StarTalk Flash 2 unresponsive! Fixable? Worth fixing?

[BillEccles]

Gentleones,

I have a Norstar CICS and a Startalk Flash 2... well, used to. It has gone out to lunch... permanently. As of a while ago (we're not sure when), it refuses to pick up and the status of that port shows something like "No device"--the exact words escape my memory.

I have verified that the port functions by plugging a M7310 into it and noting that the port reports the proper status and device, and that the device rings when StarTalk would normally be picking up. So it ain't the CICS (as best I can tell).

My workaround for the moment is going to be to put a standard answering machine on the internal analog terminal adapter. And that may be enough, because the StarTalk Flash module is not that important to our system--we only use it to announce that the answering service didn't pick up and that the caller should call the answering service on their own, so it's waaaay underutilized.

So the big questions:

Are there tests I haven't performed that might be useful?
I also did the **xftest on features 980... and they are all inactive (as one might expect seeing as how the CICS doesn't see a STLK1 unit out there).

Is it worth fixing this thing?
I have read elsewhere that it might be the software card ($100 on eBay), or it may be dead, Jim, and might need repair (min. $250, as best I can tell). It's old, circa 1996, I think, and might fetch me $300 on eBay, if it were working.

Is there someone out there who's had similar experience and has some other suggestions for getting this sucker fixed on the cheap, so to speak?
I mean, we really don't use all the functionality, so paying an arm and/or other limbs doesn't appeal much. But the engineer in me (100% of me) can't stand having a Lamborghini in the driveway that is broken, even though I can't drive it to its fullest potential.

And, last, but not least, anybody got a Lamborghini they need to get rid of? Cheap?

Many thanks,
Bill

 

[BillEccles]

Oh, and one other thing:

We're located in Connecticut, so if anyone wants to let me bring this thing somewhere for them to look at, somewhere nearby would be great.

Thanks,
Bill

 

[NARSBARS]

If you are at Rls 1.9 or up, first try Feature 903. Previous to 1.9 it was Feat 983 for initialization. Then you can try powering down, removing pcmcia card, power up for 30 seconds, power down insert card, power up and try Feature 903 or 983.
If nothing else works send an email with the software level. I have several older releases that are still Y2k. What is the Rls of the CICS.

 

[NARSBARS]

If you are at Rls 1.9 or up, first try Feature 903. Previous to 1.9 it was Feat 983 for initialization. Then you can try powering down, removing pcmcia card, power up for 30 seconds, power down insert card, power up and try Feature 903 or 983.
If nothing else works send an email with the software level. I have several older releases that are still Y2k.
I will be glad to send you one. What is the Rls of the CICS?

 

[BillEccles]

Thanks--will do, but the system is at another physical location and I won't be able to get to it 'til tomorrow to find out the CICS version number. I'm guessing it's waaaaay old (like 1996), just like the StarTalk Flash 2.

Features 903 and 983 (and others associated with VM) are all unimplemented because the CICS doesn't know there's a StarTalk out there at all. It's unable to communicate with the StarTalk Flash unit.

I did perform those steps you mention, by the way, but nothing changed. Rats!

 

[BillEccles]

The CICS is DR1 S/W version 7.33 (I think). It's ancient and has never been upgraded since its manufacture in 1996.

The STF unit is version 1.44. Again, older than the hills, never been upgraded, etc.

Is there some way to re-image the PCMCIA card?

Thanks,
Bill

 

[NorstarWiz]

That would be stealing!!!!

 

[BillEccles]

[I present the following as an exercise in reasoning for me and for any other readers who are interested. I am neither presenting this as flamebait nor am I attempting to cause an argument or make anybody mad. I'm merely "thinking out loud," as it were. All of these arguments, by the way, are my gut-felt interpretation of reality. I have no legal backing or knowledge that provides any kind of guidance. This is all speculation.]

I got to thinking about that last post, "That would be stealing."

I agree, but not wholeheartedly, and that's because my gut and brain are at odds as to what is "right."

If I bought Microsoft Office and the CD got scratched beyond repair because the lens in the CD drive jumped up and ripped a long spiral in the disc, is it OK for me to go to my next door neighbor and borrow his CD to install the software on my computer?

My gut tells me that's OK.

How about a Nortel phone system in which the PCMCIA card has gone tango-uniform? Do we think this is the same scenario? Again, my gut tells me that it's OK.

Now, let's throw in some layman's-interpretation-of-the-law, just to make things more murky, first from the standpoint of the software license.

Who has broken the terms of the license agreement, me? Or my neighbor? After all, my license allows me to install the software provided by the distribution media onto my computer (and that's the way it's usually stated), so all I did was live up to the terms of my license agreement. But my neighbor... well, he'd better be on the lookout for Microsoft's lawyers and the police, because it's his license that allows him to install software from the distribution media on one computer and not on two! (We're ignoring the case of work/home/portable/etc. that MS sometimes allows). So, he's the one who's violated the terms of his license!

Weird, huh?

So, yeah, I'd better not get someone else in trouble by installing the software on my computer, er, Nortel system by reimaging my PCMCIA card from your PCMCIA card. (Or something like that.)

Alright, let's try another tack, this time with regard to copyright law.

What do you do when a resistor lets its magic smoke out? It's simple: you go to your parts bin (bought from DigiKey) and replace the smoked part. (And you look for the root cause of the problem, too, or it'll let its magic smoke out again, but that's irrelevant to the discussion.) Problem solved.

Nortel never makes a dime off the sale of the replacement part; DigiKey, Yageo and UPS do. Have I harmed Nortel? Nope. That's very clear.

But this is a different case. Here, the broken part is a part that can be duplicated--made out of thin air (or at least we're guessing it's a bad PCMCIA card--heck, the processor may be fried for all I know). Instead of buying the broken bit from DigiKey or Nortel, you make it out of nothing by sticking another PCMCIA card on your Xerox photocopier and, Poof! you have a new part to replace the broken part.

But then there's that sticky copyright thing that gets in the way. I am, after all, violating copyright law by sticking my PCMCIA card on the Xerox machine and making a copy of it. That much is pretty clear. I mean, if I did the same thing with a book, that's obviously violating copyright law.

What bothers me about this is that I have yet to run across a book with an unreasonably-short shelf life. I'd like to think that when I buy a book, it's going to last longer than 8 years, and the same goes for a telephone system. As I have computers which still function after 20 years, it's reasonable to expect other computer-based systems to do the same. Again, my gut tells me that there's something that is broken through no fault of my own (apparently, anyway) and that the design is inherently flawed (anecdotal evidence is posted elsewhere on this site), and instead of taking Nortel to court, I should just steal a copy of their software.

Yikes. That's scary. I'd rather steal something than take care of it through the "proper channels," i.e., complain to Nortel, get nowhere, hire representation, spend a few thousand bucks, maybe recover the broken parts cost and the representation costs.... Oh, hell, $95 isn't that much after all, is it?

Now, when I get my next card, I will be making my backup copy. Or is that in the license? Or is there a license in the first place? I mean, I bought the system from someone else and never received the license agreement, nor did I agree to it by breaking the seal or....

Whatever.

Again, just thinking out loud. And in the process of doing so, realized that the business insurance might pick up the tab and render the question moot.

Bill