[Asterisk-Users] AAstra 9116 Weirdness.

[Piotr A. Sygula]

Hello all:

I've got a couple of asterisk boxen set up with TDM4xxB cards using
AAstra 9116 analog phones plugged into the FXS modules.  Although the
phones are able to dial fine, and I can use them with no problem, when
plugged into certain ports, the phones start acting weird. As in the ":"
in the time display stops blinking, or blinks at random intervals.  You
have to hold down any function button for a couple of seconds to get it
to do what it's supposed to, and then when the function pops up on the
display, it disappears back to the normal prompt within a second or so.
So basically, the display part of the phone and all of its functions
(except the basic dial, ring, on-hook, off-hook) are broken.  Unplug the
phone from the Digium board and all returns to normal.  Furthermore,
take the phone off-hook, an all returns to normal (although some
functions like programming memory buttons can't be accessed with the set
off-hook, but that's by design AFAIK.

At first, I had a setup with 2 TDM404B and 1 TDM440B, and a setup with
one TDM422B.  Only two ports on the setup with 3 cards seemed to have
the issue.  A day later or so, one of the FXS ports on the TDM422B
system started doing the same.  Digium tech support issued an RMA, since
the symptoms seemed to follow the modules as I swapped them around on
the mothercard.  So I packed up the 3 misbehaving modules, got them
ready for shipping, and in another day... 2 more modules are acting the
same way.  So I held up on sending the package, may need to ship a few
extra modules back.

So my question is whether anyone had any similar issues in the past.
Secondly, is it possible that the problem is a shared IRQ?  These boxes
are currently inside Dell Dimensions, and I can't seem to get all my
Digium cards on their own IRQ (although there's a few open IRQ's after
disabling some embedded devices, the 3 PCI slots are hardcoded to share
IRQs with either the onboard video [cannot disable], IDE controller
[cannot disable], or the SMBus Controller [cannot disable]).  

I should mention that on the 3 card system, 2 of the cards have their
own IRQ's.  The problem still persists on the card without IRQ sharing.
Also, after a reboot, everything is fine until the phone is rung by
asterisk, then the problem rears its ugly head.

I have an open support case with Digium on this, and although the guy
has been helpful, he has not shed any concrete light on the topic, I'm
hoping ya'll will be a little more enlightening.  I'm seeing a lot of
promise with Digium and Asterisk, but flaky hardware is flaky hardware,
that is if it really is a hardware issue and not and IO (as in ignorant
operator) issue.


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Peter A. Sygula
President/Chief Security Officer - NetShapers, Inc.
< http://www.net-shapers.com  >