Partner ACS 3 Ext. 11 dialing on its own

[merlinmedia]

Background:
I have a 4 year old Lucent Parner ACS r3.0.3
5 lines and 8 extensions
Parner Mail VS Release 5
206EC module 4.1
The system is in a 5 unit backplane

Things have been perfect until a few weeks ago, and it has be getting progessively worse since then.

The problem:
Extension 11 will pick up line 1 on its own and start to send random DTMF (off sounding) tones. I can temporarily stop this by picking up the handset on ext 11 and selecting another line, when I hang up, within seconds the Ext. 11 lite and the line 1 lite have come on and it starts over. I have a display phone on that extension and I can see things like 111212 etc. If I pick up the handset I hear nothing or sometimes I here an off sounding DTMF tone every couple of seconds.

If I remove the phone station (unplug the extension from the processor unit), this still happens. If I pick up the handset on Ext. 11 right after the line has been 'taken' I get silence, then it flips over to dial tone. Sometimes it will make and intercom call to another extension, but mostly it grabs the first phone line.

This only happens on extension 11.
I have tried locking the station.
I have tried setting the call features to intercom only.
I have power cycled the whole system.
I have reset the system
I have restored from a backup

All to no avail.

I searched the web and found this forum, and I lookes thru 2 years of posts here and did not find anything like what I describe.

Does anyone recognize what this might be, and what is the fix?

Thanks!

 

[DWLaurie]

Have you tried removing and re-seating the connection at port 11 on the ACS?
Punched down both sides of the 66 block?
Punched down the back side of the RJ-45 R?
checked the entired length of the Cat3/5 cable from 66 Block to RJ-45 R?

When you remove the phone station, are you unplugging it at the RJ-45 R at the wall or from the base of the phone?
What I am getting at is try a different cord?

--Dan

 

[hbiss]

If you experienced this with nothing plugged into the X11 port the only thing that could do this is the processor. Since you did all the usual things like reset and restore, it's time to replace it.

-Hal

 

[TouchToneTommy]

You could remove all the lines assigned to Ext. 11, and discontinue using the port. As long as whatever is causing 11 to dial random stuff doesn't cause it to dial 801 through 824, it won't get an outside line.

And if I read you right, you are unplugging the connecting cord from the processor's Ext. 11 jack and the problem continues? Which points to a bad processor.

 

[merlinmedia]

Thanks for the responses.

Yes I am removing the jack to ext. 11 from the back of the processor module.

How do I removes the lines assigned to ext. 11?

I have moved the user at 11 to ext. 12 and re-setup their voicemail. Until I can get a replacement processor (where? , how much?, is it an easy swap for an end user?), I think disabling ext. 11 as much as possible is the way to go.

And/Or can someone suggest a service company here in San Jose CA?

Thanks for the prompt replies!

 

[TouchToneTommy]

You would remove the lines by going into system programming, dialing #301, and then pressing "Clear". Use the programming overlay to find the clear button.

But now that I have thought about it, that would just make Ext. 11 dial on the intercom, and the strings you mentioned above may make it randomly dial other extensions, or even paging.

So, what I would do is assign a line or two that dont really exist on your system, and let it try to dial out on those.

#301-11-"clear", #301-11-23-1, #301-11-24-1

 

[merlinmedia]

Thanks for all the help. I will give those suggestions a try.

Can you suggest a firm to get a replacement processor from and what cost range I should expect? I don't suppose R3 processors are available?

 

[telman57]

Before I would buy a new processor, I would try to reinitialize the processor [F989 - 25327]
You may want to do a back-up first. If no trouble after reinitializing the processor you could try a restore. If after a restore the trouble comes back - Reinitialize and re-enter the data manually.

 

[itpphoneguy]

Hi merlinmedia,
If it turns out to be the processor, you will want an R6. They are still available new. Use the new backup card to upgrade the software in the R3 to R6 and do a save. Take the card and restore into the new R6 and you should be good to go. You may have a couple minor program bugs but should be otherwise okay. It does sound like the processor port (X11) has gone bad.
-Chris

 

[HyTech]

Just a thought. Have you tried swapping phones? Could there be a stuck button causing the problem?

 

[aarenot]

Swap out the physical ext port going across the same cable to the same jack, phone and cord from the jack to the phone. If the problem happens on the new port going across the same wire through the wall, that will tell you it is the wire to the jack, the line cord or the phone.

Also, plug the same phone and line cord and a different phone and line cord in directly to the station port(x11) on the processor, to see if it happens there. If it does, but not with both phones, it is the phone or line cord. If with both phones it is the processor port for x11. You could use another port if you have one available, or like itphoneguy said replace/upgrade the processor following his procedure. Also, swap the line cord that plugs into the bottom of the phone to make sure it is not that.

Swapping ext numbers by swapping the patch cord at the processor is a good way to find things out. If the problem moves it is the port more than likely. If it stays, swap the line cord and phone one at a time, it could be the line cord, or the phone. If not looks like a wiring issue behind the jack on the wall or the cord that goes from the processor to the wiring that feeds the jack.

Hope this helped.