Every time I try to dial up I get the following message:

Ignoring malformed input line: ";Do NOT edit this file by hand!"
--> WvDial: Internet dialer version 1.56
--> Cannot open /dev/modem: No such file or directory

Someone gave me a command to try that would rebuild the missing directory but I think the syntax must have been wrong because it didn't work. Can anyone help me out?

/dev/modem is a symlink pointing to the actual modem device. You have to create it.

ln -s /dev/ttyS0 /dev/modem

... assuming you have a hardware serial modem in COM1.

What does "cat /etc/wvdial.conf" say?
What kind of modem do you have?

After I ran the ScanModem program it recognized the modem as Motorola unknown device 3052. Support type needed or chipset: slamr. I ran the command you gave me and it said the symbolic link was created but when I looked for it in the dev directory I found it but it said the link was broken. My wvdial.config file just has my dial-up number, user nme, and password. Can you tell me what I need to do to mke this work?

That is because you didn't do as I said - instead oy /dev/ttyS0 in the command, you are supposed to use the actual device of your modem. Your modem is:Which need the slamr driver to work properly. Without this, there is no device file for your modem. Slamr is a proprietary driver which is not available in the Ubuntu repos.

Many modems that work with slamr also work with slmodem, which is in the repos. It's also on the 7.10 install CD - however, supported devices are usually detected, and the option to install this package is offered. Check the restricted devices manager to see.

However, I really need to see the full analysis that scanModem provides. The files created by scanModem also tell you what data to submit, so read them carefully. Also, start looking for a serial HW modem.

Thanks for taking the time to let me know what is going on. I was wondering why it wasn't working. I'm ex-military so I follow instructions "As they are." Now that you explained why it didn't work I guess the next step is to try it again with the Motorola unknown device 3052. Should I type that in as "Motorola unknown device 3052" or just Motorola? After I get past this step should I go back into Synaptic and download slmodem? I'm very thankful to the gurus of this forum that help us newbies out. With out your help I would have gone back to Windows XP, something I never want to depend on again.

Hmmm... military eh?

OK grunts listen up! That means you Ordinary!
When I am finished with you, you will be able to assemble and disassemble a linux filesystem blindfolded!

Hardware periferals get assigned a special file called a "block special device".
When I talk to you about a device associated with a hardware periferal, this is what I am talking about.
The file lives in the /dev directory in your filesystem.
The device associated with a hard disk drive partition is denoted by /dev/sd followed by a letter then followed by a number.
The device associated with an external serial modem is denoted by /dev/ttyS followed by a number. This number is normally in the range 1 through 4.

However - some modems require special drivers. In deference to their special status, they have special device names indicated in the driver documentation wot you have read already. You have read the documentation haven't you Ordinary? I can't heeaar you?

The driver used with your modem is called slamr.
The documentation is situated at the end of the hyperlink located in my last communication with you. If you have not read the documentation, then you will double over to that site and you will read it right now! What are you still sitting there for? Santa Claus? Move move movemovemovehuthuthut...
....

Back are you? Right Ordinary, fall in, form up... squad! (make it snappy) tearn - hut! At ease - stand easy.
At this point you will be illuminated as to the correct block special device corresponding to your modem. Smartlink chipset modems, which your's is very likely one, end up with a device name like /dev/ttySL0, is that not correct Ordinary? But only, only provided the driver is properly installed.

... I'm sorry, I can't keep this up I only had a short stint in the airforce (in the hope they'd teach me to fly) but hated parades, rifles and being sargeant. I have this thing with authority, especially when that authority is me.

You're supposed to do some figuring for yourself. These are not instructions. They are guidelines. As this is ubuntu, you should try the slmodem driver in the repositories. Most slamr modems also work with this. It's main advantage is that apt will install and configure it, creating all the correct devices and simlinks.

"Hooah, Sergeant!!" This Corporal is very grateful for this block of instruction you have given me today. I will accomplish my mission with the tools you have given and secure freedom for the users of my desktop computer....ME!!! LOL! I'll double time back to my home after work and follow the guidelines you've given me. I'll let you know what happened tomorrow at the 0900 formation, after PT and personal hygiene.

