atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Comdial Telephones & Systems Serial Communications

Comdial DXP at work....

We have no serial printer and at this time only the old Wyse terminal.

I'd like to be able to dump the current settings somewhere but am not sure of the best way to do so. My thinking is that if the DXP will talk to hyperterminal or similar I could simply dump the full setup info to another PC.

Since I've never done this before has anyone got any suggestions, cable connections needed etc? A link would be handy if there is such a thing.

Not being lazy here but didn't see anything specific in the forum where I looked (which was probably all the wrong places)

I did notice some posts mentioning modems, I don't really need a phone link but what modem would have been used with it originally at a guess? So many people have messed with the system and there's all kinds of bits and pieces lying around

Another quick question if possible. Originally there were a lot of IST connections and it looks to me like our digital phones use ports up to about 80 while the ISTs used ports above that. Are there hardware limits or can any port be configured for (say) 24 line Impact phones? I tried a test port but it didn't respond and now won't go back to IST, insisting that "Port already configured for digital"

You guys have helped me out with info in the past for which I was most grateful and thanks in advance for any hints this time.

Charlie

When you say dump the current settings, are you talking about backing up the system?

The system uses a program called VMMI to archive and program the database. Yes you can talk to it with Hyper term or ProComm but you cannot archive it with these programs. unless you have some very, very old software.

The VMMI software is for dealers only. The best thing you can do is to contact your local dealer have them come out and while the tech is onsite, maybe he will give you a copy of the correct version for your system.

The other question is easily answered, digital phones run off of digital cards, analog (ist) phones run off of analog (ist) cards, they do not mix or match. If you put a digital phone on an analog port and called it,CONGRATULATIONS! You just made a fancy looking paper weight.

No, nothing connected, we have quite a lot of unused ports and I noticed some are set to digital (on the screen) but were in fact IST phones. I assume this was past errors. I tested it with one port and it will not reset to IST, although it does still work with an IST. I was curious as to why it seems possible to configure a port for a digital phone in software when obviously it cannot be if the cards are different. The fact that you can do what you should not be able to do probably explains why you cannot reset the software either

As for the software I was simply looking for a screen dump of the current settings that I could save (since we have no serial printer). It's kinda laborious trying to find what port is which extension from the station settings

To be honest the binding posts right out of the DXP are very tidy, but from there it goes to another set which have been abused to the extent that any logical layout is fubar - big style I am hoping that they will install a new system before this one finally goes belly up but of course money is the thing...

Thanks for the info, much appreciated.

Charlie

If a port was setup as a digital in off-line programming or programmed in the DXP before the card was installed that would explain why.
You should be able to connect with hyperterminal and hit the enter ket to get a banner screen, that will tell you what rev. you have this needs to be determined in order to get you help. Every rev is different. Set switch 1 & 8 on the DXCPU or DXCPU-PLS which every system you have. This will set the main programming port to 9600-N-8-1

Thank you for the info. As you can imagine (being a phone room) the place had become something of a dumping ground for bits and pieces including several old modems, however taking the front panel off the DXP revealed a modem tucked away under the board rack and powered up, but not plugged in. Replacing the Wyse console with the modem allowed me to dial in and connect as you described, as a result of which I managed to get a file capture of the basic info needed. This will be an enormous help as we have no support contract with anyone and nobody really seems interested in the model any more. Okay I had to "Press any key to continue" whether I chose printer or display quite a few times but still a lot less laborious and time consuming than trying to figure it out station by station.

Here is an example of one of the oddly configured ports, right in the middle of a block of ISTs

113 1152* IST
114 2031* IST
115 * Impact 24 Line LCD Speaker Phone
116 3051* IST
117 2272* IST

Only about 60 of these IST ports are used in one section of the building, there aren't enough for all 150 resident rooms I guess, so the mystery ones don't really matter and in any case they still appear to work with ISTs, I was just curious why they would not reset to IST and if it indicated some failing hardware or whatever. It's a pretty big manual but I don't see much reference to this kind of stuff in there which is why your help is invaluable.

The general impression I get is that it's not worth trying to do more with it, we're really looking at keeping it going until replacement.

Thanks again, if they decide to go for replacement I know where to ask for recommendations

Charlie