mgetty modem dial-in. Why No shell login prompt?

[Mitchell Laks <mlaks@verizon.net>]

Hi,

I have a PC with a Aceex external v92 modem that I used to dial in to while I 
ran Fedora Core. I am now in the process of switching over all my Linux 
machines completely to Debian. I did this machine a month or 2 ago, However, 
now I have a problem. I found that I cannot dial in to this machine via the 
modem.

I did the install about 1  - 1.5 months  ago. I used the debian installer RC2 
to install Sarge. Initially I used the 2.6.8 kernel that comes with it. I 
found that I could not dial out  with the modem either. Then I downgraded to 
the 2.4 version kernel -  2.4.27 (I think) - and now the modem dials out 
fine. But no dial in.

However, when I dial in, the modem answers and then negotiates and then 
appears to connect,  but I never get a login prompt.

I have tried different strings in the /etc/inittab

T0:23:respawn:/sbin/mgetty -x0 -s 57600 ttyS0
(as suggested by the file) or
S0:23:respawn:/sbin/mgetty -x0 -s 57600 ttyS0
S0:2345:respawn:/sbin/mgetty -x0 -s 57600 ttyS0
S0:23:respawn:/sbin/mgetty -x0 -s 57600 ttyS0
S0:23:respawn:/sbin/mgetty -x9  ttyS0

 i tried the string I used in Fedora
S0:2345:respawn:/sbin/mgetty -s 57600 /dev/ttyS0

and still no login.

Initially I did not change anything in the Debian /etc/mgetty/login.config 
file. Then, since I want a shell login, I commented out the /AutoPPP/ line in 
that file and all that remains is 
*      -   -     /bin/login @
which should give me that prompt :(. Still no help.

I tried with the -x9 switch to get some output but didnt see any helpful 
output in the  /var/log/mgetty/ logs. 

When I borrowed a laptop to use  by a second phone near the PC to login via a 
second phone line, and I  used a m$ft hyperterminal program, I hear the 
"NOISE" go on and then there is a negotiation and then
the status line on the bottom of hyperterminal says that I am connected! 
But there is no login prompt in the dialin dialog screen.

In fact the modem lights go on when the call comes in, the modem answers, so 
what are the kernel and mgetty doing?

The lights are

cts aa cd oh rd sd tr mr

while waiting they are 
*    *  -    -    -  -    *  *

when 'connected' they are

*   *  *  *  -    -   *  *

where * is lit up and - is off.


How can I monitor the negotiation from the point of view of the debian 
recipient of the call?


This is very difficult cause i need to log in to the system, and I dont want 
to reinstall fedora just to solve this, as this is not the only thing the 
machine is used for.

Thanks for your help!

Mitchell