problems with wvdial
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From: lrhorer on 10 Jan 2010 14:23 Hello, I originally posted a query about this over on alt.linux, and someone there suggested I post a query here. I am using wvdial to provide "dial up" broadband access to the Cricket wireless network using a Cal-Comp A600 GSM wireless modem on a headless router.. It's working fairly well, but there is one serious issue I need to resolve. After 12 hours online, the ISP shuts down the link. When this happens, the modem sometimes locks up, at least as far as wvdial is concerned. An attempt to dial again fails. Occasionally, the modem truly hangs, so that even a soft reboot won't recover the session. Since wvdial produces no logs, no externally readable status structure, and no exit codes, it's difficult to tell what action the router needs to take when the ppp link is down. Does anyone know of a slightly more sophisticated or better supported alternative to wvdial? I am looking at linuxconf, but there doesn't seem to be a Debian package for it, and the RPM package won't load under alien. The source code fails with a fair number of errors. I would really rather not start digging into problems with the RPM package or in the source code if I don't have to. The fact the newest version of linuxconf is from 2005 also suggests it may not be actively maintained, either
From: unruh on 10 Jan 2010 17:55 On 2010-01-10, lrhorer <lrhorer(a)satx.rr.com> wrote: > > Hello, > > I originally posted a query about this over on alt.linux, and > someone > there suggested I post a query here. I am using wvdial to > provide "dial up" broadband access to the Cricket > wireless network using a Cal-Comp A600 GSM wireless modem on a headless > router.. It's working fairly well, but there is one serious issue I > need to resolve. After 12 hours online, the ISP shuts down the link. > When this happens, the modem sometimes locks up, at least as far as > wvdial is concerned. An attempt to dial again fails. Occasionally, > the modem truly hangs, so that even a soft reboot won't recover the > session. Since wvdial produces no logs, no externally readable status > structure, and no exit codes, it's difficult to tell what action the > router needs to take when the ppp link is down. > > Does anyone know of a slightly more sophisticated or > better supported alternative to wvdial? I am looking at linuxconf, but > there doesn't seem to be a Debian package for it, and the RPM package > won't load under alien. The source code fails with a fair number of > errors. I would really rather not start digging into problems with the > RPM package or in the source code if I don't have to. The fact the > newest version of linuxconf is from 2005 also suggests it may not be > actively maintained, either Try looking at www.theory.physics.ubc.ca/ppp-linux.html for techniques for debugging your ppp connection. wvdial is simply a font end for the thing that does the actual work, namely pppd. pppd can and does produce error messages to the daemon and local2 facilities. You need to tell your system to record those and tell pppd to actually output the debug messages. One thing you could try is to kill killall pppd as root before you try again. Alternatively, have your system itself close the connection after 11hr 45 min, and then restart it. -- you must be paying pretty hefty wireless bills to to be logged on for over 12hr a day.
From: lrhorer on 10 Jan 2010 20:17 unruh wrote: > On 2010-01-10, lrhorer <lrhorer(a)satx.rr.com> wrote: >> >> Hello, >> >> I originally posted a query about this over on alt.linux, and >> someone >> there suggested I post a query here. I am using wvdial to >> provide "dial up" broadband access to the Cricket >> wireless network using a Cal-Comp A600 GSM wireless modem on a >> headless >> router.. It's working fairly well, but there is one serious issue I >> need to resolve. After 12 hours online, the ISP shuts down the link. >> When this happens, the modem sometimes locks up, at least as far as >> wvdial is concerned. An attempt to dial again fails. Occasionally, >> the modem truly hangs, so that even a soft reboot won't recover the >> session. Since wvdial produces no logs, no externally readable >> status structure, and no exit codes, it's difficult to tell what >> action the router needs to take when the ppp link is down. >> >> Does anyone know of a slightly more sophisticated or >> better supported alternative to wvdial? I am looking at linuxconf, >> but there doesn't seem to be a Debian package for it, and the RPM >> package >> won't load under alien. The source code fails with a fair number of >> errors. I would really rather not start digging into problems with >> the >> RPM package or in the source code if I don't have to. The fact the >> newest version of linuxconf is from 2005 also suggests it may not be >> actively maintained, either > > Try looking at www.theory.physics.ubc.ca/ppp-linux.html for techniques > for debugging your ppp connection. The problem isn't at the ppn layer. The problem lies at the hardware layer, epcifically the modem locking up. > wvdial is simply a font end for the > thing that does the actual work, namely pppd. pppd can and does > produce error messages to the daemon and local2 facilities. Yes, but there are no errors at that level, at least not until the modem locks up. > You need > to tell your system to record those and tell pppd to actually output > the debug messages. > > One thing you could try is to kill > killall pppd > as root > before you try again. No, I'm not using pppd, and ppp is dead whenever the connection is closed. > Alternatively, have your system itself close the connection after 11hr > 45 min, and then restart it. That's what I am doing, or trying to do, although I use 11hr 17 min, in fact. > -- you must be paying pretty hefty > wireless bills to to be logged on for over 12hr a day. No, Cricket is broadband wireless. Or it is SUPPOSED to be. If it were truly broadband, they would not shut down the link after 12 hours. Nonetheless, there are no fees for connection time. Broadband routers are always logged on 24/7.
