immediate quit of pppd

["t. bedlam" <bedlam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'm running kernel 2.2.17, pppd 2.4.0f, modutils 2.3.21. I got a bunch of 
these exchanges in a row, then it worked again:

Dec 11 15:29:43 killdevil pppd[6834]: Serial connection established.
Dec 11 15:29:43 killdevil pppd[6834]: Using interface ppp0
Dec 11 15:29:43 killdevil pppd[6834]: Connect: ppp0 <--> /dev/ttyS1
Dec 11 15:29:43 killdevil pppd[6834]: Hangup (SIGHUP)
Dec 11 15:29:43 killdevil pppd[6834]: write: warning: Input/output error (5)
Dec 11 15:29:43 killdevil pppd[6834]: Modem hangup
Dec 11 15:29:43 killdevil pppd[6834]: Connection terminated.
Dec 11 15:29:44 killdevil pppd[6834]: Exit.

Any ideas? I ask now before net hunting because I may not be able search
later. :) The modem appears to dial fine, so a bad cable or physical 
connection seems out. (Can a daemon SIGHUP itself? Is this to do with the 
chat fork pppd executes before stepping in again?)



Also, while I'm talking <grin> I updated modutils and pppd recently, and
checked through the appropriate files for changes. I didn't see any, but I
have a question on the mod aliases file:

alias char-major-108    ppp_generic

I have no ppp_generic file. My system complains that it cannot find
char-major-108. (ppp0, ppp1, and /dev/ppp all point to "ppp".) Should I
change this? I know that block-major and char-major are all real or 
virtual devices--will this make a difference? (It's looked like this
since I installed, no problems except for that apparently harmless error
message.)

-- 
i'm determined to stand, whether god
will deliver me or not. -- bob dylan