Hello

I am new to the Linux, just installed Red Hat 9.0 a few days ago. Installation was a breeze, the system was up and running in no time.

But when trying to configure the internet connection, I hit a snag with my modem. Here is what is happening:

I am using KDE, so I went to KPPP to configure my connection. The modem is a US Robotics PCI model 5610, hardware-based (bought specifically for Linux, as winmodem support is spotty I hear). KPPP is pointing to devmodem as default and I left that setting alone. Then I entered the rest of info, following the excelent KPPP tutorial at www.wurd.com. Having finished and checked the configuration, I hit connect and nothing happened, KPPP just kept displaying "Initializing modem" forever. Hit "Cancel", go back to KPPP setup. This time I clicked on "Query Modem" button and the modem responded to all ATI commands that KPPP sent. So I went to the Terminal part of KPPP and tried a few commands and the modem responded. It even dialed out my ISP's access number and got connected but only from the Terminal, when manually entering commands. So it is not a hardware problem (besides, modem works fine under Windows) but rather software I guess. It is really puzzling, the modem dials out and connects from Terminal, but not when you use KPPP "Connect" button. Am I doomed to manual connections via Terminal commands??? If so I am not familiar with modem commands enough to establish a connection, I can only make it dial from terminal.

I tried GNOME and it's Network Device Control option as well (as described in "Red Hat 9.0 for dummies"). After the setup, it tries to activate the connection, but a message pops up "Unable to activate the connection, Error 8".

US Robotics website has a driver RPM for Red Hat 6.0 and higher, tried it but to no avail.

This is the best I can do to desrcibe the problem. It is really frustrating and puzzling situation, any help will be greatly appreciated.


Greg L.

It sounds like your /dev/modem is not pointing to the correct device.

COM1: /dev/ttyS0
COM2: /dev/ttyS1
COM3: /dev/ttyS2
COM4: /dev/ttyS3

These are the 4 communications ports that your modem could possibly be connected through. I don't remember how you can find out quickly which one your modem is connected to, but if all else fails, try each one of them.

To change where your /dev/modem points to, issue the following commands as root:

$ rm /dev/modem
$ ln -s /dev/ttyS0 /dev/modem

then test the connection, if it doesn't work, repeat with ttyS1, etc.

If it doesn't work for all 4 of them, then we have a bigger problem. Do the following:

$ dmesg > dmesg.log

and paste your dmesg.log here so i can have a look at it.

Hello

Sorry, I got frustrated waiting for any replies to my request and went back to Windows XP (I really need my conenction running). But I will reinstall Linux ASAP and get you the info that you asked for promptly.

Thank you veru much for your reply and please bear with me for a while,.

GregL.

Hello

Just wanted to let you know that I am OK. Did some research and it turned out to be some PCI configuration problem. I cannot give you any details because the explanation I found on the Web was waaaaaay too technical, but the fix was quick and simple:

1. At boot-up, go to BIOS.
2. Find and DISABLE "PnP OS" option.
3. Reinstall the system.

It worked fine, I am a happy Fedora user now.

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my post.

Greg L.

congrats