From: lrhorer on 10 Jan 2010 20:31 lrhorer wrote: > unruh wrote: > >> On 2010-01-10, lrhorer <lrhorer(a)satx.rr.com> wrote: >>> >>> Hello, >>> >>> I originally posted a query about this over on alt.linux, >>> and >>> someone >>> there suggested I post a query here. I am using wvdial to >>> provide "dial up" broadband access to the Cricket >>> wireless network using a Cal-Comp A600 GSM wireless modem on a >>> headless >>> router.. It's working fairly well, but there is one serious issue I >>> need to resolve. After 12 hours online, the ISP shuts down the >>> link. When this happens, the modem sometimes locks up, at least as >>> far as >>> wvdial is concerned. An attempt to dial again fails. Occasionally, >>> the modem truly hangs, so that even a soft reboot won't recover the >>> session. Since wvdial produces no logs, no externally readable >>> status structure, and no exit codes, it's difficult to tell what >>> action the router needs to take when the ppp link is down. >>> >>> Does anyone know of a slightly more sophisticated or >>> better supported alternative to wvdial? I am looking at linuxconf, >>> but there doesn't seem to be a Debian package for it, and the RPM >>> package >>> won't load under alien. The source code fails with a fair number of >>> errors. I would really rather not start digging into problems with >>> the >>> RPM package or in the source code if I don't have to. The fact the >>> newest version of linuxconf is from 2005 also suggests it may not be >>> actively maintained, either >> >> Try looking at www.theory.physics.ubc.ca/ppp-linux.html for >> techniques for debugging your ppp connection. > > The problem isn't at the ppn layer. The problem lies at the hardware > layer, epcifically the modem locking up. That should have been, "...specifically..." > >> One thing you could try is to kill >> killall pppd >> as root >> before you try again. > > No, I'm not using pppd, and ppp is dead whenever the connection is > closed. That's not what I meant to say. What I meant to say is that it locks up before pppd is ever called. It loks up while the dialer is trying to establish layer 1 connectivity. I'll double-check, though.
From: unruh on 10 Jan 2010 23:51
On 2010-01-11, lrhorer <lrhorer(a)satx.rr.com> wrote: > unruh wrote: > >> On 2010-01-10, lrhorer <lrhorer(a)satx.rr.com> wrote: >>> >>> Hello, >>> >>> I originally posted a query about this over on alt.linux, and >>> someone >>> there suggested I post a query here. I am using wvdial to >>> provide "dial up" broadband access to the Cricket >>> wireless network using a Cal-Comp A600 GSM wireless modem on a >>> headless >>> router.. It's working fairly well, but there is one serious issue I >>> need to resolve. After 12 hours online, the ISP shuts down the link. >>> When this happens, the modem sometimes locks up, at least as far as >>> wvdial is concerned. An attempt to dial again fails. Occasionally, >>> the modem truly hangs, so that even a soft reboot won't recover the >>> session. Since wvdial produces no logs, no externally readable >>> status structure, and no exit codes, it's difficult to tell what >>> action the router needs to take when the ppp link is down. >>> >>> Does anyone know of a slightly more sophisticated or >>> better supported alternative to wvdial? I am looking at linuxconf, >>> but there doesn't seem to be a Debian package for it, and the RPM >>> package >>> won't load under alien. The source code fails with a fair number of >>> errors. I would really rather not start digging into problems with >>> the >>> RPM package or in the source code if I don't have to. The fact the >>> newest version of linuxconf is from 2005 also suggests it may not be >>> actively maintained, either >> >> Try looking at www.theory.physics.ubc.ca/ppp-linux.html for techniques >> for debugging your ppp connection. > > The problem isn't at the ppn layer. The problem lies at the hardware > layer, epcifically the modem locking up. And you know this how? And if you are so sure why are you asking here since hardware fixes do not get handled by Linux user groups. > >> wvdial is simply a font end for the >> thing that does the actual work, namely pppd. pppd can and does >> produce error messages to the daemon and local2 facilities. > > Yes, but there are no errors at that level, at least not until the modem > locks up. Have you switched on logging for ppd? Have you set up the daemon and local2 facilities to log to a file? daemon.*;local2.* /var/log/daemonlog in /etc/syslog.conf and then do killall -1 syslogd Have you looked at that file? > >> You need >> to tell your system to record those and tell pppd to actually output >> the debug messages. >> >> One thing you could try is to kill >> killall pppd >> as root >> before you try again. > > No, I'm not using pppd, and ppp is dead whenever the connection is > closed. ??? pppd is THE daemon for using ppp, and wvdial uses pppd ps auxww|grep pppd > >> Alternatively, have your system itself close the connection after 11hr >> 45 min, and then restart it. > > That's what I am doing, or trying to do, although I use 11hr 17 min, in > fact. > >> -- you must be paying pretty hefty >> wireless bills to to be logged on for over 12hr a day. > > No, Cricket is broadband wireless. Or it is SUPPOSED to be. If it were What do you mean by wireless? GSM? In which case I am really surprized that they are not charging you through the teeth. > truly broadband, they would not shut down the link after 12 hours. > Nonetheless, there are no fees for connection time. Broadband routers > are always logged on 24/7. > |