Hi i have just become a member of this forum because i had nowhere else to go with my problem. I had noticed you seemed to be the most helpful forum on the internet and was hoping i could maybe pick your brain on a few questions.
Background. We are a very small hotel (less than 11 rooms) and have had a sx-50(mitel) working for 20 years. Never had any problems at all with it until yesterday. When it rains out here we end up with line noise which makes all our phones unuseable including phones not even hooked to the system (private lines). We assumed it was a problem with the lines so we called bell canada to come fix them. We had put up with the bad phones when it was wet as they always came back and worked fine when the rain or wet weather stopped.
This time the technicians came out and fixed one of the private lines and also replaced the 2 lines that lead to our mitel system.
After they had replaced those lines my mitel system does not work, it either wont take calls, gives error codes on the led at the bottom of the unit (blinking 8,7, 6 sometimes) or we get a permanent red light on one of the lines on the trunk card.
None of this had ever happened before the technicians replaced these lines in 20 years.
I have tried resetting the unit both by unplugging the power and hitting the reset button on the side of the unit, both with no effect. The technicians say our unit is now bad and they dont work on them any more so we have to buy a new system.
I am furious with them as i don't believe the system could possibly go down at the exact same day and time as they replaced 2 lines and fixed a residential line not even attached to the system. I have no recourse at the moment but to deal with them as no one out here (northwestern ontario) will work on this mitel sx-50 or give any support.
Do you have any hints on what i need to say to them to get this running again?
Did i screw things up by hitting the reset button?
The instructions in the manual say that a reset doesnt wipe any data or change any programming but i have no idea.
I have no working console for the system as it broke 10 years ago and we simply route the calls with a regular phone by flashing and simply connecting people that way.
I realize this is alot of info, but any insight would be appreciated.
Thank you
Brad

It sounds like to me the trunks are in busy out state. But without a console to unbusy it will be quit hard.

Yep, the trunks are probably busied out, a reset will probably clear that. BUT, if the LEC BOZO's reversed polarity, they will just go busyout again!

Brad, I feel for you. Call the phone company and tell them they reversed polarity to your telephone system and now they need to correct the problem, AT YOUR END!

Surely Canada has what we in the U.S. call a corporation commission in most states, that oversee's the various utilities, esp. in terms of how they interact with and sometimes 'screw around with' their customers.

"The technicians say our unit is now bad and they dont work on them any more so we have to buy a new system."
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And let me guess, they are 'the only game in town', so to speak. How convenient. All I can tell you is that you need to start documenting all communication with the LEC, RIGHT NOW! Take names and employee numbers every chance you get. You might consider recording all conversations, because I can assure you, if you have to go to the corporation commission, the LEC will have their recordings. Be sure to make it very clear to all parties on any recording that you ARE RECORDING THE CONVERSATION. OK, Go Get 'em, Brad!

Two other possiblities are that the lines were punched down on the wrong trunk ports for the system (these ports not being resident in programming would cause them to be unusable) or the trunks are reversed tip for ring and if they are ground start they will raise an alarm constantly. What led at the bottom of the unit is blinking? Is it the display led at the side on the right or on cards at the front with the cover off

display is fine on the front cards, i did a reset, have only one line attached just to try and get something but all i get now is a flashing 6 on the led.
Wish i had not done a reset i think i might have screwed something up.
So upset i have to buy a new system cause of these guys.

i meant the two cards are always green. When he last set up the lines and hooked everything up he said it was fine and left. Low and behold i could only get calls in and not dial out, thats when i tried the reset. Borrowed a console from someone to try and get a diagnostic, it said alarm but i couldnt bring the alarm code up. Then i unplugged the console and plugged it back in and now it just blinks with the time. Can't get status or anything.

OK, sounds like Dr PBX is correct, the lines were not punched down on the correct ports. Are there ANY telephone system technicians in the area?

Proposal, contact a Mitel Tech on the board, get a commitment and a $ quote. Then contact a local tech who will be willing to be the on-site hands and eyes, so to speak. Then borrow the console, get everybody together and get it fixed. But first, try to find a Mitel tech in your area.

ok going to have them come out and at least bypass the system for now until i can (maybe) find a mitel tech to come out.
Unfortunately i have to call them to just by pass the system on one of the lines to get my 1-800-number working as its what im worried about most at the moment.
Summer and fall is our busy time and that is ending so at least this happened at a better time...thank god for small favors i guess.
I doubt i can find a mitel guy anywhere near here but i will try.
Maybe someone passing through here, were on the trans Canada highway west of thunder bay and east of winnipeg.

