modem, pppd, kernel EIP NULL ptr deref , RH9

Hello,

I've got RedHat 9 (2.4.20-8 kernel) on a ThinkPad T40.
I am trying to get the modem to work. It is a Wintel modem (Agere),
but Agere and/or IBM provide the driver for it, which I have
installed.

The machine identifies the modem and is able to connect to my ISP,
start pppd, but the connection is only half-made - no DHCP information
is set and, more importantly, I get the following error.

I am wondering if anyone has seen this error or can decypher its
meaning:

Jan 25 22:19:48 localhost ifup-ppp: pppd started for ppp0 on
/dev/modem at 57600
Jan 25 22:19:48 localhost pppd[12185]: pppd 2.4.1 started by root, uid
0
Jan 25 22:19:49 localhost wvdial[12200]: WvDial: Internet dialer
version 1.53
Jan 25 22:19:49 localhost wvdial[12200]: Initializing modem.
Jan 25 22:19:49 localhost wvdial[12200]: Sending: ATZ
Jan 25 22:19:49 localhost wvdial[12200]: ATZ
Jan 25 22:19:49 localhost wvdial[12200]: OK
Jan 25 22:19:49 localhost wvdial[12200]: Sending: ATM2
Jan 25 22:19:50 localhost wvdial[12200]: ATM2
Jan 25 22:19:50 localhost wvdial[12200]: OK
Jan 25 22:19:50 localhost wvdial[12200]: Modem initialized.
Jan 25 22:19:50 localhost wvdial[12200]: Sending: ATDT077600000
Jan 25 22:19:50 localhost wvdial[12200]: Waiting for carrier.
Jan 25 22:19:50 localhost wvdial[12200]: ATDT077600000
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost wvdial[12200]: CONNECT 52000 V42bis
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost wvdial[12200]: HiNet, HT d.d.
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost wvdial[12200]: User Access Verification
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost wvdial[12200]: Username:
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost wvdial[12200]: Carrier detected. Chatmode
finished.
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost pppd[12185]: Serial connection established.
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost kernel: <1>Unable to handle kernel NULL
pointer dereference at virtual address 00000300
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost kernel: printing eip:
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost kernel: c012b535
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost kernel: *pde = 00000000
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost kernel: Oops: 0002
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost kernel: ppp_deflate zlib_deflate ppp_generic
slhc agrserial agrmodem nls_iso8859-1 nls_cp437 radeon
ds yenta_socket pcmcia_core sg sr_mod ipt_LOG ip_nat_ftp iptable_n
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost kernel: CPU: 0
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost pppd[12185]: Couldn't set tty to PPP
discipline: Invalid argument
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost kernel: EIP: 0060:[<c012b535>]
Tainted: PF
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost kernel: EFLAGS: 00010282
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost kernel:
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost kernel: EIP is at use_init_fs_context
[kernel] 0x15 (2.4.20-8)
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost kernel: eax: 00000300 ebx: c012b150 ecx:
eb54a110 edx: eb54a050
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost kernel: esi: eb54a000 edi: 00000000 ebp:
00000000 esp: eb54bf7c
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost kernel: ds: 0068 es: 0068 ss: 0068
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost kernel: Process pppd (pid: 12219,
stackpage=eb54b000)
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost kernel: Stack: eb54a000 c012b150 eb54a000
f8aece58 c012b150 eb54a000 00000000 00000000
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost kernel: c012b055 00000001 00000001
4027fb80 c012b150 eabadee4 c012b1a7 c030c2c0
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost kernel: eb54bfc8 c030c3c0 c012b150
c030c2c0 c025dca2 c025dca5 c02691c4 eabadee4
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost kernel: Call Trace: [<c012b150>]
exec_modprobe [kernel] 0x0 (0xeb54bf80))
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost kernel: [<c012b150>] exec_modprobe [kernel]
0x0 (0xeb54bf8c))
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost kernel: [<c012b055>] exec_usermodehelper
[kernel] 0x25 (0xeb54bf9c))
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost kernel: [<c012b150>] exec_modprobe [kernel]
0x0 (0xeb54bfac))
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost kernel: [<c012b1a7>] exec_modprobe [kernel]
0x57 (0xeb54bfb4))
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost kernel: [<c012b150>] exec_modprobe [kernel]
0x0 (0xeb54bfc4))
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost kernel: [<c012b150>] exec_modprobe [kernel]
0x0 (0xeb54bfe8))
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost kernel: [<c010742d>] kernel_thread_helper
[kernel] 0x5 (0xeb54bff0))
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost kernel:
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost kernel:
Jan 25 22:20:15 localhost kernel: Code: ff 00 ba 00 e0 ff ff 21 e2 8b
b2 48 06 00 00 89 82 48 06 00
Jan 25 22:20:16 localhost pppd[12185]: Exit.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks!