PPP . . . kind of . . . sort of . . . sometimes

["Yuki Taga" <yukitaga twics com>]

Hi Guys!

Okay, I can now establish a ppp session at will.  <sound of one hand 
clapping>  The way I have to do it is hard to believe, however, and I don't 
think most of you would accept it.  I sure can't.

1) On any boot into Linux *after* using the modem in NT or Windows, the 
command /sbin/ifup ppp0 will fail.  The modem absolutely will not dial.

2) In the same situation, the command /usr/local/bin/wvdial will always 
cause the modem to dial, and connect, but the wvdial program cannot 
establish a ppp connection, because it is waiting for something that 
doesn't happen.  Why this program can't finish the job is beyond me.  It 
says it's waiting for something.  But I really don't want to use this 
program anyway.  Go to the next step.  ^_^

3) After the failure in step 2, regardless of whether step 1 was even 
attempted or not, the command /sbin/ifup ppp0 now successfully dials 
and immediately establishes a working ppp connection every single 
time.  Moreover, a reboot into Linux that does not involve modem use in 
another OS means the command will work instead of failing in step 1.

I am at a complete loss to explain this.  I truly hope someone else can.
There is one possible hint here.  The program wvdial autoprobed my 
moden when I installed it, and it came up with an init string I never heard 
of and cannot find in the manual.  I think there may be some magic in 
that init string.  However, step 3 above does not use that string.

Yuki ^_^

P.S.  I know the comedians among you will immediately suggest that I 
never use the modem except in Linux, and that this will solve my 
problem.  Don't even think about it.  ^^_^^