Hello from a linux newbie,

Require help getting Unbuntu 5.04 to recognize internal ISA hardware modem.
Details follow:

I have an:
internal CommCenter ISA modem
with a Rockwell controller chip
RCVDL 56ACF/SP
R6761-21
ROCKWELL 97
9832 B62848-3
MEXICO

Linmodems has confirmed it is a hardware modem:

<<Your modem is a full hardware one....you have a full hardware one. It needs no special driver, which is why "RH9 detected it without a hitch">>

The modem is detected immediately with rh9 (2.4.2 kernel) and I've been using rh9 and kppp to connect to the internet. RH9 uses ttyS2, irq5
However, I've never had any success detecting the modem with any distributions(MDK,RH,SuSe) using the 2.6 kernel including Ubuntu 5.04.

I would like to switch/upgrade to Unbuntu 5.04/kernel 2.6

I'm suspecting(remember newbie talking here) that alsa is interferring with modem detection.
My soundcard is an ensoniq 5880.
On direction from linuxmafia faq/Debian/alsa,
I edited etc/hotplug/blacklist in an attempt to stop soundcard being detected as a modem(?) by adding:

snd-ens1371

This didn't help.

I've been advised to "remove the modules supporting audio" and run wvdialconf.
I don't know how to remove the audio modules (require help here) but I did run wvdialconf


# wvdialconf /dev/wvdial.conf
Scanning your serial ports for a modem.
ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 -- failed with 2400 baud, next try: 9600 baud
ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 -- failed with 9600 baud, next try: 115200 baud
ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 -- and failed too at 115200, giving up
ttyS1<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 -- failed with 2400 baud, next try: 9600 baud
ttyS1<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 -- failed with 9600 baud, next try: 115200 baud
ttyS1<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 -- and failed too at 115200, giving up.
Port Scan<*1>: S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8 S9
Port Scan<*1>: S10 S11 S12 S13 S14 S15 S16 S17
Port Scan<*1>: S18 S19 S20 S21 S22 S23 S24 S25
Port Scan<*1>: S26 S27 S28 S29 S30 S31 S32 S33
Port Scan<*1>: S34 S35 S36 S37 S38 S39 S40 S41
Port Scan<*1>: S42 S43 S44 S45 S46 S47 S48 S49
Port Scan<*1>: S50 S51 S52 S53
Sorry, no modem was detected!
Is it in use by another program?
Did you configure it properly with setserial?

I haven't ran setserial. I'm unclear on how to do this.

I then physically pulled audio card from the machine,reinstalled Ubuntu, and ran wvdialconf with same negative results as above.

QUESTIONS:
1) Can someone provide direction to help me get my modem detected with Ubuntu 5.04?
2) Should I /How do I remove the "modules supporting audio" in Ubuntu 5.04?
3) How do I install,compile,configure and run setserial in Ubuntu 5.04?

Your consideration is appreciated.

Regarding question number two:
I believe you can remove modules from the running kernel by listing the modules with "lsmod" and then removing the correct module with "modprobe -r <modulename>", any modules that are unused due to removing the main sound module will then also be removed if possible. Your kernel must however support module unloading or it will not work.
Unfortunately I don't use Ubuntu or modems, so I cannot comment on the other questions. Sorry.

Good concise repy, thank you.

But after a little comparing,I think my problems is more basic....

I compared my /var/log/dmsg files for redhat 9 and KubuntuLive ( I got tired of reinstalling RH9 and Ubuntu5.04 - I don't think I have enough real estate on my harddrive for both. Kubuntu is the same as Ubuntu with a KDE desktop).

The excerpts from the /var/log/dmsg file for RH9 are as follows:
.....
Activating ISA DMA hang workarounds.
isapnp: Scanning for PnP cards...
isapnp: Card '56 Speakerphone srm'
isapnp: 1 Plug & Play card detected total

and....

Serial driver version 5.05c (2001-07-08) with MANY_PORTS MULTIPORT SHARE_IRQ SERIAL_PCI ISAPNP enabled
ttyS0 at 0x03f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
ttyS1 at 0x02f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A
ttyS2 at port 0x03e8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A

<<interesting to note that my BIOS printout puts the '56 Speakerphone srm' on IRQ 5>>

Excerpts from the /var/log/dmsg file for (K)Unbuntu5.04 are as follows:

.....
Activating ISA DMA hang workarounds.
isapnp: Scanning for PnP cards...
isapnp: Card '56 Speakerphone srm'
isapnp: 1 Plug & Play card detected total

<<GOOD NEWS HERE - (K)UBUNTU DOES DETECT THE '56 Speakerphone srm'>>

and ....

Serial: 8250/16550 driver $Revision: 1.90 $ 54 ports, IRQ sharing enabled
ttyS0 at 0x03f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
ttyS1 at 0x02f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A
ttyS0 at 0x03f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
ttyS1 at 0x02f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A

<<NOTHING MENTIONED ABOUT ttyS2>>

It looks like I might have to use setserial to set ttyS2 to irq 4
Unfortunately, I can't seem to installl setserial in KubuntuLive.
Looks like I may have to reinstall Ubuntu5.04 and run setserial
or is it possible to use a different 6249/16550 driver than $Revision 1.90