I've recently borrowed a USB modem (56 k) from my father. I have tried to install on my computer running Debian 3.0r0. The problem is that I can't get it to work. I have no idea about the brand of the modem and can't therefor find out if it is supported.

Anyway, this is what I have done:

- Compiled a kernel with support for USB and UHCI (Seems to work, if I plug in or unplug the modem, the computer prints a message on the tty prompt).
- Added support for USB modems in the kernel (Seems to work too. When Linux starts the computer prints a line telling it has started).
- I have run the 'pppconfig' program and to configure the connection to my ISP. The problem is that I don't know which port my modem is connected to. I have used http://www.linux-usb.org/USB-guide/x332.html and followed the instructions there. But those ports are not working.
- I've used the pon command and tried to connect. It is at this point my problem is revealed: nothing happens. Them modem doesn't seem to connect and I hear no tone.

Here is my question: does this mean that my modem is not supported by Linux? Can it be something else I haven't thought about?

Regards,
Jonas Granqvist

Most USB modems are like external "hardware" modems, the ones that always work as long as the kernel can talk to the device, what messages do you get in "dmesg" after the usb modem module is loaded?

Cheers,

Finegan

Thank you for your answer. The output from dmesg follows later on in the post. But I have to make something clear first, which I forgot to tell (though I DO think it is very important and can be the possible problem with the modem). On the backside of the modem there is a text saying "ST USB MODEM(SOFT.)". My thought is that this means that the modem is a software modem. Hopefully not, but it's a possibility.

