old-www/LDP/LG/issue37/tag/30.html

241 lines
9.1 KiB
HTML

<!--startcut ======================================================= -->
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
<html>
<head>
<META NAME="generator" CONTENT="lgazmail v1.1H.i">
<TITLE>The Answer Guy 37: X Prevents/Kills Modem Connection</TITLE>
</HEAD><BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000"
LINK="#3366FF" VLINK="#A000A0">
<!-- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -->
<H4>"The Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"</H4>
<P> <hr> <P>
<!-- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -->
<center>
<H1><A NAME="answer">
<img src="../../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" alt="(?)"
border="0" align="middle">
<font color="#B03060">The Answer Guy</font>
<img src="../../gx/dennis/bbubble.gif" alt="(!)"
border="0" align="middle">
</A></H1>
<BR>
<H4>By James T. Dennis,
<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com">linux-questions-only@ssc.com</a><BR>
Starshine Technical Services,
<A HREF="http://www.starshine.org/">http://www.starshine.org/</A>
</H4>
</center>
<p><hr><p>
<!-- endcut ======================================================= -->
<!-- begin 30 -->
<H3 align="left"><img src="../../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif"
height="50" width="60" alt="(?) " border="0"
>X Prevents/Kills Modem Connection</H3>
<p><strong>From ktoyama on Thu, 14 Jan 1999
</strong></p>
<!-- ::
X Prevents/Kills Modem Connection
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
:: -->
<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
Dear Answer Guy,
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Great forum of Q&amp;A here at the Linux Gazette. Here is my problem.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
I'm trying to use a US Robotics 28.8 (no winmodem) and it works fine
under the linux console under windows 1-6. Once I start-up X it doesn't
seem to connect to the modem and seems to lose the connection to the
modem. I start up the pppd which invokes the chat script but the modem
never does a connect. But if I quickly switch to (CTRL-ALT-F1) or and
F1-F6 window, the modem will dial and connect. Then I switch back to X
and there is a connection. I can check mail, view web pages, but then
after about 2 minutes everything stalls and the connection is lost. If
I switch to a console for 15-20 seconds the link restores it's speed and
then I can switch back to X. Then the cycle starts all over again.
Please help me in determining the root of the problem. Thanks.
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Sincerely,
</STRONG></P>
<P><STRONG>
Kevin
</STRONG></P>
<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" ALT="(!)"
HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
>
My first guess would be that you have an IRQ problem.
If you modem and your mouse are trying to use the same
IRQ --- and your modem is inactively while you're at your
text consoles (i.e. you're not using gpm) --- that would
be the most likely problem.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Other problems are possible. Some video cards use IRQ
2/9 (daisy chained IRQ pair) which might cause conflicts
while you were in graphics mode, while not causing any
problem from text consoles.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Yet another problem might have to do with the system's
overall computing power. If you have a high speed
modem connection it could be that X takes enough of
your CPU horse power that the serial driver gets
starved for attention (although that would also
suggest flow control problems).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Of course a 28.8 and any sort of Pentium (even a P60)
should be reasonably well matched --- assuming you have
enough RAM that you aren't thrashing to disk.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Does this only happen with PPP? What if you connect
to a BBS (or dial-up shell), start a file transfer
and then start X? If the transfer (zmodem, Kermit,
or whatever) still runs smoothly for several minutes
after switching to X --- it suggests some sort of
networking problem. If not, try running a file
transfer while starting a non-X graphics program
(such as 'zgv' --- the SVGAlib .GIF and JPEG viewer).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Also try running a file transfer while performing
"cut and paste" operations on your text mode VCs
(run 'gpm' to do that). Transfer a couple of page
fulls of a man page into an empty editor session
('vi' -- 'emacs' or whatever).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
As with any problems with any daemons, look in your
<TT>/var/log/messages.</TT> Are there any error messages being
posted through the syslog subsystem? Try increasing the
debugging output of your pppd by adding the debug and
kdebug directives to your <TT>/etc/ppp/options</TT> file (as per
the man pages).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Try posting the contents of your PPP options file(s)
and the command that's being used to invoke it (which
may over-ride many of the directives in the options
file by listing conflicting options on its command line
or pointing to a supplemental options file using the "file"
directive).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
Try a different video card and/or a different X server.
