pcmcia and laptop modem

I recieved my replacement pcmcia modem and still having the same problems.
I log into my dial-up surf a few pages then lose the connection. Before I
try again I wanted to get some feedback on the best way to diagnose this
problem? Add 'debug' to /etc/ppp/options? Anyway, here's the
/var/log/messages entries:

Mar 31 00:53:06 peabody anacron[2737]: Normal exit (1 jobs run)
Mar 31 00:53:34 peabody cardmgr[2060]: socket 1: Serial or Modem
Mar 31 00:53:34 peabody kernel: cs: memory probe 0x0c0000-0x0fffff:
excluding 0xc0000-0xcffff 0xe0000-0xfffff
Mar 31 00:53:35 peabody kernel: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 11) is a 16550A
Mar 31 00:55:17 peabody pppd[9730]: pppd 2.4.2 started by joe, uid 501
Mar 31 00:55:17 peabody pppd[9730]: Using interface ppp0
Mar 31 00:55:17 peabody pppd[9730]: Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/ttyS0
Mar 31 00:55:18 peabody pppd[9730]: PAP authentication succeeded
Mar 31 00:55:18 peabody kernel: PPP BSD Compression module registered
Mar 31 00:55:18 peabody kernel: PPP Deflate Compression module registered
Mar 31 00:55:19 peabody pppd[9730]: local IP address 4.155.254.76
Mar 31 00:55:19 peabody pppd[9730]: remote IP address 209.244.187.39
Mar 31 00:55:19 peabody pppd[9730]: primary DNS address 209.244.0.3
Mar 31 00:55:19 peabody pppd[9730]: secondary DNS address 209.244.0.4
Mar 31 01:03:09 peabody pppd[9730]: Hangup (SIGHUP)
Mar 31 01:03:09 peabody pppd[9730]: Modem hangup
Mar 31 01:03:09 peabody pppd[9730]: Connection terminated.
Mar 31 01:03:09 peabody pppd[9730]: Connect time 7.9 minutes.
Mar 31 01:03:09 peabody pppd[9730]: Sent 173671 bytes, received 671591
bytes.
Mar 31 01:03:09 peabody pppd[9730]: Connect time 7.9 minutes.
Mar 31 01:03:09 peabody pppd[9730]: Sent 173671 bytes, received 671591
bytes.
Mar 31 01:03:09 peabody pppd[9730]: Exit.


One other thing, this laptop has a built in winmodem. Could it be a
hardware (resource) conflict?


--
clear skies,
Joe

http://users.erols.com/jringer3/astro1.htm

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, Joe R wrote:

>I recieved my replacement pcmcia modem and still having the same problems.
>I log into my dial-up surf a few pages then lose the connection.

What kind of modem? Does it have an 'idle timeout' mode set? You'll
have to find the modem manual, as this varies very widely by manufacturer.
On my USR, the S19 register sets this time in minutes. On a Rockwell based
Best Modem I also have, it's S30 in seconds.

>Before I try again I wanted to get some feedback on the best way to
>diagnose this problem? Add 'debug' to /etc/ppp/options?

I don't know that it would help. The link is going down because of a
modem hangup - question is, who initiated that. Again - check the modem
manual, and see if there is a 'post call diagnostics' command. This is
even more non-standardized than the S registers - one of my Rockwells puts
a code number in register S86, another reports results with the AT%Q
command. The USR has this under the ATI6 results.

>Anyway, here's the /var/log/messages entries:

Yeah, there's really not much information here. Connection came up
very quickly - and I don't see any obvious problems. If you want the
debug information add both 'debug' and 'logfile filename' (see the
pppd man page) to /etc/ppp/options

>Mar 31 01:03:09 peabody pppd[9730]: Hangup (SIGHUP)
>Mar 31 01:03:09 peabody pppd[9730]: Modem hangup

That's what killed pppd - the question is why did the modem hang up.

>Mar 31 01:03:09 peabody pppd[9730]: Connect time 7.9 minutes.
>Mar 31 01:03:09 peabody pppd[9730]: Sent 173671 bytes, received 671591
>bytes.

172671 bytes / 470 seconds = 369.5 bytes/sec
671591 bytes / 470 seconds = 1428.9 bytes/sec

The link isn't being over-used, but it's not all that idle eiher.

>One other thing, this laptop has a built in winmodem. Could it be a
>hardware (resource) conflict?

Shouldn't be. If you don't have the appropriate driver for the loosemodem,
it's just useless hardware. If you _do_ have the the driver and it's
installed, and the hardware address is the same as your existing modem
(can you say "Fat Chance"?), then there would be a problem, but pppd
would be unable to establish a connection.

Only other comment; make sure you are using the modem init string that
the manufacturer wants - this is normally AT&Fn where n may be a 0, 1, or
maybe a 2. Again, see the modem manual. "ATZ' _might_ work, but that
depends on what you have set the NVRAM configuration to, and is therefore
not recommended.

Old guy

Having used Linux as my desktop OS for 7-8 years I thought it was ready
for my Toshiba laptop. I was willing to give up the built-in SD card
reader and find a hardware replacement for the on-board winmodem.

Having no serial ports I thought I'd put the pcmcia slot to good use. I
Googled around and came up with a Zonet ZFM5600 pcmcia 100% hardware modem
and a few reports of it working out if the box.

The Zonet would only connect at 33.6K and wouldn't maintain a connection,
a little digging and I learned that this is an Intel HaM modem and needs a
driver. Long story short: Some earlier distros, SUSE 7.3, included HaM
drivers and downloadable drivers are available for kernel 2.4 series. It
seemed to me it would be less work to just use the winmodem?

Indeed, about 30 minutes with the 'slmodem-2.9.9b.tar.gz' has my winmodem
and Mandrake playing nicely. I surfed around for 3+ hours at 46K with
hardly a hiccup.

My next laptop will run OSX!

---
clear skies,
Joe

http://users.erols.com/jringer3/astro1.htm