This is a system that was installed in 1986, and I don't believe that it has ever had a software/firmware update. I'm trying to get in to find the software versions, see how many exts they have, and change some dialing restrictions. I call them, ask them to transfer *10 transfer - I get dead air, then they come back on the line. I get no modem tones for a connection. Do the older systems not have remote admin capability or is something broken?
Tek-Tips is the largest IT community on the Internet today!
Members share and learn making Tek-Tips Forums the best source of peer-reviewed technical information on the Internet!
-
Congratulations derfloh on being selected by the Tek-Tips community for having the most helpful posts in the forums last week. Way to Go!
Cannot connect WinSPM to older system
- Thread starter Nette
- Start date
They should all have remote modem in the CPU if it is a Legend CPU. I did some work for a company once that the remote modem would click and make an awful noise and go dead. Powering down the system and back up cured the problem. You could ask them to go to the 20L console and go menu/maintenance/system/inventory
The processor in slot 00 should come up on top and the software version would read across the bottom of the screen.
Make sure they are hiting transfer, *10 and hanging up.
What kind of set are they using to transfer you? I am not familiar with the Bis series, but they may not have a hard transfer button, thus software programming of the transfer type may not be correct.
I hope this gets you in the right direction.
The processor in slot 00 should come up on top and the software version would read across the bottom of the screen.
Make sure they are hiting transfer, *10 and hanging up.
What kind of set are they using to transfer you? I am not familiar with the Bis series, but they may not have a hard transfer button, thus software programming of the transfer type may not be correct.
I hope this gets you in the right direction.
- Thread starter
- #3
Nette,
Tell everyone the system is going down (obviously).
If the system has external voicemail, turn it off.
Turn off the basic carrier (it's leftmost, the one with the processor in it).
Turn off any expansion carriers.
To turn it back on start with the rightmost carrier and work left, turning on the basic carrier last. Make sure the green lights come on on the power supplies.
Then fire up that voicemail.
If you only have one carrier then you can just turn it off. With multi-carrier systems the basic idea is to make sure the processor is never awake when one of the expansion carriers is off otherwise it might go nuts, think it's configuration is missing cards or some other unpleasentness.
Tell everyone the system is going down (obviously).
If the system has external voicemail, turn it off.
Turn off the basic carrier (it's leftmost, the one with the processor in it).
Turn off any expansion carriers.
To turn it back on start with the rightmost carrier and work left, turning on the basic carrier last. Make sure the green lights come on on the power supplies.
Then fire up that voicemail.
If you only have one carrier then you can just turn it off. With multi-carrier systems the basic idea is to make sure the processor is never awake when one of the expansion carriers is off otherwise it might go nuts, think it's configuration is missing cards or some other unpleasentness.
gregarican
IS-IT--Management
As an FYI, anyone with an MLX display phone can pickup a line, then hit *05. This will show the version of that the system is on.
And if you just want to reset the RS232 port for SMDR or ADMIN on the system you have someone at the Operator MLX console go through Maintenance-->Port-->RS232 Port1 or RS232 Port2. Then Reset is the only listed option. That will reset the serial ports on Merlin.
And if you just want to reset the RS232 port for SMDR or ADMIN on the system you have someone at the Operator MLX console go through Maintenance-->Port-->RS232 Port1 or RS232 Port2. Then Reset is the only listed option. That will reset the serial ports on Merlin.
gregarican
IS-IT--Management
Sorry, I neglected to mention the internal (*10) modem. Just go through Maintenance-->Port-->Modem. Reset is the only option listed there as well...
OK Similar problem(s).
I support several buildings. I was connecting to each directly to change the password. *Found out can't change it over a dial up session. I digress.
One of the buildings when I directly connected WinSPM sat like the RCA dog. So that is problem 1. After 9 good connections why did this one die?
second issue just happend today. When I attempt to dial into another building which I've successfully dialed and directly connected. I keep getting "lines busy" error message. This building couldn't possibly be using all of it's voice lines.
If I had much more hair I'd pull it out.
I support several buildings. I was connecting to each directly to change the password. *Found out can't change it over a dial up session. I digress.
One of the buildings when I directly connected WinSPM sat like the RCA dog. So that is problem 1. After 9 good connections why did this one die?
second issue just happend today. When I attempt to dial into another building which I've successfully dialed and directly connected. I keep getting "lines busy" error message. This building couldn't possibly be using all of it's voice lines.
