I was contacted to move a phone system for a friend of my mother in law. It turns out it is an Adix VS system with no voice mail and a white cover (if that helps differentiate it at all).

I told her that I was positive I could move the system and re-connect everything up properly but I was not certain the system wouldn't lose programming after powering down. I told her I do not have access to the programming and we would basically be at a loss.

I typically wouldn't take on a system that I don't work with but just wanted to help out a family friend and can't find anyone else locally after a Google search.

1. What is the risk involved with powering down these old systems?
2. Is there any way to back up these systems with any sort of proprietary software? I saw that there is a PC Programmer software but from what I've read it can be pretty flaky.

Any advice would be much appreciated. I'm almost considering backing out gracefully but wanted to hear what you guys had to say first. Thanks in advance.

The CPU card has an external nicad battery that typically lasts 3-5 years but I've seen many last alot longer than that. If the battery is bad and the system defaults it will still be functional
with the exception of some feature buttons and the date & time.
As for the backup you would need to use the proprietary software but first identify what the software version of the VS system is as there are several versions of the programming software.

The owner told me that the system is 10-15 years old so I'm assuming it will default on me when I power it down.

Thank you for the information!