Anyway, here is the output:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Linux version 2.2.20 (root@linuxburk) (gcc version 2.95.4 20011002 (Debian prerelease)) #2 Thu Jun 19 00:41:52 CEST 2003
BIOS-provided physical RAM map:
BIOS-e820: 0009f000 @ 00000000 (usable)
BIOS-e820: 0fef0000 @ 00100000 (usable)
Detected 906120 kHz processor.
Console: colour VGA+ 80x25
Calibrating delay loop... 1808.79 BogoMIPS
Memory: 257740k/262080k available (1068k kernel code, 416k reserved, 2812k data, 44k init)
Dentry hash table entries: 32768 (order 6, 256k)
Buffer cache hash table entries: 262144 (order 8, 1024k)
Page cache hash table entries: 65536 (order 6, 256k)
CPU: L1 I Cache: 64K L1 D Cache: 64K
CPU: L2 Cache: 256K
CPU: AMD Athlon(tm) processor stepping 02
Checking 386/387 coupling... OK, FPU using exception 16 error reporting.
Checking 'hlt' instruction... OK.
POSIX conformance testing by UNIFIX
PCI: PCI BIOS revision 2.10 entry at 0xfb480
PCI: Using configuration type 1
PCI: Probing PCI hardware
Linux NET4.0 for Linux 2.2
Based upon Swansea University Computer Society NET3.039
NET4: Unix domain sockets 1.0 for Linux NET4.0.
NET4: Linux TCP/IP 1.0 for NET4.0
IP Protocols: ICMP, UDP, TCP
TCP: Hash tables configured (ehash 262144 bhash 65536)
Starting kswapd v 1.5
Serial driver version 4.27 with no serial options enabled
ttyS00 at 0x03f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
ttyS01 at 0x02f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A
pty: 256 Unix98 ptys configured
VP_IDE: IDE controller on PCI bus 00 dev 39
VP_IDE: not 100% native mode: will probe irqs later
ide0: BM-DMA at 0xc000-0xc007, BIOS settings: hda:DMA, hdb:DMA
ide1: BM-DMA at 0xc008-0xc00f, BIOS settings: hdc:pio, hdd:pio
hd0: C/H/S=1277/240/255 from BIOS ignored
hda: ST340823A, ATA DISK drive
hdb: CR-48X5TE, ATAPI CDROM drive
ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq 14
hda: ST340823A, 38166MB w/512kB Cache, CHS=4865/255/63
hdb: ATAPI 32X CD-ROM CD-R/RW drive, 2048kB Cache
Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.11
Floppy drive(s): fd0 is 1.44M
FDC 0 is a post-1991 82077
PPP: version 2.3.7 (demand dialling)
TCP compression code copyright 1989 Regents of the University of California
PPP line discipline registered.
PPP BSD Compression module registered
PPP Deflate Compression module registered
Partition check:
hda: hda1 hda2 hda3 hda4 < >
Via 686a audio driver 1.1.8-2.2
ac97_codec: AC97 Audio codec, vendor id1: 0x574d, id2: 0x4c00 (Wolfson WM9704)
via82cxxx: board #1 at 0xCC00, IRQ 5
usb.c: registered new driver usbdevfs
usb.c: registered new driver hub
usb.c: registered new driver acm
acm.c: v0.18:USB Abstract Control Model driver for USB modems and ISDN adapters
usb-uhci.c: $Revision: 1.237 $ time 00:41:53 Jun 19 2003
usb-uhci.c: High bandwidth mode enabled
usb-uhci.c: USB UHCI at I/O 0xc400, IRQ 11
usb-uhci.c: Detected 2 ports
usb.c: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 1
usb.c: USB new device connect, assigned device number 1
usb.c: kmalloc IF cffe5ca0, numif 1
usb.c: new device strings: Mfr=0, Product=2, SerialNumber=1
usb.c: USB device number 1 default language ID 0x0
Product: USB UHCI Root Hub
SerialNumber: c400
hub.c: USB hub found
hub.c: 2 ports detected
hub.c: standalone hub
hub.c: ganged power switching
hub.c: global over-current protection
hub.c: power on to power good time: 2ms
hub.c: hub controller current requirement: 0mA
hub.c: port removable status: RR
hub.c: local power source is good
hub.c: no over-current condition exists
hub.c: enabling power on all ports
usb.c: hub driver claimed interface cffe5ca0
usb-uhci.c: USB UHCI at I/O 0xc800, IRQ 11
usb-uhci.c: Detected 2 ports
hub.c: port 1 connection change
hub.c: port 1, portstatus 100, change 3, 12 Mb/s
hub.c: port 2 connection change
hub.c: port 2, portstatus 101, change 3, 12 Mb/s
hub.c: port 2, portstatus 103, change 0, 12 Mb/s
hub.c: USB new device connect on bus1/2, assigned device number 2
usb.c: USB new device connect, assigned device number 2
usb.c: new USB bus registered, assigned bus number 2
usb.c: USB new device connect, assigned device number 1
usb.c: kmalloc IF cffe5e20, numif 1
usb.c: skipping descriptor 0x24
usb.c: skipped 1 class/vendor specific endpoint descriptors
usb.c: kmalloc IF cfcde000, numif 1
usb.c: new device strings: Mfr=0, Product=2, SerialNumber=1
usb.c: USB device number 1 default language ID 0x0
Product: USB UHCI Root Hub
SerialNumber: c800
hub.c: USB hub found
hub.c: 2 ports detected
hub.c: standalone hub
hub.c: ganged power switching
hub.c: global over-current protection
hub.c: power on to power good time: 2ms
hub.c: hub controller current requirement: 0mA
hub.c: port removable status: RR
hub.c: local power source is good
hub.c: no over-current condition exists
hub.c: enabling power on all ports
usb.c: new device strings: Mfr=0, Product=0, SerialNumber=0
usb.c: hub driver claimed interface cfcde000
NTFS version 000607
usb.c: unhandled interfaces on device
usb.c: USB device 2 (vend/prod 0x483/0x7554) is not claimed by any active driver.
Length = 18
DescriptorType = 01
USB version = 1.00
Vendor:Product = 0483:7554
MaxPacketSize0 = 8
NumConfigurations = 1
Device version = 2.00
Device Class:SubClass:Protocol = 02:00:00
Communications class
Configuration:
bLength = 9
bDescriptorType = 02
wTotalLength = 008a
bNumInterfaces = 01
bConfigurationValue = 01
iConfiguration = 00
bmAttributes = a0
MaxPower = 100mA