I installed the correct version of the slamr driver but I'm still getting the "Cannot open /dev/modem: No such file or directory." I decided to copy the Modem Data Text on here to see if it helps solve the problem. I'd like to follow your directions on installing the symbolic link but if I don't know the name of the modem then I can't complete the command.


Only plain text email is forwarded by the Discuss@Linmodems.org List Server,
as HTML can contain viruses. Use as the email Subject Line:
YourName, YourCountry kernel 2.6.20-16-386
With this Subject Line cogent experts will be alerted, and useful case names left in the Archive.
YourCountry will enable Country specific guidance. Your contry's local Linux experts
can be found through: http://www.linux.org/groups/index.html
Responses from Discuss@Linmodems.org are sometimes blocked by an Internet Provider mail filters.
So in a day, also check the Archived responses at http://www.linmodems.org
-------------------------- System information ----------------------------
CPU=i686,
Linux version 2.6.20-16-386 (root@terranova) (gcc version 4.1.2 (Ubuntu 4.1.2-0ubuntu4)) #2 Sun Sep 23 19:47:10 UTC 2007
scanModem update of: 2007-20-07
The modem symbolic link is /dev/modem -> ttySL0

There are no blacklisted modem drivers in /etc/modprobe* files

Potentially useful modem drivers now loaded are:
hsfusbcd2
hsfmc97sis
hsfmc97ati
hsfmc97ali
hsfmc97via
hsfmc97ich
hsfpcibasic3
hsfpcibasic2
hsfserial
hsfengine
hsfosspec
hsfsoar


The Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) packages providing audio support on your System,
also includes drivers for some modems. High Definition Audio (HDA) cards can themselves host
a softmodem chipset, with both audio+modem supported by a snd-hda-intel driver.
The ALSA diagnostics are written during bootup to /proc/asound/ folders.


Modem not detected though HDA card diagnostics, though not excluding
a possible Conexant modem chip impervious to ALSA diagnostics.
Proceeding through alternative possibilties.

Summary card and chipset information is in:
/proc/asound/cards:
0 [CK8S ]: NFORCE - NVidia CK8S
NVidia CK8S with ALC655 at 0xec001000, irq 19

/proc/asound/pcm:
00-02: Intel ICH - IEC958 : NVidia CK8S - IEC958 : playback 1
00-01: Intel ICH - MIC ADC : NVidia CK8S - MIC ADC : capture 1
00-00: Intel ICH : NVidia CK8S : playback 1 : capture 1

A copy of /proc/asound had been copied to Modem/ALSAkendall.tgz
USB modem not detected by lsusb

For candidate card, firmware information and bootup diagnostics are:

PCI slot PCI ID SubsystemID Name
---------- --------- --------- --------------
02:09.0 1057:3052 1057:3020 Modem: Motorola Unknown device 3052

Modem interrupt assignment and sharing:
--- Bootup diagnostics for card in PCI slot 02:09.0 ----
[ 23.260902] ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:02:09.0[A] -> Link [APC2] -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
[ 23.261112] 0000:02:09.0: ttyS1 at I/O 0xa408 (irq = 16) is a 16450
[ 23.261240] 0000:02:09.0: ttyS2 at I/O 0xa410 (irq = 16) is a 8250
[ 23.261366] 0000:02:09.0: ttyS3 at I/O 0xa418 (irq = 16) is a 16450
[ 23.261429] Couldn't register serial port 0000:02:09.0: -28

=== Finished modem firmware and bootup diagnostics section. ===
=== Next deducing cogent software ===


There is candidate modem software.

For candidate modem in PCI bus: 02:09.0
Class 0703: 1057:3052 Modem: Motorola Unknown device 3052
Primary PCI_id 1057:3052
Support type needed or chipset: slamr



1057:3052 has a Motorola chipset, poorly supported by Motorola itself
However Zello discovered that drivers written to support Smartlink modems do support the 1057:3052 chipset!!
It sufficed to add 1057:3052 to the list of modem cards recognized by the Smartlink slamr driver.
There is a ungrab-winmodem driver used in conjunction with slamr, which must have 1057:3052
similarly added. See messages from Zello:
http://linmodems.technion.ac.il/biga.../msg00846.html
http://linmodems.technion.ac.il/biga.../msg00848.html
and Alvaro Aguirre about the ungrab-winmodem fix:
http://linmodems.technion.ac.il/biga.../msg00990.html
For general guidance on ungrab-winmodem + slamr usage, read the Smartlink.txt

The modem is supported by the Smartlink slamr driver
plus the slmodemd helper utility. Read the
Smartlink.txt and Modem/YourSystem.txt for follow through guidance.