And thank you and these boards no matter what happens, thank god my trust in technicians isnt totally lost, there is some honest people out there.

One more question.
Was the resetting of the system a bad idea? i had got some advice to do it somewhere else but since i did that it doesnt work at all, at least before i had some life from it.
Could the original data have been lost?
I reset with the side button.

In a word, yes. The system is well-beyond a safe age to do so since the memory retention battery is likely shot. While I'm hoping not, a weak or failed battery would allow some or all of your system's programming to be lost.

Using the reset button is a bit safer since it is essentially a "warm" restart, as opposed to a full power-down. At least what you did didn't remove power from the processor, so there may be hope.

Sadly, there has been quite a bit of discussion here over the past few years about this. I wish that you had seen this first!

yeah i found these forums too late.
I had powered down the system a few times also as reccomended, is that the power down you are hoping i didnt do?
This was another way of resetting it i was recommended.
Darn it i wish i found you guys before, im sure many people become members after a problem lol

Any ideas on what the flashing 6 in the led on the main board is? It only came on and locked the system after i did a reset. It started with a 8 etc now it sticks with a flashing 6. Before that when i powered down and back up it never had this flashing 6 always went to 0.

Another thing to think about is that this is an old system.

This failure might be the right time to go to the owner and say, "We've gotten our money's worth out of this Mitel, but we need to replace it now."

SX-50s are still in service, which is a credit to Mitel. But there comes a time to move to a newer system. You would love the upgrades and features in a Mitel SX-200 EL, or a Mitel SX-200 ICP.

tg, odin30 IS the owner. (oops )

That said, I'm afraid you have corrupted the program. Replace the battery BEFORE you get it reprogrammed! It's either a CR2032 "Coin Battery", or a a 3-legged (No other way to describe it) Tadiran TL5135. The coin battery is easy to find, even Wal-Marts in the U.S. carry it. The TL5135, on the other hand is tough. I get mine from Digi-Key in Minnesota (I think that's where they are). It's located on the little black box looking thing above the reset button on the right side of the steel framwork.

And I do wish I was in a position to go to Canada right now. I'll bet it's beautiful this time of year! Possibly someone else is thinking about a fall vacation.

thank you guys , i have resolved myself to buying a new system, canceled 2 of the 3 phone lines we had with bell and am in the process of having the one remaining one switched to a loop start instead of a ground start(of course with a 90 dollar charge. The cancellation of the other 2 lines also cost me 85 each. Bell tech was out here again (same guy) trying to get the lines to bypass the system so at least our 1-800-number worked (for a separate business). This guy shows up only gets the phone to ring at one location (wrong one-not at the business office), and as a added bonus leaves and somehow he screwed up my home phone. So im on the phone with a business manager now. Course these techs blame everything on me and i havent done anything.
Every time they come it creates a charge of god knows how much.
So frustrated its beyond belief.
Its charges upon charges for everything, and bell is the only game in town. I havent phoned them for a issue with anything in 10 years, yet they make it sound like im this pain in the butt customer that wrecked everything to justify their ineptitude.
Can you guys reccomend a cheap easy to use system?
I only need something to handle 10 to 14 lines max and basically just want a system i can put restrictions on for people in the rooms. Basically i don't want to pay bell for a call back service as we dont need it.
We only transfer calls to people in rooms right now and its all we need. We don't need alarm functions, wake up calls etc.
Any ideas would be appreciated. Maybe i will post somewhere else here and ask for some reccomendations.
Sorry for venting in here your about the only kind ears i have.

odin30, consider why you are getting a new system. Not because it was causing problems. Because when the 'phone company' finally fixed the telephone lines correctly, they screwed up the connections to the MITEL, right? And you have no local Mitel service. See where I'm going? Find somebody local, that is fairly young and not about to retire, and see what they can do. Remember, it's just like cars, you have to be able to get service! Oh, and by the way, the phone company doesn't seem like the best choice, they can't even get lines into the building correctly! There are several hospitality systems that will do the job. Mitel, Phone Suite, and several others. As well, there are small business systems that are capable of supporting plain old single line phones like the SX50 uses for room phones. Panasonic comes to mind. If you want greater choice, pose the question in the "General" forum at the top of the page. Outline your requirements. something like:

3 telephone lines
15 room extensions.
3-5 administrative extensions
A phone to function as a front desk console and DSS console. (DSS console will have a button for each extension that shows the status of that extension and you can push the button to call it when it is idle.)
Toll restriction capability, with easily changeable dialing permissions.


That should get you an idea of what is out there.

thanks again i will look into some of the things you mentioned.
Brad

call i can help you out im sure we have parts a remote support avail
thx gary

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