Please help! Obi202 stopped working on line 2 for no reason

[Dana_Poepping]

Hello everyone!

So I recently purchased an obi202 along with a phone system that can have two different lines in it (separate buttons for line 1 and line 2).  I setup the obihai with two different GVoice accounts, with the account on SP1 to only ring on line 1 and the account on SP2 to only ring on line 2.  I then connected a phone cord from line 1 to phone port 1 on the phone, and the same for line 2 to phone port 2.

This was working fine, as pressing line 1 would give a dialtone for the GV account on SP1, and pressing line 2 would give a dialtone for the GV account on SP2.  Everything was working fine...until it stopped.

Now line 1 works fine, but line two does not give a dialtone when pressing line two.  if you call the number for SP2, the phone rings, but when you answer it there is nothing.  I tried switching the phone ports around to see if maybe it was an issue with the port on the phone, but that did not resolve. I tried using a different phone cord (the known working one from line 1) but that did not resolve.  I even removed the configuration for SP2 completely, then readded it.  after it configured and said connected, its still doing the same thing.

Can anyone help with this?

[Shale]

I think you are saying you have a 2-line phone.

Try the OBi phone jacks separately.

Try only connecting a cable to the phone 1 jack on the OBi. See if you can get a dialtone on line 2. This should work because the phone 1 jack has both phone 1 and phone 2 signals on it.


If that does not work, as a test try plugging only into the phone 2 jack. See if you can get a dialtone on  phone line 1.

[Dana_Poepping]

I think you are saying you have a 2-line phone.

Try the OBi phone jacks separately.

Try only connecting a cable to the phone 1 jack on the OBi. See if you can get a dialtone on line 2. This should work because the phone 1 jack has both phone 1 and phone 2 signals on it.


If that does not work, as a test try plugging only into the phone 2 jack. See if you can get a dialtone on  phone line 1.

I connected a line from line 1 on the obi202 to line 1 on the phone, and line one works, but line 2 does not.  When connecting only a line from line 2 on the obihai to line 2 on the phone, it does not get a dialtone.  

The obi web portal shows both SP1 and SP2 as connected, and when trying to get a dialtone on SP2 it does show it go to an off hook state, its just not getting a dialtone or communicating at all.

Also, just to clarify, the obi202 has two phone ports for two different lines, and the phone i'm using has the same.  line 1/2 and line 2. i had line 1 from the obi connected to line 1/2 in the phone, and line 2 from the obi connected to line 2 on the phone.  this worked previously, it just stopped out of nowhere.

[azrobert]

The phone gets dial tone from the OBi phone port, not the SP trunk provider.
Deleting the SP2 provider and re-adding will do nothing.
You don't even need a provider defined to get dial tone.

Did you try plugging the phone line1 to the OBi phone port 2?
Do you get dial tone?

If that fails you can try a factory reset.
There is an access hole on the bottom of the OBi.
Using a paper clip, press and hold the reset button until the OBI start to re-boot.

You can create a backup of the configuration before the reset.
Otherwise you will have to start from scratch and delete and re-add the OBi to OBiTalk.
Backups don't contain passwords, so you will have to re-add the passwords.

[Dana_Poepping]

The phone gets dial tone from the OBi phone port, not the SP trunk provider.
Deleting the SP2 provider and re-adding will do nothing.
You don't even need a provider defined to get dial tone.

Did you try plugging the phone line1 to the OBi phone port 2?
Do you get dial tone?

If that fails you can try a factory reset.
There is an access hole on the bottom of the OBi.
Using a paper clip, press and hold the reset button until the OBI start to re-boot.

You can create a backup of the configuration before the reset.
Otherwise you will have to start from scratch and delete and re-add the OBi to OBiTalk.
Backups don't contain passwords, so you will have to re-add the passwords.

Yes obihai port 1 into phone port 2 works.  Obihai port 2 into either phone port 1 or two does not work, and does not give a dialtone.

[zorlac]

I tried using a different phone cord (the known working one from line 1) but that did not resolve.

How about an altogether different phone on each port?

[azrobert]

I would try the factory reset.