For 2.6.20-16-386 compiling drivers is necessary. As of October 2007 the current packages at
http://linmodems.technion.ac.il/packages/smartlink/ are the
ungrab-winmodem-20070505.tar.gz and slmodem-2.9.11-20070813.tar.gz

Writing Smartlink.txt
============ end Smartlink section =====================

Completed candidate modem analyses.

The base of the UDEV device file system is: /dev/.udev

Versions adequately match for the compiler installed: 4.1.2
and the compiler used in kernel assembly: 4.1.2



Minimal compiling resources appear complete:
make utility - /usr/bin/make
Compiler version 4.1
linuc_headers base folder /lib/modules/2.6.20-16-386/build

However some compilations and executable functions may need additional files,
in the FileNames.h (so called kernel "h"eaders) collection installed in /usr/include/ .
For martian_modem, additional required packages are libc6-dev (and for Debian/Ubuntu, linux-libc-dev). The also required headers of package libc6 are commonly installed by default.

Compressed files at: /usr/src/alsa-driver.tar.bz2 /usr/src/sl-modem.tar.bz2


If a driver compilation fails, with message including some lack of some FileName.h (stdio.h for example), then
Some additional kernel-header files need installation to /usr/include. The minimal additional packages are libc6-dev
and any of its dependents, under Ubuntu linux-libc-dev

If an alternate ethernet connection is available,
$ apt-get update
$ apt-get -s install linux-kernel-devel
will install needed pacakage
For Debian/Ubuntu related distributions, run the following command to display the needed package list:

Otherwise packages have to be found through http://packages.ubuntu.com
Once downloaded and transferred into a Linux partition,
they can be installed alltogether with:
$ sudo dpkg -i *.deb


Checking pppd properties:
-rwsr-xr-- 1 root dip 269224 2007-04-04 22:41 /usr/sbin/pppd

In case of an "error 17" "serial loopback" problem, see:
http://phep2.technion.ac.il/linmodem.../msg02637.html

To enable dialout without Root permission do:
$ su - root (not for Ubuntu)
sudo chmod a+x /usr/sbin/pppd
or under Ubuntu related Linuxes
sudo chmod a+x /usr/sbin/pppd

Checking settings of: /etc/ppp/options
asyncmap 0
noauth
crtscts
lock
hide-password
modem
proxyarp
lcp-echo-interval 30
lcp-echo-failure 4
noipx

In case of a message like:
Warning: Could not modify /etc/ppp/pap-secrets: Permission denied
see http://linmodems.technion.ac.il/biga.../msg04656.html

Read Modem/YourSystem.txt concerning other COMM channels: eth0 eth0:avah
Which can interfere with Browser naviagation.

Don't worry about the following, it is for the experts
should trouble shooting be necessary.
==========================================================

