How can I Upgrade My System Software? 2

[Mojomomo]

Hi,
This question is probably gonna show how little I know, but here goes:
We have a Hicom 150E system here. It uses software version 1.0. I understand the 150E's final software version ended up at version 3.0. I'd like to upgrade our system software, but the only Siemens reseller/service place I've ever been able to find in our area recently went bankrupt (and this is New York City). Does anyone know how I can obtain the software upgrade and/or does anyone know how I can find a reseller from Siemens that works in New York City? I've been all over the Siemens web site- lots of information on how I can buy a new telephon system but no information on support for older systems.

Thanks. I love this forum. Everyone who contributes has been extremely helpful.

 

[donb01]

OK, here's the scoop. First, you MUST have the Manger E software, not Assistant E if you are going to 3.0. You can still do release 2.2 with Assistant E if you have a newer version, but why bother.

Call Black Box resale (

http://www.blackbox-vs.com

I believe) and tell them that you wish to purchase the upgrade to version 3.0. I believe it costs $300. If you are running release 1.0 they will also make you buy the current version of the CBMOD card (main board) because it needs to have more memory on it in order to support 3.0. I believe that runs about $275. They will ship you a new flash card with the version 3.0 software on it.

OK, if you purchase those 2 things, you are part way there. I must warn you - I just did this upgrade, and everything went very quickly and flawlessly right up until the very end. THEY HAVE CHANGED THE COUNTRY SPECIFIC INITIALIZATION PROCEDURE IN 3.0. I will make another post here with the exact instructions to follow, but I have to go snag it from where I left it at the site where I did the upgrade.

Here is the quickie version - notes at the end.... Basically what you do is download your system to your PC using Manager E, and save your KDS file as "original.kds". Then you go into the file menu and choose "Convert customer database" and tell it the file that you want to convert is called "original.kds" and you want to convert it to 3.0, pick your language, and the type of system and number of cabinets that you will be running on (In my case, 2 cabinet OfficePro). It will save the new file as something like "converted.kds" and leave the old one untouched.

Since you will probably need to purchase the CBMOD card for 1.0, save yourself some time by installing the flash card in it now. Then power down the system and yank out the CBMOD card that is in there. Remove the IMOD card and put it in the same slot on the new board as it was in on the old one. If there is a daughter board on your old CBMOD card you must transfer that one to the new board as well. That will require a Torx bit - I believe it is a T-8 - definitely a little pisser, but have a size or two around that on hand.

When you are done putting th new CBMOD card together put it back into the system and power it up. Immediately HOLD DOWN the reset button for at least 5 seconds to reinitialize the system. It will of course come up in german and you will have to change the language. The old process just used to require you to enter *95 then 31994 then the 8-digit code for your country. The new version (I will post details tomorrow or so) requires a login (31994) password (31994) and then requires you to change the password (enter 31994 again) and confirm the new password (enter 31994 yet again) and then it will bring up an administration menu on the screen - which will still be in german. There is a code you can enter in to change the language of the phone to English, which is the part I need to look up - you can enter that code before you start entering the login and password stuff and you will be able to read what it is saying. They actually provided me with documentation for the upgrade, but it had the wrong version of this procedure and I ended up paying $200 for a tech to tell me how to do it.

OK, once you get the phone into English so you can tell what you are doing, you can go into system set up from the menu, scroll to the system language item and change it to english. There is a faster way to do this, which I have.

Once the system is in English, then just FLIP the reset switch and let the system reload again, then hook up your PC, login with your Manager E and upload your "converted.kds" file to the system. When that is done, one more flip of the reset switch and when the system comes back up it will be back to "normal".

*** IMPORTANT NOTES *** The process of upgrading to 3.0 changes what they used to call "Executive/Secretary" groups into "Top" groups. This data will NOT be converted by the Manager E software and will cause problems. If you use Executive-Secretary groups you must note them all, and then open up the "converted.kds" file and DELETE all of the Executive-Secretary group information. Save that modified .kds file as "modified.kds" and that is the file that should be uploaded to your new system.

Next Note - Converting from 1.0 to 3.0 will result in the loss of ANY custom timer settings that you may have modified. If you made any modifications to any of the system timers or ring timers you MUST make note of them before uploading your new data as they will all be reset to default.

Last note - this one is from memory - I will have to look it up again.... I know that the vast majority of everything from release 2.2 will convert fine to 3.0 except the Exec/Sec groups noted above, but I think there was also a note that the regular hunt groups may not convert from 1.0 to 3.0 as well, but I am not sure of that - may not hurt to write those down as well.

Hope this helps you a bit.

 

[Mojomomo]

Wow! Thanks Donb01! I still can't believe the level of detail in your response. It must have taken a long time to write! But I'm in your debt. You spelled out exactly what I need to do, and I'm sure your reply will be useful for other people as well.

Again, thank you, thank you, thank you very much for taking the time to help. And now I'm off to do an upgrade!

 

[donb01]

Sorry I haven't gotten to the site I did the upgrade at to pull off my handwritten notes for how to set the country code back to English. I will post them as soon as I get a chance to get over there.

You are welcome for the information - I am not an expert, so I am not trying to be rude by my statement, but it is hard when you are at the top of your totem pole and you have no one to go to without dishing out a ton of cash. That's why I like this site - I have found a few answers to my problems, and I like to give back to others so their lives can be easier too.

 

[donb01]

In release 3.0, The process for setting the switch back to english when you have reloaded the switch is as follows:

On the phone attached to the first digital port on the system (must be a display phone).

Dial * 4 8 1 2 to set the PHONE's language to english
Dial * 9 5 to enter programming mode
Dial 3 1 9 9 4 as user
Dial 3 1 9 9 4 as password
Dial 3 1 9 9 4 when prompted to change password
Dial 3 1 9 9 4 when prompted to confirm password
Enter 2 9 to get to the "System" menu
Scroll --> to "Init"
Choose your country from the list "U.S." in this case
<Save Changes>

Slap the reset switch and let the system reload. You should be in English now on the phone and in the system. In 3.0 you will also have to use the same annoying menu to set the date and time that displays on the phones, but once the language selection is done you could use the "Online" mode of Manger E to do that if you prefer - just type your characters in R e a a a l l l y S l o o o w w w....

This process is radically different than the one for Rls 1.0 or 2.2, which only required you to do *95, then 31994 maybe, then an 8-digit country code and you were done. In 3.0 the security is beefed up so you can have multiple user-id's that have different access levels to the system.