Subject: internal modem bug
To: netbsd bugs <netbsd-bugs@NetBSD.ORG>
From: Don Ray <dray@servecom.picker.com>
List: netbsd-bugs
Date: 03/17/1998 18:21:25
Hello everyone,

Recently I posted to these lists a problem I'm experiencing with lock-ups
when modem connections are dropped. I have more info now and I'll
re-describe the scenario:

NetBSD i386 1.2 or 1.2.1
All makes/models Pentium systems I can find.
Internal modem (I've tried USRobotics Sportster (28.8 & 33.6), Zoom
     -any com #n, any irq #n
Any kernel (ie. GENERICADP)

After setting up the modem to auto-answer, hardware flow control etc. put a
getty on it's tty (w/ or w/o rtscts). On another computer, dial into the
modem and log in (note: just a normal dial-in, no ppp). See that everything
works just fine. On the local console of the box you've dialed into, start a
ping to localhost (or anywhere). After a few packets have echoed, exit the
dial-in connection window from the other computer. Note how the local
console is now completely un-responsive and the pings are no longer echoing.
After a few minutes, dial back in. Note how the console unfreezes the moment
the modem picks up (before negotiation) and your ping packets start echoing
again --  right where they left off (no long echo-time, no dropped packets!)

Somehow 100% of the CPU is being hogged by the init process for the internal
modem !?

I've ktraced init and it's children and find it going into a sigsuspend on
the getty and not getting woke-up with a SIGALRM(?) until the modem becomes
active again. But it's grabbing the whole system as if a NON_BLOCKING open
is hung.

However, external modems connected to the serial ports do not exhibit this
problem. Also, neither internal nor external modems exhibit this under 1.3
NetBSD.

Are ISA modem cards supported in 1.2 and 1.2.1? If upgrading to 1.3 is not
an option for me, what kernel code would I need to hack to correct this?

Now that I've defined the problem a bit better, anyone else seen this?

Any help would be appreciated.
Regards!
"~"~"~"~"~"~"~"~"~"~"~"
Don Ray - Service Technologies
Picker International
email: dray@servecom.picker.com
"~"~"~"~"~"~"~"~"~"~"~"