atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Samsung Telephones & Systems hashes, weird characters on station display, DCS Compact

Hi,

We have a Samsung DCS Compact which has served us well for the past 12 years.

Occasionally (like every few months) the displays on all the phone stations will show all hashes (pound signs) and sometimes other weird characters. They clear when you pick up the handset, and after a bit they go away.

Should I be worried about this? Indication that something's failing or should be serviced?

I ask because the phone contractor we always used went out of business, and I don't know who else can service this old system in southeast Michigan.

Any help is appreciated!

If it happens every few months, probably a power glitch.

You can always ask for advice here and 1-800-876-4782 will get you to Samsung and and "authorized" dealer.

The Compacts are old and manufacture discontinued but still a bargain in terms of how long they last and I just worked on a voicemail on one today that we must have put in fifteen years ago and I've got tons of parts for them.

Lots of times I walk people through programming over the phone, it just isn't that complicated on the older systems.

I ALWAYS suggest you have a really fast surge protector in front of the system, I recommend EFI, they clamp in one millionth of a second, a lot of the others will protect a toaster but not a phone system.

Best way to get rid of thoses is to unplug line cord and then put back in will repower the phone and be back to normal

Gerrya is right this could be the common display fault you get with the ribbon cable that connects the display to the phones PCB.

If its happening on all phones at the same time that would be a PSU fault DO NOT reset the CCU or it may not come back on!

Thanks for the replies, guys...

Bunnie,

I'll call that telephone number....
Also, the PBX box is actually on an APC-brand uninterruptible power supply. Specifically it's plugged into a power strip with two other computers and the power strip is plugged into the UPS. I would think it's safe from surges, brownouts, etc. The battery in the UPS isn't that old...

aero,

The display weirdness definitely happens on all the phone stations. Should I be on the lookout for maybe a (slowly) failing power supply unit on the PBX?

Thanks.