insert module during bootup

Question

Few modules are inserted during the startup of the kernel.

systemd-modules-load[367]: Inserted module 'lp'$
systemd-modules-load[367]: Inserted module 'ppdev'$
systemd-modules-load[367]: Inserted module 'parport_pc'$
systemd-modules-load[367]: Inserted module 'coretemp'$

I would like to additionally include the ahci module. How is it possible? This is because I want to test why my hard disk is not being recognised and hence the boot process hangs, unfortunately without an error. This is my related problem -

https://superuser.com/questions/1281652/what-is-smp-and-what-role-does-it-have-while-booting-a-computer

Edit ( was too long for a comment ) The distribution in question is Ubuntu Mate 16.04 ( 64 bit ). However, I tried with Knoppix with no luck.

I only see the the above four modules in the boot log messages. And then few more messages and then the message about freeing SMP alternatives and then it hangs.

In a working boot environment, just after freeing SMP alternative message, I see that the hard disk is recognised. After further digging in internet, I found out that loading the ahci driver in the initramfs might solve the problem.

In all of this, strangely, the process runs fine during the installation of the distribution. Only at the time of rebooting, the distribution hangs.

According to Wikipedia -

Installers for Linux distributions typically run entirely from an initramfs, as they must be able to host the installer interface and supporting tools before any persistent storage has been set up.

Maybe thats the reason that the installation works, but the reboot fails? Would be great, if someone can give some hints, what I should do next.

Answer 1

When using systemd, you can list modules to load during boot in a file in /etc/modules-load.d, with a .conf extension. See the modules-load.d documentation for details.

Before systemd, you’d list modules in /etc/modules to load them during boot.

You might need to ensure the modules end up in your initramfs too; how to do that will depend on your distribution. I’d expect ahci to be available already though.

Answer 2

So the PC accepts a Linux install, but does not boot because of the AHCI hard disk?

Sometimes computers come in the door with SATA drives set to a slow or faulty IDE-compatible mode in BIOS settings. Does it boot if switching the SATA drive to AHCI in BIOS? If not, you may have to set them to AHCI prior to installation. A BIOS update is also recommended. There could be an update that fixes AHCI detection problems.

(Note: If there is also a Windows partition, it may also be necessary to edit the registry to use AHCI prior to enabling it in the BIOS, as explained in the above link.)