Call Pilot Problems

[daver56]

I have a problem with a Call Pilot VM system attached to an MICS ver 6.1. Sometimes after a weekend but even at times durring the week, the unit will stop performing. The auto attendant will stops answering calls and attempts to reach the VM from inside will show the station busy.

A couple of months ago this system was upgraded from 4.0 to 6.1 and at that time the old Flash VM was replaced by this new Call Pilot.

Rebooting the Call Pilot seems to clear the issue, but it has happened 6 or 7 times in the past two months. Looking at the Call Pilot event log shows no problems, and I am not getting any errors on the MICS.

I tried assigning the two ports for voice mail to a button on a phone to watch when the ports were busy, and sometimes the phone shows that the ports are in use when the problems happens and sometimes not.

Not sure where to go from here...

Any Ideas.....


Dave

 

[aragon]

Using the CallPilot web interface go to reports and have a look at the port usage report.
It shows a 5 or 7 day rolling history of port usage by day of week and in half hour increments.
You can interpret the report like this:
0900 09030 2% means that all voicemail ports were busy for 2% of that half hour increment.
Do you have CallCenter enabled?
How many ports have you reserved for CallCenter?
How many ports have you assigned to maximum outgoing channels in configuration>system properties?
Words of wisdom=
CallCenter only uses a channel when playing a recorded announcement therefore 1 or 2 reserved channels is plenty.
Maximum outgoing channels reserves channels for off premise voicemail notification.
I would leave both at the default value of 1.
Especially if you are on CP100 or if you are using full Auto Attendant.

 

[jerryreeve]

Personally I would look at this as a warantee failure and get a replacement unit, the VM should not be locking up like this and 7 times in last few months is too many. If you don't have that option you might try to reload the CP completely, I don't think there is a written procedure for this, ANYONE OUT THERE PLEASE CORRECT ME ON THIS, power down the unit, pull the software, re-power the unit, power back down, replace the software re-power the unit again and re-program from scratch.

----------------------------
JerryReeve
Communications Systems Int'l
com-sys.com

 

[aragon]

If you are reloading the software from scratch you need to use the bootloader procedure found in the FAQ section.
If the upgrade procedure does not work and the software card supplied with the CallPilot needs a complete rewrite then I have found that putting the flash ata card in a digital camera and using the camera to format the card will allow you to rewrite the software using the bootloader.
You will lose your applied keycodes so make sure you copy the keycode number down before doing any of this.
I think it is worthwhile to see if the port usage history is responsible for the issues before taking such drastic measures as replacement or reload.

It is also possible that the outside lines are not supporting disconnect supervision and they hanging the voicemail channels.

 

[jerryreeve]

aragon, Thanks I guess I should have looked at the FAQ's again myself

----------------------------
JerryReeve
Communications Systems Int'l
com-sys.com

 

[aragon]

By the way it is not possible to completely format the flash ata card from the CallPilot using Windows.
Not even partition manager sees all of the vxworx partitions on the callpilot flash ata card.
It might be hard to find a digital camera with compact flash support.
If anyone knows any way to do this in windows please post.

 

[daver56]

I think I may be having a problem with a few busy times. The CP locked up this past Monday, and according to the reports I had 30% busy port from 7:30 to 8:00 AM and also from 8:00 to 8:30. I have some field personnel that are calling in information on Monday mornings, that is left on a mail box to be picked up later in the day... I will have them spread out the calls and see if that helps.

As I stated in my first post... I tried assigning a button to the two ports going to the CP, and the A channel does show busy when the port is busy, but I also assigned a button to the DN listed for the B channel, but it never shows usage, later in the day after the last problem I did access the CP from 4 phones at the same time and all got through..... so all the ports are working, but why does the buttons assigned to the two B port not show the activity?

Thanks for all the help

 

[aragon]

wow 30%
I guess your callpilot is ok then.
An upgrade to cp150 would give you another 4 channels.
Desktop messaging does not use b channels and would free up these ports. You would have to use vpn clients in order for these users to collect their voicemail via desktop messaging.

 

[daver56]

I am not using Desktop messaging, but that may be something I need to look into.

Can you give a quick and dirty rundown of how it functions.

Dave

 

[aragon]

voicemails are left in IMAP server in CallPilot.
Desktop messaging software is installed on client computer.
User logs into email client and sees voicemail messages in inbox.
Messages are stored as .vbk files and played back using CallPilot player. Playback does not require voice channels.
I think you are better off upgrading to CP150.

 

[FuturistechComm]

When the Call-Pilot freezes up can you still get a response with feature 985? Have you checked the LED status on the CP? I have seen multiple power issues with the CP power supply.

Jason Foulds
Futuristech Communications

http://www.futuristechcommunications.com

 

[daver56]

I do not get through with 985 either. After looking at the usage reports, I think it is a problem with high usage at times. I did not have the problem today (Monday), and I am going to pull the logs tonite and see what it shows. I will take a good look at the LED's if it happens again. I have sent out word to try and spread out all the call-in's on Mondays mornings.