8.1.1. Are you booting the right kernel?

Whilst you have recompiled your kernel to support ppp, you are not booting the new kernel. This can happen if you do not update /etc/lilo.conf and rerun lilo.

A good check on the kernel can be obtained by issuing the command uname -a, which should produce a line like:-

Linux archenland 2.0.28 #2 Thu Feb 13 12:31:37 EST 1997 i586

This gives the kernel version and the date on which this kernel was compiled - which should give you a pretty good idea of what is going on.

8.1.2. Did you compile ppp kernel support as a module?

If you compiled your kernel ppp support as a module, but did not make and install the modules, then you can get this error. Check the kernel-HOWTO and the README file in /usr/src/linux!

Another module connected possibility is that you are expecting required modules to be automatically loaded, but are not running the kerneld daemon (which auto-loads and unloads modules on the fly). Check the kerneld mini-HOWTO for information on setting up kerneld.

8.1.3. Are you using the correct version of PPP for your kernel?

You must use ppp-2.2 with kernel version 2.0.x. You can use ppp-2.2 with kernel version 1.2.x (if you patch the kernel), otherwise you must use ppp-2.1.2.

8.1.4. Are you running pppd as root?

If you are not running pppd as the root user (and pppd is not suid to root), you can receive this message.