Meridian Mail won't come up...

[MacMan11]

I have an Option 11 which as a result of power outage can no longer get to Meridian Mail. When I login to the PBX I get a stream of CSA001 9, date, 4 messages. This implies CSL 9 can't be brought up due to ESDI problem. I assume ESDI refers to Enhanced Serial Data interface. The system has amongst line and trunk cards an NTAK03 TDS/DTR card. Is this card used for ESDI to get to the mail? If not what is, the backplane? When I do an LD 37 and STAT I Get
TTY 0 : ENBL TTY 1 : ENBL TTY 2 : ENBL
TTY 8 : DSBL TTY 9 : DSBL
Where are TTY 8 and 9? On the Mail cards? And what is TTY 8 used for? So many questions.. Basically any attempts I make to get Mail going come down to ESDI 9 being the problem and I am just trying to determine which card to replace or reconfig in some way if it is not hardware, which would be a nice bonus. By the way the Mail LED comes up green if that is worth anything. I have also reseated cards. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[hawks]

Since you don't seem to have a problem powering down the system. But like someone said ealier only use powering down as a last resort. I would bring the mail and switch up at the same time. Before doing this though turn your mail off for a minute or so then turn it back on and see what the light actually does. I belive it should come on for about 5 seconds or so then go out for a while. Let us know what the light does.

 

[phonedoc]

boot the mail to the install tape. if it wont boot to install tape then you have a bad 68k card. if it will then the hard drive is bad and will need to do a restore from backup

 

[techman3030]

MacMan, I just thought of something, make sure you stay logged out for around 10 min. or so while rebooting, as sometimes being in the system while interfere with the startup process. You should be able to follow the on screen messages to mark progress.

 

[MacMan11]

Thanks guys. I will try some of these late tonight or tomorrow after everyone has left the building and let you know how it goes. One question-if I pull the Mail out of the switch and start up the switch would that help isolate whether TTY 8 and 9 are gone on the CPU?

 

[techman3030]

I would think it would tell you pretty much the same thing that it has. It can't connect etc etc... and tell you that the mail card is missing. but you could try it. the only problem being that you would have to do yet another restart on your switch.

 

[MacMan11]

Yes that restart thing. There was an entire Option 11 fully equipped with software and mail etc on eBay and I was outbid at the last second. It went for only $1125!! Would have been nice to have around for spares and playing as well as getting new software. I have another question. At present I get to the switch via a port on the NTAK03. I have it wired to a comm server so I can telnet to the switch from my office. When I try the console port on the CPU I see switch generated messages clearly but my keystrokes generate a little garbage and are not accepted. Other than the baud rate defined by the dips do you know what are the standard settings for the port?

 

[techman3030]

it should be what ever the adan tty port is set to in ld 17. usually
9600 baud (this can be set diferent though)
8
n
1
emulation vt 520 (or 220, 320, etc..VT100 will also usually work)
Are you using a terminal or a cp with emulation software?

 

[MacMan11]

techman,
Still no go on the Meridian Mail. Powered down for 10 minutes and after restart I still get the TTY 8/9 errors. I am curious about the TTY 8/9 situation. I understand that TTY 9 is used for the system to do its thing with MerMail and that TTY 8 is for administrative access (AX) to MerMail. Now LD 48 is normally the way to set up the CSL 9/ESDI 9 etc (which is of course failing) but I am wondering how one actually tells the switch that TTY 8 is what it is. If I go to LD 37, and STAT TTY I get TTY 8 DSBL and TTY 9 DSBL. If I try to ENL TTY 8 or 9 I get IOD030 which says this is not available for ESDI ports. If I try ACMS 9 in LD 48 it says CMS #8 INVALID and with ACMS 9 I get the CSA001 9, date, 4 error. If I STAT CMS 8 I get no error and STAT CMS 9 says DOWN.
Anyway, I think it must be hardware but I am waiting for some spare parts to arrive. I have a couple of questions while I wait. I see an NTAK18 RS232 service module. Would this allow me to access the MerMail directly, assuming the MerMail does not have the screwed up ESDI ports? I don't have one, I was just curious. Also I have an NTAK02 coming in soon and I see that it can be configured for ESDI. Assuming the MerMail ESDI is not the problem do you know if the NTAK02 can be used to access MerMail? Thanks.

 

[wdhb]

On Opt11, tty8 is assigned in the default s/w for mmail. it always shows disabled unless your logged into mmail. if you have multi user logon & another tty access to the switch, log into mmail & access the switch thru the other tty & you will see tty 8 is enl.

