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7. FAQ

7.1 I have a winmodem. Will it work under Linux?

Probably not. Please see the section "Which Linmodem hardware is supported?" above, and check the Linux Modem Compatibility database at Rob Clark's site.

7.2 I get "NO DIALTONE".

Try setting your BIOS option from "PNP OS" to "non-PNP OS", from "Windows" to "Other OS", or the equivalent.

Conexant users: See the Conexant section, above.

7.3 I get a "device or resource busy" error.

7.4 I get unresolved symbols when fixscripting/insmoding.

Unresolved symbols are a true danger of version mismatching and are, in general, bad, but are also almost inevitable with binary modules. If the fixscript reports unresolved symbols, or the module does not work despite the unresolved symbols, you may be out of luck with that kernel/module combination; however, a few common cases involve symbols like:

If a module works in an unstable fashion, it could be that, under some circumstances, you are avoiding those symbols, while in others, you slam up against them. Try out different ppp dialup programs (wvdial, kppp), which call a different set of functions under similar conditions. It is also possible that the fixscript, which was designed for the lucent module, is not "fixing" the symbols used in your module. If you find no combination that works, consider "downgrading" to a kernel which has a closer version match to that of the module.

7.5 My PCTel modem doesn't work.

7.6 The modem dials and connects fine, but then it drops the connection.

This is an often-reported problem that may have a few, or no, solutions:

  1. It is possible that the module is installed correctly and is working, but that you have a problem with your ppp configuration. In particular, if you find an error in the log along the lines of "peer is not authorized," try changing "auth" to "noauth" in /etc/ppp/options, and/or commenting out "auth" and "lock" (by placing a '#' at the beginning of the line). Corel has a FAQ entry at http://linux.corel.com/support/html/9314.htm about this.
  2. It has been reported that, with some kernel/module mismatches, a program like kppp will give this error, while an alternative like wvdial does not, for the same modules and hardware. You may wish to try a different ppp dialer and see if that helps.
  3. Lastly, there is the potential relationship with sound support. Comparing functionality of ltmodem.o with/without sound support in the kernels, dial-in is OK, but ppp is NOT achieved for the kernel without sound support.

    Most Linux distributions do deposit a kernel configuration file along with the kernel. For Debian related distributions, it is the file

      /boot/config-version
    
    The positive choices can be quickly displayed with:
      grep SOUND /boot/config-version |grep -v not
    
    For the specific example of a 2.2.17 version:

    # grep SOUND  /boot/config-2.2.17 |grep -v not
    CONFIG_SOUND=m
    CONFIG_SOUND_OSS=m
    CONFIG_SOUND_SB=m
    CONFIG_SOUND_MPU401=m
    CONFIG_SOUND_YM3812=m
    CONFIG_SOUND_VMIDI=m
    CONFIG_SOUND_YMPCI=m
    CONFIG_LOWLEVEL_SOUND=y
    

    Either CONFIG_SOUND=m or CONFIG_SOUND=yes would show that the kernel has sound support (as would simple sound output).

    If none of these helps, you may wish to consider trying to use a kernel version which is closer to the module. Otherwise, try the mailing list at Linmodems.org for help.

7.7 I get a kernel panic on closing the connection or unloading the driver.

There are a couple of possible solutions to this, neither of which may work:

7.8 Nothing seems to work. To whom can I turn for help?

If all seems lost, please see the section "Troubleshooting", below , and consider sending a message with the complete information described there to the mailing list at Linmodems.org.

7.9 Who wrote the driver for my winmodem, and how do I contact him/her?

If a contact address is not given above, you can in general assume that it was probably somebody on contract to the manufacturer, who probably does not have the authority the update/release/change the source code, and who probably doesn't have time to reply to your email in any case. See, for example, http://lwn.net/1999/1209/a/lucent.html


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