Dell's 3Com 56k V.90 Mini PCI Modem

My Mepis installation (latest version) does not seem to work with my Dell Inspiron 8100's built-in modem (it's a 3Com 56k V.90 Mini PCI Modem ). What happens is that I see the message "initializing modem" and it remains at "Expecting OK" without going further.

Can this modem work under Mepis Linux?

Thanks