Problems with Paging Group

[bjitima]

We set up a paging group, and it worked correctly when we initially set it up. After a couple of days, it stopped working all the time. Sometimes I can delete the group and recreate it, at which time it starts working for a few minutes, but even that doesn't always work.

We set up paging group on extension 200. #46, 200 picks up an extension to page all of the members of the group. Each of the telephones in the group displays Paging - 1xx (the originating extension). However, no sound comes through.

Everything else seems to work fine. Extension to extension dialing, intercom dialing, speed dial, etc.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what could be causing this?

 

[chiacomo]

Heh... I've had this happen. Sometimes if I reboot the IP phones everything seems to clear up. AltiGen recommends updating the firmware on the phones, of course. I just tried this on a demo switch and everything seems to be working, but... as I say, I've seen it before.

 

[bjitima]

Well...I called our dealer and asked him about it. He told me that he called Altigen and they said it was common and that Multicasting needed to be turned on in our router.

Now this made absolutely no sense to me, because the paging is all on the internal network. So...any of the traffic that is going to be sent out is not going to actually go through our router.

But I did what I think should have completely enabled Multicasting, and it did not seem to solve the problem. I'm checking with Cisco to ensure that I enabled Multicasting correctly before I call my dealer back about the problem.

I've rebooted the phones with no luck. Haven't updated the firmware though...I don't have a clue what the latest FW version is or where I, as an end user, can get easy access to it.

We have the IP710 telephones and they are running version 060B.010B.1353. Does anybody know if that's the latest?

 

[chiacomo]

The latest 710 firmware is 1360, I think. I've found a link where the firmware is shared and tried to post it here -- if the link is approved, check the links sections.

 

[bjitima]

I wasn't able to see the link. Next time I talk to my dealer I'll ask him to get me a copy of it.

I verified with Cisco that multicasting traffic was passing through the firewall and the switches, and then ran a multicast ghost session that worked fine, so his excuse that this was the cause of the paging group not working looks to me to be ruled out.

 

[bjitima]

I got a copy of firmware version 2123 from our dealer and installed it on two of the phones. The phones booted back up correctly and say PRESS #27 [ENTER] but they won't log in. Any idea if there is something I have to update on the server in addition to the phones themselves to get them to reconnect?

Thanks

 

[chiacomo]

You might check to make certain the phone didn't "lose its programming". They sometimes do when you upgrade the firmware. You're using 705's or 710's? Running Update 4? Any quickfixes that you know of? Shouldn't matter, just wondering.

Check to make certain AW Server is set correctly, etc. in the phone.

 

[bjitima]

We're using 710s. When the phones didn't seem to want to connect, I double checked to make sure that the server address, IP address etc were still set up correctly. Tried updating the extension number and password, even tried a password reset.

On the server we are running Altiware OE 5.0A Update 4.

 

[chiacomo]

Does the PBX show the IP stations still logged in?

Might use Extension Checker to make certain the station isn't locked for some reason -- a password reset might not clear a locked station.

 

[bjitima]

I logged on to the extensions with no problem from another phone that still had the older firmware, so I don't think the extensions are locked. The server has also been rebooted, which I would think would clear anything out.

 

[chiacomo]

Current firmware revisions:
IP705 - 1545
IP710 - 1360
IP600 - 1246

On the IP 710, please:
Press Menu
Arrow down to "System" and press Enter
Arrown down to "Version Info" and press Enter

What version is displayed?

 

[chiacomo]

Version 2123 of the firmware is for use with AltiWare ACC/ACM 5.1 which is currently available only for the MAX1000 platform. It won't work with Update 4, I think.

 

[bjitima]

Ok, well he must not have realized that it was only compatible with 5.1 when he gave it to me. According to Altigen, 5.1 was supposed to become available as an upgrade to systems besides the MAX1000 on April 1st, but I don't know if they actually met the deadline...they said they weren't sure if they would make it or not.

We have discussed upgrading because of the SIP compatibility allowing us to use non-Altigen brand IP phones...cordless phones in particular.

We are running revision 1360 on most of the phones (some apparently have been sitting around somewhere for a bit, because a few are using 1353.)

So I need to find that older firmware and downgrade the two phones I updated, I guess? I was kind of hoping the firmware change would fix this #46 paging group problem. Altigen still hasn't given us a solution for it.

 

[bjitima]

It looks like the paging was being blocked at the switch level. I thought because the multicasting sessions I ran with Symantec Ghost worked fine, that it couldn't have been blocked.

I also had no ip igmp snooping on one of my switches...but not both. As soon as it was enabled on both, the paging group started working.

 

[chiacomo]

Excellent. Glad to hear it!