I recently bought mandriva linux 2006 and up till now have found it very friendly. I am having one problem and that is configuring my modem. It is a sm56 modem and I have downloaded and installed the linux driver for it and inserted the mandriva cd's when asked to. I have provided the information needed such as my username and password and so on and have set the IP, DNS, and Gateway parameters to automatic. Up to this point everything looks fine but when I test my connection it tells me it was not able to connect and to reconfigure it. After many tries I finally installed another modem and I still get the same message. that it was not able to connect and to reconfigure it. Could someone please tell me what I am doing wrong so I can finally configuure it right.

Thanks

Hello.

I'll take a crack at it, but I don't think I have enough information yet. I need to know (1) the EXACT error message that it gives you, (2) what the driver and module are called, and where you got them, and (3) what you are using for your modem device (e.g. /dev/modem, /dev/ttyS1, etc.).

Post that information and I'll do what I can.

--Dane

The error message that it gives me is the following. "the system does not seem to be connected to the internet. Try to reconfigure your connection." The modem I have is a motorola sm56 pci and the driver I got was from their website.

At this website they have 2 drivers that are for mandrake 10.0 and 9.2. I have tried to install both but only the one for mandrake 10.0 does a succesful install. The name of this driver is sm56-06.05.02-2.mdk10 263-7.i586.rpm.

As for what I am using for my modem device I dont get any of that on the screen when i am configuring it. I just go into the linux control center which takes me thru some simple steps, which pretty much seems like the configuration tool under windows. I type in my login info and password and for authentication it is set to pap/chap by default but I have tried them all by now and none seems to work.

Thanks for trying to help

Does it seem to dial out before you get the error? (Can you hear it making the dialing/buzzing/beeping sounds if you turn the modem speaker on?) Exactly at which point do you get the error--during connect, after connect, when you open a web browser, etc.?

If it is dialing out and staying connected, then it may be as simple as setting the route default to the modem device. Please try to connect and give me the output of "route". You might have to do this as root.

Also do "lsmod | grep sm56", and if that shows nothing, do (as root) "modprobe sm65" and try the lsmod command again. This will make sure that you have the proper driver (module) installed into RAM. If it wasn't initially installed, try connecting again after you have installed it (with the modprobe command). You might have to reconfigure your modem after you have modprobed the driver.

I read on the web that there may also be a "sm56setup" command installed with the driver. Give that a try. (You will probably have to run it as root.) Also, check out this site:

http://www.pcquest.com/content/linux.../101071110.asp

Hope that helps.

--Dane

when i try the ismod command it tells me command not found. grep command it just goes to the next line but does nothing else. modprobe command tells me the following. fatal: error inserting sm56 (/lib/modules 12.6.12-12mdk/kernel/drivers/char/sm56.ko) invalid module format.

OK. The "l" in the "lsmod" command is a lowercase "L". "grep" is used in conjunction with that command to help you quickly find the sm56 module. The "|" (pipe) character is what you get when you hold SHIFT and press "\" (backslash).

The "invalid module format" error indicates that yes, the module is present, but it's not for the kernel you're using. The solution: compile the module from source code. You're going to need to install the kernel headers (and possibly the kernel source) for the kernel you're running, the standard C/C++ libraries, a C/C++ compiler (gcc/g++, respectively), binutils, and probably a few other things. To get the driver, go here:

http://www.sm56.tk/

There's a link at the top of the page that will allow you to skip the ad. Then go to the downloads section and download the gcc3 version (sm56-gcc3.tar.gz). The instructions are pretty straight-forward, but you NEED the above-mentioned compilers, libraries, etc. in order for it to work. Since I don't use Mandrake (Mandriva) anymore, you're kind-of on your own for getting the necessary dependencies. Try using the package manager to search for something like "make" or "gcc" or "libc".

Give that a shot and let me know how it goes.

--Dane

hi, Dane sorry i had not answered your last message before. I tried what u have told me to do but I just have not been able to make it work. I finally got tired of trying to make the modem work and moved on to the dsl/cable connection. I took my computer to a friends house to connect it with the cable connection he has and it worked instantly. I had absolutely no problems and got surfing with firefox and konkeror. I have since installed a wireless pci card which was detected instantly and so i had to do nothing to configure it. Mandriva did all of this automatically. I havent used it yet but i will soon.

Thanks for all your help.

Hello.

I'm glad that you found a working solution (or at least a workaround) to your problem. Winmodems are notoriously hard to make work on Linux, and the fact that you're using a binary distribution (as opposed to source-based like Slackware or Gentoo) can make it a bit tricky to compile drivers.

Have a good one.

--Dane