I have been working on getting a modem to work for a while. I am running PCLinuxOS on this computer and I am running into no shortage fo trouble trying to get this thing to work. I am using a PCTel Inc HSP MicroModem 56 (rev 02). Now i have installed the drivers, and my computer can now recognize and query the modem successfully. But I cannot get the modem to initialize. I have tried setting the init variables in both kppp and wvdial. I have tried every init string that i can find. None of them will yield a response from the modem. I cant even remember all of the ones that i tried. I even tried leaving the init field blank.(this jsut created a filterthrough effect that accomplished nothing. I really need some help. I have tried every thing that i can find. Nothing seenms to want to work.

You might try using one of these drivers here:
http://linmodems.technion.ac.il/pctel-linux/

In fact I am having a similiar problem with a PCTel modem on PClinuxOS using the 2.6.18 kernel.
Those drivers did not work for me. It stated it's an i8xx modem and that I need the smartlink driver but it did not seem to work.

lspci says:

Modem Intel Corporation82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [Generic])
Subsystem: PCTel Inc Unknown device 4c21
Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 7
...and on about I/O ports...


It's using the generic driver at the moment...Don't suppose you have any tips for me or troubleshooting steps I can take?

Thanks!

well if you feel like messing with it the kernel supports ac 97 modems, you just need to make a new kernel. its in the section for the alsa drivers

Do you know how can I check if it's already supported in the kernel?

Keep in mind, if you're running 64bit Fedora those drivers may not work as I believe they are only for 32bit Operating Systems.
Running scanModem usually yields allot of great information and direct links to get you on-line.

I dont really know of a good way to do it unless you are running a system like gentoo. maybe one of the guru's here can help you with that.

if you are you would

# cd /usr/src/linux
# make xconfig

and see if the box for the ac97 modem driver is checked. If it is then that is good. other wise you could aslways try

find /lib/modules/<kernel version>/ -type f -iname '*.o' -or -iname '*.ko'


and you get kernel version with uname -r.

Might i make a suggestion, and this comes from my own experience. Just give up on it and but a serial modem off of newegg. a good one costs like 20 dollars. They dont have the one that i got anymore, but look at the reviews. they will tell you if it works with linux. Sorry i dont have a better answer, but i seriously spent a month and a half trying to get other non serial modems to work.


oh and i notice that you are using pclinuxos. that was the first distro that itried to get dial up working in. to follow what i said earlier you will need to install the kernel sources. i dont remember how package management worked on pclinuxos but i remember it wasnt hard. Start there.

That's bad advice.

Many PCI modems are supported by Linux, including PCTel. ScanModem will provide links to all the tools required for FREE, $20.00 is not required unless you are lazy or can't read.

I am neither lazy nor lack the ability to read asshole. I read numerous things, tried many other things. i even read an at command book. if your modem isnt suppported then that is all their is too it. My modems never worked. I was able to detect them but they didnt work properlyat any point in time. And yes some pctel chipsets are supported. But most dont seem to be. And the ones that do work are shoddy at best. Scan modem worked. The driver did not. Where as my cheap serial modem worked with no effort and provided me with the most stable connection i have ever had. And you know what. I researched the probelm 2 to 4 hours a day for a month. so fuck you, and your accusing me of bad advice and lazyness. And please dont insult my intellegence.

I have an extensive collection of PCI modems, so far only the Agere doesn't work with Linux. All the PCtel and Rockwell modems work and are the easiest to set up as they are from the same maintainer whom designed a superb scrip that does all the work (thats where the poor advice comment is derived from). Intel, Connexant, Lucent with mars chip, etc. all work over here, some with a little trial and error.

As bad as I want to join in I have to stay out.

Might i make a suggestion, and this comes from my own experience. Just give up on it and but a serial modem off of newegg. a good one costs like 20 dollars

I don't want to get in the middle of an argument, but I don't see that as bad advice, just a different way of solving a problem! Okay, it'll cost $20.00, but if you take your hourly rate at work, and multiply that by the hours of headscratching you spend trying to find solution, which is the most cost effective? On top of that, no one says a solution has to be hi-tech.
IMHO anyone that can use a pc, and post on this forum must be able to read

I don't want to get in the middle of an argument, but I don't see that as bad advice, just a different way of solving a problem! Okay, it'll cost $20.00, but if you take your hourly rate at work, and multiply that by the hours of headscratching you spend trying to find solution, which is the most cost effective? On top of that, no one says a solution has to be hi-tech.
IMHO anyone that can use a pc, and post on this forum must be able to read

teabag 46 you are right in that the serial external modems work without configuring a driver. But if you own a laptop who wants to drag an external modem around. Junior Hacker is right about setting up the modems except if you are a newbie it will take a lot of reading and some luck to get one working within 30 minutes. My first one took me about 4 days after spending two weeks on an agere modem. I have never been able to get an agere modem to work. Most of the distros have modem drivers in their repositories to cover a lot of the soft modems but they are not installed by default.