Option 11: Testing and fixing bad ports 1

[elypu]

Hello all,

I posted a decription of the problem here:

http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1597962&page=1

Summarizing:
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- Option 11 integrated with Octel via 16 TNs programed as M2616 sets in a "hunt queue" (I hope this is the correct term)

- TNs in positions 4 and 5 in the queue stopped working

- the only test I did: dialing in each of the DNs in the hunt queue. Two of them were ringing but not connecting to Octel.


Solution that I found and implemented:
- I setup the hunt option for position 3 in the queue to point to position 6. In this way, I believe, I bypassed the two "bad" ports. But now we are using just 14 ports of 16 available from Octel.


What I am thinking that I might try:
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- out the two "bad" TNs and try to reprogram them. Maybe they work after that.

- If the above does not work, maybe I can program two other good TNs and include them in the hunt queue, in this way restoring the 16 ports to Octel.

What I am not sure about:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- I am not sure how can I test a port and confirm that it can not be repaired
- I do not know if there are possible unwanted side affects of out-ing the two bad TNs and reprogramming other two available TNs


Thanks to everyone who has the time to share from your experience and knowledge.

 

[MikeRizz]

Replace the digital line card. Those ports get hammered and can go bad after time. If the TN is 4-0, 4 would be your card slot, disable it in LD 32, swap card and re-enable it. Digital line cards are cheap and plentiful in the secondary market ( just Google NT8D02 .

 

[elypu]

Hi Mike,

Thank you for your answer.
I do not have to much experience with phone systems hardware. I am just IT support and, in the past, I was doing some small programing. Now they reorganized the way we work and this is not handeled by IT support. They have to create a ticket with Help Desk. From there it goes to the Telecom group and may be referred to a vendor if they cannot fix it. This is a government office in Ontario.

I understand from your answer and from other information on the Internet, that it should be relatively easy to change the digital line card. I will look in the switch to see what card it is the one that has the bad ports. I might be able to convince the local managers to buy a replacement card via Internet. I am thinking that they do not necessarly need a new one.

On the other hand, they use now 14 out of a total of 16 ports for integration with Octel. This should be more than enough for the volume of calls in that office. So, if I am not wrong, they can stay like that for a while and not spend any money.

I am also in contact with the Telecom group in our organization. They offered to help with modifying some wires in the BIX connector in such way that the two defective TNs would be replaced by other available ones. Maybe I can do that too. I ma not sure because I am not that good with wiring staff and I do not have too many tools. But I guess, for now, they should be OK.

Thank you for the time to answer my question.

 

[MikeRizz]

Your welcome. A refurbished digital line card is only about $100. The card will be the slot number of the TN, if the TN is 2-0, it will be card slot 2 ( Option 11 ). It's real simple to replace, LD 32, DISC 2, wait for red light on card and remove, slide new card in and plug in, ENLC 2 ( red light will go off ). Done.

 

[elypu]

Hi Mike,

Thank you again for your time.
I am learning as I go. I believe I identified the card.
It is an NT8D02GA, as you correctly pointed from the first time.
The TNs programed in the switch for Octel are in the something like 10-0-0, 10-0-1, 10-0-2, and up to 10-0-15. So I think these are connected with the 16 ports in Octel.
The DES field for these TNs are like this: OCTEL1, OCTEL2, ..., OCTEL15. Also, there is another TN labeled in DES as OCTEL18. From this great website, I understood that Option 11 allows for up to 18 ports to be programed for integration with the voice mail system. I think they mentioned in other posts that one port can be used for the Message Waiting lamps signal.

So, going back to my story, I was not sure which one is slot 10. Eventually I noticed some numbers, written by hand, on the connector that is plugged into the back card (I am not sure if they use a word like "amphenol" for that).
The card is in the main cabinet.
Also, I was able to find a website where they sell used ones for $130 CDN plus about $15 CDN shipping.

If they will decide that they want to replace it, I think I have now a much better idea about what I need to do.
And this is also thanks to your kind help.

Thank you.