Hi,

I am having a strange problem occur with Mandrake 9.2 connecting using pppoa3. I have a speedtouch USB modem which works fine under previous versions of Mandrake. The modem connects fine when I first boot the system and I can connect to the net without a problem. However after the system has been up for some time I can no longer access anything via the modem. Stopping and restarting the internet service has no effect nor does restarting all services with service -R.
I am using Kernel 2.4.22-10mdk but have also tried it with 2.4.22-10mdkenterprise which gives the same problem.

Doing a ps shows that there are multiple pppoa3 commands running with each incrementing the tty on which it is trying to connect.

root 1067 1 0 09:45 ? 00:00:00 /usr/sbin/pppd call adsl
root 1070 1067 0 09:45 ? 00:00:00 /usr/sbin/pppoa3 -e 1 -c -vpi 0 -vci 38
root 1075 1067 0 09:45 ? 00:00:00 /usr/sbin/pppoa3 -e 2 -c -vpi 0 -vci 38
root 1076 1067 0 09:45 ? 00:00:00 /usr/sbin/pppoa3 -e 3 -c -vpi 0 -vci 38
root 1077 1067 0 09:45 ? 00:00:00 /usr/sbin/pppoa3 -e 4 -c -vpi 0 -vci 38
root 1078 1067 0 09:45 ? 00:00:00 /usr/sbin/pppoa3 -e 5 -c -vpi 0 -vci 38
root 1079 1067 0 09:45 ? 00:00:00 /usr/sbin/pppoa3 -e 6 -c -vpi 0 -vci 38
root 1080 1067 0 09:45 ? 00:00:00 /usr/sbin/pppoa3 -e 7 -c -vpi 0 -vci 38
root 1081 1067 0 09:45 ? 00:00:00 /usr/sbin/pppoa3 -e 8 -c -vpi 0 -vci 38
etc

The message log show the following errors

Jan 5 11:53:29 Mercury kernel: usbdevfs: USBDEVFS_BULK failed dev 2 ep 0x7 len 106 ret -110
Jan 5 11:53:30 Mercury kernel: usb_control/bulk_msg: timeout
Jan 5 11:53:30 Mercury kernel: usbdevfs: USBDEVFS_BULK failed dev 2 ep 0x7 len 106 ret -110
Jan 5 11:53:31 Mercury kernel: usb_control/bulk_msg: timeout
Jan 5 11:53:31 Mercury kernel: usbdevfs: USBDEVFS_BULK failed dev 2 ep 0x7 len 106 ret -110
Jan 5 11:53:32 Mercury kernel: usb_control/bulk_msg: timeout
Jan 5 11:53:32 Mercury kernel: usbdevfs: USBDEVFS_BULK failed dev 2 ep 0x7 len 106 ret -110
Jan 5 11:53:33 Mercury kernel: usb_control/bulk_msg: timeout
Jan 5 11:53:33 Mercury kernel: usbdevfs: USBDEVFS_BULK failed dev 2 ep 0x7 len 106 ret -110
Jan 5 11:53:34 Mercury kernel: usb_control/bulk_msg: timeout
Jan 5 11:53:34 Mercury kernel: usbdevfs: USBDEVFS_BULK failed dev 2 ep 0x7 len 106 ret -110
Jan 5 11:53:36 Mercury kernel: usb_control/bulk_msg: timeout


The syslog shows the following:

Jan 6 06:07:01 Mercury kernel: i8253 count too high! resetting..
Jan 6 06:12:48 Mercury kernel: i8253 count too high! resetting..
Jan 6 06:23:08 Mercury kernel: i8253 count too high! resetting..

Jan 6 06:31:17 Mercury kernel: hub.c: already running port 1 disabled by hub (EMI?), re-enabling...
Jan 6 06:31:17 Mercury kernel: usb.c: USB disconnect on device 00:06.0-1 address 2
Jan 6 06:31:17 Mercury pppoa3[21169]: pppoa3 version 1.2-beta1 started by root (uid 0)
Jan 6 06:31:17 Mercury pppoa3[21169]: Control thread ready
Jan 6 06:31:17 Mercury pppoa3[21169]: Modem not found.
Jan 6 06:31:17 Mercury /etc/hotplug/net.agent: assuming ppp0 is already up
Jan 6 06:31:17 Mercury /etc/hotplug/net.agent: NET unregister event not supported
Jan 6 06:31:17 Mercury pppoa3[21216]: pppoa3 version 1.2-beta1 started by root (uid 0)
Jan 6 06:31:17 Mercury pppoa3[21216]: A previous instance seems to be running
Jan 6 06:31:17 Mercury pppoa3[21216]: Sending the kill signal to 21169 and waiting...
Jan 6 06:31:17 Mercury /etc/hotplug/net.agent: assuming ppp0 is already up
Jan 6 06:31:17 Mercury /etc/hotplug/net.agent: NET unregister event not supported
Jan 6 06:31:18 Mercury kernel: hub.c: new USB device 00:06.0-1, assigned address 3
Jan 6 06:31:18 Mercury kernel: usb.c: USB device 3 (vend/prod 0x6b9/0x4061) is not claimed by any active driver.
Jan 6 06:31:23 Mercury /etc/hotplug/usb.agent: ... no modules for USB product 6b9/4061/0
Jan 6 06:31:23 Mercury last message repeated 2 times
Jan 6 06:31:48 Mercury pppoa3[21313]: pppoa3 version 1.2-beta1 started by root (uid 0)
Jan 6 06:31:48 Mercury pppoa3[21313]: A previous instance seems to be running
Jan 6 06:31:48 Mercury pppoa3[21313]: Sending the kill signal to 21169 and waiting...
Jan 6 06:31:48 Mercury /etc/hotplug/net.agent: NET unregister event not supported
Jan 6 06:31:48 Mercury /etc/hotplug/net.agent: assuming ppp0 is already up
Jan 6 06:32:19 Mercury pppoa3[21334]: pppoa3 version 1.2-beta1 started by root (uid 0)
Jan 6 06:32:19 Mercury pppoa3[21334]: A previous instance seems to be running
Jan 6 06:32:19 Mercury pppoa3[21334]: Sending the kill signal to 21169 and waiting...
Jan 6 06:32:19 Mercury /etc/hotplug/net.agent: NET unregister event not supported
Jan 6 06:32:19 Mercury /etc/hotplug/net.agent: assuming ppp0 is already up
Jan 6 06:32:50 Mercury /etc/hotplug/net.agent: NET unregister event not supported
Jan 6 06:47:20 Mercury named[1676]: no longer listening on 81.129.91.231#53

If feel that the problem is being caused by the USBDEVFS_BULK failed dev 2 ep 0x7 len 106 ret -110 or the i8253 count too high! resetting.. errors but do not know how to solve these problems.

Does anyone have any idea as to what the cure for this is ?