Cannot set serial info: Address... in use
 

Hi guys.
I was here at the beginning of the year and then returned to MS because I couldn't get my modem going again. Well I returned and still need to get my modem going (I'm talking to you via windows).
I found a link on this board that took me to
w w w.pla.net.py/home/oliver/3com.html which told me to:
"setserial /dev/ttyS? irq# portI/OADDRESS ^fourport ^auto_irq skip_test autoconfig spd_vhi "
which gave the response :
"Cannot set serial info: Address already in use."
How do I free the address?
I have a US Robotics V92
I am running knoppix from the HD

Knoppix should have detected your modem. Is it a hardware modem or one of their Winmodems? I am not sure what kind of support their Winmodems have on Linux.
You should just need to set-up wvdial or kppp with your ISP info.

I know that it is not a WINmodem. It was working under linux before and I bought it to replace a WINmodem (stupid thing cost 80 bucks). I had a guy come over to set it up and he just posted some links in the system(or something like that) and it worked like a charm. I wish I could find him again.

There is something else that I recently discovered; there isn't
a CDRom icon and the floppy icon returns the message, "Unable to run the command specified. The file or directory file:/mnt/floppy does not exhist." After this happened I, being the curious guy I am, opened Konqueror onto /mnt and discovered only hard drive icons.
It appears Knoppix didn't like being installed on a hard drive:-) Then I loaded it from the CD and found out they were not on the original either.

With the 80 buck price tag, I am guessing it is one of their internal hardware modems. If it is, 'lspci' should show it.
The links he fooled with were probably making sure that your /dev/modem pointed to the correct /dev/ttyS* device.
If you use the Knoppix CD on bootup rather than your hard drive, are you able to get online after running 'wvdialconf' from the root terminal?

Nope. wvdialconf returned with:
"usage:wvdialconf <configfile-name> (create/update a wvdial.conf file automatically)"
I then typed in 'configfile-name' and 'wvdial.conf' but it returned file not found

lspci -v (I typed this in, not cut/paste)
000:0b.0 Serial controller US Robotics/3Com 56K Fax/Modem Model 5610 (rev 01) (prog-if 02 [16550])
Subsystem:USR/3Com= Unknown device 00d3
Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 9
I/O ports at ec00 [size= 8]
Capabilities: <available only to root>

I am not sure what to make of the "device not found" in your 'ls pci -v'.
The steps I just took to connect VIA a USR external modem to dialup from a Knoppix 3.1 CD (rather than DSL):
wvdialconf /etc/wvdial.conf
(Should detect your modem for the wvdial program)
jpico /etc/wvdial.conf
(will open the file to edit the phone, user, and pass. CTRL-O, to save; CTRL-X to exit; don't forget to remove the comment character in front of each line)
then type:
wvdial
(to dial your provider)
It sounds like you understand about using the root shell. This all needs to be done from there. (Kmenu -> KNOPPIX -> Root Shell)
I am replying VIA the Knoppix dialup connection now.
If the above does not work, some further troubleshooting with the hardware is probably called for.

I typed in your commands and then wvdial and thought I was going to get online. Alas, 'twas a flight of fantasy. It's response was as follows:
--> Modem initialialized.
--> Sending: ATDT <phone number>
--> Waiting for carrier.
The modem then picks up the phone line but will not dial.
Then, after the phone line times out, it hangs up, then reconnects, and then redials.

Partial sucess. The prelim stuff works OK then.
I am not following the last part. You say it will not dial, but then it hangs up, reconnects and redials?
If it is dialing the number but not connecting, the problem is either with the entries in your wvdial.conf or your ISP. May I ask which ISP you are using. I don't believe wvdial can connect to AOL, and I think MSN requires something special in the config, many others work just fine.
Sorry for not asking about your ISP sooner.

I connect through a company called vei.net but that is not the problem. The problem is that it will not dial. It picks up the phone line and after it times out it hangs up the line and then picks the line back up. It keeps doing this until you
a) kill the terminal
b) cntrl-z but wvdial does not work after that
Sorry about the misstatement.

That could be bad then. Let me check some more and post what I find, if anything, later. I will take a look at your ISP's site (if I can find it), USR for your model and whatever I can think of on Google and LinuxQuestions.
Your original question may be the right way to do it. The fact that your error message said it was in use made me think it may be more of a configuration thing.

Well, at least with your method it at least gets to the dial tone.

So far I confirm your USR modem should be supported in Linux and your ISP appears to support Linux to some extent.
Here is a link about a similar problem. If you want to try that solution you can see in use IRQs with 'cat /proc/interrupts' in a terminal.
I am going to reboot in Knoppix and watch the wvdial sequence again.

In your wvdial sequence above:
it looks like your modem is failing before actually dialing the number. The next message after the waiting for carrier should be the ATDT<phonenumber> again, then --> Carrier detected. Waiting for prompt.
Confirm hardware connection is correct (phone lines in correct spots), confirm wvdial.conf is correct (it probably is or you would not have got as far as you did),
When you do the 'wvdialconf /etv/wvdial.conf' a part of the output will display the /dev/ttyS* that your modem is found on.
Do 'ls -la /dev/modem'. If that is different, that is part of the problem.
The line in the link above; 'ln /dev/ttyS* /dev/modem' would be they way to set the /dev/modem link to the correct actual device.
The setserial line; 'setserial /dev/ttyS* irq *' would be the way to assign an IRQ if needed.
You shouldn't need to be doing all this with a hardware modem, but possibly because it is a PCI card as the link mentions.