# start/stop the daemon when the USB modem is connected
KERNEL=="slusb[0-9]*", GROUP="dialout", RUN+="/etc/init.d/sl-modem-daemon"
Checking for modem support lines:
--------------------------------------
/device/modem symbolic link: lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 6 2000-12-12 20:23 /dev/modem -> ttySL0
slmodemd created symbolic link /dev/ttySL0:
Within /etc/udev/ files:
/etc/udev/rules.d/030_sl-modem-daemon.rules:# start/stop the daemon when the USB modem is connected
/etc/udev/rules.d/030_sl-modem-daemon.rules:KERNEL=="slusb[0-9]*", GROUP="dialout", RUN+="/etc/init.d/sl-modem-daemon"
/etc/udev/rules.d/00-hsf.rules:KERNEL=="ttySHSF0", SYMLINK="modem"
/etc/udev/sl-modem-daemon.rules:# start/stop the daemon when the USB modem is connected
/etc/udev/sl-modem-daemon.rules:KERNEL=="slusb[0-9]*", GROUP="dialout", RUN+="/etc/init.d/sl-modem-daemon"
Within /etc/modprobe.conf files:
/etc/modprobe.d/sl-modem-daemon.modutils:install slamr modprobe --ignore-install ungrab-winmodem ; modprobe --ignore-install slamr; test -e /dev/slamr0 || (/bin/mknod -m 660 /dev/slamr0 c 242 0 2>/dev/null && chgrp dialout /dev/slamr0)
/etc/modprobe.d/alsa-baseptions snd-atiixp-modem index=-2
/etc/modprobe.d/alsa-baseptions snd-via82xx-modem index=-2
/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-modem:# Uncomment these entries in order to blacklist unwanted modem drivers
/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-modem:# blacklist snd-atiixp-modem
/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-modem:# blacklist snd-via82xx-modem
/etc/modprobe.d/hsf:alias /dev/modem /dev/ttySHSF
/etc/modprobe.d/hsf.conflicts:install snd-via82xx-modem /bin/true # temporarily disabled by hsf - conflicts with hsfmc97via
/etc/modprobe.d/hsf.conflicts:install snd-atiixp-modem /bin/true # temporarily disabled by hsf - conflicts with hsfmc97ati
Within any ancient /etc/devfs files:
/etc/devfs/conf.d/hsf.conf:LOOKUP ^(ttySHSF[0-9]|modem$) EXECUTE nice /sbin/modprobe /dev/ttySHSF
/etc/devfs/conf.d/hsf.conf:REGISTER ^ttySHSF0$ CFUNCTION GLOBAL symlink $devname modem
/etc/devfs/conf.d/hsf.conf:UNREGISTER ^ttySHSF0$ CFUNCTION GLOBAL unlink modem
Within ancient kernel 2.4.n /etc/module.conf files:

--------- end modem support lines --------

Check this with "ls -l /dev/modem" (no quotes)

If it's there, and indications are that it is, I next need to look at your /etc/wvdial.conf

Here's your modem:
Read that text file!

The notes indicate that you may have needed to compile the driver and the ungrab-modem utility. But you seem to have installed a slamr driver, so we can go with that.

(BTW: did I mention that I hate this driver - you have to load a country code and stuff like that. The unresponsive also-probe in the report indicates that the sl-modem-daemon driver probably won't help.)

Alright....here is what you wanted. I did exactly as you told me. Please don't assume I know when to make substitutions in command lines because I'm still very new to Ubuntu and I need to be spoon fed information till I catch on. Don't get me wrong...I have several Linux books but none of them give me answers for stuff like this. I will pass on the knowledge I gain here to others as they come through.


[Dialer Defaults]
Phone = 5534061
Username = kendallbrown@earthlink.net
Password = This Account Doesn't Exist but have fun any way!!! LOL.
New PPPD = yes


kendall@Server1:~$ ls -l /dev/modem
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 6 2000-12-13 21:12 /dev/modem -> ttySL0

Right, where are we up to? Oh yes:
... make /etc/wvdial.conf look like this:

Save and exit - from terminal, enter "wvdial".


Note: never post your password.

I made the corrections but I'm still getting the following:

--> Cannot open /dev/modem: No such file or directory

There's something I'm neglecting to do but I don't know what it is.

OK - modify /etc/wvdial.conf so that /dev/modem reads /dev/ttySL0 and see if the error message changes. Make sure that ~/.wvdial.conf doesn't exist.

Show result of

ls -l /dev/modem
ls -l /dev/ttySL0

try wvdial -c "your ip name"

... there's no section called after OPs "ip name", only one for dialer defaults. (See wvdial.conf in posts #10 and #11.

... the -c flag means that wvdial is used by pppd as a chat section. However, the connection isn't getting as far as pppd. It gets as far as trying to dial when it cannot find the modem device.

Please share your reasoning: What makes you think that the -c flag will help wvdial find the modem device?

Ordinary:
Looking through this though raises a point I didn't notice before: Ordinary, tell me the result of "uname -r". Also, instead of /dev/ttySL0 as the modem device, try /dev/slamr0

within /etc/modprobe.conf, look for and remove the # from the following lines:

/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-modem:# blacklist snd-atiixp-modem
/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-modem:# blacklist snd-via82xx-modem

... and, in the same file, put a # at the front of the following line:

/etc/modprobe.d/hsf:alias /dev/modem /dev/ttySHSF