Recently moved phone system to a new location. I also moved the punch down blocks with the existing wiring. The T1 connected and phones are able to send/receive phone calls as before. The only problem is that the voicemail does not connect. When users attempt to access via their phones it just rings.
Is there something I am missing? Do I need to cross anything to an extension?

Did you shut down the voicemail card properly before taking the system offline? Assuming its a VMS-X or VMP that you have installed in the IPK -- there is a switch on the side of the card that faces you when looking at the chassis -- the switch will be labeled "MB" or "MAKE BUSY". Turn the switch into this position, wait 45 seconds and pull the card out of the slot. Press the card back into the slot, and return the switch to its original position.

It can take up to 5-6 minutes for the VM system to fully boot up.

I shut off power from switch and I did not shutdown the voicemail card.

I will try that today and post back my results. Thanks for the input.
Some extra info on the system if needed:

Inserted left to right
1: cpu II (100-u10)
2: empty
3 Esie<8>-u10
4: Esie<8> piggy back unit?
5: empty
6: bti s40 etu lot 275 d? think a typo i will look again
7: sli B4-u10
8: COI(b)-u10
9 empty
10: VMPx-u40 Etu

If all you did was power down the chassis and physically move things to a new location, there will be no programming etc that needs to change.

VM's don't really like being shut down in a non-graceful way. Ive lost a few VMP's by doing this :p

I got to the site. I noticed there was a run/shutdown toggle switch and not the "mb"
I tried to shutdown, wait, pull/insert, return to run position. The voicemail did not come back up.
Also, when I dial the main number, it gives a busy signal. It use to ring to an ext before. Is it possible it is in night mode and the night mode is not working if the vm/auto att is down so it rings busy?

Some observations:
Ext 100 has auto att "on" visible on the lcd
one of the phones does show ext 199 on the left of the lcd which should be the voicemail.
ON the back of the card there is 3 leds, app2, app1, and shutdown. none are lit.

How would I know if the voicemail is bad? Is there any leds? Do i need to use cosession software to run a disk utitily?

Do you know what your VM extension is? Press the VOICEMAIL Button on the phones and see what ext it tries to dial.

Download the manual for the VMP card and check out the section where it tells you what all of the LED's are for. You'll find out if your VMP is booted up or not. Then you can keep reading for some information on diagnostics, etc.

its really not fair to your customer to be moving something without having the skill-set and resources to take care of issues like this that may come up .

problems like this are the reason a knowledgeable phone tech not a PC repair guy should be handling this type or work

I did not want to move the phone system. The previous vendor they were using ripped them off and locked them out of their system. They did not trust random phone companies. I am familiar with avaya phone systems. I just want to get them up and running so they can find a new vendor. Thanks for the help so far.

In summary, when moving an nec elite ipk phone system:
1: Turn cf flash vm card to off:
2: power off system
3: power on system
4: set vm cf card to on

no cross-connecting is needed. One does not need to know the pin-outs to 66 blocks and the voice-mail extension is accessible if the system is up.

Is that a valid summary?

but they aren't up and running are they ?

how long have they been without VM and what is that costing ?

You forgot the step called backup.

So, the voicemail card has no LED lights on the app1, which leads me to believe it might be bad (per the manual it should light up green, amber or red). The rest of the LEDs light up fine, no errors that I can tell. Does this make it necessary to replace the VM card, or is there a repair utility I can run? Do I need to run the cosession software to do so?

Hard to know what the issue is without swapping parts. Either bad flash or bad vmp card.

Silly question. Is the voicemail card pushed in hard?? I've seen similar problems with cards not being pushed home after a shift..

PM'd

I will try re-seating the card. Is it sufficient to put the vm switch into the off position and re-seat or must the entire system by turned off as well?

If this is an IPKII then the voicemail will NOT come back up if you power cycle the KSU.

You need to:

1. power down the card: there is a small black slider switch on the front, push it down.

2.Pull the card out of the slot using the small white tab at the top, wait 30-60 seconds.

3. re-insert the VM card.

4. Slide power switch back up, wait 3-7 minutes for boot up.


Just shutting down the card while it's running is a pretty bad idea, and I'm sure you understand that now.

I hope it boots up and is not damaged.

D

Thanks for the advice. I will try to pull the card out when I arrive at the office this afternoon and cross my fingers. I know that this is an older system - is there a way to run a repair utility if it is damaged? Or is it a replacement?

Honestly I think you'll be OK.

Let us know if it doesn't come up.

I have spare parts as do other folks here.

D

QFT.

The fact that one NEC vendor allegedly took advantage of them does not excuse assuming that an IPK is just like a Partner. As you probably know, there are some "gotchas" on Partners that will fry cards if one doesn't know the system, so there's no excuse for thinking that moving an IPK would just be that easy.

My advice would be to find a different NEC dealer and come clean with them about what you did and what happened as a result. Expect to buy a new voicemail card for your customer.

If you are honest about it, expect to go in the hole on this deal, after replacing the card that you probably fatally damaged. Consider the lost money to be tuition on the lesson of asking questions FIRST.

It worked! Thank you doghart, your advice worked perfectly. They are back up and running. I really appreciate all the advice and information.

Glad you sorted this . It sounds like you have an IPK2 and DOS voicemail.

If you feel up to it you may want to add thses two lines to the AUTOEXEC.BAT file on the dos voicemail just below
@ECHO OFF
C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE C /X 256

Add these two lines.
REM Wait 120 seconds for EliteIPK II to start up.
CALL C:\HOST\WAIT 120

This will cause the mail to wait 120 seconds before it does a startup and you won't have this problem again..

Or I can send you the AUTOEXEC.BAT for you to copy across..

Thanks paulw. Will do that.

Again, I really appreciate those of you who have helped - the customer is very happy with only 1/2 a day down and so am I. I am grateful for those who actually share knowledge of the system and the problem/solution.