[asterisk-users] X100P pass through questions

[Mike Wright]

Hi all,

Really excited to be using Asterisk and learning about VOIP and PBX's.

I'm a complete beginner at telephony but have built and installed
Asterisk 1.4.5 and read several of the Asterisk books online and have
successfully connected to FWD with IAX2 and to GIZMO using SIP.

Just purchased a Motorola Wildcard X100P and installed it into a clone
PC running Fedora Core 6.  Analog telephone plugged into "PASS THRU" and
phone line plugged into "FXO".

With PC on or off:

When analog phone is off hook I can hear dialtone but cannot dial out.
When I press any button the dialtone quiets to barely audible but the
button pressed generates no tone; on button release dialtone returns.

However the telephone does ring on incoming calls and performs as though
the X100P were not there.

When the phone line is plugged back into the analog telephone it works
correctly.

Questions:  Is this normal?  Must Asterisk be in control of the X100P in
order for the passthru phone to dial out?  If it's supposed to be able
to dial out what could explain its symptoms?  Polarity error with the
green/red wires?  Bad X100P?

Loathe to go messing with something that could fry 1)me, 2)my new FXO
card, 3)my pc, 4)the telco, etc, etc.

Anybody feel up to helping a noobie?

Thanks in advance,
Mike Wright :m)