I went on a service call yesterday to find an asterisk system with a T100P card on a Qwest PRI and a TDM40B card connected to fax machines. The TDM40B LEDs were not lit, and the system did not respond to keyboard input. However, calls were being processed for the PRI and 7960 phones. I replaced the TDM40B card with a new one, and the system now seems to be ok. But I'm wondering, why would the LEDs go off? Why would keyboard input fail? Thanks, -- Michael Welter Introspect Telephony Corp. Denver, Colorado US +1.303.674.2575 mike@introspect.com www.introspect.com
On Wed, 8 Dec 2004, Michael Welter wrote:> I went on a service call yesterday to find an asterisk system with a T100P > card on a Qwest PRI and a TDM40B card connected to fax machines. The TDM40B > LEDs were not lit, and the system did not respond to keyboard input. > However, calls were being processed for the PRI and 7960 phones. > > I replaced the TDM40B card with a new one, and the system now seems to be ok. > But I'm wondering, why would the LEDs go off? Why would keyboard input fail? >Hi, Cant help with the TDM card, but I have seen PCs get affected by mains bumps. I used to have a PC where the keyboard controller would crash but I was still able to telnet into the PC and reset it. Check the mains supply, there might be something with a big inductive load, that causes some ripples that are ending up on the DC outputs of your PCs PSU. HTH Chris -- Chris ---------------------------------- E Mail: chris@glovercc.clara.co.uk SIP: 84411389@voiptalk.org IAXTEL: 17003366726
On Wed, 08 Dec 2004 13:44:10 -0700, Michael Welter <mike@introspect.com> wrote:> I went on a service call yesterday <snip>I fear the day when going to fix an Asterisk system is much like going to fix a residential computer for $15/hr :) Leif Madsen. http://www.leifmadsen.com
On Wed, Dec 08, 2004 at 01:44:10PM -0700, Michael Welter said:> I went on a service call yesterday to find an asterisk system with a > T100P card on a Qwest PRI and a TDM40B card connected to fax machines. > The TDM40B LEDs were not lit, and the system did not respond to keyboard > input. However, calls were being processed for the PRI and 7960 phones. > > I replaced the TDM40B card with a new one, and the system now seems to > be ok. But I'm wondering, why would the LEDs go off? Why would > keyboard input fail?I've seen cases where the keyboard totally locks up - sometimes hardware glitch, sometimes software. In the hardware cases, you can generally unplug / re-plug the keyboard and wake things up again. Long-shot, but maybe static or power surge screwed things up?
>Also, the box is on a UPS, so I'm assuming the AC power is generated >from the battery and is a perfect sine wave. But that begs the >question: does a UPS system connect the mains to the output, or is the >input power used to charge the battery, and the battery used to generate >the output power?Depends. A decent UPS is an "online" UPS meaning that the battery is powering the output all the time. Catch is, online UPS'es are heat factories and eat power because of AC->DC->AC conversion. Anything over 500VA that's reasonably new should be an "online" UPS. They are better because there is no fluctuation in the output in the event of a power failure, brown out, etc. The other kind is a "back" UPS with a switch that is essentially held open by the presence of AC power. When the power fails, the switch is closed, turning on the battery source. There is a lag, however small, between the power failing and the battery kicking in. This messes up the sine wave and causes problems in the case of a PC or a server. This is exacerbated by power fluctuations such as undervoltage as the switch flip-flops back and forth between battery and mains. I have observed this behavior with older APC and *shudder* Tripp-Lite. Cheap Costco retail style UPS'es have this. If it says "back" anywhere on the UPS, get rid of it.
Leif Madsen wrote:>On Wed, 08 Dec 2004 13:44:10 -0700, Michael Welter <mike@introspect.com> wrote: > > >>I went on a service call yesterday <snip> >> >> > >I fear the day when going to fix an Asterisk system is much like going >to fix a residential computer for $15/hr :) > >[OT on] Well, try $60-80$/hour.. [OT off]