pppd problems

[MaD dUCK <madduck@madduck.net>]

[this email is pretty long, so please take my apologies
for eating your bandwidth]

debianers,
a friend of mine is experiencing severe problems connecting to her ISP
in madison, wisconsin (inxpress.net). she has an internal 33.6 modem
that seems to work (i have done the basic minicom AT tests), but when
she dials up, it seems as if she gets a connection, launches ppp on
both sides, but then the connection dies. even though i would like her
to use pon/poff, i figure getting wvdial to work first is a good step,
as wvdial does provide more information.

so with the following configuration in /etc/wvdial.conf

  [Dialer Defaults]
  Modem = /dev/ttyS3
  Baud = 115200
  Init1 = ATZ
  Init2 = ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 S11=55 +FCLASS=0
  Phone = 663-5551
  Username = heikkin
  Password = ********

she manages to establish a connection, which wvdial documents as
follows:

  orange:~# wvdial
  --> WvDial: Internet dialer version 1.41
  --> Initializing modem.
  --> Sending: ATZ
  ATZ
  OK
  --> Sending: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 S11=55 +FCLASS=0
  ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 S11=55 +FCLASS=0
  OK
  --> Modem initialized.
  --> Sending: ATDT 663-5551
  --> Waiting for carrier.
  ATDT 663-5551
  CONNECT 26400/V42BIS
  --> Carrier detected.  Waiting for prompt.
  login:
  --> Looks like a login prompt.
  --> Sending: heikkin
  heikkin
  Password:
  --> Looks like a password prompt.
  --> Sending: (password)
  Entering PPP mode.
  Async interface address is unnumbered (Ethernet0)
  Your IP address is 216.114.40.56. MTU is 1500 bytes
  --> Looks like a welcome message.
  --> Starting pppd at Fri Jun  8 13:45:30 2001

but then a split second later:

  --> PPP daemon has died! (exit code = 1)
  --> Disconnecting at Fri Jun  8 13:45:30 2001
  --> Auto Reconnect will be attempted in 5 seconds
  --> pppd error!  Look at files in /var/log for an explanation.

however, /var/log doesn't seem to contain logs, and i don't have
her plog output handy. and BTW: there is no /etc/ppp/options file.

however, even though i am across the ocean (germany), i tried to
connect from here just to see what's up (after all, 1.8c/min to the US
with www.tele2.de). after a plethora of unsuccessful attempts because
of line noise, i did make it in:

  [...]
  Entering PPP mode.
  Async interface address is unnumbered (Ethernet0)
  Your IP address is 216.114.40.142. MTU is 1500 bytes
  --> Looks like a welcome message.
  --> Starting pppd at Thu Jun 14 15:48:23 2001

fishbowl:/home/madduck# ping google.com
  PING google.com (216.239.33.100): 56 data bytes
  64 bytes from 216.239.33.100: icmp_seq=0 ttl=46 time=684.8 ms
  ^C

fishbowl:/home/madduck# route
  Kernel IP routing table
  Destination     Gateway         Genmask         Flags Metric Ref
  216.114.1.10    *               255.255.255.255 UH    0      0 
  default         216.114.1.10    0.0.0.0         UG    0      0

fishbowl:/home/madduck# traceroute madduck.net
  traceroute to madduck.net (130.58.82.235), 30 hops max, 38 byte packets
  1  216.114.1.10 (216.114.1.10)  566.917 ms  476.221 ms  479.922 ms
  ^C

fishbowl:/home/madduck#
  Caught signal #2!  Attempting to exit gracefully...
  --> Disconnecting at Thu Jun 14 15:49:48 2001

there are a couple of things i do different. sure, i send ATX3 in the
initialization, but that's because i am behind an internal phone system.

other than that, we send the same inits:
  mine: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 S11=55 +FCLASS=0 X3
  hers: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 S11=55 +FCLASS=0

something that strikes me is the carrier negotiation:
  mine: CONNECT 115200/V34/LAPM/V42BIS/14400:TX/14400:RX
  hers: CONNECT 26400/V42BIS

first, 115200 is a complete and utter lie. and then i don't assume to
get a greater baudrate than she, when i am going over the ocean.
nevertheless, V42BIS is supported by both, but maybe her provider has
a bitching time with only that.

this is giving me a hard time because there are 4000 miles between me
and this computer, and i can only fix it via email.

anyone have an idea how to make wvdial use pppd with the -d flag for
debugging?

anyone have any better ideas on why this isn't working?

or any advice on how can i solve this problem better from 4000 miles
away?

martin;              (greetings from the heart of the sun.)
  \____ echo mailto: !#^."<*>"|tr "<*> mailto:"; net@madduck
-- 
"information superhighway"
 is just an anagram for
"i'm on a huge wispy rhino fart".