To unload modules you can use these 2 commands, lsmod
and rmmod
. lsmod
will list what modules are loaded, while rmmod
will remove a given module from the Kernel, assuming it was dynamically built so that it can/could be dynamically loaded.
$ sudo lsmod | head -5
Module Size Used by
bluetooth 89276 0
cpufreq_powersave 1154 0
tcp_lp 2111 0
aesni_intel 12131 1
To remove a module simply do this:
$ sudo rmmod bluetooth
To reload it:
$ modprobe bluetooth
I have to agree with @Patrick though, there isn't really anything that this will do, sounds like someone doesn't quite understand the function/role the modules play and what loading/unloading them even means.
My Wireless Modules
I will say that I've had issues with my WiFi drivers and have had to unload them and reload them from time to time, so perhaps this is what someone meant and it got misinterpreted?
These are my WiFi drivers that I once every 1-2 months have to to unload them:
$ lsmod | grep iw
iwlagn 209751 0
iwlcore 195714 1 iwlagn
mac80211 229095 2 iwlagn,iwlcore
cfg80211 134981 3 iwlagn,iwlcore,mac80211
I'm on Fedora 14 with a Thinkpad T410.
What driver is hardware X using?
You can use the tool lshw
as one of the other answers provides as an example. You can also use the tool hwinfo
to find out this info too:
$ hwinfo | less
...
...
63: None 00.0: 1070a WLAN
[Created at net.124]
Unique ID: XXX.QXn1l67XXXX
Parent ID: XXX.OmvKrXXXXXX
SysFS ID: /class/net/wlan0
SysFS Device Link: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1c.1/0000:03:00.0
Hardware Class: network interface
Model: "WLAN network interface"
Driver: "iwlagn"
Driver Modules: "iwlagn"
Device File: wlan0
HW Address: 45:12:12:32:7a:02
Link detected: yes
Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown
Attached to: #35 (WLAN controller)
So in my case my WiFi adapter is using the module, iwlagn
. hwinfo
is another package that you may need to install. The package name is, you guessed it, hwinfo
. So check with your distro's package management software to see if you have it available as well.