[asterisk-users] TDM 400 hardware(?) issue

[Greg Woods]

>  the machine will lock up because the TDM board or the Dahdi
> driver goes south. /var/log/messages starts filling up with repeated
> messages:
> 
> kernel: TDM PCI Master abort

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to reply.

First I am going to apply the "fix what you know is broken" principle. I
have been having issues with the display as well. Since this machine is
primarily a server, and the only thing I use the console for is Amarok
(it is the house music player), the fact that the text consoles stop
working has never been a big issue. CTRL-ALT-F2 produces a blank screen,
but the console is really there because I can log in as root and type
commands that do get executed, although it's a bit tricky when I can't
see what I'm typing. So something is wrong with the display. The video
card is a PCI-E card. I don't know how directly the E bus connects to
the regular PCI bus, but it's entirely possible that a flaky video card
is the whole problem. So I replaced it. Too early to tell if that helps;
if I go a few days without any more issues, I'll know that was it. It
may not fix the issue, but it was easy and cheap and it needed to be
tried anyway for other reasons.

This is the price I pay for running a home system where cost is a major
issue. I can't afford to have special-purpose servers one for each use;
not only is money an issue, but also space and power, so my servers
fulfill multiple functions. I realize this is not ideal, and that it
would be much better to have the asterisk server dedicated to nothing
else, but that isn't a realistic option for me. Up until recently it has
always been rock solid.

Steve Totaro <stotaro at totarotechnologies.com> wrote:


> In light of your budget issues, I would switch to quality SIP provider
> and have my numbers ported.

That is a possibility, but finding a quality SIP provider is one issue.
I use Teliax over IAX as a backup but have never gotten caller ID to
work properly and the sound quality just isn't as good as my POTS line.
The other issue is that this puts all my eggs in the Comcast basket. I
am reluctant to remove my Qwest land line and have everything depend on
Comcast. This also makes it impossible to use the phones without the
server machine being up (and asterisk being up), also undesirable
(although using the cell phones in that situation is also a
possibility). But it is an option. It is a more attractive option if the
alternative turns out to be replacing expensive hardware.

Lastly there is the WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor), that always has to be
considered for home projects. She is the one who doesn't like the sound
quality of Teliax. Another provider MIGHT be better but I have no way of
knowing, and she won't be happy knowing that we don't have an easy
workaround for the house phones if asterisk is down. So this provides
another motivation to keep the POTS line if I can do it without a major
expense. As far as she is concerned, we don't need asterisk. I like it
because I'm a geek and it's cool, and she's OK with that as long as it
works. She does enjoy having her messages e-mailed to her, having
separate mailboxes, etc., so she does understand the value of these geek
projects of mine (MythTV is cool too, a single button press to miss all
the annoying commercials), but first and foremost it has to be reliable
and at least fulfill the basic functionality. But the WAF has certainly
been dropping lately due to all the problems I am having.


> > Other options are going back to old versions of Asterisk.  What
> version
> > are you running? 

I am already running 1.4 because I have encountered this bug with 1.6:

https://issues.asterisk.org/view.php?id=15129

That pretty much prevents inbound calls from working, so I have already
had to go back to 1.4 . I am using the asterisk14-1.4.26.3-87 version
from ATrpms. I have thought about trying 1.6 with the old zaptel
drivers, but that isn't any better as a workaround than what I am
already doing, so I haven't gotten around to trying it yet.


Darrick Hartman <dhartman at djhsolutions.com> wrote:

> Why don't you contact Digium tech support? 

I have hesitated to do that because my card is fairly old now, but I
would certainly do that before permanently abandoning my POTS line or
replacing expensive hardware.

Steve Tatoro and Bruce Nik recommended Sangoma cards. That is only
important if it comes down to replacing the hardware at cost. I am
hoping to avoid that.

Tilghman Lesher <tlesher at digium.com> wrote:


> You could try purchasing just the base TDM410 card and move your old
> modules
> over from the old card to the new.  A little looking around has
> revealed
> somebody selling a "like new" card for $139:

Thank you for that information; I didn't know that was an option. My
fear with something like this is that if there is a hardware problem
that necessitates replacing the card, I don't really have any way of
knowing if the problem is in the base card or in one of the modules, so
I might end up doing a lot of work and not fixing the issue.


> Full disclosure, here:  I do work for Digium, which makes the TDM410.
> I'll
> additionally make the guarantee that if the card doesn't work for you,
> I'll
> buy the TDM410 base card from you, for the same price that you paid.
> How's
> that for a no-risk offer?

Thank you very much. If I do decide to go this route, I'll certainly
take you up on that offer. But the cost of the new card isn't the only
cost of hardware replacement. I'm primarily a software guy rather than
hardware, so hardware replacement projects always take a lot more time
and are a lot more hassle for me than they are for people who are more
experienced with hardware, so I am still hoping to avoid this.

--Greg