[Asterisk-Users] Problems with TDM40P

[The Traveller]

Hey Adam,

On Tue, Jul 08, 2003 at 00:58:08 +1000, Adam Goryachev wrote:

> Without quite just saying me too, see below...

[...]

> > My setup is a dual PIII-750 with 1 gig of RAM, with an X100P, connected
> > to an analog line to my telco, and a TDM40P with analog phones
> 
> I have an AMD XP 1800 with 256MB RAM, and a single IDE HDD. I have a X100P,
> a TDM40P and a ISDN BRI card using ISDN4Linux driver.
> 
> [root at asterisk root]# cat /proc/interrupts
>            CPU0
>   0:    1929531          XT-PIC  timer
>   1:          2          XT-PIC  keyboard
>   2:          0          XT-PIC  cascade
>   5:          0          XT-PIC  usb-uhci, usb-uhci
>   8:          1          XT-PIC  rtc
>  10:   18895682          XT-PIC  eth0, wcfxo
>  11:      23378          XT-PIC  HiSax
>  12:   17057246          XT-PIC  wcfxs
>  14:      45267          XT-PIC  ide0
>  15:         13          XT-PIC  ide1
> NMI:          0
> ERR:          2

I actually also have an ISDN BRI-card in there, but it was not in use
during these tests.

> > My problems with this setup are as follows:
> >
> > - I hear a soft fading hiss in the background on the TDM40P-connected
> > phones.  It's also present when I call something like voicemail
> > or a conference on my local box, so it doesn't seem to come from
> > the X100P.  If I uncomment the "NO_CALIBRATION"-option in the Zaptel
> > Makefile, the hiss decreases in volume, but is still audible.
> 
> I have the same problem, but it seems to only be on one phone. Originally I
> had all 4 extensions passed across a single CAT5 cable, now I have 4
> separate CAT5 cables with RJ45 connectors on them and it seems better, but
> it is still there. I also get a funny 'ring' tone if I am in

Currently, some of the lines run over the same CAT5-wire for me as well,
but I also have some phones which are connected directly to the TDM40P,
with at most 2 meters of wire.  They have the same problems, though.

> voicemail/conference/phone call/whatever and another extension rings (sort
> of like a crossed line perhaps, but it isn't the sound of the ring, perhaps
> the actual ring voltage being applied/leaked to my line).

I've noticed this leak as well.  Besides that, I can also clearly hear
the caller-ID and MWI-status beeing signalled to other extensions in
the background.  It doesn't seem to be my wiring, as I also hear it
with 2 phones connected directly to the TDM40P, over seperate cables.

> > - Some of my TDM40P-connected phones go dead frequently.  By "dead",
> > I mean that the line-voltage goes away, so there's nothing there when
> > they're picked up.  When this happens, the remedy is to call that
> > extension and let it ring once, or restart Asterisk, after which the
> > line-voltage re-appears.  I have this problem with several different
> > phones and know at least 1 other person with similar problems.
> 
> I have the same problem, usually all 4 lines will go at the same time, but
> while I was re-cabling (lots of pickup, listen for dialtone, hangup cycles
> on each line to see if my cabling was working) and I got this a number of
> times. ie, one or more extensions not working. My fix was a stop asterisk,
> remove modules, insert modules, start asterisk.

Yups, I certainly noticed that lots of unplugging / reconnecting of
phones also seems to trigger it.

> I've also had a number of problems where all TDM400 extensions are dead but
> the X100P and ISDN still work fine. When I stop asterisk, and remove the
> modules, all is OK, but as soon as I insert the modules, the machine locks
> up, and a power off/on is the only thing that works. I don't really know how
> to track this one down, or how to diagnose it to better assist other people
> to fix the problem....

That's intresting.  I'm seeing that one as well.  About 1 in 10 to 20 times
I unload and load the Zaptel-drivers, "wcfxs" prints some sort of register-
dump and informs me that the Freshmaker register-test failed, after which
the machine is locked up solid.  The register-dump contains mostly "ff"'s
in such a case and there doesn't seem to be a kernel-panic.

I suspect the "wcfxs" driver-init of the TDM40P does some pretty nasty
stuff, as even during a regular and succesfull init, the machine becomes
completely unresponsive for the duration of the init.  I suspect this
frozen state doesn't get undone properly in some failure-situations,
which leaves you with a frozen machine if that happens.

> > - Making data-calls from a line on the TDM40P, through the X100P, to
> > an external number is almost impossible.  Even 2400bps is unreliable,
> 
> I've not tried data calls, but I think there is a d parameter to the Dial
> application (see show application dial) which assists with data calls. Are
> you using that?

Yups, I've added the "d", but it doesn't appear to make any difference.

Thanks for your information.  Hopefully, Mark will be able to shed
some light on it as well.  I'm also available for supplying more
debug-info, if needed.



    Grtz,

       Oliver