Merlin Messaging R2.5 - EXTREMELY delayed message delivery

[FAdvocates]

Greetings ladies and gentlemen..

I've got a Merlin Message R2.5 (12port) that is exhibiting odd behaviour.

The employees will empty the general mailbox (9997) before they go home on TUESDAY night, and the MWI light on ext 100 goes out.

They come in WEDNESDAY, and there is an MWI again - with messages timstamped from MONDAY! (and probably some from Tuesday night too, but that'd be normal)

Also, when they listen to messages, they're not necessarily being played in chronological order.

Any ideas? They've got patients that are "no-showing" for their appointments because they're not getting the cancellations in an acceptable amount of time. That sure doesn't seem normal to me?

Does this mean the hard drive is going out on their unit or something?

Thanks, Joel

 

[eltorodeoro]

normally when mailboxes exhibit this behavior, a band-aid is to delete it and re-establish. however, seeing as how this is 9997, i don't think you can do that.

a new messaging system may be in order.

 

[telecomtekperson]

What release messaging is this. There were problems with the 2.0 and 2.5. I had the same on a 2.5, we had to install new hardware, there was a PCN on this a while ago. I will look...

 

[tdaugirdas]

Is this something new - or did this messaging module always have this problem? Another possibility is not enough TTR's in the system - or some bad TTR's - check the processor error log for any TTR errors. Also, are all 12 ports rotary enabled? I believe in a 12-port it is ports 11 and 12 that turn on and off the message lights. I would check the date and time in the messaging module as well - even though it should sync with the system time periodically. You could also log into the RS232 port on the messaging module using "tech1000" as your login name - and check the messaging unit's error log for any clues. As noted above it could be signs of a failing hard drive. If so - I would consider upgrading both the firmware and hard drive software to Release 4.0

Tom Daugirdas,
President
STCG, Inc.
stcg.com

 

[FAdvocates]

Well, this seems to be "new" behaviour - this unit has been in service for almost 12 months now at this particular site.

hmm - ok - So how do I upgrade firmware and HD software? I'll check in with the programming next time I'm there.

In the meantime, I am interested in learning how that upgrade process works.

To answer someone's question above, it is a MM R2.5, as I specified in my original question.

Thanks - Joel

 

[tdaugirdas]

To do the upgrade - you need to buy an upgrade kit that includes a one-time PCMCIA firmware upgrade for your R2.5 module and a CD-ROM with the software upgrade for the harddrive. The CD-ROM also has the R4.0 administration software. The upgrade does not affect existing programming - but they recommend doing a PC back-up first anyway - just in case. While the back-up is being done - the voicemail system will be out of service. The firmware upgrade takes about 5 minutes - the software upgrade takes about 30 to 40 minutes - so plan accordingly.

Any Avaya dealer can sell you the upgrade kit.

There is no need to reprogram the module. On the other hand - if you suspect your hard drive is on the verge of failing - I would back-up the system to a PC via the LAN interface - and get a new R2.5 hard drive. Reload the programming - and then do the upgrade.

Tom Daugirdas,
President
STCG, Inc.
stcg.com

 

[FAdvocates]

Aside from the programming issues, I still haven't really gotten a clear idea of what would be wrong in hardware. Is it the hard drive, or is it the rest of the circuit pack?

Or is it corrupted software, and NOTHING is wrong with the hardware, and all we need to do is "reinstall" the software through an upgrade process?

I'll look into performing that upgrade, presuming the price is right..

Thanks- Joel

 

[tdaugirdas]

Well - the module itself rarely goes bad - but it is possible. Most of the time it is software on the hard drive that has become corrupted due to sector errors. That is why I would check the error log. The software part of the upgrade does not load a completely new software package - which is why existing programming and drive contents are not affected. It updates programming menus and some of the built-in announcements. This is why I recommend replacing the drive - if you find any errors in the log and/or thew drive is starting to get noisy - before the upgared. I believe the upgrade kit costs around $400 - not sure what they rip for a new R2.5 hard drive.

Tom Daugirdas,
President
STCG, Inc.
stcg.com

 

[telecomtekperson]

With the issue I had, the system was installed for 3 years before it showed these symptoms. It is a hardware problem. Replace the messaging.

 

[tdaugirdas]

I agree that it may be a hardware problem - but the hardware involved is most likely - not positively - the hard drive.

Tom Daugirdas,
President
STCG, Inc.
stcg.com