Suddenly "No Line" on connected phones

[GM29]

My OBi202 has been working perfectly for 5 years with GV. Suddenly there is no dial tone on any connected phone. Everything appears normal- GV is working fine, dashboard says both lines are connected. Have tried power cycling with everything disconnected with no luck. Not sure what to do next.

[drgeoff]

"No line" means the phone is not sensing the 50 Volts (approx) that comes out of the OBi's PHONE socket(s).

This is not a configuration problem. It is a hardware fault, either in the OBi itself or a problem with the wiring between OBi and phone(s).

Plug one phone directly into the OBi202 PHONE1 socket. No extending cables, no house wiring. If still no dial tone try the PHONE2 socket. If still no dial tone try another cable and another phone.

If the problem still persists, report back here for instructions to confirm the OBi has an internal failure.

[GM29]

Thanks very much for the help. I tried both phone sockets with two different cables. Still no dial tone.

[drgeoff]

Unplug everything from the PHONE1 and PHONE2 sockets. On your dashboard at obitalk.com, click on the cogwheel icon containing a red E at the right hand end of the line for your OBi202 to enter Advanced Configuration.  In the column immediately to the right of the Amazon ads, click on 'Status' and then on 'PHONE Status'.  For each of the two ports you should see similar results to this:

State   On Hook
LoopCurrent   0 mA
VBAT   55 V (11.8 V)
TipRingVoltage   49 V

The three voltage numbers could be different from the above by as much as 15% but if they are very different or zero or blank, the OBi202 has failed.  Unfortunately there is little you can do except replace the OBi which may be difficult as they have been out of production for more than a year.

Reasons include but are not limited to the OBi having been connected to house phone wiring which is not properly disconnected from external telco wiring.  Lightning induced voltages or test voltage by telco technicians then enter the OBi and zap some circuitry.

[GM29]

Thanks.

My cogwheel icon does not contain a red E. And when I click that icon I do not see status in the menu. I did find an "OBi Expert Configuration" at the bottom of the Device Configuration dashboard and then clicked "Enter OBi Expert" to get to the PHONE status. All values are blank (except for last caller info) so I guess I need to replace it. If I can't get another OBi202, what do you recommend instead? We could try living with just cell phones as we have been doing for the past couple weeks.

[Taoman]

the PHONE status. All values are blank (except for last caller info) so I guess I need to replace it. If I can't get another OBi202, what do you recommend instead?

Definitely not a good sign. I agree you need to replace it but drgeoff knows much more about the electrical component side of things than I do.

I love my OBi202 and if it went belly up I would try and replace it. Right now there is an open box/new OBi202 available on ebay.com for 99.99. If it was me I would buy it. I'm thinking about buying it myself but it makes no sense as I already have 3 OBi200s.

Using smartphones is certainly an option. Only you can decide if that's "good enough" compared to the benefits of an OBi device.

[drgeoff]

Thanks.

My cogwheel icon does not contain a red E. And when I click that icon I do not see status in the menu. I did find an "OBi Expert Configuration" at the bottom of the Device Configuration dashboard and then clicked "Enter OBi Expert" to get to the PHONE status. All values are blank (except for last caller info) so I guess I need to replace it. If I can't get another OBi202, what do you recommend instead? We could try living with just cell phones as we have been doing for the past couple weeks.

On the dashboard, just to the right of the Amazon ads, one of the menu items is "Edit profile".  Click that, scroll to the botton and tick the box for "Enable OBi Expert Entry from Dashboard" to make the second cogwheel appear.  But it is just a shortcut for what you aleady did.

[GM29]

Lightning induced voltages...then enter the OBi and zap some circuitry.

Pretty sure this is what fried it. We had a close lightning strike and everything in the house blinked and that's about the time the phones stopped.

[drgeoff]

Lightning induced voltages...then enter the OBi and zap some circuitry.

Pretty sure this is what fried it. We had a close lightning strike and everything in the house blinked and that's about the time the phones stopped.

Are you saying that the OBi was connected to house phone wiring and that wiring was still connected to the telco's pair?

[GM29]

Probably yes.