[H-GEN] ppp problems under debian (slink)

[Patrick Nichols]

[ Humbug *General* list - semi-serious discussions about Humbug and
Unix-related topics. ]

> I can't think why, specifically, but the problem is with writing (or
> possibly opening - check permissions?) to /dev/modem, or the appropriate
> device.

OK, I have the solution to the problem.  Some may not be suprised to see
that I was having problems with loadable modules, and kerneld.

History of the problem.  I compiled a kernel on my dialup router for another
of my machines (the dialup box is a pentium 100, the other machine was a
486) for speed reasons.  This was weeks before the problem showed itself.
Inadvertently I must have done a "make modules_install" by accident, and
this was the root of my problems.

On my dialup router I have the serial module compiled into the kernel, and
when I made the 486 image I compiled it as a module to save memory on the
small 486 box.

The 486 serial.o module was being loaded by kerneld after the machine was
restarted, and when kerneld unloaded the module the serial port failed to
work.  Presumably because it already had the driver installed in the kernel.
I don't know why the module ever got loaded, but there you go.  That was the
problem.

Thanks for your help, (especially byron for answering my stupid questions on
irc) it is now working as before.

It was not:
-broken hardware of any kind
-corrupt binary

It was:
-totally my own stupid fault, for being careless with my machine while using
the root account (I'll take more care next time)

-pat


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