I really appreciate you helping me out with this challenging problem. To allieve the suspicia of the modem or the ISP being linux uncompatible I did have it running under Linux about 7 months ago. Unforyunately, I can't get ahold of the guy who set it up originally.
This is the redponse I'm currently getting.
--> Initializing modem.
--> Sending ATZ
ATZ OK
--> Sending: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0
OK
--> Modem initialized
-->Sending ATDT (ISPs #)
<hear dial tone>
<doesn't dial>

I followed your link and looked in that forumn for a solution. I followed the directions here <http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3654> (ignoring the MAKEDEV <is already there>) setting everything to ttyS4 and to my IRQ & I/O #s. I'll try this out and get back to you.

Well, that new advise didn't do anything.... same response. Arghhh! This is so agravting!

The WVdial FAQ suggests checking a couple log files for error messages.
http://dsb3.com/wvdial/wvfaq-4.html

Your wvdial output matches mine (USR external) exactly, except mine continues on to dial and connect.

Do you have any added services on your phone? Call waiting and message mailbox are both mentioned in the FAQ.

If you plug a phone into your modem, does it work?

I have no features on my phone which is plugged into my modem as we speak (and works).
But this /var/log/messages is interesting.
Check this out:
ttyS00 at 0x03f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
ttyS02 at 0x03e8 (irq = 4 is a 16550A
PCI assigned IRQ 9 for device 00:b0
Redundant entry in serial pci_table. Please send the output of lspci -vv, this message (12b9, 1008, 12b9, 00d3)and the manufacturer and name of serial board or modem board to serial-pci-info@lists.sourceforge.net ttyS04 at port 0xec0000 (irq = 9) is a 16550A

lspci -vv
00:0b.0 Serial controller US Robotics/3Com 56K Fax/Modem Model 5610 (rev 01) (prog-if 02 [16550])
Subsystem:USRobotics/3Com= Unknown device 00d3
Control: I/O + Mem- BusMaster- SpecCycle- MemWIN- VGASnoop- ParERR- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR+
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 9
Region 0: I/O ports at ec00 [size 8]
Capabilities: [dc] Power management version 2
Flags PMEClk- DSI- D1- D2- AuxCurrent= 0mA PME (D0+, D1-, D2+, D3hot+, D3cold-)
Status: D0 PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=2 PME-

On my Debian Woody system there is an /etc/serial.conf file with an entry similar to your original question:
/dev/ttyS0 uart 16550A port 0x03f8 irq 4 baud_base 115200 spd_normal skip_test
/dev/ttyS1 uart 16550A port 0x02f8 irq 3 baud_base 115200 spd_normal skip_test
I could not find the same file on Knoppix 3.1 last night.
I still find it odd that the wvdial program gets as far as a dial tone then stops without dialing. I would think it would either not get a dial tone or fail to connect after dialing. That part makes no sense to me.
Are you trying these fixes from the Knoppix CD or the version on your hard drive? The advantage to using the CD would be that you are starting fresh each time and could just apply the real fix to your hard drive, if one is found.

I also find it strange that it won't dial after picking up the dial tone. It is as if the program were broken. What exactly does your wvdial.conf file look like? Maybe that is what is wrong. I mean do you have the pointy brackets <> in it or didyou not include them with the phone number? <6028431471> or 6028431471

The ";" should be deleted (which I am guessing you did), and there should be no brackets around the information you input into the phone, username, and password.
Phone = 123-4567
Username = user (or user@myisp.com, as needed)
Password = secret

That did it! I had left the <> in the wvdial and it didn't like that.
There is something else; there isn't a CDRom icon and the floppy icon returns the message, "Unable to run the command specified. The file or directory file:/mnt/floppy does not exist." After this happened I, being the curious guy I am, opened Konqueror onto /mnt and discovered only hard drive icons.
It appears Knoppix didn't like being installed on a hard drive:-) Then I loaded it from the CD and found out they were not on the original either. Could you help me with this or should I start a new thread?