If I had much more hair I'd pull it out.
gregarican
IS-IT--Management
campyracr, How are you dialing in? Are you having someone manually transfer you to *10? Are you dialing in a DID number that's part of an incoming T-1? Are you dialing in a single loop-start remote access line that has its own phone number?
In the past I had sporadic dial-in problems connecting with single loop-start remote access lines. If there was a lost session I couldn't reconnect. Just dialing the phone number from a cell phone would result in nothing picking up or a fast busy. I had to resort to physically going there and resetting the loop-start port in question at an operator phone or directly connected using WinSPM.
If you are getting transferred in from a user physically on-site then there might be pilot error. If there are consistent issues past pilot error then resetting the internal modem might be something to try. Less disruptive than restart the whole phone system if it's during business hours.
If you are coming in through a T-1 with some sort of DID assignment then perhaps there's an issue where the call isn't routing in correctly.
All of these are just educated guesses. But without resetting the internal modem or loop-start ports or checking DID assignments it's hard telling. There are a lot of possiblities.
One possibility I forgot to mention is that if you are dialing in through loop-start remote access lines there is specific timing that needs to happen between WinSPM dialing the phone number, waiting a number of seconds, then dialing the barrier code, then dialing the *10. As an example, an external connect string could be ATDT 5551212,,,,,,1234,*10 in order to dial the 5551212 phone number, wait awhile, enter the 1234 barrier code, wait a short while, then dial the *10.
Just a few suggestions of things to look at.
In the past I had sporadic dial-in problems connecting with single loop-start remote access lines. If there was a lost session I couldn't reconnect. Just dialing the phone number from a cell phone would result in nothing picking up or a fast busy. I had to resort to physically going there and resetting the loop-start port in question at an operator phone or directly connected using WinSPM.
If you are getting transferred in from a user physically on-site then there might be pilot error. If there are consistent issues past pilot error then resetting the internal modem might be something to try. Less disruptive than restart the whole phone system if it's during business hours.
If you are coming in through a T-1 with some sort of DID assignment then perhaps there's an issue where the call isn't routing in correctly.
All of these are just educated guesses. But without resetting the internal modem or loop-start ports or checking DID assignments it's hard telling. There are a lot of possiblities.
One possibility I forgot to mention is that if you are dialing in through loop-start remote access lines there is specific timing that needs to happen between WinSPM dialing the phone number, waiting a number of seconds, then dialing the barrier code, then dialing the *10. As an example, an external connect string could be ATDT 5551212,,,,,,1234,*10 in order to dial the 5551212 phone number, wait awhile, enter the 1234 barrier code, wait a short while, then dial the *10.
Just a few suggestions of things to look at.
Nette,
The original Merlins did not have remote admin access, nor for that matter did they have a local admin port. In those days, you had to connect a printer or cheap-o computer running a terminal emulator to the SMDR port and run a print job from the console in order to 'see' what was programmed and all programming was done from the main console. It's possible you have a Merlin II (which looks like a Legend) and not a Merlin Legend. Though it is possible to upgrade a Merlin II to a Merlin Legend series, you might be better served just getting a new system. If you upgrade, you can reuse 400 (LS), 800, 400EM, 012 T/R, 008 and 408 modules and ATL phones up to a Merlin Legend R7 The Merlin Magix does not support ATL sets or modules). You will also need to upgrade the processor to at least a CKE3 as well as the power supply(s).
The original Merlins did not have remote admin access, nor for that matter did they have a local admin port. In those days, you had to connect a printer or cheap-o computer running a terminal emulator to the SMDR port and run a print job from the console in order to 'see' what was programmed and all programming was done from the main console. It's possible you have a Merlin II (which looks like a Legend) and not a Merlin Legend. Though it is possible to upgrade a Merlin II to a Merlin Legend series, you might be better served just getting a new system. If you upgrade, you can reuse 400 (LS), 800, 400EM, 012 T/R, 008 and 408 modules and ATL phones up to a Merlin Legend R7 The Merlin Magix does not support ATL sets or modules). You will also need to upgrade the processor to at least a CKE3 as well as the power supply(s).
