Linux Bootup Problem

[Wickdgin]

I was just messing around to see if I can get Linux to make use of the modem on my laptop- but now when I restart and it tries to bring up the ppp0 interface it just hangs. Are their any commands I can enter into grub or anything I can do to get past this so I can get into Linux and fix it?

[{P²P}Apocalypse]

Boot up in fail safe. Then remove it. Chances are that if it's a laptop. It's a winmodem. If you can find out what chipset and version number is on the modem (Not the name, that varies a great deal and tells you nothing). Then emulators, drivers and some patches are availible for download to be able to use certain winmodems with Linux. I recomend if you use a modem though. Get you an external hardware modem. It works like a charm. I have a cable conection. But I also have a 56k Zoom external hw modem as a backup. It comes in handy if the cable goes down. I can use it to dial in with Linux or Win32 platforms without to much hassell.

Hope this helps you.....

[Wickdgin]

Yeah, I've figured it was a winmodem, and also since it is a modem/ethernet combo card I think that has made it even worse. It really isn't important for me right now to have my modem working in Linux, b/c I have a cable modem at my house- but I thought it just might come in handy someday.


How would I go about booting up in failsafe- I remeber when I used to use Mandrake that was an option in Lilo- but since I switched to Redhat and use Grub I would need to enter the commands myself b/c I do not have it as an option, so what would I enter?


Thanks a lot

[{P²P}Apocalypse]

Did you create a start-up disk? Also what distro of Linux are you running. I use Mandrake 8.1 and have used Debian and Redhat. So as you can tell I'm no great expert at Linux as some of the others are but I'll help you as best I can.....

[Wickdgin]

Yeah, I've got a start-up disk- I'm running Redhat 7.2

[souleman]

You said you are using a modem/ethernet combo card? That means that it is a pcmcia card, not an internal modem in you laptop I assume. Most pcmcia cards that I know of are hw modems, not winmodems. Actually, that is how I am connecting right now. I use both the modem and the ethernet ports without any problem.

Your boot disk should bypass trying to initialize the modem. Are you using xwindows? If so KDE, or Gnome, or something else? Depending on which you are using, makes a difference on how you set it up. Anyway, there are a couple things to check. First, make sure you have pcmica starting (this is default if you did a laptop install). Next, check if the modem is supposed to start on bootup. If so, turn that off. The modem will still be on the machine, but you don't want it starting. Any network device that is set to use dhcp (which I assume your modem is) attempts to get an ip address when it initializes. What is happening when your system hangs is that ppp0 is trying to get an ip addy, which it can't until you dial out. I had this problem with eth1 at first, because I didn't have it connected to the network. eth0 started fine, then eth1 would hang. Eventually, it will time out, give you a [failed] message, and continue loading.

With pcmcia devices, you don't want them loading on bootup as long as pcmcia is running. You can have the card in the machine (mine never comes out), but don't actually try and initialize anything on the card. The pcmcia service will take care of that for you.

[Wickdgin]

Hmm, if your right about it probably being a hw modem that would be great, thanks. I'm using G-Nome for x-windows.

And yeah, the reason the system is hanging is because it is trying to initialize ppp0 on startup- but I let it go 10-15 min and no timeout. The same happens with the boot disk.

I was thinking maybe if I get it to boot in interactive startup- but how would I get it to do that?

[RiOtEr]

in redhat hit I in the start up wich will enter you into a interactive sartup i did it when my eth0 woulod screw up cause i changed some setting dams winging linux why wont it let me be it friend ohh well hope that help nemore help pm and ill try walk you through it
RiOtEr

[Wickdgin]

Originally posted here by RiOtEr
in redhat hit I in the start up wich will enter you into a interactive sartup i did it when my eth0 woulod screw up cause i changed some setting dams winging linux why wont it let me be it friend ohh well hope that help nemore help pm and ill try walk you through it
RiOtEr

Hey, thanks- I actually figured out how to get in through my boot disk by using 'linux single' and entering single user mode, I made my changes and rebooted. Only took me an hour, lol.

I think I am going to go to sleep and try again on the modem tomorrow.