Great! I didn't think your modem should require a lot to get it working, but I was beginning to wonder.
Your other question probably does belong in another thread. But I can mention a few things...
Knoppix is a spruced up and better automated Debian that can be run from CD. It is generally set up the same with some differences.
To access a drive it needs to be mounted. There needs to be a detected device in the /dev directory. One floppy drive is almost always going to be /dev/fd0. A CDROM drive is considered as a hard drive device (since it plugs into the same channel on your mainboard), and may vary depending on your actual setup. One CDROM is usually going to be /dev/hdc.
Then there needs to be a mount point to "mount the device to your filesystem". These you can completely make up or use standard choices.
My regular Debian install uses /floppy and /cdrom as the mount points. I see that the Knoppix CD uses /mnt/floppy and /mnt/cdrom as the mount points.
I have heard that some people are surprised that a Knoppix hard drive install is more like Debian than their Knoppix run from CD. I have never done a Knoppix hard drive install so I do not really know much about the differences, if any.
There could be an issue with incorrect mount points (minor), or your device not being recognized (major?).
I am not going to fool much with whether you have an icon on your desktop or not. Generally you can right click on them to correct a misconfigured icon or on your desktop to create a new one.
Assuming your devices are recognized, this is how you use the command line to make them available. (Check 'man mount' for further clairfication)
To mount the device (after inserting the media) use,
mount device mountpoint
Your floppy should work for sure with:
mount /dev/fd0 /floppy (or /mnt/floppy-there needs to be a directory by one of these names. Create one of them if it does not exhist. As root, 'mkdir /floppy' or 'mkdir /mnt/floppy')
If there are no error messages you should be able to view the contents of the floppy from either the GUI by going to the /floppy (or /mnt/floppy) directory, or the command line by typing 'ls /floppy' (or 'ls /mnt/floppy').
Same for your CDROM using:
mount /dev/hdc /cdrom (or /mnt/cdrom)
If you are able to access these devices from the command line then there just need to be a few changes to make them easily available from the GUI. Add the correct device and mount point to /etc/fstab ('man fstab'), and correctly configure or create your desktop icons.
Before removing the media you must unmount the device.
umount /floppy (or umount /mnt/floppy)
Yes, umount, not unmount.

fstab
 

jpico /etc/fstab (cool editor)
/etc/fstab
filesystem mountpoint type option dump pass
/dev/hda5 / ext3 defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
/dev/fd0 /floppy vfat defaults,user,noauto,showexec,umask=022 0 0
/dev/cdrom /cdrom iso9660 defaults,ro,user,noexec,noauto 0 0
#partitions found by knoppix
#/dev/sda5 /mnt/sda5 ext3 noauto,users,exec 0 0
#/dev/sda6 /mnt/sda6 ext3 noauto,users,exec 0 0
#/dev/hda1 /mnt/hda1 vfat noauto,users,exec,umask=000,uid=knoppix,gid=knoppix 0
#/dev/hda5 /mnt/hda5 vfat noauto,users,exec,umask=000,uid=knoppix,gid=knoppix 0
#/dev/hda6 ext3 noauto,users,exec 0 0
#/dev/hda7 ext3 noauto,users,exec 0 0
#/dev/hda8 ext3 noauto,users,exec 0 0

So says fstab. Could I just remove the comment signs (#) to activate the partition? And how would I get it to recognize the M$ partition(s) (I thought therte was only one).

Ahhhhh!!!
I have not seen an fstab like this. Usually any recognized partitions are not commented out.
It seems to say that your Knoppix install is on the /dev/hda5 partition and that both your floppy and CD ar recognized.
It says you have 2 Windows partitions ( hda1 and 5), 3 other Linux partitoins (hda 6,7,8), and a couple SCSI devices (CDRW, ZIP, USB, or actual SCSI?).
Being commented out does not mean you cannot access the drive. It just means the defaults will not be read and appiled during bootup.
Knoppix usually has the option to "view" your Windows drives read-only by default. I am thinking you can change this to read-write by right clicking on the drive icon. (FAT only, not NTFS)
You may want to confirm any partitions you are not aware of with 'fdisk -l /dev/hda', 'fdisk -l /dev/sda'.
Otherwise, if the drives are valid and the mount points exhist, yes you could see what happens by uncommenting them. I would try manually mounting them VIA command line before that myself.

Why does fstab say that hda5 is ext3 AND vfat? Very peculiar I would say. I put root on hda5. I'll start a new thread now.

I have a new problem. My modem connects but doesn't?

That is right! It dials my ISP and connects without a problem but when I try to download mail it says that I have an unknown host. But it is the host I have always used! So I open the web browser and go to a known web page and it tells me that it can't go there (it gives me the text that it gives when you type in a page but aren't hooked up). Do you have any idea as to what is happening. I did chmod 777 /usr/??????/kppp to make sure that wasn't the problem and I found out it wasn't.
As a heads up I just finished reinstalling debian (from knoppix) for the third or fourth time in two weeks and each time I have done it something is always a little different. One time it was great. Then it wouldn't dial out at all unless I was logged in as su. Another time I could dial from my regular user as long as kppp was started from the terminal which was logged in as root. If there were other s I can't remember them but I know there were times it worked perfectly but I keep running 'apt-get dist-upgrade' which x does not like (the first screen with the debian swirl appears <though the swirl is absent> with three 'toolboxes' in three corners~ I don't really know what they do but I suppose it is a 'window maker') and I can't get out of that screen.

Here is something strange that happened: there was an 's' in the permissions.I looked at 'ls -l /?????/kppp' and the permissions listing said '-rwxr-sr--'. What does 's' mean? Is that a sticky permission? Would you explain that to me?

I have to appologize. This is a double post. I just found this conversation with 2damncommon and I am perty sure you can help me get it to 'resolve' my host.

That was the LAST time I try 'apt-get dist-upgrade'!!!!!!!