atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information Fax Server Error

Not sure where to put this so I'll start in the general forum. I've got a fax server with two Brooktrout TruFax analog cards (2 ports each). The server is Biscom Fax server. We use this to send faxes from our mainframe ERP system. I'm seeing a fair number of errors with "status code 0006[dis2]". The documentation describes this as a late disconnect, specifically stating:

"Late disconnect; remote fax machine requested a disconnect after image was transmitted."

I haven't been able to find any information on what might cause this error. I even see it when faxing to a couple of our internal fax machines, though I'll have to do some more testing there.

The fax lines currently run through our Shoretel PBX, but I was receiving the same errors when the four ports were attached to POTS lines. I switched these to run through our phone system yesterday afternoon as we had a different issue with our POTS phone lines and needed a temporary work-around. That's when I noticed the errors.

Anyone have an idea what might cause this? For my part I'm going to do some more testing internally to see if there's any common element to the fax machines from which I see this error. I did notice that almost all of the errors showed a corresponding baud rate of 2400, if that's applicable.

For reference, here's the complete error from our system:

fax tx err via local on 09/22/2009 13:04:28, Fax Line 02, Phone Number 13013867780
Status Code 0006[dis2]
000 Pages, in 0036 sec
Baud Rate 02400
Resolution L
Remote Fax ID 3013867780
User ID: 090922 12052002
User Name: 1 MP 29230
App:
Host Port 02
Session:
To:
Company:
Subject:

Has this always occured?

When did it start?

True analog lines or some sort of IAD in the mix?

Do you have a plain ol fax laying around which you could test with, circumventing the server for now?

This might have always been the case, rustynails. I just noticed it when working on the server yesterday.

Right now the fax ports are connected through our Shoretel PBX and out a dedicated PRI for faxing. However, I only moved the lines yesterday afternoon to route through our phone switch. That was done to work around a separate issue, which is now fixed. I haven't moved them back yet, but in either case the logs show the issue had been happening even when all ports were connected to POTS lines.

All of the stand-alone fax machines that I currently have are connected through our PBX. What I could do, however, is connect a fax to one of the POTS lines that I was using for the fax server and test that way.

Understanding that fax communications are never going to be perfect, this may be a non-starter. It just seems a bit too many of these errors for my liking. Plus, I'd really just like to know what might cause a "late disconnect" to occur.

The fax card probably isn't sending the proper disconnect supervision.

And, of course, the REAL question is: Are the faxes getting thru?

(can you end the fax with: "If you don't receive this fax, please notify us immediately" ) Sorry, the devil made me do it! John C.

Thank for the responses. I thought about disconnect supervision, though I'm unsure how that works. Most faxes are going through just fine. Would a disconnect supervision problem manifest itself in occaisonal problems like this?

Our server will retry 5 times before finally giving up, so while the errors are many, it's really just a few numbers that fail over and over.

John C, I was wondering (but haven't had a chance to test this yet) if the faxes are indeed going through with several copies being sent to the target machine. The logs show 0 pages sent, but the error seems to indicate otherwise, particularly "..a disconnect after image was transmitted".

I'll be sure to specify that the called party ONLY respond if they DON'T receive my test :-).

It looks like the issue has gotten worse since moving the lines to our PBX, at least for a couple of the numbers we fax to often. It does appear that the recipients receive partial faxes or none at all when we see the error. As a test I have increased the tx gain on our Shoretel fax switch ports in case that helps.

I can still switch back to our POTS lines if necessary. I am interested to see if this will work through our phone system.

Are those numbers that fail with the same carrier

Sorry for the late response mgere, I was out of town on Friday. Before I left (Thursday afternoon) I switched our fax server back to using POTS lines. In my testing Thursday night and the ensuing fax logs it looks like I've gotten far fewer of these errors, so I think I can consider a major source of the problem as trying to run our fax server through the phone system.

As for the errors I'm still seeing, I'm not sure on the carrier used on all numbers where we're still seeing the errors, but I do know that most of what I'm seeing now is errors faxing to our internal fax machines.

In short, I've seen the enemy and he is us :^). I'll check with our vendor to see if there's anything I can do to address issues running fax machines through our phone system. I may contact our carrier if that proves unsuccessful.