Vendor Refuses to Upgrade BCM 3.0.1 Help

[DownSouthData]

I have been going round and round with my vendor for about 6 months. We are having several problems with our BCM mainly related to i2004 handsets and VOIP. The system is currently running software v. 3.0.1 which may be the cause of all our problems.

Do I have to upgrade to 3.5 before moving to 3.7? Where can I find everything I need keycodes, manuals, and CD-Media to upgrade our BCM 400. Since our vendor is not helping us I need to find an alternative solution.

 

[NARSBARS]

First, you DO need a new vendor. You will need to upgrade to 3.5 or 3.6 before going to 3.7. The VoIP problems are very likely from a poor vendor and an early release.
Don't take this wrong, but are you sure you have a 400 and not an Edge? For this one upgrade you need to find a Nortel Authorized distributor, and make sure they are authorized by Nortel on the BCM.


NARSBARS

 

[DownSouthData]

I was able to telnet into the system and was prompted with Business Communications Manger 3.0.1. I'm guessing this information is correct.

 

[NARSBARS]

How many bays do you have on the unit for Media Bay Modules?
Two modules=BCM200
Four Slots=BCM400
Three Slots=BCM1000 (Edge)

If you have an Edge, you must have an MSC card of at least version 1.1A to upgrade.
9 point 9 out of 10 it is a 400 but it is necessary to check. I have a spare upgrade CD but you will still need a keycode.

NARSBARS

 

[DownSouthData]

We should have four bays with the following cards.

2 X 32X2 Station Cards
1 X Analog Station Module
1 X PRI Module

I contacted our Vendor Bellsouth and they told me that I may crash my system if I attempt the upgrade in house. I was also informed that none of their customers have attempted to upgrade a BCM in house.

Have you upgraded a BCM? Was the process difficult? I am very well versed on the Data side but voice is fairly new to me. However I managed to setup most of the BCM on my own because Bellsouth considered the job done after installing 15 out of 64 sets and did not install any of the ip phones.

 

[3Sixty]

To upgrade is a windows based upgrade next, next, IP address, of bcm, admin password etc. The problem is the upgrade might not fix the IP problems. There might be other factors.If you upgrade to 3.6 there is patches for IP problems there to and I would suspect there will be a few for 3.7 in the future. You will certainly need support from somewhere.

How many IP handsets have you got?

Just want to check something.

Marshall

 

[DownSouthData]

I have 13 on the system right now and I need to add an additonal 10 at this time. For the life of me I cannot seem to figure out why the i2004 phone hangs while downloading firmware from the system. Sound quality is great on our point to point lines and pretty decent across VPN links.
If you happen to reboot the system the default gateway takes about 1 -2 hours to appear in the routing tables no matter which way we configure the router to advertise routes on the lan.
The unified messaging connector in outlook often has trouble connecting the server for various reasons.
We have way to many random problems with the BCM to list in this post. The software revision we have now is an early release so I'm hoping an upgrade will do the trick. Since I am a data guy I love the functionality of the BCM just wish I had better support from the vendor/reseller =(

 

[3Sixty]

Hi Downsouthdata

What patches have been applied to the 3.0.1. You will find that there was alot of patches for the problems your are experiencing. The upgrade will fix alot of these problems but not without creating a few new ones which will need patched too.

Marshall

 

[3Sixty]

I will see if I can find the patches for 3.0.1 I know I have them somewhere. I will put them on my website.

http://www.marshallshouse.co.uk

Marshall

 

[DownSouthData]

Marshall,
I do not believe the system has been patched at all. We purchased the system in 2003 with factory loaded software and I do not show any recorded upgrades to the software.

Thank You for your help this has been a real nightmare

Andre

 

[acewarlock]

It is very easy to do an upgrade. I have done 47 BCM upgrade's, about 20 of them were from Ver 2.5 FP1. If I were you I would get the 3.6 upgrade and then add the Cumlivitve Patch #2. It will take about 2 to 3 hours to do, and what ever you do don't get impatient just let the BCM do it's thing.

 

[DownSouthData]

Can anyone provide the 3.6 Upgrade CD and Patches? If anyone has the media I would greatly appreciate the help and compensate you for the media.

 

[acewarlock]

You need a keycode to activate the upgrade, if you can get that. I don't know why your vendor is giving you such a hard time as the upgrade is free. I just upgraded all 47 of my BCM's to 3.6 and I wasn't charged anything by my vendor, including the BCM's I didn't buy from them.

 

[DownSouthData]

I should be able to obtain a keycode from our account manager but she does not have direct access to the upgrade media.

 

[NARSBARS]

I have a 3.6 upgrade CD. Be glad to send it.
If you join Mrmarshall's site,see above post, you can instant message me with contact info. We are not supposed to list emails at this site.
I will start checking in at the site today.

NARSBARS

 

[acewarlock]

If you can get a keycode for upgrade from 3.0 to 3.6, the CD is easy to get.