Need Help Identifying Faulty Hardware 1

[bocktar]

I have a Partner ACS system with a five slot carrier. Modules placed in Slot 1 or Slot 4 do not work properly. I am trying to determine whether this is a problem with the carrier or a problem with the processor.

Modules placed in slot 1 will power up, but they behave erratically. For example, an otherwise good 400EC will pick up two telco lines at once when only one line is selected from a system phone.

Modules placed in slot 4 will power up, but do not operate at all.

I don't know if this is enough information for anyone to make a diagnosis, but any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[boom10boom]

Do you have all the slots in the carrier filled. You need to populate slots in order starting with processor in center then left to right. You can not skip slots. If you have any 206 or 308 cards, these should be placed first on left followed by line cards(200 or 400). If you give me more information, I can try to help more.

 

[bocktar]

boom10boom:

Thanks for responding! I've had a hard time trying to figure this problem out. Here's what I can tell you...

I do have cards that I want to use to fill out the carrier, but I've been unable to get the system working properly when I try to place cards in slots 1 and 4.

My current working configuration is as follows:

Slot 1: Empty
Slot 2: 400EC
Slot 3: ACS R3.0.3 Processor
Slot 4: Empty
Slot 5: Partner Messaging 1.0

This is how I would like it to be configured (if this is the correct way to do it):

Slot 1: Partner Messaging 1.0
Slot 2: 308EC
Slot 3: ACS R3.0.3 Processor
Slot 4: 400EC
Slot 5: 200E

When I try to configure the desired way, I have the following problems:

1. Partner Messaging 1.0 in Slot 1 completely locks up when it performs its nightly maintenance. The entire carrier must be restarted to bring it back to life. (I replaced one Partner Messaging 1.0 module thinking it was a module problem, but the problem continued with the replacement module)

2. Nothing can be heard on any of the lines on the 400EC in Slot 4. Interestingly, though, the lines do pick up and the touch tone handlers work. I know this because I dialed into a line on the 400EC (which was covered by an auto-attendant) and transferred to an extension from memory...sure enough, the desired extension started ringing.

I know that the 308EC that I want to place in Slot 2 and the 200E module that I want to place in Slot 5 are working correctly. During troubleshooting I substituted the 400EC in the currently working configuration with both cards. They behave as expected.

So, I believe I've verified that none of the modules (with the possible exception of the Processor) are damaged in any way.

One thing I've never tried is resetting the system back to factory defaults, seating all modules in the desired order, and reconfiguring. It seemed like a somewhat drastic step given the fact that I appeared to have hardware problems.

Thanks!

 

[idoelectronics]

That setup won’t work use this setup. The carrier gets a power signal from the 308EC and other modules wont work correctly if any other card is installed in the first slot the added CO ports have to be last because the don’t have ports assignment and would confuse the processor where the ports are.

Slot 1: 308EC
Slot 2: Partner Messaging 1.0
Slot 3: ACS R3.0.3 Processor
Slot 4: 200E
Slot 5: 400EC

If you still have problems test each card in slot 1: with no other card installed but processor. If none of the cards work with the processor alone then the processor will need repair.

 

[boom10boom]

Partner messaging should always be placed after any line or station cards. leaving no space in between. Processor card always goes in the center. You should set up as below with your voicemail stations being if a two port messaging card ust stations 42,43. If 4 port messaging use stations 40,41,42,43.

Slot 1: 308EC
Slot 2: 400EC
Slot 3: ACS R3.0.3 Processor
Slot 4: 200E
Slot 5: Partner Messaging 1.0

 

[MattWray]

It is not necessary to place the VM card after line cards, only station cards. And the VM will work before station cards as well, just not practical for skipping a row of stations for the VM card. I agree with idoelectronics post... Matt Wray
CCNA, MCP
mwray77518@yahoo.com

 

[boom10boom]

It is not practical to put the voicemail in between line cards and station cards. It is practical to have the voicemail be placed at tne next available poisition of what is being installed.

 

[MattWray]

What is impractical in the placement of VM before a line card? It has no effect on programming, and actually is easier to figure out the VM ports for most... When I install a switch, I set them up as above and have never had a problem yet... Matt Wray
CCNA, MCP
mwray77518@yahoo.com

 

[bocktar]

Thank guys, for all of the help on this problem. I finally got the system working properly.

The initial installer of the system apparently never thoroughly tested things because there was a piece of transparent tape covering the top four contacts of the card edge on the processor module, thus preventing modules in Slot 1 and Slot 4 from working.

Once it was removed, configuring the system as desired worked perfecly.

It's amazing that the system ever worked at all with that piece of tape on there.

 

[392]

Jeeze, it took 3 months to fix? Bad omen......

Glad you got it working. The tape was a pretty bizzare fault. I've seen the plastic connectors get malformed, but never seen tape over the contacts.

While I'm here I'll weigh in on the "what module first" discussion. The highest rev 308 (or 206) should be in slot 1, followed by modules actually using stations. 200 and 400 cards should come last, since placing them before station modules leaves a hole in the dial plan. The 2/400s are given 6 stations, despite being unable to use them, so they'd be last. If a 206 or 308 module were to replace a line card, it would bump the vmail module over a slot and take its place in front of the vmail.

Sequential dial plans make customers happy, as well as easier troubleshooting for novice techs. Techs who are too lazy to move the modules to provide for an unbroken dial plan have no place in my company's equipment or payroll.

 

[bocktar]

Finding a good chunk of usuable office downtime to reset the system to factory defaults, troubleshoot, and reconfigure everything was mostly responsible for that three month fix duration.

It was three months of waiting, followed by 1 minute of backups, 1 minute of factory reset, 3 hours to accidentally find a piece of tape, and 2 hours reconfiguring.

In the end, based on the suggestions here, I used the following configuration:

Slot 1: 308EC
Slot 2: 400EC
Slot 3: ACS R3.0.3 Processor
Slot 4: 200E
Slot 5: Partner Messaging 1.0

While this does require me to do some minor reprogramming of VM extensions if I substitute another 308EC module for a line module down the road, I felt that the consecutive ordering of extensions was more important to those that use the system than the small amount of time I'd lose reconfiguring.

Interestingly, the company from which I purchased the Partner Messaging 1.0 module insisted that it could not follow 200 or 400 cards (claiming it had the same requirements of the 308EC), but I could never find any information to corroborate that assertion.

It is interesting that there is such ambiguity on this issue in the documentation provided by AT&T/Lucent/Avaya (for both the system and its modules) as to allow so many interpretations of such a basic configuration task. Since module placement makes a difference in this system, it seems to be something they could have focused a bit more energy on explaining.

 

[jwynn]

you made a good decision