(You could even try starting a "monochrome" X server).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
It's also possible that the problem lies with some
X application or "toy" ('clock', your window manager, etc)
rather than with the X server itself. If the probably
recurs while running 'zgv' or some other SVGAlib program
--- then you can conclude that it has more to do with
the hardware/drivers than with the applications.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
With any troubleshooting process you want to try all sorts
of things that help isolate the exact components (hardware
and software) that are involved. Many of these tests may
not be usable as "work arounds" but they can define the
problem more precisely.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
You can browse around under the <TT>/proc</TT> filesystem to
find out a bit more about which IRQs are in use and you can
use the 'procinfo' and similar commands to determin more.
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
(If this is a laptop running PCMCIA drivers -- for example
--- then there are any other potential problems, as
laptop hardware tends to be very quirky --- video and
PCMCIA interfaces especially).
</BLOCKQUOTE>
<!-- sig -->
<!-- end 30 -->
<!--startcut ======================================================= -->
<P> <hr> <P>
<H5 align="center"><a href="http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html"
>Copyright &copy;</a> 1999, James T. Dennis
<BR>Published in <I>The Linux Gazette</I> Issue 37 February 1999</H5>
<P> <hr> <P>
<!-- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -->
<P align="center">
<table width="98%"><tr valign="center" align="center">
<td rowspan="3" colspan="4"><A HREF="../lg_answer37.html"><IMG
SRC="../../gx/dennis/answernew.gif"
ALT="[ Answer Guy Index ]"></A></td>
<TD width="8%"><A HREF="./1.html">1</A></TD>
<TD width="8%"><A HREF="./2.html">2</A></TD>
<TD width="8%"><A HREF="./3.html">3</A></TD>
<TD width="8%"><A HREF="./4.html">4</A></TD>
<TD width="8%"><A HREF="./5.html">5</A></TD>
<TD width="8%"><A HREF="./6.html">6</A></TD>
<TD width="8%"><A HREF="./7.html">7</A></TD>
<TD width="8%"><A HREF="./8.html">8</A></TD>
<TD width="8%"><A HREF="./9.html">9</A></TD>
<TD width="8%"><A HREF="./10.html">10</A></TD>
</tr><tr valign="center" align="center">
<TD><A HREF="./11.html">11</A></TD>
<TD><A HREF="./12.html">12</A></TD>
<TD><A HREF="./14.html">14</A></TD>
<TD><A HREF="./15.html">15</A></TD>
<TD><A HREF="./16.html">16</A></TD>
<TD><A HREF="./17.html">17</A></TD>
<TD><A HREF="./18.html">18</A></TD>
<TD><A HREF="./19.html">19</A></TD>
<TD><A HREF="./21.html">21</A></TD>
<TD><A HREF="./22.html">22</A></TD>
</tr><tr valign="center" align="center">
<TD><A HREF="./23.html">23</A></TD>
<TD><A HREF="./28.html">28</A></TD>
<TD><A HREF="./29.html">29</A></TD>
<TD><A HREF="./30.html">30</A></TD>
<TD><A HREF="./31.html">31</A></TD>
<TD><A HREF="./32.html">32</A></TD>
<TD><A HREF="./33.html">33</A></TD>
<TD><A HREF="./34.html">34</A></TD>
<TD><A HREF="./37.html">37</A></TD>
<TD><A HREF="./38.html">38</A></TD>
</tr><tr valign="center" align="center">
<TD><A HREF="./39.html">39</A></TD>
<TD><A HREF="./41.html">41</A></TD>
<TD><A HREF="./42.html">42</A></TD>
<TD><A HREF="./43.html">43</A></TD>
<TD><A HREF="./44.html">44</A></TD>
<TD><A HREF="./45.html">45</A></TD>
<TD><A HREF="./46.html">46</A></TD>
<TD><A HREF="./47.html">47</A></TD>
<TD><A HREF="./48.html">48</A></TD>
<TD><A HREF="./49.html">49</A></TD>
</tr></table>
</P>
<P> <hr> <P>
<!-- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -->
<P> <hr> <P>
<!-- begin lgnav ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -->
<A HREF="../index.html"
><IMG SRC="../../gx/indexnew.gif" ALT="[ Table Of Contents ]"></A>
<A HREF="../../index.html"
><IMG SRC="../../gx/homenew.gif" ALT="[ Front Page ]"></A>
<A HREF="../lg_bytes37.html"
><IMG SRC="../../gx/back2.gif" ALT="[ Previous Section ]"></A>
<A HREF="../york.html"
><IMG SRC="../../gx/fwd.gif" ALT="[ Next Section ]"></A>
<!-- end lgnav ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -->
<!-- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -->
</BODY></HTML>
<!--endcut ========================================================= -->