Modem Problems

[Michael Havens]

Thank you Christopher,
Rest assured that you are acting as you should on this mailing list=2E It is=
 a group effort to solve people's Linux problems=2E
I will do as you advised (hopefully it will not disconnect) and I wish to as=
sure you that with Mandrake 9=2E0 it is possible to connect to the internet=2E=
 I have the same modem as you and it did connect to the internet until I att=
empted to upgrade to Mandrake 9=2E1rc2=2E I was told that Release Canidate 2=
 was the going to be the stable version release but I found it to be buggy=2E=
 So I tried to put 9=2E0 back on but it will not connect to the web (which i=
s really making me MAD=2E
:-)Mike(-:

----- Original Message -----
From: Christopher Bardin
Sent: 3/27/2003 10:46:58 PM
To: plug-discuss@lists=2Eplug=2Ephoenix=2Eaz=2Eus
Subject: Re: Modem Problems

Pardon the HTML=2E  This is for Michael Havens:

Hi=2E My name is Chris and I'm a Windows-holic=2E

It started so ly=2E  My first computer, an HP, came with Windows Me preinsta=
lled=2E  All I had to do was turn it on and soon I was pointing and clicking=
 all over the internet=2E  I learned about Google and Yahoo and the joy of e=
-mail=2E  I began to download=2E  For a while life was good=2E  Then my comp=
uter crashed=2E  And crashed again=2E  Files disappeared=2E  I hit rock bott=
om when I had to reinstall my OS=2E

I began to think that there must be more to life than trying to get my compu=
ter to work reliably=2E  I had bought a certain bare-bones computer from Fry=
's, an FIC Sabre, because it was very quiet and small, unlike the HP which s=
ounded a lot like a cheap vacuum cleaner (I finally quieted down the HP by r=
eplacing its 12 volt case fan with a 24 volt fan=2E)  The Sabre had a proble=
m which prevented any OS installation: it can't handle the 512 MB of RAM it =
said it could=2E  I didn't discover the cause of, and cure for, the Sabre's =
problem until after I had bought Windows 2000 Pro to try to install in it=2E=
  I began to read about other operating systems and decided to give Linux a =
try=2E  I bought Mandrake 8=2E1 PowerPack and installed it in my Windows 200=
0 Pro computer last March or so=2E  I have had no problems dual booting the =
two operating systems in spite of the fact that everything I read said it wo=
uld be way tricky to do=2E  I just stuck the Mandrake CD in and sat back=2E =
 During the installation LILO automagically replaced the Windows boot progra=
m without a hitch=2E  I only needed to tell Mandrake not to bother the exist=
ing partitions during the installation, and then I had to find the GUI and c=
onfigure LILO to my liking after I restarted the computer and Linux loaded b=
y default=2E

But I haven't been able to kick Windows cold turkey because I can't get onli=
ne in Linux=2E  In fact you could say I've fallen off the Linux wagon, since=
 I never use Linux for anything because I can't get online=2E  I bought a ha=
rdware based internal PCI modem, a U=2ES=2E Robotics/3Com 5610B, because it =
was the only modem I found at the time in Fry's which said on the box that i=
t would work with Linux=2E  It didn't, at least not for me, but since it wor=
ked fine in W2KPro I knew that the problem wasn't in the modem=2E  When I tr=
ied the Harddrake wizard it thought the modem was a Winmodem and wouldn't go=
 any further=2E  With help from Mandrake:
  Here are the details about your incident: alans : 06:06 01:38 : Reply rece=
ived=20

  Try this in a console or console window as root=2E First, to find out the =
pci address of the modem, type: lspci And then use that address (of the form=
 xx:xx=2Ex) to get verbose info by typing lspci -v -s

  Write down the io and IRQ being used then run setserial by typing: setseri=
al /dev/ttyS4 port irq then verify that it sees a UART by typing: setserial =
/dev/ttyS4 If it doesn\'t, you can guess that it\'s a regular 16550A UART, s=
o then type: setserial /dev/ttyS4 uart 16550A=2E=20

  This is the part that makes it work though: type: cd /dev then type: ln -s=
f ttyS4 modem=2E  Now set your kppp program to use /dev/modem and you should=
 be fine=2E -- Alan - MandrakeSoft Support Team :)=20

This got Linux to recognize the modem and even dial my ISP, but as soon as t=
he two modems established a connection they disconnected=2E  A friend who kn=
ows Linux very well actually got my Yahoo home page to load, one time=2E  He=
 couldn't figure out how he did it though, and was unable to do it again=2E =
 At least I know that it is possible to get online using my dial-up modem in=
 Linux

After that I gave up trying to use Linux until Mandrake 9=2E0 came along=2E =
 I hoped that however it was different it  might allow me to get online so I=
 asked a friend who had access to high-speed internet to download it  for me=
, but it didn't work either=2E  In fact setserial seems to have disappeared =
from 9=2E0, and I need it to make the modem work=2E

I joined the PLUG discuss mailing list hoping to discover something that wil=
l help me to get online in Linux=2E  Forums and mailing lists are new to me =
so maybe I'm not doing it right, but I find the PLUG mailing list a bit diff=
icult to read=2E  Most of the messages (posts?) seem to be in plain text, fu=
ll of darts and carriage returns on my computer (Windows 2000 Pro; and I use=
 Yahoo for my mail, so I'm reading it in IE=2E)  The one message that was in=
 HTML was fine=2E  Again, I'm probably not doing something right, but what?

Christopher Bardin