atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Vodavi Telephones & Systems Starplus 616 prog module dead

We had some severe thunderstorms over the weekend and it appears that even with an APC UPS protecting the equipment, one of the lighting strikes was close enough that it erased/corrupted the program module. It won't boot, just keeps looping and flashing station 11 button every 4 seconds.

I've located a new KSU already, and it's in use, but the firmware is 1.0I 930216, and we were running 1.0Q 950828.

Does anyone have 1.0Q (or newer) copies of the firmware? I've got an eraser & burner that I can use to reprogram the EEPROMs.

Both old & replacement KSU are rev 2f motherboard, so I think the program modules should be compatible.

Rather than risk putting the new module into the old system, I'd rather re-burn it. I tried the old module in the new ksu (so we had more current firmware) - that's how I found out it's the module at fault and probably not the old KSU itself.

Any help welcome, but at least we're back up and running again - or at least limping along (still got a lot of programming to re-enter).

I don't remember there being any significant software issues with the old Flex system. I think you have nothing to gain.

On another note, you're rather lucky to find any replacement that doesn't have CO volume trouble. I finally gave up on those about three years ago because of endless trouble with refurbs.

Why keep something that is so old?

Here's a math quiz, what's $200 x 10 plus $1000?

Now, how much was that "refurbished" Starplus 616 Flex from anywhere?

Some people don't have a spare 3K to swap out a KSU and phones.

Carl

That is true.

Ok. I guess if there aren't any significant problems with 1.0I, I'll leave well enough alone.

Any opinions on whether I should go ahead and get the old KSU repaired? (would they re-burn the prog module if it's dead?)

As to the reason for keeping it - Carl nailed it. $100 to replace the KSU vs $1000 base + ($200 * num phones) isn't much of a choice.

Thx for info all. At least the programming is all done and I've got a cheat-sheet for next time. (which hopefully won't be for quite a while)

Repair, if available, will probably cost more than the $100 you paid for the replacement. AND the repair would probably only cover what is repaired!

If you can copy the working eprom, just do it. That way you will have a spare should the exact same condition reoccur. Refurb equipment is usually just dusted off and wiped clean. if any testing is done, it is cursory. The few problems I ever had with those units were usually CO line ports going bad. Those were probably due to storms and line voltages.
As for the software revision, they are so similar that it isn't worth the concern.