flexfax: Modem probe problems -- Newbie stuck

["Charles Roy" <charles_roy@bigfoot.com>]

Ok,
I have installed Hylafax 4.1beta1 successfully on Redhat 6.0 machines.

I am now trying to install HylaFax on a Redhat 6.1 machine.  No extra
software has been installed onto the machine yet.  I want to install HylaFAX
before going any further.

I am simply trying to access my modem with cu to probe the functionality of
it and see if it responds to queries correctly.  (Ie:  I want to check what
class FAX modem it is as outlined in the HylaFAX documentation.)  I have an
external USR Sportster 56K modem on ttyS0.

Yet when I enter:
cu -l /dev/ttyS0

I receive the message:
cu: open (/dev/ttyS0):  Permission denied
cu: /dev/ttyS0: Line in use

I also get the same message when I probe ttyS1

I have not installed any software on the machine beyond doing a full
installation from the Redhat 6.1 CD.

RH 6.1 did notice the modem at startup and asked to configure it.  So I said
yes to have the system configure it.

So, what is locking my modem?  How can I unlock my modem?  Any help is
appreciated as I have spent all evening plowing through MAN pages trying to
find a solution to this seemingly simple little problem.

Thanks.

PS:  I have had this problem on THREE different Redhat 6.1 installations.
And booting to DOS and running MSD to diagnose the machine indicates the
serial ports are running just fine.
PS:  This seems to be different than RH 6.0 where I can CU to the modem
without a hitch from a full install.