atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Avaya - Lucent Telephones & Systems Hello! VM advice?

Hello-

This is my first post here after doing a bit of searching and reading to see if I could find information without bugging the rest of you. I also read up to make sure that I would't break any rules on my first post.

I have a stand-alone Partner ACS R6 with a Partner VM PC Card R2 in my house. I read manuals and I DO have the admin password. The VM won't save DTMF-related settings (passwords, selector code assignments, etc.) through a power cycle or reset. Announcements and messages remain. :confused:

I find this a bit annoying since I recently changed selector codes and would like them to persist through a power failure that lasts longer than my UPS. I understand that a factory reset of the card will allow me to re-program and save all settings. If I am going to do that, it seems like an opportunity to upgrade to a better VM. Does the newer R3 PC Card VM do the same "lose DTMF settings when cycled" thing or will it reliably keep all settings?

Would you upgrade to PC VM R3 or Partner Messaging R1 or R6? Partner Messaging seems like overkill for a home setting. I have 3 lines with AA answering the 3rd for routing voice and fax calls.

Should I just stick with the PC Card VM R2 and do a reset and re-program?

Background, in case you are wondering: I am a computer guy with telcommunications tendencies. I have a butt set, a toner, and a punchdown tool. I have been experimenting with phones since I was 13 (26 years ago). I had an internship with Bell of Pennsylvania in the summer of 1985. I moved on to working with phone systems for various employers with experiece on 1A2, Executone, Tie/Nitsuko, InterTel, Iwatsu, Lucent/Avaya, and a bit of Nortel. I have had a phone system in my house since 1992. It amazed me that the Executone tech was getting ready to throw off-lease equipment into the dumpster so I gave it a new home: mine. So what if I had to run 25-pair through my attic. Same thing with the Tie/Nitsuko but it only required 2-pair per phone: woohoo! I bought my ACS R3 used and upgraded it to R5. It is a nice little system and I have installed 2 more: one for a friend and another for my community association along with Partner Messaging R6.

Thank you very much for reading and any help that you can provide.

-Rob

Well, I would try defaulting the VM (NOT the Partner system). I know early R3s suffered from this problem. We can't tell you how to do that here, PM a mod and they will be able to help you. If that doesn't work then it's time for another VM card.

-Hal

Thank you very much for the offer, but I already had the reset instructions. I finally had time over the weekend to write down the AA announcement and mailbox greetings then try resetting the VM to factory default.

After resetting it (even got the confirmation announcement), I went into the 0 admin account with the factory default password, changed the admin password to my new admin password, setup the selector codes, AA recording, and subscriber mailboxes: password + announcement for 2 of them. I tested everything and it worked perfectly.

I restarted the ACS, went to log back into the admin account and it was back to my old pre-reset-to-default password and selector code settings. Subscriber mailboxes kept new passwords fine. All voice recordings were fine. I suspect it has some problem with writing the admin settings to NVRAM, or whatever the PVM PC Card uses for storing settings.

So, it's time for new VM. I am going with a Partner Messaging R7.0 since the multiple AA and outcalling features will be useful. I just wanted to close this thread in case someone has a similar problem in the future and wonders what the outcome was. Thank you again.