atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Nortel Telephones & Systems Norstar Companion

Hello,
I have a customer who Unplugged their Companion (Wireless) box by mistake. Now it won't come up.
I tried re-entering the UTAM and Credit Keys back in, but no good.
I also removed registry and now tried to put back in and will not accept. tells me no connection.
I have had this happen before and do not remember the steps to bring the wireless system back up?
Any help is greatly appreciated.

They have a Norstar MICS VERSION 5.0

Thanks
Rick

Did you check the status lights on the base station(s)? They have a green and red LED on them. It should be solid green, if it is red or flashing red, normally powering down the base will make it re-enroll. If there is no lights at all, check to see if there is an RPI (remote power interconnect) installed. Make sure it has power from the wall outlet. There was a Nortel issue with the switching power supply in these RPI's as well.

Good luck, they can be very finicky!

Thanks for the quick response, yes I have Leds on,
and This has happened to this customer before about two years ago, I did not keep notes on what it took to bring them back up, but it was a sequence of some sort, I tried everything I could think of but its still down, when I press menu ***
on the hanset it says no connection also?
I also unregistered the handsets, now they will not register, there are only 3-4 handsets, I left one registered but it won't get a connection?

Yeah, they can be a pain. Normally if the handset says "no connection", it means the base isn't connecting to the KSU. I have never found an actual sequence, just a lot of screwing around to get them running again. :bang: Go into "maintenance" and show "port status" of the base(s). Try disabling them, bounce out of programming, back in, re-enable them. They take a bit of time to reboot (flashing red LED).

Thank you,

I will try that, any other ideas before I go back out are greatly appreciated, its no wonder they stopped selling this product.

Rick

Still not working?

Any other ideas?


Rick

did you get any alarm codes when this happened

Yes,
but the customer cleared them, is there something
In Alarms that I should have been looking for?

yes the codes and event would of told you what the problem is had had an alarm and event code 1 month ago and looking it up it told me the ksu was failling replaced it and its done ther is a reason for those codes if you dont have em i could email em to you

Can you please, that would be a great help, I assumed the Alarm the Cust. had was because of unpluging the Mics, and Companion, everything worked until power was removed.

no unplugging shouldnt give you problems but the system would of given you an alarm for that and whatever is the problem i will email them to you tonight i just gotta find it in my puter

Thank you,


:bang:

Did you go into programming on the KSU - "System Programming" - "Companion" - "Registration" - set to "Yes" before you tried to re-register the handsets?

Yes,
That was one of the first things I did, then I took registration off on 1 phone and tried to re-register it, it would not let me.
I wonder if I need to reset the MICS again with out unplugging the Companion?

The system shows four credits, I assume that is the license for the Companion.

Thanks

Rick

Just to refresh what you have done; the bases are being detected and running (green light on steady, no red light on at all)? If not, in "System Programming" - "Companion" - "Radio Data" - "Re-evaluation" to continue.

Yes, the credits are for the wireless license for the handsets. In the Sates, you also have to license the base stations as well. I am not real familar with how to do that as we don't have to do it here in Canada. Something about a UTAM activation code (2 I believe) that has to be entered once the base is enrolled in order for it to work.

Are the portables showing the system name on their display or are they saying "no system selected"? If they are not showing the system name, than they are not registered to the base.

The UTAM and Credit codes have been re-entered several times.

I took registration off the phones to try and re-register them , now that wont let me, says no communication.

I have had this happen here once before and there was a sequence, or order that I had to follow, I might be missing a step?

I think since the Companion was unplugged and not the KSU it might have taken the companion port out, I want to try reseting the MICS and see if that does anything.

The names were showing when I would look at prog.
extensions 637-638-639

But not on the handset, it would give an error tone everytime I tried to use them.
?????
:confused:

Rick you have mail

Thanks!!

Just wondering how you made out with this Rick?
Did you get it up and running again?

