atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Other TDM Phone Systems Iwatsu Telephones & Systems Diagnose Adix-VS VM issue

Hi,

I'm the volunter IT administrator for a local church. They have an Adix-VS system with a VS-VML01 voicemail card, all installed in 1999 by a company that is now out of business. Whatever backups the vendor had of the system are gone.

The church had great luck with the system until last month, when the auto-attendant and voicemail started getting flaky. For a few minutes after boot-up, things worked fine: call it, it answers, prompts for extension, etc. Then after maybe 10 minutes, I would call the system from an outside line, it would pick up as usual after four rings, but not play any message: just silence.

I pulled the 40MB compact flash out and stuck it in my PC. I first tried a flash recovery program, but it couldn't find a volume on the card. I created a default volume, then it couldn't identify any data. I formatted the card as FAT, then re-installed it. Now when I boot the system, there is no auto-attendant at all, i.e. it doesn't even pick up after four rings; when I call voicemail, it says "Invalid." Same thing after re-formatting as FAT32. Same thing after temporarily replacing with a new 256MB compact flash card.

The phones are still working as phones, people's names display when you call an extension, etc.

The four port LEDs on the VM-VML are on solid; in the other LED array, one is solid and the other three are off (sorry, forgot to note which ones but I could find out).

My question is: based on that info, can you say whether the VM card is shot or whether it just needs reprogramming? And if it's programming, is that something that someone could do remotely? I guess I'd have to buy an external modem and somehow get the right RJ45 to DB9 patch cable?

As you know, these VM cards are expensive, so if the card is broken, they'll probably replace the whole system. But if it's just the compact flash that failed, I hate to see them toss the whole system.

I should mention that when I went looking for alternatives, I came across the Linksys LVS system and went ahead and got authorized on that. Small-business VoIP might be interesting for me and eventually for the church. But my first preference would still be to get the Iwatsu back up if that is what is most cost-effective for them.

Thanks for any tips/suggestions/advice!

Mark Berry

Do you know what the extension numbers are for the ports. That would be the first thing I would check. See if you an dial the ports directly and if they will answer.

If you have taken the card out of the system make sure it is in the right slot. (VML) I have seen them do some crazy things if it is not in the right place. Never hot swap, always power down before adding or removing any cards.

Lastly, If the card is shot I think you would be pleasantly surprised to find out that the VML card is not going to be a tremendous dollar amount to replace. Without a doubt less expensive than replacing the entire system.

I am sure others will come forward with some helpful hints. The biggest thing right now is we want to be able to access VM. Let's see if we can get it to answer.

Let us know how it goes.

Thanks much for your prompt reply.

The secretary and pastor each had a (different) 3-digit number that they used to access their voicemail. These are different from their phone extensions. So the secretary's extension is 201 and her voicemail access is something like #217 (with the pound sign). When I dialed that, I got a beep and "Invalid" on the phone display.

The pastor's VM light is blinking at the top of her phone, but when she pushes the button to access VM, she also gets the beep and "Invalid." She also has a separate code #710 for updating the auto-attendant "information boxes" but that's also "Invalid."

I'm not at the church right now to double-check this but that is what I recall from yesterday.

Yes, I didn't notice the slot labelled VML at first and had it in the wrong slot for a while, but it is now in the VML slot.

Should the VM be giving me some default prompts even if the compact flash is formatted blank? I did the format in a PC (using Windows Disk Administrator), so if there is some kind of boot code that needs to be downloaded from the programming software, it's not there.

Thanks again for your help.

If you're just getting a beep when when you try to access VM it mught be that something has happened to the telephone sytem configuration.

If the vm ports are not programmed for VM/AA it will give you some weird problems.

When I asked about the voice mail ports I was trying to see if you could dial the actual port directly. In other word the system has to assign extension numbers for every voice mail port (4).

AS of right now beeps are good. Atleast we know it might be alive.

Is there a default for the voice mail ports? Or some way to find out what they are?

217,218,219,220

Also, 710 is the pilot number, or hunt group access number for voice mail.

It sounds like you vml is probably gone, but I agree with Jadix that a new 4vml would be cheaper than a new system.

However, if you have a version 1.0 cpu on the VS, there will be issues with a new 4vml. A brand new (newest version) 4vml will work with a 1.0 VS, but there can be some quirks in the configuration between the two.

I learned that the hard way. So find out if you can what version of CPU you have.

Thanks very much. Those numbers make sense since they gave me both 217 and 710. Is it correct that you pick up the receiver (or press Spkr), then dial POUND (#) + 217, for example, to reach the first VM port?

Thanks for your patience with my newbie questions. Until last month I had managed to stay completely out of the phone system setup and use. Ignorance WAS bliss, but no longer .

You do not have to dial #. Just dial the extension from icm tone.

Replying now from the church.

Dialing 217 (or #217) gives me a fast busy and "Invalid" on the display phone. Same for 218, 219, 220, and 710. If the system is booted with the VM card removed, does it "forget" that there was a VM card?

I don't know how to determine the version of the VS. (I don't have the system programmer.) I doubt that the system has been upgraded since 1999, but I'm not sure.

I do have the VMI System Editor, which I found as a public download at the Carolina Digital site. I bought a DB9 to RJ45 adapter, did my best to wire it as a crossover (8 to 1, 7 to 2, etc.), plugged in a straight-through network cable to the adapter and the VS-VML01 card, and tried a direct connect. It starts by testing the connection, progressing up to 100%, then back to 87%, then back up to 100%, before giving me the message "The editor was unable to communicate properly with your voice mail system." In the transaction log, I see several messages like

PACKET Send type=32 start=30720 end=34720 to=4000 success=1

While all this is going on, I see the following on the VM card LEDs:

D1 not used
D2 Compact Flash Active - one very brief flash every five seconds
D3 Serial Communications Active - off (even while trying to connect)
D4 Housekeeping active - steady

D6-D9 4 Port Status LEDs: steady (port active)

Just for grins I also tried plugging the cable into the mainboard, but was also unable to connect.

My COM1 port is set to default to 19200 bps, 8 data bits, no parity, 1 stop bit, no flow control. I believe the program using the port can override those settings.

Did I wire the cable correctly? Is there some trick to connecting? Or have I now confirmed that the VML card is shot?

Thanks,

Mark Berry

Update: I called Carolina Digital. They informed me that the compact flash uses a proprietary format; by reformatting it as FAT32, I wiped out the VS-VML card's operating system, which means even if the VS-VML card is fine, it won't connect.

It was an Iwatsu inside sales rep who told me to try replacing the compact flash card, and a local Iwatsu dealer who told me that the format is FAT32.

If someone suggests putting the compact flash from your VS-VML card into a PC, don't.