Merlin Legend dial out problem

[MDPVoterfile]

I am new to dealing with phone systems, so I hope there is someone out there that can help me. My company uses a Merlin Legend Version 2. For some time now there were times when someone would try and dial an outside number and nothing happens. I get a dial tone I then dial the outside number and then nothing. Usually, if I hang up and try the number again it goes through. This problem has been happening more often. Any suggestions?

 

[merlinman]

Do you dial 9 to make an outside call?

Perhaps you have some lines not working.

Let us know the answer to the question, and we can go from there.

 

[tdaugirdas]

My guess is - as Merlinman suggested - you have some "dead" lines in your pool of lines - assuming you are in "Hybrid/PBX mode. The system assumes all possible lines (whether populated or not) are in Pool 70 - the default line pool. So, for example - if you have three 408 GS/LS MLX modules - the system assumes all possible 12 lines are in pool 70. If you have only 6 lines connected - 6 will be "dead". The system rotates lines in a circular fashion - so if only 6 lines are connected, 6 times in a row you will get a "dead" line - until the system recycles to the 1st line. You need to remove these non-existant lines from Pool 70 AND from the operator phone.

Tom Daugirdas,
President
STCG, Inc.
stcg.com

 

[MDPVoterfile]

Yes we do have to dail 9 to make an outside call.

 

[tdaugirdas]

Then you are in "Hybrid/PBX" mode. Now provide a list of the modules installed in your system after the processor - this will tell us how many lines your system "thinks" it has installed. Also - how many actual working phone lines do you have installed?

Tom Daugirdas,
President
STCG, Inc.
stcg.com

 

[MDPVoterfile]

We have four 408 GS/LS MLX modules to the right of the processor. I checked the 8 lines we have running into the modules and 3 of those lines have no dial tone and two lines give me a dial tone that sounds like we have voicemail hooked up to them. Is that right? All I did to check the lines was to upplugg from the modules and plug them into a regular phone. I left the three lines that had no dial tone unplugged, but I am still having the problem.

 

[tdaugirdas]

I would leave all 8 of your lines plugged in at the moment.

Unplugging the dead lines - does not remove them form your Pool of lines in the system. The system assumes you have a total of 16 lines connected (Lines 801 thru 816).

Do this at the 20L Operator phone: Press Menu, System Program, Exit, Lines/Trunks, Pools, 70 enter, Entry Mode - and now press the "Inspect" key. You will see a list of line numbers starting at 801. Press exit, and now press 809 delete, 810 delete, 811 delete, etc. thru 816. Then press inspect again to make sure that only lines 801 thru 808 show up.

Now you need to remove the same dead lines from the Operator phone: Press menu, system program, exit, extentions, lines/trunks, type in the operator ext# and press enter, press Entry Mode, press Inspect - to see what lines show up. Press exit and delete all lines after 808.

At the operator phone, you can test Lines 801 thru 808 for dialtone. Just press speaker and press the 3rd button up from the bottom on the left bank of buttons, next press the button above, then the next one above - now shift over a column and press the bottommost button - until you have checked dialtone for all 8 lines.

If you have any "dead" ones - find out if they should be dead or not - by calling your Telco. If they are trully dead - you will have to remove them as noted above.

If three of your lines have a "stutter tone" - indicating they are covered by Telco voicemail (and that they have messages) - that's OK - as long as you get dialtone after the "stutter".

Tom Daugirdas,
President
STCG, Inc.
stcg.com

 

[MDPVoterfile]

Ok tdaugirdas,
I tried your suggestions, but listed in my pool are only 801-806 and thats it. I did plug the lines back in and cleared out any unused phone ext. I checked the dial tones and on the operators phone. On the main phone there are 8 lines listed. (801-808) I tried the dial tones and lines 801 and 803 had dials like mine at home when I have a voice mail. That doesn't sound right. 802,804,and 807 were fine. Lines 805, 806, and 808 had NO dial tone. I am confused why would our main phone have 8 lines listed but only 6 are in the pool?

 

[tdaugirdas]

You need to call your phone company and find out how many lines you are supposed to actually have. Then test each line - by placing an inbound call and an outbound call. Any lines that are dead should be removed from the system, pool 70 and the operator phone.

Normally you have a main phone# and then a circular hunt group of additional lines - that calls flow to if your main# is busy. I would assume that's what you have.

Tom Daugirdas,
President
STCG, Inc.
stcg.com

 

[merlinman]

I think you need one of us to help as well.

 

[TouchToneTommy]

I think you need a visit from a local telephone tech.

The lines that connect to your Legend need to be tested for dial tone, all the way to the phone company's "Minimum Point of Entry".

Those without working dial tone need to be reported to the telco for repair.

Hopefully, the numbers of the individual lines will be marked on the block, so the tech can tell which lines are actually dead.

If you call the phone company instead, it's possible that the dial tone is good to the MPOE, and not getting all the way into the Legend, in which case they would NOT fix the problem, and charge you for the visit anyway. Paying a local tech would isolate the problem, get it fixed if it is an inside problem, or get it reported for a no charge telco repair. You might also be able to glean some info from the tech, for simple maintaince going forward, as well as establishing a relationship with someone local to service your equipment.

 

[MDPVoterfile]

I figured out the problem, with help from you guys. It would seem that 3 of the 8 lines we subscribe to have no dial tone so I contacted telco and they are sending out a repairman today. Thanks to all you guys for your help. Thanks for the help guys.

 

[tdaugirdas]

After the repair - don't forget to add the two extra lines (807 and 808) to your Pool 70 - unless they are dedicated lines for something else, like fax lines, etc. Right now your Pool 70 has only 6 lines, not 8.

Tom Daugirdas,
President
STCG, Inc.
stcg.com

 

[MDPVoterfile]

I checked it tdaugirdas, all the lines are already in there and all 8 work fine. Thanks guys for the guidance.

 

[UpstatePaul]

Just curious if you guys know how to do this, I don't remember the code, but I remember that there is one that you can dial to manually pick up each trunk individually from any phone for example *3xxxxxrx 803 would pick up 803.

It always helped me troubleshoot problems like this, not sure if its privelaged info or not but would love to know it again

 

[TouchToneTommy]

Because you can skirt toll restriction, refer to your maintenance manual.

 

[merlinman]

It is quite privileged due to the reasons TTT sited.

 

[SYQUEST]

Hi UpstatePaul,

You will find your answer to that question in the maintenance document for the Legend, which also covers troubleshooting.

It can be downloaded from support.avaya.com

Happy reading!

....JIM....