US Robotics External Serial Modem + getting online?

phobos

I put RH9 on a box at home, and have had problems getting the bugger online. The machine has an internal "Creatix V.9x DSP Data Fax Modem" installed. Now this is a glorified winmodem, and I knew it would be nothing but trouble. However I spent quite a while searching the web to see if there was any way of me getting it online. But no joy

So this evening I obtained a lovely (fairly new) "US Robotics V.92 External" modem (with serial interface, not USB). So this isn't a winmodem. I know this because my machine doesnt halt for a second or two when the modem init's before dialing my ISP (like the internal one does).

Now I went online looking for drivers for this new modem, and while looking I read that there is a good chance I wouldn't need to install drivers for it, considering it's a hardware controlled external job. So off I toddled in to linux, and created a link between /dev/ttyS0 -> /dev/modem. I then configured my /etc/wvdial.conf, and then started wvdial. Straight away the whole thing worked. It did a quick test on my modem, and I could see the lights blinking away. It then set the baud rate to the highest (115200 or whatever), and proceded to dial my ISP. I could hear the thing dialing, and everything seemed normal. Then once it finished dialing, wvdial remained running in the forground. At this point I was sure a connection was established, and attempted to ping some remote machines.....but no joy!

So I (ctrl+c)'ed wvdial, and it killed the connection, and hung up the phone.

terminal messages
--> WvDial: Internet dialer version 1.53
--> Initializing modem.
--> Sending: ATZ
ATZ
OK
--> Sending: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
OK
--> Modem initialized.
--> Sending: ATDT1332103001235
--> Waiting for carrier.
ATDT1332103001235

NO CARRIER
--> No Carrier! Trying again.
--> Sending: ATDT1332103001235
--> Waiting for carrier.
ATDT1332103001235
--> Timed out while dialing. Trying again.
--> Sending: ATDT1332103001235
--> Waiting for carrier.
ATDT1332103001235
Caught signal #2! Attempting to exit gracefully...
--> Disconnecting at Mon Sep 1 19:52:23 2003

Any suggestions?. I'm confident it's PPP settings, and nothing to do with the actual hardware itself, considering I can actually talk to the device. I'm sure in the absence of device drivers, I wouldn't even be able to get that far. Oh yeah, and another thing that I'm just after noticing is that from the terminal messages above, it looks like it tried to dial 3 times....it didn't...because I only heard that happen once. Just before where it says "NO CARRIER" for the first time is where the terminal got (and blocked) until I pressed "ctrl+c". Then the rest echo'ed out.

One other thing...is there any way I can turn down the bloody volume on the device. When it dials the neighbours would know I'm going online. I've successfully shut it up under windows

advTHANKSance

;-phobos-)

nadir

route add default ppp0

niallb

You don't yet have a device to route through unfortunately.
Your init string is unnecessarily complicated.

Change it to just ATZ and start from there.
You can add in other features when it's working.

Useful bits to report true connection speed and drop volume
would give you: (Some US Robotics modems need S13=1, I think I recall)

ATZW2M0L0S13=1
You should find the initstring in /etc/wvdial.conf

Are you absolutely sure your phone number is right?

Who do you use for your phone calls?
Do you have an account with ESAT? (13-321)

Have you tried any other accounts and phone numbers?

Have you your username and password set up in /etc/ppp/pap-secrets?
If you went through wvdial's config it should have set it up for you.

If you can't get wvdial to work, try using kppp or gnome-ppp
and see if you get the same results.

You said you went online looking for drivers.
Was that with this modem?
Check those settings to see what number it dialled
and if there were any advanced properties on the modem setup.

Finally - is the phone line plugged into the right socket on the modem ;-)

Hope that gets you moving at least,
NiallB

Typedef

Almost definately the wrong INIT strings.

Try searching the interweb for the right INIT strings.... or if you happen to have bought the modem from ye olde shop (or are running it in Windows) you should be able to see which strings the Windows driver is sending down to the modem and just use those yourself!