I have a magix system with merlin messaging voice mail. My customer siad that the auto attendent will stop working for about 15 min or untill they reset. I was on site and this happened and I ran to the comm rm. and I saw the lights flickering randomly on the voice mail card. Then they stopped and the voice mail rebooted. What should I do?

Check the system's error log to see if there is something in there that pertains to the voicemail.

Sounds like the HD may be dieing.
What release MM are you working with?

I agree with mdaniel sounds like the HD.

I had a similar problem recently. It turned out to be a bad port card. Have not seen that happen before. However I agree it is probably the hard drive.

thanks for the input. its been running like this for about 6 to 8 months. the customer is a medical office and i would hate to see them wait untill it craches. i have given them 2 quots and they still put me off. is there a way of just replaceing the hard drive? and if so where can i get one???

Well, the VM discs aren't set up in a RAID-1 fashion if that's what you're asking. Merlin Messaging is actually a "PC processor on a blade" running Digital Research's CP/M OS. Replacement of the drive first requires you to locate a suitable replacement drive (old-flavor spindle drive or flash drive), a BIOS tweak, the loading of proprietary boot code and software and then possibly pushing any saved audio files/messages back on. It's a non-trivial job.

Best to send it in for repair (you can contact me about that) or simply buy a replacement. They're pretty inexpensive these days.

I understand that you don't want to see them wait until it crashes, but unfortunately "you can't fix stupid". As I see it, there are only two things here that you can control: 1) You can make a backup of their audio files to either the voicemail's PCMCIA card or to your own computer and 2) you can have an acceptable replacement in stock for when the call finally comes. The latter is somewhat risky in that you might not be the repair guy that they ultimately reach out to.

If you trouble yourself to guard against a customer's own oversight or pig-headedness, make sure you charge appropriately when you're called to actually fix the problem that you been warning and worrying about for them.

I had a HD freeze on me one time I rest it and about 2 hours later it crashed. Luckily I did a backup and I had a spare. You should be able to pick one up for a very reasonable price but if it crashes and it has to be over-nighted they charge accordingly and so should you. If you've explained it to them and they want to wait it's on them. I've got a few clients like that. Sometimes saving a dime now will cost them a dollar later.

Good call every one. I replaced the vm and customer is happy! Again thanks to all that replied.