[asterisk-users] Echo and static on PRI with errors

Tue Jul 7 08:03:38 CDT 2009

On Thu, Jul 2, 2009 at 11:15 AM, Tom O'Connor<tom at twinhelix.org> wrote:
>
>
> On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 6:58 PM, Steve Totaro <stotaro at asteriskhelpdesk.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 6:35 AM, Tom O'Connor <tom at twinhelix.org> wrote:
>> >
>> >
>> > On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 11:08 AM, Steve Totaro
>> > <stotaro at first-notification.com> wrote:
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 5:58 AM, Tom O'Connor <tom at twinhelix.org> wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 10:49 AM, Marco Signorini
>> >>> <marcotasto at libero.it> wrote:
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Tom O'Connor wrote:
>> >>>>
>> >>>> On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 7:37 AM, Francesco Peeters
>> >>>> <francesco at fampeeters.com> wrote:
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> John F. Ervin wrote:
>> >>>>> > What do you do if you find things sharing interrupts (IRQ 11) in
>> >>>>> > my
>> >>>>> > case with my X100P card.  I believe there is some sort of internal
>> >>>>> > audio card in my cheap slow PC.
>> >>>>> >
>> >>>>> Check the BIOS whether you can:
>> >>>>> Change the IRQ assignments
>> >>>>> Disable the extra hardware using the same IRQ
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> Or otherwise try changing the slot it is in... I had very good
>> >>>>> results
>> >>>>> in the past swapping card around
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> Good luck!
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>>> I did a bit of investigation WRT the IRQ settings on this box.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> 00:02.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation CK804 USB Controller (rev
>> >>>> a3) (prog-if 20)
>> >>>>     Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 3207
>> >>>>     Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 11
>> >>>> --
>> >>>> 01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV11 [GeForce2
>> >>>> MX/MX 400] (rev b2)
>> >>>>     Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 3207
>> >>>>     Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 11
>> >>>> --
>> >>>> 02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5721
>> >>>> Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 11)
>> >>>>     Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 3209
>> >>>>     Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 11
>> >>>> --
>> >>>> 81:01.0 Network controller: Tiger Jet Network Inc. Tiger3XX
>> >>>> Modem/ISDN interface
>> >>>>     Subsystem: Device 79fe:0001
>> >>>>     Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 11
>> >>>>
>> >>>> So basically there's 2 network cards and a USB controller sharing IRQ
>> >>>> 11 with the Openvox card.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> I wasn't able to find any settings in the bios to manually configure
>> >>>> IRQ assignments :(
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Could someone tell me how to set which IRQ the ISDN card picks up?
>> >>>>
>> >>>> --
>> >>>> Tom O'Connor
>> >>>>
>> >>>> http://www.twinhelix.org
>> >>>> tom at twinhelix.org
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Hi,
>> >>>> Unfortunately is not always possible and it depends on how the
>> >>>> mainboard was realized. For what I can understand a lot of producers decide
>> >>>> to route only a subset of physical IRQ lines to the PCI slots (I think is
>> >>>> something related to cost reduction) and to share it with other onboard
>> >>>> peripherals.
>> >>>> This lets impossible to change the IRQ assignment for expansion
>> >>>> cards.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> This is not always true and sometimes swapping add-on cards solves
>> >>>> the problem.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> We had better results with cards based on new Digium technology or
>> >>>> with Sangoma cards.
>> >>>>
>> >>> There is almost no room for manouvering in the HP bios.  There's no
>> >>> ability to disable stuff like parallel ports, or anything else really.
>> >>>
>> >>> I don't think i'd buy digium hardware again.  I'm already considering
>> >>> RMAing these cards and getting Sangoma ones.
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> --
>> >>> Tom O'Connor
>> >>>
>> >>> http://www.twinhelix.org
>> >>> tom at twinhelix.org
>> >>>
>> >>
>> >> That is one option.  The new line Digium cards are on par with Sangoma
>> >> as far as IRQ issues.
>> >>
>> >> I really like Sangoma's lifetime warranty though.  I don't think Digium
>> >> has countered that bold move.
>> >>
>> >> I would try the RMA and if that doesn't work, you can always pickup a
>> >> decent last year's model server at
>> >> http://www.surpluscomputers.com/featured-hardware/cg-69/servers.html
>> >>
>> >> For a basic asterisk server or PBX with nothing special going on, any
>> >> of these servers are more than enough, even overkill.
>> >>
>> >> No affiliation, I have to say the shipping is high and they are slow to
>> >> ship but the prices are great, never had an issue with any of their boxen
>> >> (dozens, knock on wood....)
>> >
>> > I don't really know what you mean about the new line Digium cards..
>> > which models are in this "new line"?
>> >
>> > the server i'm using is hardly new, it's one of the older DL145s; so i
>> > don't think this would help much!
>> >
>> > I've tried swapping the card in the slots.  no help :(
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > Tom O'Connor
>> >
>> > http://www.twinhelix.org
>> > tom at twinhelix.org
>> >
>>
>> Well I guess if I were you, I would stop posting "woe is me" to the
>> list and call Digium.
>>
>> They do have support people just waiting for your call, you know?
>>
>> If they cannot help, then buy a better server.  They are dirt cheap.
>> Cheaper than the time you are wasting.
>>
>> I am not sure why you are opposed to taking suggestions and just
>> replying with negatives.
>>
>> I expect your next reply to be "*SOLVED* Echo and static on PRI with
>> errors"
>>
>> But somehow I doubt it.
>>
> Wow, that was unprovoked rudeness.
>
> I have tried all suggestions given.  It just happens that none of them have
> been much use.  I'm very constrained by time on this project, less than 11
> days before i leave the company, so i'd like to have it in a workable
> state.  Buying a better server, although it would probably work, would
> inevitably cost more money than they're willing to spend.
> You might notice that the OpenVox cards they bought are the cheapest on the
> market? Coincidence.. no.
>
> I've had some really helpful responses from this list, the explanation of
> PCI interrupts really was top-notch.  I really don't expect to fix this
> problem overnight, and to be honest, I'm not sure Digium would be interested
> in my problems with cards that aren't specifically Digium branded.  I could
> be wrong, but there we go.
>
>
>
> --
> Tom O'Connor
>
> http://www.twinhelix.org
> tom at twinhelix.org
>

Apologies for not missing the OpenVox vendor issue and assuming it was
a Digium product.

As far as being rude, I don't see how I was rude.  Just truthful.  I
apologize if I hurt your feelings but on lists like this, you need to
toughen up a bit.

You should have been on this list circa early 2000s.  Your definition
of rude may be a bit different.

After all, you get what you pay for.

As you found out, a server can be any box that provides "services".  A
workstation is a fine server.  Maybe it doesn't have the same spec'ed
MTBF rates or fit in a a couple U rack mount, but it is still a server
depending on how you use it.

While educational, how did the explanation of IRQ interrupts really
help besides suggesting getting another "server" if you could not
control said IRQ assignments.

Just use the formula, X amount of time troubleshooting + Y amount of
time posting repeatedly about the same issue, and reading about the
PCI bus and IRQ assignments = Z amount of hours.

Picking up a cheap box with many BIOS options as far as manually
assigning IRQs and multiple slots, pulling the trigger and buying it,
having a working box in a much more timely fashion.

I don't know what you are paid, but usually the math points to "Just do it".

Anyways, if you had left without a working solution, it would cost
much more than just buying a new box I would think.

-- 
Thanks,
Steve Totaro
+18887771888 (Toll Free)
+12409381212 (Cell)
+12024369784 (Skype)