sundance-communications.com/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Toshiba Telephones & Systems How to access DOS prompt on DK40i/Voicemail

Hello All,

I have been trying to access the DOS prompt using hyperterminal on my voicemail system without success. Does anyone know if this is possible for this system, and if so, what is the procedure.


System --- Strata DK 40i

Voicemail system information from Stratagy Admin Screen
--------------------------
STRATAGY VDK.2Na/1.03
Voice Processing
TAIS, Inc. Copyright 1994
Strata DK 14/40

Thanks!

for some there is a jumper on the board you have to move, then hit ctrl+C at boot.

What VM do you have? A Stratagy Flash external voicebrick or IVP8? I assume you have a null modem cable (or remote modem hookup) otherwise you would not have been able to use Stratagy Admin. Once the VM is running (and able to connect to Admin) it's too late to get to DOS. The DOS option is only available on initial power up or reset. You have to monitor the boot up with Hyperterminal (set at 115200 8N1 no flow control). For the version of Romdos I'm familiar with it pauses and asks for a 1 for regular startup or 2 to go to a DOS prompt, usually D:> At this point you can type 2 then enter and you will be at the d:> prompt. Type c: enter at this point to get to the c:> If you don't enter anything it defaults to the normal startup. I know of no way to get to the DOS prompt after a normal startup.

If you're doing this remotely you can switch back to the D:> and run the reset.com program you'll find there which is a warm reboot.

It is not recommended that you simply power down a running VM. You should choose the stop or halt option in Stratagy Admin first to prevent corrupting the flash memory "disk"

You didn't mention why you needed to get to the
DOS prompt. If you need to restore some DOS files and have a backup, it's almost easier to do that with a computer and compact flash adapter than trying to keep everything straight using the built in zmodem protocol.

Hope this helped.
66block

I don't know how to identify the VM that I have. It is inside the cabinet with the "Strata DK 40i", although the cabinet housing the VM appears to be an extension to the original cabinet.
The marking "Stratagy DK" and "SG-DK-4" can be found inside the cabinet and "Model DKSUE40A" is on the outside.
There appears to be one 8 pin jumper block (for 4 jumpers) with the marking J4 at one end.
The hardcopy manual I have is "Installation and Maintenance Manual" for "Stratagy Voice Processing"
There is a 1.44 GB Seagate ST91420AG 2.5" laptop IDE drive mounted on the board.

I have tried watching during the boot process with Hyperterminal connect to COM2 (the same port that works nicely for the Admin program) at 115200 8N1 no flow control.
I do not see any activity on the Hyperterminal screen when I power on the VM (after a proper shutdown) and it eventually reboots to it's normal state. I am sure that Hyperterminal is working as I can plug another computer in instead of the VM, and communicate with it through Hyperterminal using the same cable.
I have tried sending ctrl+C during the boot cycle with no visible effect.
They best choice might be to get an adaptor and just plug the drive into a computer, but I would rather not take it out now if I don't need to.

The phone system is currently operating correctly. I am hoping to make some changes but would like to understand how it works before I do. It seems to be a good idea, in general, to learn how something works before I break it. Not that I am intending to break anything but, stuff happens

Thanks again for your replies

Arnie, would you mind completing your profile so we know who you are, and where you are, and we can maybe help you better! Thanks!

Arnie
Using the cable that you have can you get to the admin menu?
I have found this problem when the cable is not a true null modem cable.

SSPhone, yes I can access and use the admin menu. I don't know how the cable is wired, only that it has been used with the admin menu for many years. I think I saw the cable spec in the manual. I will compare the spec to the cable. Thanks for the idea.

For Hyperterminal, connect the cable to the other serial port.

Like Junkman said, you're in the wrong com port.

I just looked it up. For Stratagy DK it's 9600 baud, bottom com port. And you have to remove a jumper behind LED 3 to interupt the boot process.

Also, while at the DOS prompt, run killtime under c:\SAT to keep system from rebooting.

junkman,
I did try that earlier, but I had flow control set to hardware instead of 66block's recommendation of no flow control. I will give that a try first thing Monday. That is unless curiosity gets the better of me and I can't wait until Monday.
I will let you know what happens.