acewarlock
Technical User
I have a BCM 400 that goes to over 100% CPU and then reboots it's self. Telephony keeps working except Vmail and I can't communicate with the BCM until it reboots again. I just had the BTF replaced.
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BCM 400 keeps rebooting 1
- Thread starter acewarlock
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You make some good points. It is unfortunate that there are so many patches required and so many component failures. I'm not sure why the system board and BFT issues have been so prevalent. Nortel doesn't manufacture those components themselves, and they've since "fired" that component supplier. Chalk that up to a lesson learned. You have to agree with one thing - at least they are taking it on the chin and replacing them for free. They could have turned the other way and charged $1500 for the replacement, but that would have been suicide in the small/medium enterprise market.
In todays market and microwave society, everybody wants the best of everything for next to nothing. If system uptime is absolutely critical, then the customer should be prepared to spend a little extra for a redundant power supply and the mirrored hard drive option. A hard drive is a piece of electronic gear - it could last a week, it could last 10 years. I've had to replace some of them when they're a year old, and I've got other customers that have had their BCM's since release 2.0 and haven't done a thing to them. Can't really blame Nortel for that, blame Maxtor or the OEM manufacturer of the drive. I have a Dell PC at home that gets used maybe 10 hours a week - the drive failed after 9 months.
This isn't just related to the BCM. Take a look at how many patches are available for the CS1000 product. Its gotten to the point where Nortel increased the number of patch handlers in the PBX systems to allow for more patches to be loaded. How many of those patches for the CS1000 or the BCM are TDM related? Not many. Most deal with IP, applications, etc.
Lots of other manufacturers have similar problems. Ever hear of a CallManager that didn't need patches? Try an upgrade on a Call Manager once - say goodbye to a good chunk of your weekend.
We can thank Microsoft for setting the precedent of "release it now, fix it later". 10 years ago people would be upset if their phone system needed to be patched and upgraded almost continuosly to keep it operating. We've grown accustomer to having to load Windows Updates, update drivers, etc, and therefore grew tolerant.
Any PBX/hybrid system that is IP enabled or has any type of non realtime OS as it's backend will require patches and updates. There aren't many systems left that you hang on the wall and walk away from, except the Norstar and the occasional TDM only PBX. Since the market has dictated that bells, whistles, unified messaging, dialing contacts from Outlook, screen pops, etc are necessary to do business, we have no choice but to continue plugging away.
Just my two cents. I'm off the soapbox now.
In todays market and microwave society, everybody wants the best of everything for next to nothing. If system uptime is absolutely critical, then the customer should be prepared to spend a little extra for a redundant power supply and the mirrored hard drive option. A hard drive is a piece of electronic gear - it could last a week, it could last 10 years. I've had to replace some of them when they're a year old, and I've got other customers that have had their BCM's since release 2.0 and haven't done a thing to them. Can't really blame Nortel for that, blame Maxtor or the OEM manufacturer of the drive. I have a Dell PC at home that gets used maybe 10 hours a week - the drive failed after 9 months.
This isn't just related to the BCM. Take a look at how many patches are available for the CS1000 product. Its gotten to the point where Nortel increased the number of patch handlers in the PBX systems to allow for more patches to be loaded. How many of those patches for the CS1000 or the BCM are TDM related? Not many. Most deal with IP, applications, etc.
Lots of other manufacturers have similar problems. Ever hear of a CallManager that didn't need patches? Try an upgrade on a Call Manager once - say goodbye to a good chunk of your weekend.
We can thank Microsoft for setting the precedent of "release it now, fix it later". 10 years ago people would be upset if their phone system needed to be patched and upgraded almost continuosly to keep it operating. We've grown accustomer to having to load Windows Updates, update drivers, etc, and therefore grew tolerant.
Any PBX/hybrid system that is IP enabled or has any type of non realtime OS as it's backend will require patches and updates. There aren't many systems left that you hang on the wall and walk away from, except the Norstar and the occasional TDM only PBX. Since the market has dictated that bells, whistles, unified messaging, dialing contacts from Outlook, screen pops, etc are necessary to do business, we have no choice but to continue plugging away.
Just my two cents. I'm off the soapbox now.
macdouglas
MIS
I have just about gotten used to most of the excentricities of the 200/400 but the BCM50 is starting to P*** me off.
for instance; I can load startup templates with my flash drive but the 50 won't recognize it for patches. Nortel says it's either because my flash drive is USB2.0 or because the 50 only recognizes FAT file system. I doubt it (USB 2.0 is backward compatible and my drive is FAT). The 400 uses ntfs core system, the 50 is linux. I was told by a nortel tech that they already have a 2.0 beta version testing for release later this year, but they can't seem to get the bugs out of 1.0. I like the concept behind the 50, but the execution hasn't impressed me yet.
for instance; I can load startup templates with my flash drive but the 50 won't recognize it for patches. Nortel says it's either because my flash drive is USB2.0 or because the 50 only recognizes FAT file system. I doubt it (USB 2.0 is backward compatible and my drive is FAT). The 400 uses ntfs core system, the 50 is linux. I was told by a nortel tech that they already have a 2.0 beta version testing for release later this year, but they can't seem to get the bugs out of 1.0. I like the concept behind the 50, but the execution hasn't impressed me yet.
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