Error 678: locking a B channel for 5 minutes
Andrew Smith
I have never looked at this NG or posted before but I hope someone
might be able to help me track down who to contact about a problem I
am experiencing with BT's HomeHighway (Variation on ISDN in the UK).
My TA is and External Hagenuk Speed Dragon. I notice a couple of days
ago that sometimes I appeared to be loosing Channel b1, the TA reports
it as free but it is not available for use. also sometimes I would
loose b2 as well but they would both come back later. After extensive
testing I have established exactly what is happening but don't know
whether the cause is likely to be a problem with the TA or a problem
with my BT line.
I loose a channel when I dial into my ISP and the lines are all busy
DUN gives the message "Error 678: The Computer you are dialling into
is not answering try again later". The channel used to make this call
(usually b1) then becomes unavailable for 5 minutes exactly and then
resets and becomes available again all this time the display on the TA
reports the channel as free but it cannot be used. Because I have an
autoredialer set up, this is why sometime I loose the second channel
as well, if it dials a second time the TA allocates the call to b2 and
if it gets another error 678 it locks that channel for 5 mins as well.
Also observed are the following
1) During the five minute lock out time resetting the TA by powering
down and back up will instantly make both channels available again.
2) During the five minute lock out unplugging the TA from the ISDN S
bus (without powering down the TA) and plugging it back in again will
instantly make the channel available again.
3) If I make the call to the ISP using exactly the same number but
using an analogue modem plugged into one of the analogue ports of the
TA I can get the engaged tone as many time as I like and get the
Redialer to Redial immediately and repeatedly until it gets connected
and the lockout problem never occurs. DUN does however report a
different error when the line is busy for the analogue modem call. Thi
s error is "Error676: The line is Busy. Try again later".
At the end of the day nothing I can do can tell me whether it is the
TA that is somehow keeping the b channel busy and therefore
unavailable or whether it some equipment on my BT line causing the
problem. The two methods of resetting the situation in 1 and 2 above
both separate my equipment from BT's and could therefore cause a reset
in either. Also of note is that the five minutes before it resets it's
self if I do nothing seem to be very consistent almost to the second.
HELP. Who do I contact BT or the company that supplied the TA (it is
still under guarantee but not for long)
I did when I first noticed the problem but had no idea about the
circumstances under which it occurred contact BT and they performed a
basic line test and said it was OK. but then again it would be because
there wasn't a locked channel at the time.
Hoping someone can help me.
Andrew Smith.
Andrew Smith
Somthing I forgot on my first post just now.
I have tried making the call to the busy computer with CAPI enabled
and using an ISDN Capi Modem and with CAPI disabled using an AT ISDN
modem and dialing direct with ATD in Hyperterminal and they all lock
the channel for 5 mins if I get an Error 678 message. I even tried
turning the computer off to see if that reset the dead channel but it
doesn't which seem to pretty much rules out the PC.
--
Cheers.
Andrew Smith.