greetings! im new to this so please bare with me. my company is trying to setup up Voice Mail/Messaging and our "IT" guy doesnt know much about the system since no one in the company did or touched this for 2+ years. now i got this dumped on me to say the least.
The hardware is the Comdial DXP.s
software i believe is the Comdial V8.2 Small Office Call Processing System.

when i power up the tower it'll show 3 options, Voice Mail, enter DOS, or Enter Setup, followed by a beeping noise that counts down to enter DEMO mode if no options set. i tried searching our server room for the instruction manual to run the setup but all i found are 2 binders that i think are somewhat useful,
1)DXP - Programming INstructions and System Records
2)Key Voice Voice Programming - NT-Based Product Training

the Setup in the Comdial V8.2 looks straight forward but i dont want to mess anything in there that'll get me in trouble. thats why im here to ask the experts . if anyone has a copy of the instruction manual to setup up the Comdial V8.2 or a link to it, i'd appreciate it. thanks in advance :toothy: .

fst100, please go back and fill out your profile a little more completely. Thanks!

Do a search for DEMO Mode in this (Voicemail) forum, and in the Comdial forum. You need to get that resolved before doing anything.

Next, if this hasn't worked for 2 years, and needs to be integrated to the phone system so it's usable, you need to call in an experienced and certified Comdial/Key Voice tech, who, unlike the I.T. guy, knows how to make these two very-capable systems suit your needs.

Justin

thanks 5years&counting. i was tinkering around in the software, but when it rebooted with the changes, at the 3 Option menus i pressed Option 1 VM, it would load but then said No Noice Mail Hardware recognized, switching to DEMO mode.
i dont know what esle to add in my profile to further help out, let me know what would need to be. i've been searching around finding what would relate to the V8.2, but nothing so far seems to help. i'll search the word "DEMO" and see what comes up.

i also noticed behind the Comdial tower that theres a gender changer or dongle(?) attached to one of the parallel port but nothing is going out from there. theres also a text on it with the words "EVERYKEY".

That's the voicemail key, that allows the voicemail to work (a hardware licensing key, per se). It must be attached to the parallel port, and doesn't need anything attached to it.

What's the background on this PC? Was it in service at one time? Did the PC or other hardware get changed out between the time it was working and now?

If it has been sitting without power for a couple years, my guess is that the BIOS has defaulted, and needs to be fixed so the voice board(s) will work. There are certain settings that need to be made in the BIOS, in order for the board(s) to work correctly. It sounds to me like Voicemail can't find the voice board(s). Assuming the boards ARE physically installed in the PC, then the BIOS settings could very likely be the problem.

Justin

i believe the pc always had power to it, just not used since recently. i couldnt find anything in regards to the DEMO search on here, both Comdial and Voicemail that pertains to my issue. heres what i noticed thus far. the comdial pc has the everykey plugged into the P/O port,
-DB9/Mouse port is attached but the other end goes nowhere.
-monitor port goes to a Linksys 2-Station CPU Switch that goes to the Other PC
-keyboard port goes to a Linksys 2-Station CPU Switch that goes to the Other PC
-2 phone jacks are plugged into the wall phone jack

seems the other PC needs to be connected to the Comdial PC? theres a small box labeled, "Back-up phone modem" that also has the phone jack connected to the wall and a Male P/O port going into a DB9 port on the other PC.
Dunno if all this helps, but i know a wire(s) messing that needs to interact with the other PC with the Comdial PC.

Edit-i need to ask the IT guy if indeed the Voice Baords were installed as wel as let him know to check the BIOs for the Voice Mail

Key Voice used the dongle on the parallel port and if it is not in place, forces the system into DEMO MODE.

I had this issue before when a parallel port went bad. Dunno how it went bad, but, only had one possible message then a reboot, back to dem mode.

well the dongle is plugged into the parallel port but like others said, there shouldnt be anything else connected to it on the other side? also when i try to run the voice mail system, it'll load but then i'd get the message saying it cant find/connect the hardware. im thinking it may have to do with Analog Terminal Interface(ATI-D)?
o and the pc thats connected to the Comdial PC is the phone system. i realize that when the extension #150 is pressed the phone system would switch over to the voice mail system so thats what the other PC is for.

It doesn't have anything to do with the ATI-D at this point. Just as 5Y&C said in an earlier post you need to get a Comdial tech in to help you get this set up before you can take it over.

Hi fst100:

One approach is to handle this like any other computer problem- step-by-step diagnosis.

It sounds like you might have two different, yet related, problems: The comuter not recognizing both the voice board and the parallel port.

Assuming the proper technical procedures are followed, it shouldn't hurt if you power off the computer, unplug the power cord, remove the cover, and reseat all of the boards.

The parallel port is probably on its own board, likely including 1 or 2 serial ports. The voice board whould be separate.

If you remove each of them, maybe even clean the card-egde contacts, and reseat them, you may find some progress made.

This all assumes, of course, that in the past nobody has made any changes to the phone system or to the cabling, that would render the voicemail system inoperative.

But, at this point, it might be worth the effort to just reseat the boards and see what happens!

If you choose to try this, post your results!

Oh, by the way...

The Linksys 2-staion CPU switch is there just to save the space and cost of two sets of Keyboard/Monitor/Mouse.

Id doesn't actually connect the two computers together, it only switches the Keyboard/Monitor/Mouse from one computer to the other.

The "dongle" just plugs into the parallel port, and does not have anything connected to the other side of it.

That second connector on the dongle is actually made for a printer cable. The idea was that you could unplug an existing printer, plug in the dongle, then plug the printer into the dongle.

I don't believe that voicemail system software supports that kind of setup, and there isn't really a need for you to connect a printer to the voicemail system at this point anyway... But that explains why it looks like there ought to be something else plugged into the dongle!