- Thread starter
- #10
All programming on a 1030/3070 is done through the Attendant phone or at least a 34 button phone with a display. You'll need the Feature Module version to find out what features the system has. FM 1, hardly has any features. FM 4 and 5 have a decent amount of features.
Gregarican,
It is a DID on a T. Not sure about the lop start though, something tells me it is but I am not 100%
I modified the dial string to include enough pauses to get to the operator’s phone. However as soon as it hits that extension it rolls to vm. I asked someone who knows to look the phone over to see if it was automatically sending calls to vm (send calls, call forward or night ring). None.
The thing is the user sitting at the phone with me on another line cannot get the inbound call from my modem.
…what’s the “barrier code”? Right now it’s 5551212,,,0 (to get to the operator’s phone). If there is a way I can route past that without talking to someone that would be great.
It is a DID on a T. Not sure about the lop start though, something tells me it is but I am not 100%
I modified the dial string to include enough pauses to get to the operator’s phone. However as soon as it hits that extension it rolls to vm. I asked someone who knows to look the phone over to see if it was automatically sending calls to vm (send calls, call forward or night ring). None.
The thing is the user sitting at the phone with me on another line cannot get the inbound call from my modem.
…what’s the “barrier code”? Right now it’s 5551212,,,0 (to get to the operator’s phone). If there is a way I can route past that without talking to someone that would be great.
gregarican
IS-IT--Management
If you don't have remote access in effect then you would have to be manually transferred to the Merlin system.
You can designate a particular line/trunk as being available for Remote Access. If you have any of the Merlin programming manuals specifics should be contained in there.
In a nutshell a line/trunk can be assigned by going through LinesTrunks-->RemoteAccess-->LinesTrunks-->enter the #. It can either be set as Dedicated or as Shared.
Then you can specify that a barrier code is required (good for security purposes) by going through LinesTrunks-->RemoteAccess-->Non-TIE-->BarrierCode. Then in the same WinSPM area you can designate the Code Length and the code itself through Code Entry.
When doing all of this be advised that adding a Remote Access line/trunk to the system will automatically add a button for it on the main operator's phone. It might overwrite an existing button on the phone so keep an eye out.
Once you have designated a line/trunk as being available for Remote Access then you dial that particular line/trunk DID number and then the barrier code is the passcode that grants a caller access to the system. You can set the length of the code as well as what the code is.
From there it's just like you picked up a line right on the switch. You can pass along the *10 in the WinSPM phone number at the end so that you can get the WinSPM login prompt.
I personally have only used individual loop start lines for this application and haven't broken things off DID numbers from a T-1 circuit. But the principals would be the same as above. Hope this helps...
You can designate a particular line/trunk as being available for Remote Access. If you have any of the Merlin programming manuals specifics should be contained in there.
In a nutshell a line/trunk can be assigned by going through LinesTrunks-->RemoteAccess-->LinesTrunks-->enter the #. It can either be set as Dedicated or as Shared.
Then you can specify that a barrier code is required (good for security purposes) by going through LinesTrunks-->RemoteAccess-->Non-TIE-->BarrierCode. Then in the same WinSPM area you can designate the Code Length and the code itself through Code Entry.
When doing all of this be advised that adding a Remote Access line/trunk to the system will automatically add a button for it on the main operator's phone. It might overwrite an existing button on the phone so keep an eye out.
Once you have designated a line/trunk as being available for Remote Access then you dial that particular line/trunk DID number and then the barrier code is the passcode that grants a caller access to the system. You can set the length of the code as well as what the code is.
From there it's just like you picked up a line right on the switch. You can pass along the *10 in the WinSPM phone number at the end so that you can get the WinSPM login prompt.
I personally have only used individual loop start lines for this application and haven't broken things off DID numbers from a T-1 circuit. But the principals would be the same as above. Hope this helps...
I'll have to investigate that solution. I did some checking with the person who programmed the system origionally. Problem solved, through that converstation. He setup a "hunt group" for the office folks.
The office users log in, so when a caller hits 0 they will get a person live. In this case no one was logged in, so I continually got vm.
The office users log in, so when a caller hits 0 they will get a person live. In this case no one was logged in, so I continually got vm.
- Status
Similar threads
- Question
- Locked
- Question
- Locked
- Question
