PCMCIA modem and PPP

[Edward A Martinez <martinez cs tamu edu>]

Has anyone had any success in using a PCMCIA modem with RHL 4.2?  I've
been through about 3 different installs on this Toshiba laptop, and each
time received different problems when using the modem.  The first time I
installed RHL 4.2, the modem wouldn't even respond with "OK" when given
the "ATZ" command.  The second time, it bombed with an "ioctl" error,
saying the device was not a typewriter.  The third time, I would get a
message saying that the kernel (2.0.30!!) did not support PPP, even though
I had made sure I selected all the relevant networking options in the
setup program.  Recompiling the kernel with PPP support enabled resulted
in "Kernel panic. Can't get IRQ 14 for ide0. Can't mount root fs."
Minicom works fine, and the pcmcia_cs package correctly detects all of my
cards. It seems to a PPP problem.  

Any advice?

Thanks.

===============================================================================
Eddie Martinez
TAMU Computer Science Internet Publishing Services
Server Administration and System Programmer
e-mail: martinez cs tamu edu
WWW URL:  http://www.cs.tamu.edu/people/martinez
===============================================================================