Companion issue 1

[DigitelD]

We have a customer that has a MICS XC-2.0 and a Companion. Recently one of their base stations stopped working. I determined 2 things: the base station was bad and I had to change BIX positions on the cable as well as the station port. I replaced the base station, went through the re-evalutaion and it still would not come up. I took out another base station and had the same issue. I took the base station back to the RPI and tested it there with the same results. The red light just continues to flash. Any thoughts?

SHK Certified (School of Hard Knocks)
NCSS

 

[gforce9]

It's been awhile, but you may need recovery codes.

 

[RikRodgers]

Last I knew, Nortel was providing UTAM codes for free. 1-800-4nortel.

If the rest of your companion sets are working, though, I'm not sure that'll solve your issue. Have you tried removing it from all programming and neighbors, power cycled, then re-added it? Companion programming is messy, even by Nortel standards, but that's what I've had to do when replacing a base.

 

[DigitelD]

It doesn't need UTAM codes because the other 2 base stations are working fine. Only 1 base station is not working. I have already replaced the base station and changed its BIX location on the RPI.

SHK Certified (School of Hard Knocks)
NCSS

 

[aragon]

I have had similar problems with companion base stations.
It was necessary to ensure that every base station on the system be running the same firmware version.


David Brillert:
NNCAS NNCSS NNCDS 3Com CNTS
Product Manager

http://www.williamsglobal.com

 

[gwebster]

Nortel put out a bulletin indicating that regeneration of UTAM keycodes will no longer be provided after 30 Sep 2008.

 

[TelefonGuy]

I had the same thing happen on a customer about a year ago and it required more utam codes. We had a few extra utam codes that were given to us for this customer because this same thing had happened previously.

 

[SupportDude]

When you changed out the Base Station, did you change the entire assembly?
There are two parts ... the Base itself and the Line Interface Module which is on the mounting bracket.

If you have a volt/ohm meter you can test your cable all the way to the base.
You should have -48VDC on the power pair(s) and -18VDC on the port from the Norstar.
If the voltage is correct, the issue is probably with the base station.

The Flashing red LED indicates that the Base is defective or doesn't see the Norstar.
Solid red indicates both radios are busy or the Base is awaiting a Re-Eval to be added to the coverage area.

-SD-

http://www.mysupportguy.net

 

[DigitelD]

Yes to all your suggestions. The customer is going to change out the RPI.

SHK Certified (School of Hard Knocks)
NCSS

 

[SupportDude]

If you're seeing -48VDC at the end of the cable terminated to the Base, there is no sense in replacing the RPI.

Sounds like a defective BS.

-SD-

http://www.mysupportguy.net

 

[DigitelD]

We have already troubleshooted the base stations. Here is what we have done. We took a good working base station to the trouble point and it would not work. I took the base station from the trouble point to the RPI and it would not work. The first thing I had to do when this problem came up is move the base station to a different connection on the RPI because I was not getting the correct reading. In the troubleshooting section in the docs I went through and verified everything that it listed as possible culprits. The only thing left was the RPI.

SHK Certified (School of Hard Knocks)
NCSS

 

[curlycord]

Maybe try the base right at the amp cable (KSU) and not the station cable.
Also you could try a local power supply.....other then that flaky RPI.

 

[DigitelD]

I'm not clear on what you mean by trying the base station at the KSU. I verified the ports and even changed ports. I haven't tried a local power supply.

SHK Certified (School of Hard Knocks)
NCSS

 

[curlycord]

There maybe an issue where the cable form the system to where your base is has a slight issue where connection is not great.
So elminate the cable and try the base right at the phone system, cross connect to the actual port on the KSU and another cross connect to the RPI.

I had this same issue almost every week in a massive metal factory buitl in 1920, found the pairs in the feed cable and the station cable went bad after awhile.

 

[DigitelD]

I understand now, I have done that and the base station did not work.

SHK Certified (School of Hard Knocks)
NCSS

 

[SupportDude]

How many transformers are in your RPI?
If only 1, you have 8 outputs.
The first 4 bix blocks going left to right, then it drops down a row and counts the next 4.

If the installer used the RPI incorrectly, as an IDF, you could have issues with the pass-through ports.
There is no need to run a cable from the Norstar to the RPI when the equipement is co-located. You can just run cross-connects from each directly to the station cable.

The volt/ohm meter is your best tool when it comes to troubleshooting companion.

-SD-

http://www.mysupportguy.net

 

[DigitelD]

I have troubleshooted the system with a volt/ohm meter. The Companion is located by the equipment and the ports are connected with cross-connect. What we were talking about was wiring up the base station to the RPI locally to bypass the cable to the base station. The base station still did not work. Keep in mind that we have tried 2 other base stations.

SHK Certified (School of Hard Knocks)
NCSS

 

[curlycord]

Sounds like next test a phone on the port and test a Local Power Supply

 

[DigitelD]

The only thing I haven't done that you mentioned is another power supply.

SHK Certified (School of Hard Knocks)
NCSS

 

[DigitelD]

I need to resurrect this issue because the customer replaced the RPI and it did not fix the issue. Here is what the problem is NOT: base station, RPI, cable, wiring, MICS port.
One thing that I noticed in troubleshooting this issue is that the MICS will see the base station but it will show it as Busy in Port/DN status and at the same time the Companion will require a Re-evaluation. If you complete the Re-evaluation the MICS will no longer see the base station. I have some questions:

1. In the Companion programming in the MICS, what are the CREDITS under Registration?
2. What are the CREDITS under Radios?

Currently there are 12 total credits under Radios and only 4 are used. This site has 3 base stations and 2 are working. Under Registration, CREDITS are 0.
Is it possible that the system lost a base station credit that will cause the base station to not work? Could it be a software problem in the MICS? It seems that we have checked everything outside of the MICS.

Thanks,


SHK Certified (School of Hard Knocks)
NCSS