Not Yet,
The customer was on Christmas Vacation and actually was back in today, I am still putting out some other fires, but plan on making it out this week.
I will let you know

Thanks

Rick

Update,

I am not on site but was told the Base unit closest to the Companion unit has a Solid Red and Solid Green Light.

i believe if they are both on it means it is seing the control unit but needs to be re-evaluated in normal operation the green should always be on and the red should just go on when a call is made from that base station

Yep, the red cannot be on solid. A solid red light means the base is busy and we know that isn't the case here. Follow this path:

[QUOTE]Originally posted by twisted pair:
[QB] Just to refresh what you have done; the bases are being detected and running (green light on steady, no red light on at all)? If not, in "System Programming" - "Companion" - "Radio Data" - "Re-evaluation" to continue.

Thanks Guys,
I will go out and try that, I did play with the above settings but NG, I will start over in case I missed something.

Rick

Update:

Still Down, went on site tried all the above N/G.
Called Nortel had to get new unlock codes because losing power causes the codes to need updates, and new unlock codes are needed.
Ran Evaluation of system bases, red led is now out but no communication, called Nortel back, now they say that all bases need to be unpluuged, system reset, new unlock code entered and each base plugged in one at a time?
What is that? :bang:

I feel your pain!!

Yep, I have had to unplug the bases many times to make them re-enroll (I mentioned that in my first post). Normally that is all I do, sometimes have to do a re-evaluation in programming. We don't have to do the codes here in Canada, land of the free airwaves!!

By the way, if your base(s) are up out of reach, I just disable them in "maintenance" and then re-enable (see my second post), rather than unplugging.

Thanks,
They are all out of reach, it is a metal processing plant, all the bases are punched directly to the Companian, no bridge clips.
Where in maint can I disable individual bases?
That would be great.
Please let me know, I will be going back out next week.

Rick

Not sure what you meant here? There is no separate box at the KSU for the Companion. If there are multiple bases (cell antennas), you might find an RPI there. It is just a switching power supply with cross connects in it (BIX wafers). Everything is probably connected to a station module expander. The bases can still be found in "maintenace" - "port status" and show the ports of the station module that has the bases connected to it. For example, if the KSU has a 2 port expansion card in it, the companion can be found on ports 3XX or 4XX. If it has a 6 port card, ports 7XX or 8XX.

You have PM.

Thank you!!

There is a Box under the KSU marked Companion, which has all the base ant. attached to them.
Maybe I am wrong when I say base stations, they are the units mounted up throughout the plant, and they are terminated in the unit marked Companion. If I had to disconnect each one then repunch, that would be a real pain, This is the only site I have that is using the Companion, so I am not really familiar with the proper names of the Devices, are the bases called cells?
When I disable via Prog. am I disabling the handsets Exts. 637, 638, 639?
I am still a little confused.

topher- Thanks for the e-mail, I have not read it completely yet, but will try it.

Thanks Again

Rick

When you disable it, the way I told you, from a set, you are electronically disabling the port. nothing can get through on that port on the system. So to speak.

That box is the RPI. Pull the cover off and you will see "in" and "out" BIX wafers in it. Just pull the white/blue from each base (punched on "out") do your reset, and repunch them, one at a time. It's not a lot of work, but you will need a BIX tool!

Some people call them cells or antennas, but Nortel calls them bases. You can take a walk through the plant and you should be able to see the status lights from the floor to make sure the red goes off eventually. You can count how many bases are punched down in the RPI and that is how many you will have to look for in the plant.

Sucess!!
Guy's Thank you!!
Topher That e-mail really helped.
Disabling the ports did the trick, although The UTAM codes needed to be unlocked, and system Re-Evaluated. Nortel told me the only way to get them back up was to unplug all and replug one at a time. I was looking at the wrong ports on the MICS they were 127-128-129. when disabled and activated then re-registered from each wireless handset , they came right up.

Thank you!! Thank you!!

Rick

Glad to hear that everything worked out for the best

I think Bill Gates invented the Companion.

This was an excellent example of why I shouldn't sell a Companion unless the customer is willing to send it to Steve Jobs for modification against power viruses.