Hicom 300 - Custom Callout Adapter

[tylerj]

Hi,

We have a Hicom 300 (9006.6) that is monitored by an outside company via the custom callout adapter. Recently we had severe lightning that we believe may have reached the Hicom. Immediately after this we noticed that the monitoring was no longer working. We took a look at the custom callout adapter II and noticed a blinking fault light. We've tried replacing the CCA with 3 different replacements, replaced the A1 processor and even tried another replacement RS-232 cable. We've tried different POTS lines, reinstalled Unixware and just about everything you can think of. When trying to dial in to the modem, you can hear the modem tones, but do not receive any login prompt. I'm assuming this is a hardware issue, but what else is there left to replace and is it replaceable. Any thoughts and/or insights are appreciated. Thanks.

 

[donb01]

The blinking fault light usually means unix isn't running, or it can't see the serial port that it's connected to. If the serial port is fried I believe that's on the backplane and can't just be easily changed.

 

[tylerj]

I was afraid that was the case. I'm awaiting word from the company that monitors it/supports it to find out the next step. Thanks for your help, donb01. Anyone else have any experience with this?

 

[donb01]

It's been years since I twiddled under the hood that much, but if you trace the cable from the CCA into the underbelly you can disconnect it from the 25-pin DB25 port. Now hook up a regular serial cable to the port and connect it to a laptop or PC. Set your baud rate to 115,200 N 8 1 (for v6.6) (19,200 for everything else), fire up a terminal program like ProComm if you have it, or hyperterminal if you don't and connect to the com port at that speed. For 6.6 you should only have to hit enter once or twice to get a response - everything else can take 4 or 5 hits. If you get a login prompt the port is OK.

If you don't get a login prompt right away then try a null modem adapter before you write it off - that's the part I can't remember - if you need the null modem for the regular port or the RMX port.

Don't bother to login unless you have ProComm and have it properly set up, because the F-Key mappings won't work right and you'll have trouble moving around and logging off. Just check for a login prompt. If you get one then it's either a cable issue, or something with the CCA - like if you had an old one sitting around and the battery isn't connected or is dead.

Also, if the port is active and normal you should be able to connect your serial cable right to the service port on the CCA and get a login with the above settings - no null modem adapter needed.

 

[tylerj]

The issue is finally resolved. We were shipped several bad/incorrect callout adapters as well as a processor that was complicating matters. Finally, on the day we were about to replace the shelf we accidently found a combination of good parts. What a lucky break that was!

 

[donb01]

Ohhh - so it was like you were getting the original CCA and needed the CCA-2? I know 9006.6 has a different CCA and the desired communication speed is 115,600 for everything, where the old one would only allow 19.200.... I could see that causing a problem!