Partner Mail VS 5 Voice mail issues 1

[GAMilon]

I don't know the exact terminology so please stay with me as I butcher my way through this question.

We have an older Partner Mail V5 system. About once a year we get some sort of lightning storm and knocks out a module for 800.00 a whack. The most recent problem came about two months ago. The phones would not work and things seemed kind of locked up. I went to the box that houses the modules as the problem always originates from there. The second module in from the left was very hot to the touch on the top. I pulled it out of it's slot and the phones went back to normal. Oh so I thought.

I never did replace the second module. I moved the lines on it to open lines found on another module. I thought everything was alright.

A woman told me at the beginning of this week that she cannot access her voice mail. Moreover, other people in the office could not access their voice mail either. One person in particular can access his voice mail, but cannot get the voicemail to pick up. My extension has all of my voicemail working. I have old voicemail on there and am able to accept new voicemail.

The voice mail boxes that don't work will not accept a voice mail if someone tries to leave one at an extension (the phone just beeps indefinitely). And when you try to access some of the voicemail it says the password is incorrect. But I am starting to suspect that there is no mailbox there to check in the first place.

I wish I could describe the problem better. I browsed this forum looking for answers, but couldn't come up with anything.

The problem seems odd as there are some mail boxes working, but most are not. Some mail boxes can be accessed with the password, but will not pick up a voice mail. While others still won't pick up a voicemail nor let you in.

Thanks in advance. I'm stumped and a bit tired of fixing this system. Looks like it was built in the 80's out of my old star wars toys.

 

[GAMilon]

Hmm...First, if I try to retrieve the messages everything happens as it should. There are no messages in the mail box. I listened to the greeting and the greeting that the specific user of this line put on there is still there. Everything happens as it should except that it will not pick up. Just rings.

I checked to see if the mailbox is enabled. By that do you mean the robot woman says, "this mailbox exists?" if so, then yes it's enabled. I then tried to reinitialize the mailbox and did so successfully, yet I still cannot get the line to pickup.

Hmm...maybe I can just try moving ext 20 to one of the replaced lines and set up a mailbox for it? If that works, then I can ;eave the mess on ext 20 behind. I'll try that next. I'll let ya know how it goes. Thanks for the info on the PDF. That's what I'll use to set up the other box.

 

[Dexman]

I just reviewed an earlier comment and you do have the Partner Mail VS R5 document...

"Partner Mail VS Voice Messenging System Release 5 Installation and Programming."

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[GAMilon]

Can't figure it out. I moved his ext to two different lines on the other two modules. Reinitialized a mailbox on one, created a box on the other. Mailboxes are accessible, able to administer the greeting, yada yada all works great. But I can't get it to pick up no matter what mailbox I use. It would make sense if all the mailboxes were malfunctioning, but they are not. A handful work the way they should. I feel like I'm missing something here.

 

[Dexman]

Check option #310 for the extension in question. What does it show?

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[GAMilon]

I'm not sure I follow you. I got the Int 777 stuff from the book down pretty well, but not sure what "option #310" is. Is that one that requires the display phone? I'm sorry, I'm clueless at this stuff. I know it's frustrating.

I'm outta here for the day. Working on this phone between other projects. I'll check back tomorrow. If David could defeat Goliath then I should be able to beat this phone problem. Or that's what I keep telling myself.

 

[Dexman]

Yup. It is something that you would need to check from a system phone connected to EXT 10.

Automatic VMS Cover (#310)

Use this feature to automatically route an extension’s unanswered intercom and transferred calls
to the Call Answer Service of the voice messaging system after a specified number of rings
(factory setting for all system extensions is three rings), so callers can leave a message.

Considerations

■ Single-line telephones and system telephones without a programmed VMS Cover button
cannot override this feature once it is assigned to an extension.
■ To manually change an extension’s VMS Cover state, program the VMS Cover feature on a
button with lights.
■ Automatic VMS Cover also applies to outside calls on lines assigned ownership with Line
Coverage Extension (#208).
■ Users with Automatic VMS Cover turned on can activate Do Not Disturb to Send All Calls
immediately to their voice mailbox.
■ If an extension has Automatic VMS Cover and Call Coverage active, calls ring at the
covering extension after the specified number of Call Coverage Rings (#320). If the covering
extension does not answer, the call is routed to the voice mailbox of the extension that
activated Call Coverage after the specified amount of VMS Cover Rings.
■ If an extension has Automatic VMS Cover and Call Forwarding active, calls ring at the
forwarding destination; they are not covered by the voice messaging system.

Programming for Automatic VMS Cover

To change the Automatic VMS Cover setting for an extension:

1. Press FEATURE 00 [system program, system program] #310 at extension 10 or 11.

2. Enter the number of the extension to be covered by the voice messaging system.

3. To assign or unassign Automatic VMS Cover, press [next data] until the appropriate value
appears.

■ 1 = Assigned
■ 2 = Not Assigned (the factory setting)

4. To program another extension, [press next item or previous item] until the extension number appears
on the display. Then repeat Step 3.

5. Select another procedure, or exit programming mode.

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[GAMilon]

Okay....

So I followed the procedure above and when I entered extension 20 (the current mailbox not working) the value was neither 1 nor 2, but the word, "BLANK" showed up on the screen. I changed this value to "1" to activate it.

At this moment the mailbox will still not pick up. Again, I can enter the mailbox and check messages, etc. but cannot get it to pick up on voicemail.

 

[Dexman]

Ok, so now the extension is set for Active. What is the value found under #321 for that extension (use the general procedure above but look @ #321 as opposed to #310).

If all else fails, there is a "Copy Settings" option. That can be used to copy many options from 1 extension to another and a known working extension's settings can be used to program #20.

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[GAMilon]

EUREKA! I had it all wrong above, I did Feature 00 Sys prog, Sys prog and then central programming. From there I somehow made it to a screen and saw the word, "Blank" and changed it to "1". No idea what that was. But after trying to figure out the #321 I figured out I never was in the right place for #310. Upon getting there I noticed all three non-working mailboxes were indeed, somehow, set to "2". I changed each line's extension to "1" and wallah. We are all working now. All mailboxes...even the people that I don't like! lol

The problem, as far as I can tell, is fixed and resolved.

My uneducated guess is that when the second module was giving us problems it maybe fried some of the mailboxes? I don't know. all I know is everything is working right. I got the second module replaced for under 200.00. And maybe 4 hours labor.

As far as I can tell, and hopefully, this case is officially closed. I learned a lot about the Partner Mail system as well. And I do owe all of it you Dexman. The Gandalf of the Avaya world.

Thank you so very much for your tireless efforts to help me out. It's one thing to have the knowledge to fix things...but its a talent to explain how to do it to someone that is totally clueless. Well done and sincere thanks. I hope 2012 turns out ro be a great year for you!

 

[Dexman]

The text from the manual mentions that "2" is the default setting for #310. I kinda doubt that the defective module caused the setting for the 3 extensions to default.

Let the current programming "bake" for a while. If everything is good, save it to the PCMCIA card so that any bad changes can be reverted without too much muss or fuss.

There was a 2 & 4 port license available for the Partner Mail VS R5. If either is present, back-up the voicemail settings too.

Glad I could help out!

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