I don't use OBiTalk to configure my OBi's.
I don't see where you do a backup in OBiTalk.
You can do a backup by logging in via the local interface.
Key the IP address of the OBi into a Web Browser.
Hit Enter
The UserID and default Password are both "admin".
System Management -> Device Update
Under Backup Configuration
Check Use OBi Version
Click Backup

Now do the factory reset as described in my previous post.

Restore configuration.
Log into the OBi via local interface.
If you previously changed the password, it will now be "admin".
System Management -> Device Update
Under Restore Configuration
Click Browse and find the backup file on your computer.
Click Restore.

You will have to re-enter passwords.
I never restored a configuration after the new method of adding GV.
The GV password is not stored on the OBi, so I don't think you will need to do anything but I'm not sure.

[azrobert]

Like I said previously, I don't use OBiTalk.
After you restore the configuration and connect to OBiTalk, Obitalk should download the passwords, but I'm not sure.

[SteveInWA]

It sounds to me like the two-line phone or the phone cords are either defective, or mis-configured.  This should have nothing at all to do with your service provider (Google Voice in this case).

Basic (USA) telephone wiring concepts:

Single line telephones and telephone cords use only the two center pins on the RJ-11 phone jacks.  In a typical 4-wire phone cord, these center pins are electrically connected to the red and green wires in the cord.

Two-line telephones use the center pair of pins for line one, and the outer pair of pins for line two.  In a typical 4-wire phone cord, the outer pair of pins are electrically connected to the yellow and black wires.  This is known as a RJ-14 jack.

Two-line telephones usually have two different female phone jacks:

• One phone jack is labeled "L1/L2" or "L1+L2" or similar.  This is a two-line, RJ-14 jack, with all four conductors in use.
• The other jack is labeled "L2".  It is only using the center two pins, but these pins are electrically wired to Line 2 inside the phone.

The reason for this is:

• If you have a wall jack, or in this case, an OBi 202, that also has a two-line, four-conductor RJ-14 jack then you would connect a four-conductor telephone cord between the telephone and the OBi or wall jack, and you would be electrically connected to both phone lines...no need for the other cord.
• If you had two different, single-line RJ-11 phone jacks, for two different telephone service lines, then you'd need two cords:  one two-conductor cord for L1, and a second two-conductor cord for L2.  It's critical to understand that, in this scenario, you are NOT using the outer two conductors of the cords, and in fact, if you miswired it, you could be feeding line 2 into line 1 by mistake.

The OBi 202 has two female jacks:  a L1+L2 RJ-14 jack, and a L2-only RJ-11 jack.  The outer two pins on the first jack are electrically connected to the inner two pins on the second jack.  This is essential to understand.

SO:  the proper way to use a two-line telephone with a two-line OBi 202, is to connect the RJ-14 jack on the OBi to the RJ-14 jack on the telephone, using a four-conductor, four-pin telephone cord.  Look carefully at the ends of your telephone cord's plastic phone jacks.  If you see four wires connected to four gold pins, it's a four-conductor cord.  If only the two center gold pins are present, it won't work.

Alternatively, you could use two, two-conductor phone cords between the two jacks on the OBi to the two jacks on the phone, but you'd need to carefully examine the switches on the bottom or sides of the phone to see if there's a switch that changes the wiring of those jacks.

The methodical, fool-proof way to troubleshoot this is to use some other, single-line telephone with a two-wire, two-pin RJ-11 phone cord.  Plug it into one of the OBi jacks, test for dial tone, then repeat on the other phone jack.

Note:  don't follow azrobert's advice to restore your OBi device's configuration before testing.  If you have some sort of configuration error on your device, it'll just be restored along with the rest of the configuration.  Instead, you should be able to test the device using only the OBiTALK service (assuming OBiTALK isn't offline, as it tends to be on weekends or other random, inconvenient periods).

The correct way to set up Google Voice on each of the two service provider configuration slots is detailed in my post, here:  http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=8560.msg56460#msg56460

[zorlac]

The methodical, fool-proof way to troubleshoot this is to use some other, single-line telephone with a two-wire, two-pin RJ-11 phone cord.  Plug it into one of the OBi jacks, test for dial tone, then repeat on the other phone jack.

That's what I'm talkin about! KISS