[Asterisk-Users] PRI Errors (HDLC Abort (6) on Primary D-channel)

[Scott Stingel]

Andrew-

Thanks for posting your update and troubleshooting checklist.    Most 
people on the forum don't take the time to re-post when a problem has 
been resolved - but that's the thing that helps people the most!.

regards
Scott Stingel
President
Emerging Voice Technology, Inc.

www.evtmedia.com



Andrew McRory wrote:

>UPDATE. The circuit has run clean since the 7th. It seems the telco found
>a problem after all but they can't tell me what they did...  cause they
>think it was fixed as part of another case. Grrr.
>
>Well, I never doubted the T400P too much but I went ahead and bought a
>different card just in case. Haven't had to use it so far.
>
>One of the biggest reasons I did not think the Wildcard was at fault is
>that the only the LEC PRI span would crash. The other spans stayed up
>throughout the ordeal. Also the errors followed the PRI no matter what
>port it was plugged into.
>
>For anyone else seeing these errors, here is a checklist of things to look
>for:
>
>	1) Run the latest STABLE or CVS release of asterisk/zaptel/libpri
>	    If your problems started after an upgrade, revert to the 
>	    revision that used to work.
>	2) Check and recheck your dialplan for errors. Make backups 
>	    often so you can revert to a known good version.
>	3) Verify the line framing in /etc/zaptel.conf 
>	4) Verify the switch type in /etc/asterisk/zapata.conf
>	5) Wildcard must be on its own IRQ. Example:
>
>		[root at phone asterisk]# cat /proc/interrupts
>		           CPU0       CPU1
>		  0:   52175299          0  local-APIC-edge  timer
>		  1:       7513       7309    IO-APIC-edge  keyboard
>		  8:          0          1    IO-APIC-edge  rtc
>		  9:          0          0   IO-APIC-level  acpi
>		 10:          0          0   IO-APIC-level  usb-ohci
>		 15:         19          3    IO-APIC-edge  ide1
>	---->	 18:  260753631  260932719   IO-APIC-level  tor2
>		 20:     815258     827358   IO-APIC-level  ide2, ide3
>		 24:          4          8   IO-APIC-level  mvSata
>		 27:     836366     849040   IO-APIC-level  eth0
>		 28:         38         39   IO-APIC-level  aic7xxx
>		 31:    2429141    2497473   IO-APIC-level  eth2
>		NMI:          0          0
>		LOC:   52176184   52176197
>		ERR:          0
>		MIS:      12907
>
>	    NOTE: I ran for over 6 months on a system that shared the IRQ 
>	    with the Ethernet and USB - just to see what would happen. 
>	    It worked very well but when the errors started, this was 
>	    the first thing I HAD to fix. Sharing an IRQ with Wildcard is 
>	    NOT recommended. Put the card on it's own IRQ! With todays 
>	    highly integrated motherboard's, it's getting to where you 
>	    can't buy one without an APIC - unless it is a cheapie.
>
>	    NOTE 2: To enable APIC you have to compile it into the kernel 
>	    or if running FC1 kernel you must use the SMP version. I am 
>	    not sure why APIC is not in the standard FC1 kernel. Planning 
>	    to research this further but have not had time to so far.
>	6) Motherboard should support APIC (advanced programmable interrupt controller)
>	    Use quality motherboard (no el-cheapo chipsets)
>	    Use quality memory (run memtest86 to verify)
>	    Use quality peripherals
>	7) Compile a Kernel from plain sources  
>	    ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel
>
>	    NOTE: The _Fedora_Core_1_ nptl.2199 kernel available on my 
>	    site has been used here with great success. Can't speak for 
>	    other precompiled sources since I haven't used them. Also your 
>	    hardware may not work as well as mine with this kernel.
>	8) Make sure you have good power / power supply. Run a UPS!
>	9) If a multiport card, move the PRI/T1 span to another port to 
>	    see if the errors follow.
>	10) If you have extra equipment to install on an unused span, 
>	    configure it and see if it crashes at the same time the
>	    problem circuit does. If all circuits crash at the same time 
>	    that would indicate a hardware problem such as IRQ or noise on 
>	    the PCI bus (bad motherboard or PCI controller??).
>
>If all the above checks out these Red Alarms and HDLC errors are most
>likely due to problems in provisioning the circuit. At this point, become
>the Telco's biggest squeaky wheel or wait weeks for them to fix it by
>accident, if at all.
>
>Once more here is my configuration and it works :-)
>
>			(T400P) <--> <ASTERISK> <--> SIP/VoIP/etc.
>			|
>	LEC-PRI <----->	(Port1)
>			(Port2) <---> <Max 40000 / V.90 Dial-up users>
>			(Port3) <---> <Microcom isPorte / Fax Test>
>			(Port4) <---> <unused / test>
>
>Thanks to all who offerd help!! I hope to not have to post about this 
>error again!
>
>  
>