Partner 4.1 certain phones won't ring

[clandunn]

I have been volunteering at a local non-profit. They have been given a Partner phone system R4.1 with 2 boxes of phones and have asked me to help them get it setup for use in the office. OK, no problem, I have no experience at all with phone system setup, but that's what manuals are for, right?
The system is R4.1, has 2 206ec and an ACS with messaging R1 with 4port card.
I did factory resets on both and have pretty much figured out how to setup the system.
on to the problem I am having: if I put a system display phone on an extension (18d or 34D) they ring and work just fine. but the majority of the phones donated are AT&T/Avaya 8101s and they do not ring. The message light blinks, but no ringing. If I swap out the phone for an 18-D, then it rings just fine.
Of course, searching google, this forum (which has been a great help btw) I can't find anything specific to this issue.
I can't imagine that the phones are not compatible, as this came from a fairly big accounting firm in town and I cant imagine they would accept it that their phones didnt ring..
am I doing something wrong?
any help is greatly appreciated so I can get this system in place for them.
thanks!

 

[Dexman]

Try connecting a known working single line telephone to the questionable extensions and see if they ring.
Also, connect the questionable 8101s to a regular POTs line and see if they ring on incoming calls.
Does the 8108 have a switch to disable the ringer? (I do have access to an 8101, but not here @ work, so I can't be sure).

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[clandunn]

sorry, forgot to post that info. The 8101 works fine on my house phone line. but not on the Partner system. The museum director was also using one of the 8101's in his temp office for a while.. worked fine.
I will try again with a completely different phone tonight.

of course, it could also be part of the reason why this particular company got rid of the partner system and installed something else ;-)

thanks!

oh, ringer was turned up all the way.. and I tried this with 4 or 5 different phones.. same result on all of them.

 

[cvrbob]

try changing distinctive rings #308

 

[Dexman]

The Partner is a fine telephone system.

One issue I've noticed is that the modules in the list (except for the voicemail) are very old vintage and are well past their prime. If this isn't a Distinctive Ringing issue, it is possible that the ports in question are simply not generating enough voltage or current to ring standard telephone sets (I believe that Partner system phones do not require as much voltage & current to ring as regular telephones do).

If that is the case, then the modules would either need to be sent out for repair, or replaced.

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[TouchToneTommy]

Is it every[\i] extension port that will not ring a single line phone, or is it isolated to one of the 206 modules. Could be that the ringing power supply has failed on a module.

 

[clandunn]

hmmmm.. good points.thanks. I have tested pretty much all ports on the first module. I have not tested the second, but will do so tonight.

thanks again!

 

[clandunn]

Thanks to both of you, Dexman and TouchToneTommy. I checked the modules last night and you were both correct. None of the ports on the first module would ring an 8101, but the second module would. I will talk to the Director of the museum today to see if 6 extensions would be enough for now. Compared to the number if runs I pulled through the building, 6 isn't anywhere near enough.
But, I'm not sure if it's worth it to invest in purchasing a new (old) module considering the age of the equipment.
At the same time, the only investment so far is my time poking around at it.

Since we're here and on the topic, is there some sort of compatibility chart somewhere that would show which modules are compatible? It has the 206's but in looking online I saw 308s and numerous others.
thanks again for your help on this!

 

[Dexman]

One of the great aspects of the Partner platform is how older modules can be used across multiple Partner platforms.

If money was not a concern, I would suggest upgrading to an Avaya Partner ACS R6 processor coupled with enough 308EC modules to support all telephone lines & extensions and the newer 5 slot carrier.

Special modules such as the 012E, T1 & 1600 DSL will only work with the newer Partner ACS releases. I think that the 308EC (R3) requires a minimum Partner ACS R2 processor.

The following page lists Partner ACS modules and the minimum supported releases:

http://www.metrolinedirect.com/partneracs.html

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[clandunn]

Dexman:
thanks! I will go through that site and see what I can find. This is for a Kid's Discovery Museum that just opened, so money is a big concern for them at this point, but I can at least give them some options then they can decide what fits in their budget. We could limp along with the existing setup and 6 extensions and then upgrade once they have operated long enough to have brought in some money ;-)

thanks again!

 

[Dexman]

Let us know what the final verdict is.

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[clandunn]

roger that. At least I've learned quite a bit lately with phone systems. I've never setup anything like it, but have had the chance to do so now. Not that I'm an expert by any means, but I think I could get the job done (more or less, and with help from people like you on this forum ;-)

my kids had a blast with the partner setup, as it is currently in my basement so I could check it out. It's hard to do this sort of playing/testing at the museum during business hours.

 

[clandunn]

well, the 206 R3.1 module gave up the ghost today. System processor would not come on, nor would messaging. I removed the 206, moved modules to fill in the empty space and powered back on.. good to go.
I spoke with the director of the museum and he seems inclined to go with the partner for now as their "big cable company" phone/sales rep is not helping much about what they could do for them. He thinks 4 extensions will be enough for now, so I think we'll get the partner installed.. probably next Monday when they are closed.
Been playing around with the automated attendant.. just need to figure out why all extensions ring when you select only 1 from the AA. but that's for another post if I can't figure it out

 

[Dexman]

A hint about the ringing.....When the modules were shifted to fill the gap left by the dead 206, the ports that need to be added to Hunt Group #7 (the voicemail group) also changed. Check to see what extensions are currently assigned, calculate the ones that should be in the group and make the required changes.

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[clandunn]

Dexman:

yep, after I moved the modules I did a factory reset on both proc and messaging, reset up the hunt group etc.
turns out that a power cycle cleared up the issue of all lines ringing.
thanks for your help!

 

[Dexman]

Keep us updated.

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