Possible bug in SimplyMEPIS 2004.04 using 2.6 kernel with a modem....

I have installed SimplyMEPIS 2004.04 on 2 computers and both have the same modem problem, one uses a 3Com 3CP2976-OEM-50 modem and the other uses a similar 3Com hardware modem without the voice/fax hardware (don't have the model number in front of me, the computer is at work). Anyway, using KPPP and booting to the 2.6 kernel, I cannot get the modems to respond, KPPP simply states that "The modem is busy" when I try a query, and hangs at the initalizing modem text when trying to connect. If I boot to the 2.4 kernel, both modems work properly on ttyS4. I have successfully used both of these modems with other distro's, and I know they work fine.
I've been doing the google search and reading everything I can on the problem, but have so far not come up with a resolution to this problem. For now, I just have to boot to 2.4 if I need to use the modems. This seems to be a bug with SimplyMEPIS and the 2.6 kernel. Has anybody out there successfully used their modems with SimplyMEPIS 2004.04 and the 2.6 kernel?

Thanks,
Fairlane