1140E and 1120E IP Telphone Sets get DHCP server error

[daveybc]

Customer has a BCM 3.0 current release. The BCM is located at Customer Site A and the customers VLAN server is located at Customer Site B. The customers network server acts as the DHCP server for all devices. All telephone sets, a mix of T7316e and IP sets work perfectly at Customer Site A where the BCM is located. The problem we are having is that we cannot get any 1120E IP telephone sets working at Customer Site C (remote office where neither the BCM nor the network server reside). The customer is able to ping the BCM via the server from this location with a computer but cannot get any 1120E or 1140E tel. sets working. When plugged in we get the following error:
DHCP server unreachable. DHCP Parse Error. The phones at Customer Site A that work have been assigned a range of 10.10.18, 1-254 and the phones at the other location (Customer Site C) that don't work have the following range of 10.10.17, 1-254. The working sets were plugged in and recognized the server and worked perfectly, why won't this other batch of phones work at the other location. The port is opened, no firewall blocking, able to ping BCM via a computer. What could be the problem? Is there somewhere to confirm that the S1 server IP is set correctly via the BCM Element Manager? All IP terminal sets have the following settings:
Enable Registration - Yes
Enable Global Password Reg. - Yes
Global Password - Blank
Auto-Assign DN's - Yes
Remainder are set to default.

 

[Dasheen]

Did u configure the network config on the sets themselves? Set maybe registering to the data vlan instead of the voice vlan.

 

[daveybc]

The IP sets that are working at the one site worked immediately after being plugged in. The IP sets are the location where they are not working have the DHCP server error. No programming was done through any sets.

 

[DBrewsky]

Setup one phone manually IP and S1 and see if you can get it to connect.


--DB

 

[Dasheen]

I had this happen at my site and I had to go in manually and change the voice vlan to auto/dhcp. Once this was done the set connected.

 

[nooop]

Do it manually, and set the local IP address, gateway, and subnet, but set the remote Server IP of the BCM. It will work fine. I have alot of remote IP sets and all have to be set manually. However, you could buy a second BCM with VOIP Trunks and MCDN keycode and just network the two units. that way both sites could use DHCP and would be much less IT overhead managing remote sites without going onsite. That is what I do at all remote sites, and I never have to talk anyone through IP set configuration.

 

[daveybc]

The problem I have is that I can’t get the phones to allow me to manually update the IP Address. Do you know how I can get to the screen to set the phone manually? Last time I thought I was setting the IP Phone to manual on the system, it rebooted the BCM.

 

[cook1082]

Up plug the phone while it is booting up and the NORTEL is on the screen run you thumb across from left to right the 4 soft buttons at the bottom of the screen. Do it quick as you only get 2-3 seconds to do it.

 

[daveybc]

I presume I can access programming with this technique, but should I do this at the current location or the remote location where I want to sets to work? Can I program the phone first and then take it over to the remote location or do I need to do this on the site where it will be working?

 

[cook1082]

Yes you can do it before, you just need power to the set to access programing.Just enter the info for that site.

 

[nooop]

Try hitting services 2 times fast. That takes you to the config menu also.

 

[daveybc]

Now that the phones are up and working I wanted to post a reply. The biggest hurdle we faced was accessing the Network Configuration programming on the sets via either the Services Button (hit twice at the right time), as well as running our fingers along the 4 soft keys under the display. By the way, to clarify, we are talking about 1120E and 1140E IP sets.

As I had stated in my original post, Global password was enabled so that got turned off. I'm not sure that it really had much effect on trying to get into the programming of the sets but that was one of the first changes we made. Even more frustrating was that I could get into the programming via the Services btn. but it didn't always work...in fact, it didn't work more often than it did. Has anyone else experienced this problem? This actually took up most of the time to troubleshoot the DHCP parse error.

Anyways, on to the solution...

Global password - disabled.
DHCP - Enabled for IP phones only.
Enter programming on sets and manually enter IP, subnet and other relevant parameters, in otherwise, hard core the IP info. into the set. This makes alot of sense to me now as far as remote locations are concerned as "nooop" had recommended as it should save time down the road should the phones move locations.
DHCP server turned off.

Ironically, 2 of the 6 sets we set up did not have the IP info. hard cored but they were working at the remote site. They were picking an IP from the BCM, which was set to DHCP - Enabled for IP Phones only. Now, you may ask, why did these sets work and not the others. Well, it turns out that these 2 sets were assigned as "hosts" on the customers DNS server at the remote location separate from the BCM location and the IP tel. set remote location. It was a step that the IT guy kinda missed until we narrowed it down why those 2 sets were working but not the others. Once all sets were assigned as "hosts" on the DNS server (this was done by the customer on the network side of things), all sets worked. 2 IP sets with DHCP - set to Partial, no hard core IP, and the remaining 4 IP sets to DHCP - None and hard cored IP. The DNS IP parameters were entered in Element Manager to match up with the customers DNS server info. So, either way, the sets ended up working once they knew the route to follow and had access to the DNS server first to guide them along to the BCM. However, as stated earlier, I would definitely recommend hard coring the IP for remote phones. Thankfully, I am out of the abyss somewhere between the BCM tel. world and the IT network world. Very good learning curve. Thanks for all the input.