Merlin Magix PRI T1 Problem 1

[phonesaz]

I have a customer who experienced a power outage today and now cannot make/receive calls. Everything on the switch looks OK - cleared all the errors, reset the board, did a board renumber, reset the boards, did everything and still cannot make/receive calls. The router is all green, there are no red lights on the T1 board - I think I need someone who knows the secrets of monitoring and can monitor it for me so I can see where the problem lies...these guys are totally out of service and I don't know what to do. So...any suggestions or is there anyone out there who does monitoring that I could contact? Thanks -

 

[tdaugirdas]

Have you tried to reboot the system? Have you asked the Telco to reboot on their end? Any errors related to the T1 showing up in the processor log?

Tom Daugirdas,
President
STCG, Inc.
stcg.com

 

[phonesaz]

I have done all the above; plus unseated and reseated all the cards, reset the T1 board, cleared all the errors and done a board renumber, anything I can think of.

 

[tdaugirdas]

Call the Telco and ask them to reboot on their end - by taking the D channel down and then putting it back up again. You may need to reboot again shortly thereafter. Ask them to monitor inbound/outbound test calls to see what they can "see" on their end.

Worst comes to worst - default the system and reprogram it from scratch. I have had to do that in the past - and it worked on getting the system back up and running - thankfully very rarely.

Tom Daugirdas,
President
STCG, Inc.
stcg.com

 

[tdaugirdas]

TouchtoneTommy has a pretty good trouble-shooting check-list in the FAQ section - check it out.

Tom Daugirdas,
President
STCG, Inc.
stcg.com

 

[SYQUEST]

Phonesaz,

When you open a trouble ticket with the service provider, you need to have them check the D channel and B channel TRUNK GROUPS in the switch for out-of-service status!! Have them put them IN SERVICE!

PRIMARY ISDN comes from the 'TRUNK SIDE' of the CO switch, and the BCH and DCH are nothing but trunks to the switch. So they can be put out-of-service just like DID trunks.

There is nothing to "reboot" concerning trunks in a switch!! Trunks are not software!

Trunks have status: in/out of service, maintenance busy, etc. No booting... The DCH is the most important, because all communication between the Magix and the CO switch takes place on the DCH for all call setup and teardown. One reason the CO switch may put the BCH and/or DCH in a maintenance busy state is when the power failure occurred, the messages the CO switch received were garbage or distorted. So under certain conditions the switch will respond in that manner, and may not always auto-restore.

....JIM....

 

[phonesaz]

So I did a backup so I can change the processor (changed the T1 board to no avail..) and when I put the new Magix in and did a restore, it said unable to restore - invalid backup file. I am going from a Magix 1.5 to a 4.7, so I assumed it would either be no problem, or ask me to convert. Do you think this could be an indication that the processor is bad? I don't want to move forward if my assumption is bad.

 

[TouchToneTommy]

You would need to save the 1.5 translations to your PC, then use WinSpm to convert, then load from your PC to the 4.0

 

[tdaugirdas]

IF you did not save a copy of the R1.5 backup to your PC - before you put in the new R4.7 processor - then you need to reinsert the old processor - do a backup to your PC using WinSPM - and then (as TouchToneTommy said) "convert" that backup file (using WinSPM) to Magix R4 version. Then swap to the new processor, put it in Hybrid PBX mode - and restore the converted backup file to the new processor from your PC - it will take a while - so be patient.

Tom Daugirdas,
President
STCG, Inc.
stcg.com

 

[phonesaz]

So I thought that with WinSPM if you needed to convert, it prompted accordingly? Or I guess my ?? is -- if it doesn't automatically ask me, how to I get it to convert rather than restore? Did I mention I am on site and 30 accountants are unable to bill for their time? I am feeling lonely and unappreciated. I guess a truck hit a power pole yesterday.

Also - I am doing a print-all just in case worse comes to worse and I have to rebuild manually - it has taken over 2 hours - 2 cab system, about 60 phones, voice mail, PRI (non working) T1 - doesn't that seem like a long time???

 

[tdaugirdas]

In WinSPM, under Tools, click on convert - select your backup file from the R1.5 Magix as the file to convert, choose Magix R4 as the type of conversion - then choose a filename for the converted file. I would just use "Convert"

Tom Daugirdas,
President
STCG, Inc.
stcg.com

 

[phonesaz]

Follow up on this mess - it wasn't the Magix at all (surprise.) The T1 was set to NM2 instead of ATT Custom so I am surprised it worked at all - 16 hours later the vendor programmed it the way it was ordered and it worked - so I guess all the time I spent upgrading and replacing and reprogramming will be valuable to my client somehow...someday...thanks to everyone who helped me with this. I am assuming the reason it worked for the first week was because I moved it from a correctly configured T1 to a new one, so it worked because the handshaking was never interrupted until they had a 10-minute power outage. Learn something new every day...

 

[ExLucy]

Phonesaz, I wish I could have been on the line with you and the vendor that put you through hell.

I have been put in that horrible situation with my tech on site, and as remote cutover support but nobody has it as bad as the tech on site.

Whether it is a new install that won't come up or a trouble ticket on existing service, they always want to say the problem is your equipment that has suddenly gone bad or your programming is incorrect, but it is definately on your end.

Many times I have had to insist that they verify all of their settings at each link of the chain. They can get downright testy when you ask for an escallation to a more experienced tester. These guys can afford to sit in the office, run one or two of the usual tests on their circuit only to calmly pronounce your equipment bad.

You can't afford to let them make you and your customer doubt the quality and reliability of your equipment. They can cost you a fortune in time and materials and a lot of frustration for you and your customer.

Remember the Legend/Magix is only the reciever of a T-1's signalling. It can only respond to signals recieved.
If / When this happens to you again, if you would like someone on your side, call me I'll help you put the heat back on the vendor where it belongs. Phyllis Smith 972-733-0293.