Topic: ISP Problems

[Stephen Kearon]

I am having problems connecting to any ISP!

The modem init string is correct, the modem dials and connects, however that's it!

Looking at /var/log/messages it just hangs up 10-20 seconds after connection.

I have tried a number of valid accounts on three different ISPs.

When configuring NT4 I have to enable plain text passwords plus the majority of ISPs in Ireland seem to use PAP and not CHAP.  Does this indicate an incompatibility with e-smith.

What files should I monitor to get a more detailed idea of what is going wrong, and also any suggestions as to changes I should make?

[Kim Morrison]

Hi Stephen!

Thanks for the post!   Are you running version 3.0?  PAP is supported by 3.0 but we didn't support it in the former version.

Cheers,  

Kim

[Stephen Kearon]

Yes it is version 3.0.   Do I need to specicially configure PAP or should it be automatic?

If automatic what should I check to find out what is going wrong?

[Joseph Morrison]

Stephen Kearon wrote:

> Yes it is version 3.0.   Do I need to specicially configure PAP
> or should it be automatic?

Hi Stephen,
It's automatic. Actually 3.0 supports only PAP and nothing else.

> If automatic what should I check to find out what is going
> wrong?

I'm not sure what suggestions to offer here. Many customers have successfully used the dialup features, so it's not an obvious e-smith configuration error. And from your report, your modem is dialing out and establishing a connection - which rules out the possibility of an incompatible modem.

Does it work when your NT box uses straight PAP authentication with no other special options? Is it possible that your ISPs are not using PAP but instead are requiring a login/password dialog? It certainly sounds like it's the authentication part that's failing. You could try adding a login/password part to the chat script (edit the template /etc/e-smith/templates/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/chat-ppp0 then do a "save" on the console).

Best regards,
- Joe

[Charlie Brady]

Stephen Kearon wrote:

> The modem init string is correct, the modem dials and
> connects, however that's it!
>
> Looking at /var/log/messages it just hangs up 10-20 seconds
> after connection.

If it is 10-20 seconds then there is a possibility that chat is not waiting long enough for the "CONNECT" string. You'll need to enable some debugging to work out what is going on.

> I have tried a number of valid accounts on three different
> ISPs.
>
> When configuring NT4 I have to enable plain text passwords
> plus the majority of ISPs in Ireland seem to use PAP and
> not CHAP. Does this indicate an incompatibility with e-smith.

No, the plaintext passwords has nothing to do with it, and e-smith 3.0 uses PAP.

> What files should I monitor to get a more detailed idea of
> what is going wrong, and also any suggestions as to changes
> I should make?

Normally you would need to edit config file templates to make changes, but for temporary changes you can edit the config files directly. In /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/chat-ppp0, change "M0" to "M1" so that you can hear the modem. In /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-ppp0, change "DEBUG=no" to "DEBUG=yes". Keep an ear out and an eye on /var/log/messages.
Set PPPOPTIONS to "kdebug 1" if the log messages indicate that
the remote end is logging you out.

Let us know how you go...

[Stephen Kearon]

Problem solved!  The Irish ISP use CHAP and not PAP.   By creating a CHAP-SECRETS file the system now logs in

[Kim Morrison]

Stephen,

Great news!  Thanks for letting us know!!

Kim