 

[MacMan11]

wdhb,
So if TTY 8 and 9 are not functioning and assuming it is hardware, do you know which board would be at fault? The way I see it there must be serial chips in the MerMail board set and also on the CPU (or perhaps the NTAK03). Do you know which board I would be best to replace? Thanks.

 

[wdhb]

That's not so obvious. I would start with the processor card, the 1 that plugs in slot 10 & if you have no joy there it might be the hard drive or power board. Good luck

 

[techman3030]

I've been out of town working with my other switches and I just found your message, The NTAK18 is for access to features like hospitality, Networking and ACCESS applications. The NTAK02 is used for stand alone Mail sytems and other SDI applications, and you would physically cable them together instead of using the Backplane like the Card options do. If it is hardware, which it seems to be pointing that way, I would look at the mail board first, like wdhb said.

 

[chaosnla]

I read almost all of this and i don't think any said that after a reboot, you shouldn't log into the switch for about 230 mins. the ovly loader wants to bring upm mail . sometimes we log in too soon goodluck

 

[luv2ski]

again i would call a vendor it has been 10 days since the start of issue... what was it going to cost versus 10 days of aggravation. most vendors would have completed within 1st day...even if you are time and material
good luck

Pat Guido
NEXTIRAONE
Pat.guido@nextiraone.com

Formerly Nextira, formerly Williams Communications, formerly Wiltel, formerly Nortel networks, formerly Northern Telecom, formerly, Nynex meridian systems formerly Northern Telecom.

 

[MacMan11]

EUREKA. Well, I am stunned but happy. I figured that it wouldn't hurt to try out chaosnla's suggestion about powering up the switch with no early attempt to login. I powered it up and did nothing for 15 minutes. Up Meridian Mail came. Unbelievable but something I will not likely forget. My deep appreciation and thanks to you all for your suggestions. This forum was a treat to find and is a wealth of information as a result of your interest and contributions. The nice thing is i have a spare board or two for the future (unfortunately for luv2ski I won't need the vendor). Hopefully I can help someone else in the future. Now I can play some more with some of the other hidden features of the switch that I learned about during my reading and learning. ACD's for call queuing here I come.
Dave.

 

[MacMan11]

Looks like I was premature in my celebration. After the switch came up with Meridian Mail I noticed a DLC in the second cabinet(the only card in the cabinet) was not functioning. As a result I tried to reset the card with software and when that failed powered down the second cabinet and powered it back up. After doing that the system did a soft restart and the Mail went away again. Of course I can't get it back up now. My question is, what is the correct power up sequence with 2 cabinets and the mail. Should the second cabinet be powered up with the main switch and should I power up the Mail after everything else is up? Clearly there is something flaky somewhere and I would like to use the proper power up sequence. Thanks.

 

[MacMan11]

another question. If the hard drive in the Mermail is on its last legs (I can hear it spin up so mechanically it is not dead) would that cause the erratic TTY 9 failure. Also since I have not worked with the drive before and I am not sure if there is a full backup what would my next best step be. If I physically install a known good drive (but no data etc) will I be able to do an install to it from the Mer Mail install tape? Also if I am able to work on the existing drive out of the cabinet and ghost its content to another drive would that likely be a solution that allows me to simplify getting the system up.
Thanks again.

 

[luv2ski]

the only reason i say vendor is to make point that we are trained and have the support on nortel to fix almost any problem within a 2 to 4 hour period"if we need none stocked parts may take longer" so if the problem is minor and your getting your issue resolved thats great ...but if you are pulling your hair out and in way over your head why would you suffer through over this forover 10 days??

Pat Guido
NEXTIRAONE
Pat.guido@nextiraone.com

Formerly Nextira, formerly Williams Communications, formerly Wiltel, formerly Nortel networks, formerly Northern Telecom, formerly, Nynex meridian systems formerly Northern Telecom.

 

[MacMan11]

luv2ski,
Because you don't learn and become self-sufficient in any other way! The voice mail issue is not critical, just an inconvience that I would like to resolve and when it is definitively resolved we will be in a better position in the future. If it were critical other avenues would be taken.

 

[luv2ski]

fair enuf

Pat Guido
NEXTIRAONE
Pat.guido@nextiraone.com

Formerly Nextira, formerly Williams Communications, formerly Wiltel, formerly Nortel networks, formerly Northern Telecom, formerly, Nynex meridian systems formerly Northern Telecom.