They told me that it would work. Before I worked out of my home I used the same phone and really liked it, so while setting up my VoIP service I asked if the phone would work and they said it should not be an issue. They had them on thier desk in the office so I thought it would be a no brainer.

I dont have the Call Manager or the CM Express. Will another TFTP server work, or how can I get the simple verson of the Cisco CM?

Hi Timothy, I've just been looking at their website and as far as I can tell the Cisco phone isn't going to work with the service you've bought. Any simple digital phone should work though.

For a basic CM or CME you'd be looking at $100's - $1000's which for a simple home office solution for one person would be quite expensive.

OK. Thank You for your time.

not really what I was hoping for now that I own two of these phone. (we have two offices on different sides of the twin cities)

I may call comcast and ask them what they think.

Thanks Again...

Timothy

ok, no probs. Where were you using the old Cisco phone previously, in another office, another company? Are you a remote/homeworker? Do you connect into the main office via a vpn, hence why you're trying to use the Cisco phone at home?

sorry, didnt see your reply.

I did use the phone at my previous employer. I have since started my own business and like the phone very much. I currently work out of my home office and do not connect to any VPN at the moment.

James...

Thank you very much. I will absolutely give it a try. I will let you kow how I fair.

Regards,

Tim

James,

Ok, Ive downloaded a TFTP server called Solarwinds. (Images attached) I installed it onto my workstation. Within the root directory I have put the following files.

OS79XX.TXT

POS3-08-2-00.loads

POS3-08-2-00.sb2

POS3-08-2-00.bin

POS3-08-2-00.sbn

SIPmac_address.cnf

SIPDefault.cnf

I have updated the *.cnf file to reflect the current build image with the dashes (is that correct? eg. POS3-08-2-00. Or, do I remove the dashes? I know on the txt file the dashes should be there according to the Cisco website.

I then unplugged the phone and plugged it in. The phone does recognize the standard IP 192.168.1.1 for the TFTP and DHCP server, but when I start the server for solarwinds it states the address is 192.168.1.100. Does the trailing zeros mean anything?

Then whey I try to unlock the phone using **# it only unlocks it for a 20 secs or so then relocks. In addition even though it is not locked I can not edit anything. When I push the softkey button to "edit" it tells me "The Key is not active here".

As an FYI the comcast technitian informed me that i need to select the DHCP option while setting the phone up. So Im wondering if I send the update via the TFTP server, however once that is completed I go back and select the DHCP option.

Your right that the verbage in the tech notes are very hard for me to understand. Although I have given it a good effort.

Also, the config file I got were from the internet. In notepad they looked very messy. Not as clean as the examples on the Cisco website. Do you know where I can get clean copies of the default config files? Cisco should make these available in addition to the firmware that I downloaded and it appears they are not, but I could be missing them somewhere.

Any help would be great.

Timothy

Hi Timothy,

It looks like you're off to a good start, I think you should be able to get your 7940 working.

I'm not familiar with Solarwinds (I typically use a similar program called tftpd32, there's a link at the bottom of this post), however the process should be similar.

In your post above, while listing the files you have you wrote "SIPmac_address.cnf". A MAC address is a unique identifier for a network device, so rather than writing the literal term "mac_address" you need the identifier from your phone. To get this address:

Flip your phone over. There are 4 small white stickers with barcodes on the back. The sticker second from the right will have a code that looks like "0123456789AB". It should also have the word "Mac" stamped into the plastic just above and to the right of the sticker.

Once you've got the address, rename the conf file to "SIP0123456789AB.cnf" (substituting your MAC for the example I used).

Now:

Run your tftp program, and enable the DHCP server in the settings. Be sure to provide option 150 in DHCP (that's what the phone is looking for).

Like I said above, I'm not familiar with Solarwinds, however you should be able to change its settings so that it broadcasts its IP address as 192.168.1.1 rather than 192.168.1.100 -- it may seem like a small difference, but the trailing zeros change everything when it comes to IP addresses.

Place your phone's firmware files in the tftp directory.

Connect the phone to the computer (with the phone powered off) one of two ways:

1. Directly to the Ethernet card in your computer using a crossover cable. This is not a standard ethernet cable, and it won't work with a regular one.

or:

2. Through a hub (no crossover cables required), with no other DHCP server connected in this configuration. (ie: Computer -> hub -> phone, no cable modem or DSL modem attached). If you're using a router (D-Link, Linksys, etc), it probably has a DHCP server running already. The distinction is important, let me know if you're stuck on this.

Plug in your phone, and immediately hold the # key while it powers up. When you see the screen prompt about the "reset sequence", enter your reset sequence.

It's probably "123456789*0#", if not then try "3491672850*#".

Once the phone is connected to the tftp program you should be able to monitor what's going on in the "Log Viewer" tab of your tftp program.

Hopefully at this point you will see that phone transferring the firmware files.

If this is the case, allow the transfer to finish and then reboot your phone. You no longer require the direct connection I described above.

