[Asterisk-Users] Re: Digium Hardware Reliability

[M.Hockings]

Andrew Kohlsmith wrote:
> On Thursday 29 June 2006 21:38, M.Hockings wrote:
>> How reliable is Digium hardware in general.?  My new TDM400P just died.
> 
> I have a number of Digium T1 products (T100P, TE410P, TE405P and TE406P) as 
> well as a few TDM400 based boards.  No failures in the last 2 years or so.
> 
>> So, at over 2x the cost is Sangoma hardware more sturdy than the Digium
>> stuff?
> 
> Not that I've seen.  I also have a number of Sangoma products.  Both work very 
> well for me.  As an engineer, I can also see that the protection on the 
> interfaces is comparable.
> 
>> Mike (totally UNimpressed with Digium)
> 
> I don't think this is a Digium problem, at least not yet.  What did their 
> customer service people say?  Can you ask for a failure report?  You note 
> that power went out.  Generally when this occurs there is a very high chance 
> of transient voltage spiking or line swells not only on the residential 
> electrical power grid but also on the telephone network.  Do you have any 
> telco line protection in place to protect the card from nasties coming in 
> from the outside?  Is the protection correctly installed?  How about 
> electrical protection?  The MOVs in your power strip and UPS are only good 
> for a few hits before they become ineffective (something they never tell 
> you).
> 
> Unless you know something more than you've presented here it is a little 
> premature to start pointing fingers.
> 
> -A.

Point taken.  I was not so much point fingers but asking what my 
expectation should be and maybe shedding some frustration.  I don't 
really have a lot of experience with this kind of communications gear 
and it could very well be that one should keep spare daughter boards in 
stock.

I was finally able to get the thing going again but I do not know what I 
did to accomplish that.  I had tried the card in different PCI slots, 
reseated the daughter cards, powered the machine with and without the 
card, checked BIOS settings then after half a day of fiddling it just 
started responding again.  Who knows what the problem was?

As far as heat and stuff go, the card is in the only card in a new 
IBM/Lenovo box and has plenty of air on all sides.  The box itself is 
powered by an AVR type UPS, which according to the graphs it shows is 
keeping the power pretty stable even though dips.

One weakness is the incoming PSTN line, what is the best way to protect 
that beyond the device at the premises entry ?

So now it appears to be working again, don't know what failed, don't 
know what made it work. and afraid of the next power outage at this 
rural SOHO.

Mike