Partner Mail VS Stand Alone (pc style) unit failure

[thomaslatham]

I have a failed Partner Mail VS Voice Messaging System Release 5 Unit.
It is a PC style unit which utilizes a 386 motherboard, 200 mb Connor hard drive with a CP/M partition. It has two cards, each with two ports. The power supply is Senstron model SQH-4204
The phone system which this is serving is a Partner II and not an ACS system. It has no capacity to utilize the PCMCIA voice mail cards.
To the best of my ability I have determined that the power supply is the only failed component. I have temporarily hooked up another power supply to the board on a test bed and powered the system successfully and gotten green lights on the voice port cards. However, the power supplies I have located locally are not configured to ground or properly mount in the case.

The support vendor we use cannot find the power supply to replace and has not recommended any other strategy (which seems strange since we might need to buy another system entirely to meet our needs)

Any suggestions

 

[skip555]

The support vendor we use cannot find the power supply to replace and has not recommended any other strategy (which seems strange since we might need to buy another system entirely to meet our needs

contact another vendor

I had to replace a power supply once and had no trouble finding one locally
is there a manufacturer listed on the power supply ? if so look for a website or some way to contact them for a replacment.

good luck

 

[itpphoneguy]

Hi thomaslatham,
Skip555 is bang on. I've done the same. The normal supply has different coloured wires to the mb connector. Don't worry about that. (you can check with a voltmeter to be sure) Just plug the new one in.
-Chris

 

[drewmich]

Thomas,

Be careful. The power supply that the older version Partner Mails used is a basic PC AT power supply. You need to be very careful in attaching the 4 main wires from the wiring harness to the power switch as you can fry the motherboard or critical components.

What sometimes seems like a minor power supply failure can easily end up being a hard drive repair issue or worse. The older hard drives in the Partner/Merlin mails have a very tight tolerance for voltage requirements which is monitored/regulated thru the power supply. If you got a power surge or similar, you may have a fried or defective component on your motherboard or hard drive which will cause immediate failure issues or sometimes the crazy "phantom" problems that don't occur with any detectable pattern.

Andrew Roach
President - Drew Telecom Group, Inc.
Lucent Voice Mail-Component-Transtalk Repair Specialists
Lucent/Avaya Telecom Brokers/Resellers
drew@triton.net
269-685-5400 - voice
269-685-5500 - fax

 

[itpphoneguy]

Hi Andrew,
Since Thomas has already subbed the power supply and got the unit working, I think we are safe here. I have an R1.8 and it's a basic 386. I have repaired others in the same fashion (checking the voltages first). What I would like to find is the version of CPM Avaya used so that I can Make a backup drive for my unit.
-Chris

 

[drewmich]

Yes - he has powered up the Partner Mail and gotten green lights on the voice cards, but my point was that he needs to be careful what power supply he tries to use and that the permanent choice is the correct one and installed properly as he doesn't want to cause component damage due to improper installation - lack of grounding etc. Just general info but important.

No need to buy another voice mail as the power supply he has can be repaired by a professional technician as a part of a VM repair process.

Andrew Roach
President - Drew Telecom Group, Inc.
Lucent Voice Mail-Component-Transtalk Repair Specialists
Lucent/Avaya Telecom Brokers/Resellers
drew@triton.net
269-685-5400 - voice
269-685-5500 - fax

 

[Rainman10]

I am still buying and installing the senstron SQH-4204. There are a few resellers out there if you do a search on yahoo or google.