USB Dialup Modem Help

Hi I've come across an old USB dialup modem and I'm a bit stuck getting it connected to an ISP. I'm trying to get it going so I can give it to my parents and switch them fully over to linux. I'm currently testing it on my Ubuntu 7.10 machine with my parents dialup account with Kiwi Online (KOL) and the modem is recognised as /dev/ttyACM0. I've tried wvdial and gnome-ppp, and it seemed to dial okay with those but it would lose the connection straight away and re-dial endlessly. The closest I've got is setting up a chat account with pppconfig and then using pon to connect. This is the results from plog when using pon: Mar 11 20:58:30 lobo pppd[7062]: pppd 2.4.4 started by shannon, uid 1000 Mar 11 20:58:31 lobo chat[7064]: abort on (BUSY) Mar 11 20:58:31 lobo chat[7064]: abort on (NO CARRIER) Mar 11 20:58:31 lobo chat[7064]: abort on (VOICE) Mar 11 20:58:31 lobo chat[7064]: abort on (NO DIALTONE) Mar 11 20:58:31 lobo chat[7064]: abort on (NO DIAL TONE) Mar 11 20:58:31 lobo chat[7064]: abort on (NO ANSWER) Mar 11 20:58:31 lobo chat[7064]: abort on (DELAYED) Mar 11 20:58:31 lobo chat[7064]: send (ATZ^M) Mar 11 20:58:31 lobo chat[7064]: expect (OK) Mar 11 20:58:31 lobo chat[7064]: ATZ^M^M Mar 11 20:58:31 lobo chat[7064]: OK Mar 11 20:58:31 lobo chat[7064]: -- got it Mar 11 20:58:31 lobo chat[7064]: send (ATDT087305656^M) Mar 11 20:58:32 lobo chat[7064]: expect (CONNECT) Mar 11 20:58:32 lobo chat[7064]: ^M Mar 11 20:58:52 lobo chat[7064]: ATDT087305656^M^M Mar 11 20:58:52 lobo chat[7064]: CONNECT Mar 11 20:58:52 lobo chat[7064]: -- got it Mar 11 20:58:52 lobo chat[7064]: send (^M) Mar 11 20:58:52 lobo chat[7064]: expect (ogin:) Mar 11 20:58:52 lobo chat[7064]: 115200^M Mar 11 20:58:53 lobo chat[7064]: ^I^M Mar 11 20:58:53 lobo chat[7064]: login: Mar 11 20:58:53 lobo chat[7064]: -- got it Mar 11 20:58:53 lobo chat[7064]: send ([username]^M) Mar 11 20:58:53 lobo chat[7064]: expect (ssword:) Mar 11 20:58:53 lobo chat[7064]: [username]^M Mar 11 20:58:53 lobo chat[7064]: Password: Mar 11 20:58:53 lobo chat[7064]: -- got it Mar 11 20:58:53 lobo chat[7064]: send (??????) Mar 11 20:58:53 lobo chat[7064]: send (\d) Mar 11 20:58:54 lobo pppd[7062]: Serial connection established. Mar 11 20:58:54 lobo pppd[7062]: using channel 15 Mar 11 20:58:54 lobo pppd[7062]: Using interface ppp0 Mar 11 20:58:54 lobo pppd[7062]: Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/ttyACM0 Mar 11 20:58:55 lobo pppd[7062]: sent [LCP ConfReq id=0x1 <asyncmap 0x0> <magic 0x87f8fe7b> <pcomp> <accomp>] Mar 11 20:59:25 lobo pppd[7062]: LCP: timeout sending Config-Requests Mar 11 20:59:25 lobo pppd[7062]: Connection terminated. Mar 11 20:59:27 lobo pppd[7062]: Modem hangup Mar 11 20:59:27 lobo pppd[7062]: Exit. So it seems to connect alright but then times out on sending some config stuff? ifconfig will show my lo and eth0 connections, and I can bring up the ppp0 connection (ifconfig ppp0 up) for the 20 or 30 seconds it is connected. I tried taking down eth0 and unplugging network cables in case of any interference (not that there should be I guess, DNS maybe but I don't know!) I only get about one night a week to "play" with this stuff, so it could take me a while to figure out on my own. I'm hoping that since I can actually make a connection, it should be something simple to get going. Any suggestions? Cheers Shannon

