Configuration of PCI or ISA PnP Modems

Support knowledgebase (hoe_pci_modem)
Applies to

SuSE Linux: Versions since 6.0
Kernel: Versions since 2.2.x

Symptom:

You want to set up your PnP modem. During the autodetection with YaST or YaST2, you receive an error like no modem found

Cause:

The IRQs and I/O addresses of the serial devices in Linux use default values, which are used by ISA non-PnP cards. In many PCs, this prevents a resource conflict with other devices.

The resources of PCI cards, however, are distributed by the BIOS and do not match the traditional values.

Solution:

  1. Determine the actual values, which are assigned to your modem by the BIOS. You need to know the interrupt (IRQ) and the io address (io port):
  2. The command "setserial" could be used to configure the serial device:
    setserial /dev/ttyS5 irq <Interrupt> port 0x<io address> uart 16550A ^fourport
        
    Replace <Interrupt> and <io address> with your found values.
  3. Save the setserial command in the file /etc/init.d/boot.local in the section "start".
  4. Now continue to configure the modem with YaST or YaST2 (SuSE versions 6.4 or higher) as described in the manual.

If it still does not work:

A lot of PCI modems are "winmodems". These are exclusively designed for MS-Windows systems. At the moment, only a few vendors have developed a driver for Linux (see http://www.idir.net/~gromitkc/winmodem.html).

Refer to our hardware component database (CDB), http://hardwaredb.suse.de/. Here, find information about modems tested by SuSE.

An additional source for information can be found at http://www.idir.net/~gromitkc/winmodem.html. This list contains a number of tested modems. Winmodems are signed with a red "WM" at the beginning of each line. A green "OK" indicates successfully tested modems. Also find more information about the currently available drivers for winmodem there. However, we cannot give any warranty about the entries in this list.


See also:
o Internal modem and terminal adapter

Keywords: PPP, PNP-MODEM, PCI-MODEM, WVDIAL, MINICOM, PLUG-AND-PLAY, ISA, MODEM

Categories: Internet

SDB-hoe_pci_modem, Copyright SuSE Linux AG, Nürnberg, Germany - Version: 06. Oct 1999
SuSE Linux AG - Last generated: 10. Oct 2002 by sdb (sdb_gen 1.40.0)