Bad E&M Port?

[chimnysweep]

I've got an MICS 6 with an E&M card connected to a Cisco 3600 router to allow inter-office calling between the home office and a remote office.

Lately we've been having a problem where all the calls coming in on the second E&M port (Line 70) go to the receptionist (DN100) instead of to the extension that was dialed. The first E&M port (Line 69) works fine, going straight to the extension that was dialed.

I double-checked all the settings and they are the same for both lines. Could I have a bad port? Other than swapping the E&M card, is there anyway to test this?

Thanks,
Westley

 

[aragon]

If the call is ringing out to reception I doubt that the E&M is bad unless it is unable to receive DTMF.
To test however you would swap x-connects on the two lines 69&70 (frogging) and see if the problem follows to line 69.

 

[hawks]

Make sure that the second line is set to Auto Answer also.

 

[chimnysweep]

aragon,

I'm offsite, but I will have a tech onsite Monday. I'm going to have him swap the cross connects for me. If the problem follows to line 69 what's my next step?

Thanks,
Westley

 

[aragon]

If you prove the port is bad either repair or replace the card.

 

[hawks]

If the problem moves to line 69 then you need to get with Telco and check the signaling on the line itself.

 

[aragon]

Another good way to test both ports is to wire them back to back.
If you can prove they work back to back it is absolutely a telco issue.
The wiring chart for a back to back E&M hookup is in the MICS installation manual.

 

[chimnysweep]

Ok, after further testing and a clearer head (finally got to stop driving around the country side) we were able to prove to ourselves that the equipment was fine, no bad ports.

Many thanks to hawks who mentioned the Auto Answer setting. Turns out I had one set to manual and one set to Auto. Set both ports to Auto and everything works great. Of course, it does leave me in a bit of a fog as to why it should be Auto Answer, but that's just a concept thing and nothing I'm going to stay awake at night worrying about.

Thanks to all!
Westley

 

[aragon]

Turning on auto answer forces the trunk to go off hook immediately and listen for received digits.
The received digits are mapped to target lines and the target lines are then assigned to ring DN's as required.
If you leave the default Answer with DISA setting turned on after enabling auto answer the system will prompt with stuttered dial tone and wait for a valid COS password for remote DISA access to the switch.