sundance-communications.com/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Avaya - Lucent Telephones & Systems Partner Plus Partner Mail VS replacement?

I was called out to troubleshoot an obvious failed hard drive in a Partner Mail VS, R3.0 in a Partner Plus, R4.1 system. The HDD was screaming. I ordered and installed a replacement VS module, but they sent an R4.1 to replace it. According to the supplier, this should have been fine. I let it run for 28 minutes and it never came up, so I reported it as an out of box failure and got another one shipped. That one (another R4.1) came up in about ten minutes. I expected that just recording AA and mailbox greetings would be all that was required.

What I found was that the VM ports went from X28 and 29 to X32 and 33. I corrected this in #505 with no issues. Now that the customer has finally gotten around to recording all of the greetings, they claim that it isn't answering as auto attendant as it was prior to the failure of the HDD.

Keep in mind that the system consists of three 206EC modules, representing extensions 10 through 27. Shouldn't that have meant that the voice mail ports would have been 28 and 29? The only reason that I figured out that the ports are now 32 and 33 was due to dialing around for answers.

Shouldn't all of the basic phone system programming have been retained in the Partner Plus processor? I thought that the voice mail module just provided the voice storage part. Does it actually hold part of the system programming with regard to call and line coverage? If so, does this mean that I have to program auto attendant coverage for the lines too?

I'm starting to wonder if powering the system down to replace the module(s) may have resulted in the system defaulting. I did notice that the voice mail button on one phone was gone. Could it be that this is the real problem?

Hey Ed!

Port assignment for the Partner Mail VS is backwards from what would normally be expected. The processor sees the voicemail as containing a fixed number of ports (I can't remember if it is 4, 6 or 8, but, someone who knows can clarify).

If the voicemail is seen as a 6 port device, add 6 to 27 (33) and assign ports starting at the end and working your way forward (33, 32, 31 etc).

Processor programming is kept intact via an internal battery. If the battery dies, programming defaults when power is lost. The Partner ACS resolved that with the external PCMCIA cards as well as the use of easily replaceable AAA batteries to maintain programming during outages.

It's seen as a 206 so six extensions. All the Mail Vs work from the last port forward, the newer Partner Messaging uses the ports in numerical order. So your Mail Vs VM ports would be 28-33. Apparently you have a 2 port VM (no expansion PC card?) If so it would be 33 and 32.


Yes. Sounds to me like somebody isn't being truthful. At some point there was a Partner Messaging in there then they stuck that old VS back. So somebody was screwing around with it before you.


Ask them what the hell that's supposed to mean. EXACTLY how did the old one function when a call comes in. You might have to change the selector codes and dial zero time out action. Default is direct extension transfer first digits 1-9 and the brain dead go to X10. They might have had dial 1 for Bob, 2 for Sam, etc. (selector code transfer) or a combination of both. Leave 1 and 2 as direct extension transfer then 3-9 as selector code transfer. That way a caller can dial an extension directly or listen to the menu for Bob and Sam.

Also check the number of rings both day and night that they want the AA to pick up after.

-Hal