Topic: Problems w/ external modem & e-smith

[Monte Milanuk]

Hello,

I am trying to get e-smith up and running on a machine w/ an external modem.  Previously, the machine had used an internal USR Sportster 56k Voice/Data/Fax modem, which stopped working after a storm, at COM 3.  This machine's mobo has configuration for two serial ports on it, though only one is set up thru the backplane (just the way it came).  I couldn't get the internal modem to work w/ e-smith either, so I setup my new external (Zoom 56k Voice/Data/Fax) modem to COM1.  I reconfigured e-smith, and rebooted.  All I get is an 'Off-hook' light but the modem never picks up and dials.  I went into the machine BIOS and disabled the second serial port, and made sure that COM1 was set to 3F8/IRQ4, which AFAIK is where it should be, and rebooted.  Same thing.  Still not dialing the modem.

Any idea?

Monte

[Rob Thomson]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Monte Milanuk"




>
> Hello,
>
> Previously, the machine had used an internal USR Sportster 56k
> Voice/Data/Fax modem, which stopped working after a storm, at COM 3
..........
> so I setup my new external (Zoom
> 56k Voice/Data/Fax) modem to COM1
> Any idea?

Hi Monte,
Just wondered....cause you say your previous modem was on com3 and I overlooked this once.
Do you have a mouse on the box - perhaps a Serial one using com1

regards
Rob

[Monte Milanuk]

No, my mouse is ps2.  The complete config of this box is: Celeron 266 w/ 64 MB RAM, 3.2GB IDE HD, 48X IDE CDROM, onboard video (ATI Rage Pro 8MB), onboard sound (Crystal CS4235/6), Netgear FA310TX 10/100MB Fast Ethernet,  USR 56k Sportster Internal Voice/Data/Fax modem config'd (jumpered, IIRC) for COM3(not sure if it even works anymore), and a Zoom 56k Voice/Data/Fax external modem coming off the only external serial port, COM1, which is explicitly enabled in the BIOS, while COM 2 is disabled in the BIOS.

Thanks,

Monte

[Rick]

have you tried the modem on a windows box to check it? i have been caught out before when changing modems on windows machines only to discover for example that some modems require a dial tone before dialing and some just refuse to work if they wait for a dial tone first.

Rick

[Monte Milanuk]

I have gotten this modem to work under Win98 w/ no problems.  I installed RH 7.1 on the same machine that I had e-smith on, and switched the serial cable over from the Win98 box to the (hopefully) gateway box.  It still has some problems, namely the TR light is on part of the time, whereas it is normally not when the modem is offline in Win98.  wvdial and minicom could find the modem ok, and dial it just fine.  They would make the connection, and then sit there waiting for a prompt... and then disconnect after 5 seconds.  I was going to make sure I have pap/chap configured correctly, but it is still interesting that the e-smith install couldn't even dial the modem.

TIA,

Monte

[Monte Milanuk]

I have gotten this modem to work under Win98 w/ no problems.  I installed RH 7.1 on the same machine that I had e-smith on, and switched the serial cable over from the Win98 box to the (hopefully) gateway box.  It still has some problems, namely the TR light is on part of the time, whereas it is normally not when the modem is offline in Win98.  wvdial and minicom could find the modem ok, and dial it just fine.  They would make the connection, and then sit there waiting for a prompt... and then disconnect after 5 seconds.  I was going to make sure I have pap/chap configured correctly, but it is still interesting that the e-smith install couldn't even dial the modem.

TIA,

Monte

[Paul]

Monte Milanuk wrote:
>
> I have gotten this modem to work under Win98 w/ no problems.
> I installed RH 7.1 on the same machine that I had e-smith on,
> and switched the serial cable over from the Win98 box to the
> (hopefully) gateway box.  It still has some problems, namely
> the TR light is on part of the time, whereas it is normally
> not when the modem is offline in Win98.  wvdial and minicom
> could find the modem ok, and dial it just fine.  They would
> make the connection, and then sit there waiting for a
> prompt... and then disconnect after 5 seconds.  I was going
> to make sure I have pap/chap configured correctly, but it is
> still interesting that the e-smith install couldn't even dial
> the modem.

The Zoom 56K is an HCF modem (Rockwell/Conexant chipset).  In other words, it's a winmodem.  It will only work with windows.

Regards,
Paul

[Monte Milanuk]

Somehow, I doubt it.  I installed RedHat 7.1 on this box as e-smith wasn't going to work (no internet, no point).  I can successfully interrogate the modem via either rp3 or kppp or minicom or wvdial.  I can dial the modem w/ any of the above programs.  Right now, the only 'sticking point' is figuring out what the ISP wants after the modem connects with 'Connected 48000 V42Bis... Waiting for Prompt..... Disconnected'  It's possible that it is indeed a software modem, but it's giving a damn good impression of a hardware modem in my mind.  Plus, I wasn't aware (doesn't mean that it's not _possible_) of any _external_ winmodems.

Monte

[Monte Milanuk]

I called RedHat support, since it's started looking like RedHat may end up being the firewall distro anyway, if e-smith doesn't work.  They said that no, it's not a win-modem.  When I asked how they decided that, they said they looked it up on this page:

http://www.linuxhardwaredatabase.com/db/dispproduct.php3?DISP?354

Based on this, I'd say that no, it isn't a win-modem.  So why isn't e-smith finding it?

Monte

[Ken]

I have a usr external sportster 33.6 faxmodem that was flashed to 56k about 2 years ago for winblows.  I have been messing around with e-smith and connecting the modem was the only thing that has eluded me for quite some time.  Since I am extremely new to linux and pretty much suck at it I thought I would mess around with the dip switch settings on the modem first.  I have a good buddy that use to work on the 56k project and he insited they would work but time after time...nothing.  

here is what i found to work but have no clue as to why...

up dip switches:1,2,4,5,6,7

down dip switches: 3,8

it does not always connect the first time but have had a steady connection while working on the short setting for over 2 hours.

hope that helps someone!!!

[Paul Hales]

I was trying to set up an internal ISA modem - and I couldn't get it work with e-smith 4.1.
"dmesg" reported 3 com ports - ttyS00, ttyS01 and ttyS02 ( com 1,2 & 3 )
but the installation dialogs would only let me choose ttyS0, ttyS1 or ttyS2.

Has anyone figured out how to fix this? T
he dev directory has the ttyS0, ttyS1 and ttyS2 entries, but not the double digit ones listed by the kernel ( in dmesg)

wierd

Paul