Hello everyone,

I just installed Red Hat Linux 9.0 on a my Toshiba Pro 4200 series laptop. It has an internal Lucent (not PCMCIA) modem in it. I went Toshiba's website, which directed me to download a driver from linmodems.com. It was a link directly to the driver. I installed the driver, but my modem still wont work. I try querying the modem with kppp and it says "unable to open modem" I know a file called lt ltmodem.o in the lib/../modules/misc folder. When I rebooted the system, I saw an error stating that there were unresolved symbols in ltmodem.o. Here is a copy of the script that was supposed to install the modem:

# /*name and version number:@(#)ltinst 1.3*/
# /*date of get: 01/06/00 11:09:17*/
# /*date of delta: 12/28/99 12:10:46*/
#===========================================================================
# File Name : ltinst
#===========================================================================
#!/bin/sh

group="uucp"
mode="666"


device="/dev/ttyS14"

./ltuninst > /dev/null 2>/dev/null

#/sbin/insmod -f ltmodem

rm -f $device

mknod $device c 62 78

rm -f /dev/modem

ln -s $device /dev/modem

chgrp $group $device
chmod $mode $device

cp ltmodem.o /lib/modules/`uname -r`/misc/

echo "/sbin/insmod -f ltmodem" >> /etc/rc.d/rc.local


Note, the Toshiba website told me to comment out the /sbin/insmod -f ltmodem line

Does anyone have any suggestions?

I've noticed it used /dev/ttyS14. That's a pretty unusual port. Make sure kppp knows that it's at that port. Usually, modems use ttyS0 or ttyS1. If that fails...

When you type lsmod what output do you get (post it here)? If there's no "ltmodem" in the output then try manually modprobe ltmodem. Post any errors you get. Do an also, do an lspci -v. Post that too. When the driver installs itself, does it compile or is it precompiled. If it compiles then you'll need your (correct) kernel headers. Make sure you have them.

Hello adz,

I tried doing those commands that you listed (lsmod and modprobe ), but bash told me "command not found" on both of them. Are these commands only found in a certain directory? I was able to get my PCI info though:


PCI devices found:
Bus 0, device 0, function 0:
Host bridge: Intel Corp. 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge (rev 3).
Master Capable. Latency=64.
Prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xe0000000 [0xe7ffffff].
Bus 0, device 1, function 0:
PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP bridge (rev 3).
Master Capable. Latency=64. Min Gnt=136.
Bus 0, device 5, function 0:
Bridge: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ISA (rev 2).
Bus 0, device 5, function 1:
IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE (rev 1).
Master Capable. Latency=64.
I/O at 0xfff0 [0xffff].
Bus 0, device 5, function 2:
USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 USB (rev 1).
IRQ 11.
Master Capable. Latency=64.
I/O at 0xff80 [0xff9f].
Bus 0, device 5, function 3:
Bridge: Intel Corp. 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI (rev 3).
IRQ 9.
Bus 0, device 7, function 0:
Communication controller: Lucent Microelectronics 56k WinModem (rev 1).
IRQ 3.
Master Capable. No bursts. Min Gnt=252.Max Lat=14.
Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xffefff00 [0xffefffff].
I/O at 0x2f8 [0x2ff].
I/O at 0x1c00 [0x1cff].
Bus 0, device 9, function 0:
IRDA controller: Toshiba America Info Systems FIR Port Type-DO (rev 0).
IRQ 11.
Master Capable. Latency=64.
I/O at 0xff60 [0xff7f].
Bus 0, device 11, function 0:
CardBus bridge: Toshiba America Info Systems ToPIC95 PCI to Cardbus Bridge with ZV Support (rev 32).
IRQ 11.
Master Capable. Latency=168. Min Gnt=128.Max Lat=5.
Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0x10000000 [0x10000fff].
Bus 0, device 11, function 1:
CardBus bridge: Toshiba America Info Systems ToPIC95 PCI to Cardbus Bridge with ZV Support (#2) (rev 32).
IRQ 11.
Master Capable. Latency=168. Min Gnt=128.Max Lat=5.
Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0x10001000 [0x10001fff].
Bus 0, device 12, function 0:
Multimedia audio controller: Yamaha Corporation YMF-744B [DS-1S Audio Controller] (rev 2).
IRQ 11.
Master Capable. Latency=64. Min Gnt=5.Max Lat=25.
Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xefff8000 [0xefffffff].
I/O at 0xff00 [0xff3f].
I/O at 0xfefc [0xfeff].
Bus 1, device 0, function 0:
VGA compatible controller: S3 Inc. 86C270-294 Savage/IX-MV (rev 17).
IRQ 11.
Master Capable. Latency=248. Min Gnt=4.Max Lat=255.
Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xf0000000 [0xf7ffffff].

