brant@manta.pha.pa.us (Brant Cheikes) (06/28/89)
If you don't use the UNIXpc phone manager, hit 'n' now. Occasionally I have had the telephone unit connected to my 3b1 ring, but when I pick up the handset, I get dead silence. I once thought that these were crank calls, but then I discovered that on those occasions, a telephone set on the same line but in a different room was NOT ringing. In fact, if I let the computer phone ring, but picked up the phone in the other room, (a) I'd get a dial tone, and (b) the computer phone would cease ringing. I am running UNIX 3.51a, using the patched phone manager from the fixdisk, and have a two-line configuration. I've also noticed that after experiencing the mysterious ringing, if I pick up the computer handset, (a) the phone manager status line fails to switch from IDLE to ACTIVE, and (b) I do not get a dial tone. SHIFT-F2 brings up the call screen normally, and that occasionally "resets" the phone manager so that it once again recognizes handset off-hook. Sometimes that's not enough and I have to toggle the line select. Toggling line select has so far never failed to get things working again. My conclusion is that the phone manager or the machine itself is somehow generating spurious ringing. This anomalous behavior happens only very rarely, e.g., weeks or months apart. Has anyone else encountered this behavior? Is it a known bug? -- Brant Cheikes University of Pennsylvania, Department of Computer and Information Science brant@manta.pha.pa.us, brant@linc.cis.upenn.edu, bpa!manta!brant
jcm@mtunb.ATT.COM (was-John McMillan) (06/29/89)
Newsgroups: unix-pc.general In article <487@manta.pha.pa.us> brant@manta.pha.pa.us (Brant Cheikes) writes: > >My conclusion is that the phone manager or the machine itself is >somehow generating spurious ringing. This anomalous behavior happens >only very rarely, e.g., weeks or months apart. Has anyone else >encountered this behavior? Is it a known bug? We typically put a ring of garlic around a computer when this happens. Then, we drive a stake through its CPU. The 3B1 lacks any circuits approaching the ring VOLTAGE spec's for a phone. Perhaps you have a phone attached that is going mad. ...Or is settling a grudge with you or the 3B1. Seriously, I'd certainly begin by moving the phone as far from the 3B1 (and planet) as possible. Eating raw garlic before speaking into it is another obvious precaution. I've never heard anything approaching this sort of 3B1 tale before... but... news of the beginning of the end has to start somewhere! Keep us posted on your journey through the bizarre... I'll try to help if I can see a way. john mcmillan -- att!mtunb!jcm
psfales@cbnewsc.ATT.COM (Peter Fales) (06/30/89)
In article <1545@mtunb.ATT.COM>, jcm@mtunb.ATT.COM (was-John McMillan) writes: > Newsgroups: unix-pc.general > In article <487@manta.pha.pa.us> brant@manta.pha.pa.us (Brant Cheikes) writes: > > > >My conclusion is that the phone manager or the machine itself is > >somehow generating spurious ringing. This anomalous behavior happens > >only very rarely, e.g., weeks or months apart. Has anyone else > >encountered this behavior? Is it a known bug? > > > for a phone. Perhaps you have a phone attached that is > going mad. ...Or is settling a grudge with you or the 3B1. This may or may not be related to your problem. I have noticed that if I have a pulse dial phone connected to the same line as the 3b1 and I dial with it, the 3b1 will see it as ringing and the modem will answer. If nothing else, this indicates that the ring detector circuitry can be triggered by lower than "ringing" voltages. f i l l e r -- Peter Fales AT&T, Room 5B-420 2000 N. Naperville Rd. UUCP: ...att!ihlpb!psfales Naperville, IL 60566 Domain: psfales@ihlpb.att.com work: (312) 979-8031
gil@limbic.UUCP (Gil Kloepfer Jr.) (06/30/89)
In article <487@manta.pha.pa.us> brant@manta.pha.pa.us (Brant Cheikes) writes: >If you don't use the UNIXpc phone manager, hit 'n' now. I used to...until the problem you describe :-) >Occasionally I have had the telephone unit connected to my 3b1 ring, >but when I pick up the handset, I get dead silence. [Bunch of theories described] The phone hardware in the UNIX-pc has no way of making a phone ring. If you are using the OBM (on-board modem), the problem is probably that the phone is getting switched from line 1 to line 2. I used to have problems like this often when switching back and fourth between lines. The phone status says the phone is connected to line 1 when it's really connected to line 2. Keep an eye out for this. The best medicine is to switch back and fourth twice after making calls or doing other things with the phone manager which might connect the phone to the other line. >-- >Brant Cheikes >University of Pennsylvania, Department of Computer and Information Science >brant@manta.pha.pa.us, brant@linc.cis.upenn.edu, bpa!manta!brant >Is it a known bug? It is now :-) ------ | Gil Kloepfer, Jr. | ICUS Software Systems/Bowne Management Systems (depending on where I am) | ...icus!limbic!gil or gil@icus.islp.ny.us
bbh@whizz.uucp (Bud Hovell) (07/01/89)
In article <487@manta.pha.pa.us> brant@manta.pha.pa.us (Brant Cheikes) writes: >If you don't use the UNIXpc phone manager, hit 'n' now. > <description deleted> >somehow generating spurious ringing. This anomalous behavior happens >only very rarely, e.g., weeks or months apart. Has anyone else >encountered this behavior? Is it a known bug? Yeah, Brant, mine does it, too - have never been able to pin down just what other activities cause it to do this. Weird. Seems to happen here more often, though - say, once or twice a week. Bud Hovell USENET: ...!{sun!nosun|tektronix!percival}!whizz!{bbh|postmaster|sysadmin} USPO: McCormick & Hovell, Inc., PO Box 1812, Lake Oswego, OR USA 97035 MOTD: "Vote NO!"