atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Comdial Telephones & Systems WideOpen Office Connection Problems

I'm a new member and I'm working with a DXP Plus system (Feature Set 15B)

Our customer is running Wideopen Office version 5G and Impact Attendant 2F. The Operators extension is about 150' from the phone switch and is connected via a serial cable at 9600 baud (2-pair, twisted/shielded and the shielding is grounded).

The Attendant PC has been running for years without a problem until several days ago when it started having intermittent communication problems with the switch. At first, I checked the connections and even replaced a 6-pin RJ end that looked marginal. I double checked the ground and everything is fine from a connection standpoint. Next, I moved to another port on the COM card... same result. I even tried reducing the speed on the port to 4800 baud with no improvement.

Impact Attendantâ„¢ shows an error message:
Set_States - Using_phone False

Has anyone ever encountered this problem before? I even tried replacing the COM card with no improvement.

Looks like you are running a cable all the way from the WideOpen server to the attendant PC. Is this correct? Is the Impact Attendant security key a combo with the voice mail or is it a standalone CTI key?

This PC is running both Wideopen office and Impact Attendant with a hardware key plugged into the parallel port (this is the original configuration that ran reliably for years) . I'm running a cable from the serial port (COM 1) on the Attendant PC to port 3 on the COM card (services board). Voice mail is VVP version 8.2 through a separate COM port (Different key).

More info:

The communication problem started with the original PC that was running WOO. After testing the serial port, we replaced it with a newer PC that we had on standby due to the advancing age of the original attendant PC. We tested the serial port on both the old and new PC's with a null modem cable and Hyperterminal and the ports on both PC's tested fine.

To add insult to injury, The Attendant PC will communicate fine for an hour or two. Then, impact attendant will show: "Set_states - Using Phone False" about 70 to 100 times, over the course of 2 minutes, in a lower split-screen in the Impact Attendant window. These messages will then stop and the attendant will function normally... or it will completely lose communication with the switch and all extensions will be grayed out in the attendant window.

That's different from any Impact Attendant setup that I have ever seen. Typically I'll have a CTI server (Or Interchange voice mail) run the Wide Open server software and put it on the customer network. That will then attach to the com port of the Comdial switch. I'll then load Impact Attendant and Wide Open client on the PC at the receptionist desk and use the network for connectivity.

Thanks! I this mess is leftover from a prior vendor. I'm going to round up another PC, try it your way and let you know how it works out. The voice mail is DOS based...

I would follow the set-up listed by Dave (RBF).

One other thing to consider about the key on the parallel port. Using most printers (other than dot matrix) through that key will give you errors.

Sorry for the delay, I've been sidelined with a bout of food poisoning (I thought General Tso's chicken wasn't quite warm enough...)

Everything works great! The customer hasn't had a crash since the change.

Thanks for your help!

P.S. - Thanks for the key tip. This PC wasn't running a printer, but it's good to know for the future.