device drivers for PCI and PC cards are loaded automatically. Other network interface cards (most ISA and ISDN PCI cards) require the device drivers loaded manually by using the /driver add command.

Users cannot add their own device drivers. Only drivers included in the Mikrotik RouterOS software packages can be used. If you need a device driver for a device, which is not supported by the MikroTik RouterOS, please suggest it at our suggestion page on our web site.

Contents of the Manual

The following topics are covered in this manual:

Loading Device Drivers

The drivers for PCI and PCMCIA cards (except the ISDN cards) are loaded automatically at the system startup. Use the /driver print command to see the list of loaded drivers: 

[admin@MikroTik] driver> print
Flags: I - invalid, D - dynamic
  #   DRIVER                            IRQ IO         MEMORY     ISDN-PROTOCOL
  0 D RealTek RTL8129/8139
[admin@MikroTik] driver>

As we see, the driver for the Realtek PCI card has been loaded automatically.

If the driver required to be loaded, use the /driver add command. The syntax of the command is: 

[admin@MikroTik] > driver add
Load driver name [irq IRQ] [io IO range start] [mem shared memory].

      copy-from  item number
             io  IO port base address
            irq  IRQ number
  isdn-protocol  ISDN line protocol
         memory  Shared Memory base address
           name  Driver name
[admin@MikroTik] >

If hexadecimal values are used for the arguments, put 0x before the number. To see the list of available drivers, enter the /driver add name ? command: 

[admin@MikroTik] driver> add name=?
Name of driver to load.

     3c509  3com 3c509 ISA
  ne2k-isa  ISA NE2000
[admin@MikroTik] driver> add name=ne2k-isa io 0x280
[admin@MikroTik] driver> print
Flags: I - invalid, D - dynamic
  #   DRIVER                            IRQ IO         MEMORY     ISDN-PROTOCOL
  0 D RealTek RTL8129/8139
  1   ISA NE2000                            280
[admin@MikroTik] driver>

To see the system resources occupied by the devices, use the /system resource io print and /system resource irq print commands: 

[admin@MikroTik] system resource> irq print
Flags: U - unused
   IRQ OWNER
   1   keyboard
   2   APIC
 U 3
   4   sync1
   5   pc1
 U 6
 U 7
 U 8
 U 9
   10  ether2
   11  ether1
 U 12
   13  FPU
   14  IDE 1
[admin@MikroTik] system resource> io print
 PORT-RANGE        OWNER
 20-3F             APIC
 40-5F             timer
 60-6F             keyboard
 80-8F             DMA
 A0-BF             APIC
 C0-DF             DMA
 F0-FF             FPU
 1F0-1F7           IDE 1
 300-33F           pc1
 3C0-3DF           VGA
 3F6-3F6           IDE 1
 CF8-CFF           [PCI conf1]
 1000-100F         [Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 5513 [IDE]]
 1000-1007         IDE 1
 1008-100F         IDE 2
 6000-60FF         [Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139]
 6000-60FF         [8139too]
 6100-61FF         [Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139 (#2)]
 6100-61FF         [8139too]
[admin@MikroTik] system resource>

Note, that the resource list shows only the interfaces, if they are enabled!

Removing Device Drivers

Use the /driver remove command to remove device drivers. Unloading of device driver is useful when changing network devices - this can be useful to save system resources in avoiding loading drivers for devices, which have been removed from the system. Device driver needs to be removed and loaded again, if some parameter (memory range, i/o base address) has been changed for the adapter card. The device drivers can be removed only if the appropriate interface has been disabled.

Notes on PCMCIA Adapters

Currently only the following PCMCIA-ISA and PCMCIA-PCI adapters are tested to comply with MikroTik RouterOS: Other PCMCIA-ISA and PCMCIA-PCI adapters might not function properly.

The Ricoh adapter might not work properly with some older motherboards. When recognized properly by the BIOS during the boot up of the router, it should be reported under the PCI device listing as "PCI/CardBus bridge". Try using another motherboard, if the adapter or the Prism card are not recognized properly.

Note that there are a maximum for a number of PCMCIA ports - 8. If You will try to install 9 or more ports (no matter whether with one-port or two-port adapters, in any combination), no one will be recognized.

List of Drivers

The list of device drivers included in the system software package is given below:

ISA Drivers

Drivers for ISA cards should be loaded manually.

PCI Drivers

Drivers for PCI cards are loaded automatically, if the relevant interface card is installed, and it does not have hardware conflicts. The list of PCI drivers is below:

For the list of drivers included in additional feature software packages, please see the manual of the relevant software package.

Troubleshooting

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