Edit (as root) /etc/ppp/options and uncomment the "# passive" line.. passive Enables the "passive" option in the LCP. With this option, pppd will attempt to initiate a connection; if no reply is received from the peer, pppd will then just wait passively for a valid LCP packet from the peer, instead of exiting, as it would with‐ out this option. On 12/03/2008, Shannon Skinner <shannonsnz(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Hi
I've come across an old USB dialup modem and I'm a bit stuck getting it connected to an ISP. I'm trying to get it going so I can give it to my parents and switch them fully over to linux.
I'm currently testing it on my Ubuntu 7.10 machine with my parents dialup account with Kiwi Online (KOL) and the modem is recognised as /dev/ttyACM0.
I've tried wvdial and gnome-ppp, and it seemed to dial okay with those but it would lose the connection straight away and re-dial endlessly.
The closest I've got is setting up a chat account with pppconfig and then using pon to connect. This is the results from plog when using pon:
Mar 11 20:58:30 lobo pppd[7062]: pppd 2.4.4 started by shannon, uid 1000 Mar 11 20:58:31 lobo chat[7064]: abort on (BUSY) Mar 11 20:58:31 lobo chat[7064]: abort on (NO CARRIER) Mar 11 20:58:31 lobo chat[7064]: abort on (VOICE) Mar 11 20:58:31 lobo chat[7064]: abort on (NO DIALTONE) Mar 11 20:58:31 lobo chat[7064]: abort on (NO DIAL TONE) Mar 11 20:58:31 lobo chat[7064]: abort on (NO ANSWER) Mar 11 20:58:31 lobo chat[7064]: abort on (DELAYED) Mar 11 20:58:31 lobo chat[7064]: send (ATZ^M) Mar 11 20:58:31 lobo chat[7064]: expect (OK) Mar 11 20:58:31 lobo chat[7064]: ATZ^M^M Mar 11 20:58:31 lobo chat[7064]: OK Mar 11 20:58:31 lobo chat[7064]: -- got it Mar 11 20:58:31 lobo chat[7064]: send (ATDT087305656^M) Mar 11 20:58:32 lobo chat[7064]: expect (CONNECT) Mar 11 20:58:32 lobo chat[7064]: ^M Mar 11 20:58:52 lobo chat[7064]: ATDT087305656^M^M Mar 11 20:58:52 lobo chat[7064]: CONNECT Mar 11 20:58:52 lobo chat[7064]: -- got it Mar 11 20:58:52 lobo chat[7064]: send (^M) Mar 11 20:58:52 lobo chat[7064]: expect (ogin:) Mar 11 20:58:52 lobo chat[7064]: 115200^M Mar 11 20:58:53 lobo chat[7064]: ^I^M Mar 11 20:58:53 lobo chat[7064]: login: Mar 11 20:58:53 lobo chat[7064]: -- got it Mar 11 20:58:53 lobo chat[7064]: send ([username]^M) Mar 11 20:58:53 lobo chat[7064]: expect (ssword:) Mar 11 20:58:53 lobo chat[7064]: [username]^M Mar 11 20:58:53 lobo chat[7064]: Password: Mar 11 20:58:53 lobo chat[7064]: -- got it Mar 11 20:58:53 lobo chat[7064]: send (??????) Mar 11 20:58:53 lobo chat[7064]: send (\d) Mar 11 20:58:54 lobo pppd[7062]: Serial connection established. Mar 11 20:58:54 lobo pppd[7062]: using channel 15 Mar 11 20:58:54 lobo pppd[7062]: Using interface ppp0 Mar 11 20:58:54 lobo pppd[7062]: Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/ttyACM0 Mar 11 20:58:55 lobo pppd[7062]: sent [LCP ConfReq id=0x1 <asyncmap 0x0> <magic 0x87f8fe7b> <pcomp> <accomp>] Mar 11 20:59:25 lobo pppd[7062]: LCP: timeout sending Config-Requests Mar 11 20:59:25 lobo pppd[7062]: Connection terminated. Mar 11 20:59:27 lobo pppd[7062]: Modem hangup Mar 11 20:59:27 lobo pppd[7062]: Exit.
So it seems to connect alright but then times out on sending some config stuff?
ifconfig will show my lo and eth0 connections, and I can bring up the ppp0 connection (ifconfig ppp0 up) for the 20 or 30 seconds it is connected. I tried taking down eth0 and unplugging network cables in case of any interference (not that there should be I guess, DNS maybe but I don't know!)
I only get about one night a week to "play" with this stuff, so it could take me a while to figure out on my own. I'm hoping that since I can actually make a connection, it should be something simple to get going. Any suggestions?
Cheers
Shannon
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Hi Shannon. Not sure if it is entirely relevant, but maybe these could help: keywords to look/search for are 'PPP _and_ stupid mode'... http://list.waikato.ac.nz/pipermail/wlug/2007-December/009421.html http://list.waikato.ac.nz/pipermail/wlug/2007-December/009414.html Cheers, Elroy. Shannon Skinner wrote:
Hi
I've come across an old USB dialup modem and I'm a bit stuck getting it connected to an ISP. I'm trying to get it going so I can give it to my parents and switch them fully over to linux.
I'm currently testing it on my Ubuntu 7.10 machine with my parents dialup account with Kiwi Online (KOL) and the modem is recognised as /dev/ttyACM0.
Shannon