The final step is to enter your network settings. That part is described in the last link below.

Links:

tftpd32:

http://tftpd32.jounin.net/

Wireshark:

http://www.wireshark.org/

Manually Configure the Phone Network Settings:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/phones/ps379/products_tech_note09186a0080094584.shtml#topic1a

Hope that helps, good luck!

-James.

James,

One more thing I forgot to mention is that I currently have the firmware of P00307010200 on the phone. (7.1.20)

And I also did a status Messages and this is what I get.

CGF file not found

File Not Found:

XMLDefault.cnf.xml

Hi Timothy,

See my post above for a more detailed response. However, the "P00" part of the firmware you're running indicates that the phone is configured as SCCP for sure, rather than SIP.

Just as background info:

In a typical environment (many VoIP phones in an office), the cnf files are loaded from a central server each time the phone is powered up. This makes it a lot easier for an admin to manage many phones at once, just by cycling their power, rather than changing settings one by one.

In your case we're trying to manually enter the cnf details into the phone, no central server required (after the first setup).

Cheers,

-James.

James,

I have since removed the Solar winds and am using the one you use so its easier to help me :-).

I have attached some screen shots of what I see when I open it. (this is with the network connected and unconnected) attachment "error".

The front page is what I have, not sure what Im supposed to put in there with the exception of the TFTP root directory location.

The settings page there is alot to configure. Some help would be great.

Heres what I did (still to no avail)

- installed new TFTP server.

- changed the root directory to the correct location after opening the tftp server. (got error on open)

- unhooked pc from network and hooked the phone to the computer via a hub. I have a netgear hub so does that have an IP too. It says HUB so I was hoping that would work.

-plugged in phone. (lights on hub lit up so I know it was sending and receiving)

- while the phone powered up I held in the # button and after waiing for 30 secs (phone did nothing) I released, then the phone asked for reset sequence. I typed the 123456789*0# and it asked me if I would like to Initiate Reset Sequence 1=yes 2=no. I pushed 1. It said initializing factory reset and then nothing happened in the log on the tftp.

I did this all again, trying the 2=no option and it didi the same thing.

I also looked for the "option 150" in the tftp program and could not find anything that resembles that. Is this something that you set in the phone?

Am i getting closer?? I know Im probably annoying you with my troubles that must be so easy for you. I really do appreciate the help a great deal!!

tmb

Hi Timothy,

Ok, I've found a step-by-step approach, and modified it for you to help you through the rough patches:

•Turn off your Cisco phone.

•Create a directory on your C: drive by the name of \TFTPD-Root. (You've already done this, I think).

•Put all your Cisco phone firmware and config files into C:\TFTPD-Root (I don't know if you've done this).

•Connect your phone to your PC through a hub, or directly with a crossover cable.

•On your Windows box, assign a static IP address to your Windows box. You accomplish this by altering your TCP/IP properties of your network interface card.

To get to these properties(in Windows XP): go to Control Panel > Network Connections > Click once on "Local Area Connection" > Select "Change settings of this connection" from the "Network Tasks" pane on the left side of the window.

Select "Internet Protocol(TCP/IP)" from the list, then click on "Properties".

If you already have settings in there, write them down - you'll need them once you're done. However you're probably set up with "Obtain an IP address automatically".

In the "Use the following IP address" I would suggest an IP address of 192.168.1.10, subnet mask of 255.255.255.0, leave the gateway blank. Click "Ok", then "Ok" again.

•Start the TFTPD32 program.

•In the TFTPD32 program, click on the "Settings" button:

•For Base Directory, input into the text input box: C:\TFTPD-Root.

•Ensure that "TFTP Server" and "DHCP Server" checkboxes are selected. (You don't need the "Client" box checked.)

•TFTP Security should be set to "None".

•For "Advanced TFTP Options", ensure that "Translate Unix file names" and "Allow '\' As virtual root" are selected. You'll find these checkboxes by clicking the "Settings" button and looking at the lower third of the configuration screen.

•Click the "OK" to save the settings.

•Exit TFTPD32 and restart it so it will use your new settings.

•Turn on your Cisco Phone (making sure it is connected to your Windows machine running the TFTPD32 program via crossover cable or through the hub).

At this stage, your Cisco Phone should start requesting an IP address via DHCP. Your Windows machine running TFTPD32 will answer the request - this is why you can't have any other router in the setup configuration, the phone won't know which one to choose.

Next, it should start to TFTP down all the firmware and configs from your Windows machine running the TFTPD32 program. Your "Tftp Server" window of the TFTPD32 program should start listing all the files the Cisco phone is grabbing.

If anything does not work at this point, please copy whatever you see in the "Tftp Server" window and the "Log viewer" window -- that information helps a lot.

You can now exit the TFTPD32 program, and reverse the changes to the properties of your network interface card that you made.

Hopefully that gets you to the right place. If anything doesn't work the server window information and log viewer information should be able to help!

From there, you'll need to configure your Comcast service, but that's very easy compared to this process!

Cheers,

-James.