[clug] pppd annoyance

[ben]

Hi All,
I've got a small problem with my dial up internet on a slackware 8.1 box.
The modem is an acer surf 56k.
After the machine has booted it will connect first time, no worries, but
when trying to reconnect it will fail.  If I try to reconnect after this it
works.  Every second time I run the ppp connect script it won't work.  This
problem first occurred more than 3 years ago, and I was able to solve it the
first time, but after a re-install about 12 months after that I had
forgotten the remedy.  I think it had something to do with my init string.
Anyway I am sick of having to run the script twice every time I want to
connect and have decided to devote some time to fixing it again (I'm sure
it's something quite simple), but before I start I thought someone on this
list might know whats up from memory and give me a nudge in the right
direction.  Here are some lines from my logs:


Oct 14 15:43:41 old pppd[317]: pppd 2.4.1 started by root, uid 0
Oct 14 15:43:42 old chat[319]: timeout set to 60 seconds
Oct 14 15:43:42 old chat[319]: abort on (ERROR)
Oct 14 15:43:42 old chat[319]: abort on (BUSY)
Oct 14 15:43:42 old chat[319]: abort on (NO CARRIER)
Oct 14 15:43:42 old chat[319]: abort on (NO DIALTONE)
Oct 14 15:43:42 old chat[319]: send (ATS91=15^M)
Oct 14 15:43:42 old chat[319]: expect (OK)
Oct 14 15:43:42 old chat[319]: ^M
Oct 14 15:43:42 old chat[319]: NO CARRIER
Oct 14 15:43:42 old chat[319]:  -- failed
Oct 14 15:43:42 old chat[319]: Failed (NO CARRIER)
Oct 14 15:43:43 old pppd[317]: Exit.
Oct 14 15:43:45 old pppd[324]: pppd 2.4.1 started by root, uid 0
Oct 14 15:43:46 old chat[326]: timeout set to 60 seconds
Oct 14 15:43:46 old chat[326]: abort on (ERROR)
Oct 14 15:43:46 old chat[326]: abort on (BUSY)
Oct 14 15:43:46 old chat[326]: abort on (NO CARRIER)
Oct 14 15:43:46 old chat[326]: abort on (NO DIALTONE)
Oct 14 15:43:46 old chat[326]: send (ATS91=15^M)
Oct 14 15:43:47 old chat[326]: expect (OK)
Oct 14 15:43:47 old chat[326]: ATS91=15^M^M
Oct 14 15:43:47 old chat[326]: OK
Oct 14 15:43:47 old chat[326]:  -- got it
Oct 14 15:43:47 old chat[326]: send (atdt62157755^M)
Oct 14 15:43:47 old chat[326]: timeout set to 75 seconds
Oct 14 15:43:47 old chat[326]: expect (CONNECT)
Oct 14 15:43:47 old chat[326]: ^M
root at old:~# Serial connection established.
Using interface ppp0
Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/ttyS0
Remote message: Login ok
Deflate (15) compression enabled
local  IP address 203.213.86.153
remote IP address 203.12.167.46

I've heard that modifying s91 s92 regs is frowned upon by ACA, and prolly
doesn't help so I'll get rid of it.  Also my modem has a few quirks with
init strings, eg it won't accept AT&F, it prefers AT&F1.
Any advice / criticism would be most welcomed.

Ben.

ps - one other thing, some of you may notice I'm using MS outlook.  I'm not
ready at this stage to convert my main desktop to Linux as there are a few
things I use that require windoze, but I know most people on the list (if
not all), have a fear / hatred (fear leads to hatred, hatred leads to
suffering :)  ) of outlook.  Anyone recommend a good mail client for me?