orcon and 'stupid mode' - Re: [wellylug] Internet woes

Sun Dec 19 02:47:38 NZDT 2004

firstly, quoting from the wvdial.conf manpage: 

"Stupid Mode
 	When wvdial is in Stupid Mode, it does not attempt to interpret any prompts
from the terminal server. It starts pppd immediately after the modem connects.
Apparently there are ISP’s that actually give you a login prompt, but work only
if you start PPP, rather than logging in. Go figure. Stupid Mode is (naturally)
disabled by default."

also, orcon's page http://orcon.net.nz/help/settings/nz/ has it that the
authenticaction is 'PAP then scripted login'...  that suggests that PAP should be
done *first* then doing some scripted login, but as far as I can work out pppd
has to be run to do PAP, and the linux ppp system only seems to be designed to do
scripted logins (if any) *before* doing PAP. 

but anyway, here's what I learnt by trying to do stupid mode. 

I tried this with wvdial, and didn't have a lot of success. This is how it goes
doing the same thing with minicom and executing pppd directly. 

firstly, fire up minicom, dial the number. We get a 'connected. Press any key to
continue.' message from minicom. so we press a key. then we see this:

CONNECT 50667                                                                  

login:  

we ignore this tempting login prompt, exit minicom leaving the modem as it is
(alt-A q) and start pppd like so: 

pppd -d -detach /dev/ttySL0 57600 noauth user lyceum

and we get: 

using channel 6
Using interface ppp0
Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/ttySL0
sent [LCP ConfReq id=0x1 <asyncmap 0x0> <magic 0x1b5d2e28> <pcomp> <accomp>]
sent [LCP ConfReq id=0x1 <asyncmap 0x0> <magic 0x1b5d2e28> <pcomp> <accomp>]
sent [LCP ConfReq id=0x1 <asyncmap 0x0> <magic 0x1b5d2e28> <pcomp> <accomp>]
rcvd [LCP ConfReq id=0x1 <mru 1514> <asyncmap 0x0> <auth pap> <magic 0x63a36f8f>
<pcomp> <accomp> <mrru 1514> <endpoint [null]>]
sent [LCP ConfRej id=0x1 <mrru 1514>]
rcvd [LCP ConfAck id=0x1 <asyncmap 0x0> <magic 0x1b5d2e28> <pcomp> <accomp>]
rcvd [LCP ConfReq id=0x2 <mru 1514> <asyncmap 0x0> <auth pap> <magic 0x63a36f8f>
<pcomp> <accomp>]
sent [LCP ConfAck id=0x2 <mru 1514> <asyncmap 0x0> <auth pap> <magic 0x63a36f8f>
<pcomp> <accomp>]
sent [LCP EchoReq id=0x0 magic=0x1b5d2e28]
sent [PAP AuthReq id=0x1 user="lyceum" password=<hidden>]
rcvd [LCP EchoRep id=0x0 magic=0x63a36f8f]
rcvd [PAP AuthAck id=0x1 ""]
PAP authentication succeeded
sent [CCP ConfReq id=0x1 <deflate 15> <deflate(old#) 15> <bsd v1 15>]
sent [IPCP ConfReq id=0x1 <compress VJ 0f 01> <addr 0.0.0.0>]
rcvd [IPCP ConfReq id=0x1 <compress VJ 0f 01> <addr 192.168.251.42>]
sent [IPCP ConfAck id=0x1 <compress VJ 0f 01> <addr 192.168.251.42>]
rcvd [LCP ProtRej id=0x2 80 fd 01 01 00 0f 1a 04 78 00 18 04 78 00 15 03 2f]
rcvd [IPCP ConfNak id=0x1 <addr 219.88.128.56>]
sent [IPCP ConfReq id=0x2 <compress VJ 0f 01> <addr 219.88.128.56>]
rcvd [IPCP ConfAck id=0x2 <compress VJ 0f 01> <addr 219.88.128.56>]
Cannot determine ethernet address for proxy ARP
local  IP address 219.88.128.56
remote IP address 192.168.251.42
Script /etc/ppp/ip-up started (pid 2520)
Script /etc/ppp/ip-up finished (pid 2520), status = 0x0

syslog shows this: 

Dec 18 18:12:15 portia pppd[2508]: pppd 2.4.2 started by root, uid 0
Dec 18 18:12:15 portia pppd[2508]: Using interface ppp0
Dec 18 18:12:15 portia pppd[2508]: Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/ttySL0
Dec 18 18:12:22 portia pppd[2508]: PAP authentication succeeded
Dec 18 18:12:23 portia pppd[2508]: local  IP address 219.88.128.56
Dec 18 18:12:23 portia pppd[2508]: remote IP address 192.168.251.42

so it looks like PAP is successful. Except the conditions are as I reported
before: can ping external IP only, can't ping nameservers, can't resolve names.
The nameserves do appear in resolv.conf. 

if we do the obvious thing and respond to the login prompt with the username, we 
get a password prompt. responding to that, and we get nuffing.  In vain hope of
proceeding with our internet connectivity, we exit minicom and run pppd as
before. Then this happens: 

using channel 7
Using interface ppp0
Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/ttySL0
sent [LCP ConfReq id=0x1 <asyncmap 0x0> <magic 0x9df837c1> <pcomp> <accomp>]
sent [LCP ConfReq id=0x1 <asyncmap 0x0> <magic 0x9df837c1> <pcomp> <accomp>]
sent [LCP ConfReq id=0x1 <asyncmap 0x0> <magic 0x9df837c1> <pcomp> <accomp>]
sent [LCP ConfReq id=0x1 <asyncmap 0x0> <magic 0x9df837c1> <pcomp> <accomp>]
sent [LCP ConfReq id=0x1 <asyncmap 0x0> <magic 0x9df837c1> <pcomp> <accomp>]
sent [LCP ConfReq id=0x1 <asyncmap 0x0> <magic 0x9df837c1> <pcomp> <accomp>]
sent [LCP ConfReq id=0x1 <asyncmap 0x0> <magic 0x9df837c1> <pcomp> <accomp>]
sent [LCP ConfReq id=0x1 <asyncmap 0x0> <magic 0x9df837c1> <pcomp> <accomp>]
sent [LCP ConfReq id=0x1 <asyncmap 0x0> <magic 0x9df837c1> <pcomp> <accomp>]
sent [LCP ConfReq id=0x1 <asyncmap 0x0> <magic 0x9df837c1> <pcomp> <accomp>]
LCP: timeout sending Config-Requests
Connection terminated.

syslog: 
Dec 18 18:16:56 portia pppd[2589]: pppd 2.4.2 started by root, uid 0
Dec 18 18:16:56 portia pppd[2589]: Using interface ppp0
Dec 18 18:16:56 portia pppd[2589]: Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/ttySL0
Dec 18 18:17:26 portia pppd[2589]: LCP: timeout sending Config-Requests 
Dec 18 18:17:26 portia pppd[2589]: Connection terminated.
Dec 18 18:17:27 portia pppd[2589]: Exit.

doesn't work. 

I can't *beeleive* it. I've never had this much difficulty connecting to the
internet before.  And I presume other people are not having these difficulties, I
can't seem to find anything even vaguely relevant through google. My faith must
be being tested. 

The same kind of thing happens with wvdial. You can set stupid mode, in which
case it seems to connect but we can't get anywhere, or you can script it to
respond to the logins, in which case it gets confused and starts pppd anyway,
with the same result. 

As I indicated above, it's possible that PAP and text login have to happen the
other way around, but I have no idea how to get the little proggies to dance like
that. 

Andrew. 

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