hi,
i have a problem with my PC that i used to use as a server for our net access at home, what has been happening lately is that the modem sometimes dials and sometimes doesnt, it will stay online for varying amounts of time, from under 5 minutes to over an hour

this same modem works very well in windows XP ona different machine without any dilemma's at all, im using mandrake 9.1 on this server box at home and have concluded that the o/s is not at fault (i had the same problems with XP pro, win2k server and redhat 8)

ive tried the modem on both of the serial ports and that doesnt make any difference on this machine, does it seem that (both of) my serial ports are either dead or are on the way out?

the machine is a dell optiplex GX110, p3 667, 256meg RAM with a voodoo 3 PCI card and 2 USB ports, its well out of warranty as i bought it secondhand 2 years ago, is it likely that both of my serial ports are stuffed or should i try another serial modem just to be sure before i go buying a USB one?

i will post again after i try another modem in it, coz i have another one back home elsewhere, so will be able to test that next week, if it doesnt make a difference, could someone tell me a modem that can be bought in australia that is USB and is compatable with mandrake 9.1 and most of ther linux systems