Also, I tried to set kppp to /ttys14, however that is not listed in the devices tab. I also checked the /dev directory and it is not listed there. I believe that the file gets compiled after I run that script, not sure though. When I was done running the script, I had a file called ltmodem.o in the current working directory. I am not sure what you mean, when you say find my kernel headers, I am still a noobie to linux. Where can I find these, and what should I do with them when I find them?

Thanks for your help

Before you go too much further, get yourself a package called minicom. It's a clone of the old DOS program telix. Try sending commands to your modem with it (like ATZ and ATDT<phone number>) on different ports and see if you get a response on any of them. If you get a response then that's the port to use. If you don't get a response on any then you're modem's not installed yet. The fact that there is no /dev/ttyS14 kind of points to the fact that the installation didn't go to plan. The script specifically makes a ttyS14.

Well since you're a noob, I take it you haven't compiled your own kernel yet? In that case you'll have a stock kernel. It's always advantageous to get the kernel headers package. They're often on one of the CDs. These are the header files (.h) that get generated during a kernel compile. The headers should be in an rpm package so you wont have to worry too much about their installation. Do you get any errors during installation? Anything about a missing file (something.h)? If so then it sounds like a kernel header problem. Post any errors you get while running the script.

About the missing commands, you have to be root to run them. They're in /sbin and hence not in anyone's PATH except root's. So, become root and retype the commands. If it still says command not found, type /sbin/<command>.

Hey adz,

Thanks for the info on those commands. When I ran "modprobe ltmodem", I got a message saying "/lib/modules/2.4.20-8/misc/ltmodem.o The module you are trying to load is compiled with a gcc version 2 compiler, while the kernel you are running is compiled with a gcc version 3 compiler, this is known not to work.
/lib/modules/2.4.20-8/misc/ltmodem.o insmod lib/modules/2.4.20-8/misc/ltmodem.o failed
lib/modules/2.4.20-8/misc/ltmodem.o failed"

Does this mean I should get an updated version of gcc and install it on my laptop? I also tried running gcc ltmodem.o and I got am explosion of compiler errors, Most of them were "undefined reference", however I didnt see anything saying it was missing a .h file.

I also tried playing with that minicom thing, wasnt really sure what to do with it. I also went into kppp and selected /dev/ttys1 and tried querying it. It ran some queries. After that happened I got a results window with a bunch of ATI listings with a text box next to each of them, however these boxes were empty.

It's probably a good idea to get a newer version of gcc. You can keep multiple versions of it on your system so it's not a problem. I'd recommend using 2.95 for anything you can get away with and 3.x whenever specifically requested (like now). To find out the exact version of gcc that was used to compile your kernel type cat /proc/version and to find out exactly what version of gcc you're using by default to type gcc --version. I find it strange that a stock kernel such as yours would be compiled with a gcc version 3. 2.95 is the stable version and as such should be used whenever possible.

Hey Adz,

I took at look at my compiler version and it said it was something like 3.3.2, but no bother anymore, I found a way around this stupid modem problem. I stole the PCMCIA modem out of my old laptop and plugged it into this one, and it was like magic. I poked around in kppp for awhile with querying different devices. Once I got a response, I tried to connect with kppp and it worked! That modem noise has never sounded so good. This is awsome being able to go online with linux. Thank you for all of your help, I have learned a lot from it

Dave