Topic: problems connecting to ISP

[Doug Brown]

I began using e-smith at home about 2 months
ago, at that time everything worked fine the
very first time I set it up. I was very
impressed. However over time the reliability
of my connections seemed to deteriorate. It
finally got to the point wnere all it would
do is to dial, handshake, and then hang up.
On one months phone bill it showed over 2000
local calls, and this line is only used to
connect to the ISP.
 
After setting up a completely different
machine (same modem though) it failed to
connect right off the bat. After reading
through some of the earlier messages I
decided to take a look at the
/var/log/messages file. Most of it looked ok
up to the point where it tries to start the
PPP conversation, there I see three odd
messages...

modprobe: can't locate module ppp-compress-21
modprobe: can't locate module ppp-compress-26
modprobe: can't locate module ppp-compress-24

then

pppd[679]:IPCP: timeout sending Config-requests
pppd: hangup (SIGHUP)

Sometimes it also says

chat[675]: alarm
diald[534]: connect script failed
chat[679: failed

Is it possible, that since I'm using the same
modem, that I just need a new modem, or is it
possible that something more sinister is going
on?

Help, my kids are driving me crazy, I have to
get this working again.

[Charlie Brady]

Doug Brown wrote:

> After setting up a completely different machine (same modem
> though) it failed to connect right off the bat. After reading
> through some of the earlier messages I decided to take a look
> at the /var/log/messages file. Most of it looked ok up to the
> point where it tries to start the PPP conversation, there I see
> three odd messages...
>
> modprobe: can't locate module ppp-compress-21
> modprobe: can't locate module ppp-compress-26
> modprobe: can't locate module ppp-compress-24

Look for a BB message with Subject "Compression Modules Missing" and
you will see a fix for that - adding some lines to /etc/conf.modules.
But I think those messages should be harmless in any case.

> pppd[679]:IPCP: timeout sending Config-requests
> pppd: hangup (SIGHUP)
>
> Sometimes it also says
>
>  chat[675]: alarm
>  diald[534]: connect script failed
>  chat[679: failed
>
>  Is it possible, that since I'm using the same
>  modem, that I just need a new modem, or is it
>  possible that something more sinister is going
>  on?

It's not obvious to me what's going on there. Try using
"minicom" to dial up to your ISP and see whether you can
spot anything out of the ordinary. Borrow another modem if
you can. If you haven't purchased support then your local Linux
Users Group may be able to help.

Charlie

[Doug Brown]

Just a quick not to let you know that I tried a different modem & everything is working fine again. So this may just be something to file away in the memory banks for future reference. Kids are happy again