Interface: 0
Alternate Setting: 0
bLength = 9
bDescriptorType = 04
bInterfaceNumber = 00
bAlternateSetting = 00
bNumEndpoints = 01
bInterface Class:SubClass:Protocol = 02:80:ff
iInterface = 00
Endpoint:
bLength = 7
bDescriptorType = 05
bEndpointAddress = 81 (in)
bmAttributes = 13 (Interrupt)
wMaxPacketSize = 0004
bInterval = 01
Alternate Setting: 1
bLength = 9
bDescriptorType = 04
bInterfaceNumber = 00
bAlternateSetting = 01
bNumEndpoints = 03
bInterface Class:SubClass:Protocol = 02:80:ff
iInterface = 00
Endpoint:
bLength = 7
bDescriptorType = 05
bEndpointAddress = 81 (in)
bmAttributes = 13 (Interrupt)
wMaxPacketSize = 0004
bInterval = 01
Endpoint:
bLength = 7
bDescriptorType = 05
bEndpointAddress = 02 (out)
bmAttributes = 05 (Isochronous)
wMaxPacketSize = 0080
bInterval = 01
Endpoint:
bLength = 7
bDescriptorType = 05
bEndpointAddress = 83 (in)
bmAttributes = 05 (Isochronous)
wMaxPacketSize = 0080
bInterval = 01
Alternate Setting: 2
bLength = 9
bDescriptorType = 04
bInterfaceNumber = 00
bAlternateSetting = 02
bNumEndpoints = 03
bInterface Class:SubClass:Protocol = 02:80:ff
iInterface = 00
Endpoint:
bLength = 7
bDescriptorType = 05
bEndpointAddress = 81 (in)
bmAttributes = 13 (Interrupt)
wMaxPacketSize = 0004
bInterval = 01
Endpoint:
bLength = 7
bDescriptorType = 05
bEndpointAddress = 04 (out)
bmAttributes = 05 (Isochronous)
wMaxPacketSize = 0080
bInterval = 01
Endpoint:
bLength = 7
bDescriptorType = 05
bEndpointAddress = 85 (in)
bmAttributes = 05 (Isochronous)
wMaxPacketSize = 0080
bInterval = 01
Alternate Setting: 3
bLength = 9
bDescriptorType = 04
bInterfaceNumber = 00
bAlternateSetting = 03
bNumEndpoints = 05
bInterface Class:SubClass:Protocol = 02:80:ff
iInterface = 00
Endpoint:
bLength = 7
bDescriptorType = 05
bEndpointAddress = 81 (in)
bmAttributes = 13 (Interrupt)
wMaxPacketSize = 0004
bInterval = 01
Endpoint:
bLength = 7
bDescriptorType = 05
bEndpointAddress = 02 (out)
bmAttributes = 05 (Isochronous)
wMaxPacketSize = 0080
bInterval = 01
Endpoint:
bLength = 7
bDescriptorType = 05
bEndpointAddress = 83 (in)
bmAttributes = 05 (Isochronous)
wMaxPacketSize = 0080
bInterval = 01
Endpoint:
bLength = 7
bDescriptorType = 05
bEndpointAddress = 04 (out)
bmAttributes = 05 (Isochronous)
wMaxPacketSize = 0080
bInterval = 01
Endpoint:
bLength = 7
bDescriptorType = 05
bEndpointAddress = 85 (in)
bmAttributes = 05 (Isochronous)
wMaxPacketSize = 0080
bInterval = 01
hub.c: port 1 enable change, status 100
hub.c: port 1 connection change
hub.c: port 1, portstatus 100, change 3, 12 Mb/s
hub.c: port 2 connection change
hub.c: port 2, portstatus 100, change 3, 12 Mb/s
hub.c: port 1 enable change, status 100
hub.c: port 2 enable change, status 100
VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem) readonly.
Freeing unused kernel memory: 44k freed
Adding Swap: 98276k swap-space (priority -1)
attempt to access beyond end of device
03:05: rw=0, want=1, limit=0
dev 03:05 blksize=1024 blocknr=0 sector=0 size=1024 count=1
FAT bread failed
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hope this helps a bit.

Regards,
Jonas Granqvist

usb.c: USB device 2 (vend/prod 0x483/0x7554) is not claimed by any active driver.

There you go...

Now, most USB modems speak a generic language falling under the description:

│ Communication Device Class Abstract Control Model interface. │

The module is called: acm.o

Now, here's the problem... I have no idea what the status is of all of these backported drivers that may have been squished into the 2.2.x series! Debian's insistance on staying in that series after 2 years of stable 2.4 continually drives me nuts! Alan Cox is really good about backporting stuff into 2.2, but with all of the patching he does on 2.4 and 2.5, who knows what's made it back that far.

You can try to "modprobe acm" and see if its happy... or, you might want to just hand compile a 2.4.21, apt-get'ting will probably take quite a while.

Cheers,

Finegan