Trouble report on a data circuit -- it's getting errors, the PCO tests it good end to end, they want me to find the trouble and fix it. Sure, why not. Where is it? 17200 Vermont, first floor. Good. Roughly where in the 20,000 square feet of floor space is it? It's associated with the DMS. THat's better, that's only about 2,000 square feet to search. Found it -- it's a GDC 553 rackmount. Looks good. Push the buttons on the modem, it passes self test, fails end to end self test. Pull it out, push it back in. Push the buttons on the modem, it passes self test, passes end to end self test. Call PCO, get his voicemail, tell him circuit should be good and head for the van. Get a call back just as I start the engine, he's testing with the client, client says the circuit is up but another just failed. Gives me the circuit number, I head back into the building.
Sure enough -- my circuit was slot 15, the latest is slot 5 of the same shelf. The SD led is flickering, mostly off. I pull and reseat, it lights up fine. Walk back to the office, talk to the client, a third circuit is down. Go back out, slot 3 the SD led is out. Merely touch the faceplate and it lights. Left to Right, pull and reseat all of the modems.
I dislike plug-ins almost as much as I dislike plastic. For the same reason. Both fail after a decade or two.
Posted by at March 4, 2004 08:05 PM