I posted a couple days ago (to Debian User's) about my modem freezing up. I got a couple suggestions and am now getting around to trying to solve this problem. The problem has increased in frequency so that every time after logging off using "poff" my modem can't be accessed. I have to shut the system down completely (reboot won't work) and then restart before I can use "pon" to log on again. In a couple instances I had to shutdown twice in a row before I could use my modem.
After using "pon" and my modem doesn't work "plog looks like this: ~$ plog Feb 1 02:55:05 XYF pppd[484]: Exit. Feb 1 02:55:35 XYF pppd[469]: Exit. Feb 1 03:14:22 XYF pppd[508]: pppd 2.3.5 started by kent, uid 1000 Feb 1 03:14:23 XYF chat[509]: abort on (BUSY) Feb 1 03:14:23 XYF chat[509]: abort on (NO CARRIER) Feb 1 03:14:23 XYF chat[509]: abort on (VOICE) Feb 1 03:14:23 XYF chat[509]: abort on (NO DIALTONE) Feb 1 03:14:23 XYF chat[509]: abort on (NO ANSWER) Feb 1 03:14:23 XYF chat[509]: send (ATZ^M) Feb 1 03:14:23 XYF chat[509]: expect (OK) Then if I use "poff" and then "pon" the plog readout is: ~$ plog Feb 1 03:17:09 XYF chat[517]: abort on (NO DIALTONE) Feb 1 03:17:09 XYF chat[517]: abort on (NO ANSWER) Feb 1 03:17:09 XYF chat[517]: send (ATZ^M) Feb 1 03:17:09 XYF chat[517]: expect (OK) Feb 1 03:17:14 XYF pppd[516]: Terminating on signal 15. Feb 1 03:17:14 XYF chat[517]: SIGTERM Feb 1 03:17:14 XYF pppd[516]: Connect script failed Feb 1 03:17:17 XYF pppd[530]: pppd 2.3.5 started by kent, uid 1000 Feb 1 03:17:17 XYF pppd[530]: Device ttyS0 is locked by pid 516 Feb 1 03:17:17 XYF pppd[530]: Exit. "ps a" tells me this: ~$ ps a PID TTY STAT TIME COMMAND 174 1 S 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty1 175 2 S 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty2 176 3 S 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty3 177 4 S 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty4 178 5 S 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty5 179 6 S 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty6 366 p1 S 0:00 bash 386 p1 S 0:24 netscape -ncols 64 387 p1 S 0:00 (dns helper) 534 p1 R 0:00 ps a If I use "poff" and "pon" again plog says: ~$ plog Feb 1 03:22:20 XYF chat[573]: abort on (NO DIALTONE) Feb 1 03:22:21 XYF chat[573]: abort on (NO ANSWER) Feb 1 03:22:21 XYF chat[573]: send (ATZ^M) Feb 1 03:22:21 XYF chat[573]: expect (OK) Feb 1 03:22:29 XYF pppd[572]: Terminating on signal 15. Feb 1 03:22:29 XYF chat[573]: SIGTERM Feb 1 03:22:29 XYF pppd[572]: Connect script failed Feb 1 03:22:38 XYF pppd[588]: pppd 2.3.5 started by kent, uid 1000 Feb 1 03:22:38 XYF pppd[588]: Device ttyS0 is locked by pid 572 Feb 1 03:22:38 XYF pppd[588]: Exit. And ps says: ~$ ps a PID TTY STAT TIME COMMAND 174 1 S 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty1 175 2 S 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty2 176 3 S 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty3 177 4 S 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty4 178 5 S 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty5 179 6 S 0:00 /sbin/getty 38400 tty6 572 S0 S 0:00 /usr/sbin/pppd call provider 366 p1 S 0:00 bash 386 p1 S 0:26 netscape -ncols 64 387 p1 S 0:00 (dns helper) 591 p1 R 0:00 ps a If I su to root and use "kill 572" I get: XYF:/home/kent# kill 572 bash: kill: (572) - No such pid If I "su" to root and try "killall pppd" I get: XYF:/home/kent# killall pppd pppd: no process killed There have been times when the modem is locked up I have looked at the file /var/lock/LCK..ttyS0 with "cat" and the pid number that seems to be locking up the modem is listed. I removed this file and I still couldn't dial in to my isp. Sometimes when I'm in lockup and tried to look at /var/lock/LCK..ttyS0 I'm told that the file or directory doesn't exist. Another thing I have seen is something along the lines of 'Device ttyS0 is locked by bash.' I have tried using "poff" a few times during lockup. This is all very confusing. Sometimes "plog" lists pid numbers that "ps a" says don't exist. When I try killing processes they don't exist. My modem is a Zoom/Fax modem 56k, model 2919. I'm stumped. I hope someone can help. I'm going to wear my machine out rebooting. Thanks, Kent