On Wed, 12 Mar 2008 08:25:08 +1300 Shannon Skinner wrote:
Hi
I've come across an old USB dialup modem and I'm a bit stuck getting it connected to an ISP. I'm trying to get it going so I can give it to my parents and switch them fully over to linux.
Edit /etc/ppp/options to look like this: ==== cut here ==== lock noauth defaultroute ipcp-max-configure 65 ipcp-accept-local ipcp-accept-remote idle 600 ==== cut here ==== This usually fixes those LCP timeout errors John

Thank you for the suggestions, they all sounded like they would work but unfortunately none of them did the trick for me. It still sends those darn LCP requests. I have a feeling that there may be other issues: connecting the USB modem to a phone jack, kills the dial out ability of our home phone. It doesn't matter whether the modem is connected to the computer or not. I can get a dial-tone, dial a number and then nothing. Unplug the phone line to the modem and the home phone works again. Weird! I might bring it down to the next fix-it meeting, to see if anybody has any ideas... Cheers Shannon

From the sound of it, if connecting the modem directly to the phone line kills your normal phone, and this is with/without it being plugged into the computer via USB/whatever... I think it may be dead... HTH. Elroy. Shannon Skinner wrote:
Thank you for the suggestions, they all sounded like they would work but unfortunately none of them did the trick for me. It still sends those darn LCP requests.
I have a feeling that there may be other issues: connecting the USB modem to a phone jack, kills the dial out ability of our home phone. It doesn't matter whether the modem is connected to the computer or not. I can get a dial-tone, dial a number and then nothing. Unplug the phone line to the modem and the home phone works again. Weird!
I might bring it down to the next fix-it meeting, to see if anybody has any ideas...
Cheers
Shannon
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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That's pretty much what I was thinking. The funny thing is that it can still dial up and connect to the ISP, but just falls over with the LCP requests... I don't think it's worth investing any more time in this particular piece of hardware: I can't imagine telling the parents, every time you want to call someone remember to unplug the modem! It might be an interesting side-project for someone at the next fixit meeting ;) On Sun, Mar 16, 2008 at 10:48 PM, elroy <elroy(a)ihug.co.nz> wrote:
From the sound of it, if connecting the modem directly to the phone line kills your normal phone, and this is with/without it being plugged into the computer via USB/whatever... I think it may be dead...
HTH.
Elroy.
Shannon Skinner wrote:
Thank you for the suggestions, they all sounded like they would work but unfortunately none of them did the trick for me. It still sends those darn LCP requests.
I have a feeling that there may be other issues: connecting the USB modem to a phone jack, kills the dial out ability of our home phone. It doesn't matter whether the modem is connected to the computer or not. I can get a dial-tone, dial a number and then nothing. Unplug the phone line to the modem and the home phone works again. Weird!
I might bring it down to the next fix-it meeting, to see if anybody has any ideas...
Cheers
Shannon
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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I have been following this thread because a friend has an external RS-232 modem on his Linux desktop. We have been trying to get this going under Gutsy for a few weeks now. I will try the suggestions made in this thread. When we have worked it out then I'll write up a HOWTO and post it to the wiki. J On 3/17/08, Shannon Skinner <shannonsnz(a)gmail.com> wrote:
That's pretty much what I was thinking.
The funny thing is that it can still dial up and connect to the ISP, but just falls over with the LCP requests...
I don't think it's worth investing any more time in this particular piece of hardware: I can't imagine telling the parents, every time you want to call someone remember to unplug the modem!
It might be an interesting side-project for someone at the next fixit meeting ;)
On Sun, Mar 16, 2008 at 10:48 PM, elroy <elroy(a)ihug.co.nz> wrote:
From the sound of it, if connecting the modem directly to the phone line kills your normal phone, and this is with/without it being plugged into the computer via USB/whatever... I think it may be dead...
HTH.
Elroy.
Shannon Skinner wrote:
Thank you for the suggestions, they all sounded like they would work but unfortunately none of them did the trick for me. It still sends those darn LCP requests.
I have a feeling that there may be other issues: connecting the USB modem to a phone jack, kills the dial out ability of our home phone. It doesn't matter whether the modem is connected to the computer or not. I can get a dial-tone, dial a number and then nothing. Unplug the phone line to the modem and the home phone works again. Weird!
I might bring it down to the next fix-it meeting, to see if anybody has any ideas...
Cheers
Shannon
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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-- James Pluck PalmOS Ergo Sum "Dear IRS: I would like to cancel my subscription. Please remove my name from your mailing list..."

On 17/03/2008, James Pluck <papabearnz(a)gmail.com> wrote:
I have been following this thread because a friend has an external RS-232 modem on his Linux desktop. We have been trying to get this going under Gutsy for a few weeks now. I will try the suggestions made in this thread. When we have worked it out then I'll write up a HOWTO and post it to the wiki.
I set up two friends with an old computer, external modem (RS232) and Ubuntu 7.04, and got them to use wvdial to connect. Both are going fine, as far as I'm aware. All both users needed was a cheap system to give them email and the ability to view most attachments. Ubuntu gives them a nice consistent system, free from any surprises (I hope!) Michael

90% of the time this works fine. Some modems take rather a long time to negotiate and if you can't edit the timeout directly, there are other things you can do to make ppp keep trying to negotiate longer than the default. If a modem is interfering with the operation of other phones on the same line I would suspect lightning damage, and that's not something you can fix in software... On 17/03/2008, Michael McDonald <mikencolleen(a)gmail.com> wrote:
I have been following this thread because a friend has an external RS-232 modem on his Linux desktop. We have been trying to get this going under Gutsy for a few weeks now. I will try the suggestions made in this
On 17/03/2008, James Pluck <papabearnz(a)gmail.com> wrote: thread.
When we have worked it out then I'll write up a HOWTO and post it to the wiki.
I set up two friends with an old computer, external modem (RS232) and Ubuntu 7.04, and got them to use wvdial to connect. Both are going fine, as far as I'm aware.
All both users needed was a cheap system to give them email and the ability to view most attachments. Ubuntu gives them a nice consistent system, free from any surprises (I hope!)
Michael
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participants (6)
-
Bruce Kingsbury
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elroy
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James Pluck
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John Rye
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Michael McDonald
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Shannon Skinner