Mint9 dialup connection stopped working
 

On my home LinuxMint9 desktop, I use wvdial and us robotics modem usr5637 for dialup net connections. It’s always worked fine.

But for the past few days, I’ve been unable to connect. I’ve made no changes, have installed no new sw or upgrades, haven’t changed wvdial.conf file.

Here’s what I’m getting in terminal window when I type wvdial: [note: this is not copy/pasted; it's transcribed, with my comments in brackets]

Connect 49333/ARQ/V90/LAPM/V42BIS
Carrier detected, waiting for prompt.
CVX Access Switch.
Access is restricted to authorized users only.
Login:
-Looks like a login prompt
-sending: guest
Guest
Password:
-Looks like a password prompt.
-Sending: (password)
-Valid commands are:
-Quit: hang up and disconnect
-Help List valid commands
Hmm..a prompt. Sending “ppp”
Ppp
‘ppp’ is not a valid command.
Valid commands are:
Quit: Hang up and disconnect
Help list valid commands
[this recurs 2 more times, then:]
Don’t know3 what to do! Starting pppd and hoping for the best.
Starting pppd at Mon Apr 9 08:09:09 2012-04-09 Warning: Could not modify /etc/ppp/pap-secrets: Permission denied
PAP (Password Authentication Protocol) may be flaky.
Warning: Could not modify /etc/ppp/chap-secrets: Permission denied.
CHAP (Challenge Handshake) may be flaky.
Pid of pppd: 2228
Using interface ppp0
Pppd: [symbols]
Pppd: [symbols]
Pppd: [symbols]
Pppd: [symbols]
Pppd: [symbols]
Disconnecting
The PPP daemon has died: A modem hung up the phone (exit code=16)
[Then suggesting to check error codes, to check
/var/log/messages and man pages, which I can’t interpret; then I get auto-reconnect with same stuff.
Using man pppd to check error code 16, it’s
16: The link was terminated by the modem hanging up.]

Looking at /var/log/messages:
Ppp 2.4.5 started by jim_d, vid 1000
Using interface ppp0
Connect: ppp0>/dev/ttyACMO
LCP: timeout sending config-Requests
Connection terminated
Modem hangup
Exit
[then above is repeated]

Any idea what's going on? How should I troubleshoot? If the above info is not sufficient, please let me know what info you might need to help troubleshoot.

One thing, possibly related?--Starting about a week ago, when I log in, there's a delay in opening the programs I specified to open automatically on login--the screen stays blank for a few seconds, then the pgms open. Not a big deal, but I wonder if this is symptomatic of something, suggesting a larger problem than just dialup not working anymore.

Thanks--Help and tips much appreciated!