nooby question - Mitel Phones

[kopfan101]

Hey guys,

Hope all is well.

First post, so apologies if in wrong thread or wrong forum even!

So we have a mixture of Mitel phones, ranging from Mitel 5212's, 5224s and 5201's etc

I have a question about a whole batch of them, when connecting them to the network get stuck at DHCP: Discovery.

I cant give much details about how the network is setup - but other phones( about 300 + ) are connected fine - there are just some (10+) that are just getting stuck there. I think that shows its the handset - but how can we fix them?

Cheers,
Kopan

[ralph]

There could be a couple of things causing this.
Have you tried plugging one of the phones into a data jack where one of working phones are?

Secondly, it's possible you have some very old firmware on the phone.
To resolve you'd set the phone IP statically  by booting it and holding the 7 key then letting it pick up it's new firmware.

Ralph 

[VinceWhirlwind]

Following on from what Ralph is saying - if you have your newer handsets (eg 5320) working OK, then maybe you have Option129 on your DHCP scop for them, and the older phones don't support Option129.
You could try Option43, see if that makes a difference?

[acejavelin]

Following on from what Ralph is saying - if you have your newer handsets (eg 5320) working OK, then maybe you have Option129 on your DHCP scop for them, and the older phones don't support Option129.
You could try Option43, see if that makes a difference?

You have it backwards, some older phones do not support DHCP Options 43, or even 125 in some cases, but all Mitel phones recognize 128+

To be honest, the OP did not give enough information to troubleshoot this... DHCP Discovery and staying there is usually a VLAN issue, if it said DHCP Discovery then followed with "Option 128+ Missing" or "Option XXX Invalid" then that would indicate a DHCP option missing or misconfiguration on the DHCP server. But without knowing every detail of information that shows up on the screen after the first "Waiting for DHCP" message, it is hard to diagnose from the information given.

[ralph]

DHCP Discovery and staying there is usually a VLAN issue,

That's exactly why I asked if he tried plugging it into a known working data jack.
I've found a few times where it was just the data port not being configured correctly - not a phone problem.

I've also seen the same thing where the DHCP server wasn't working.
They'd find that if they reset a working phone.

Ralph

[kopfan101]

There could be a couple of things causing this.
Have you tried plugging one of the phones into a data jack where one of working phones are?

Secondly, it's possible you have some very old firmware on the phone.
To resolve you'd set the phone IP statically  by booting it and holding the 7 key then letting it pick up it's new firmware.

Ralph

Hello Ralph,

Apologies with delay in response - we have tried it with a working phone and its fine - so not the cabling - have done it straight from the patch panel/switch and also same problem.

Could be due to firmware - I will try that

[kopfan101]

Following on from what Ralph is saying - if you have your newer handsets (eg 5320) working OK, then maybe you have Option129 on your DHCP scop for them, and the older phones don't support Option129.
You could try Option43, see if that makes a difference?

You have it backwards, some older phones do not support DHCP Options 43, or even 125 in some cases, but all Mitel phones recognize 128+

To be honest, the OP did not give enough information to troubleshoot this... DHCP Discovery and staying there is usually a VLAN issue, if it said DHCP Discovery then followed with "Option 128+ Missing" or "Option XXX Invalid" then that would indicate a DHCP option missing or misconfiguration on the DHCP server. But without knowing every detail of information that shows up on the screen after the first "Waiting for DHCP" message, it is hard to diagnose from the information given.

The thing is - we have another 400 phones working on the same Vlan - this is phone specific as newer phones have been working - there is batch of about 20 id say which just hang there.

as you put in cable - it says waiting for link - then says bad LAN link ( this same cable is fine as its working on another phone - so strange)

waiting for authentication and then LLDP

waiting for DHCP - boot ver 02 01 00 05

and stuck at DCHP discovery -
boot ver 02 01 00 05

The above is order of what shows on about 15-20 phones

Thanks
kopfan101

[ralph]

Try setting the IP address statically. 
It may need to update its firmware.

(Hold the 9 key and follow options)

Here's a Youtube video on how it's done. 
How To Set Static IP On A Mitel Phone

[kopfan101]

Try setting the IP address statically. 
It may need to update its firmware.

(Hold the 9 key and follow options)

Here's a Youtube video on how it's done. 
How To Set Static IP On A Mitel Phone

Hey Ralph,

Thanks for following up.

I checked for a spare IP address and assigned that - didnt have much info on other stuff like gateway and whatnot - but put it in

Just fails - still hanging at dhcp discovery( could partially be due to fact i did not fill in all sections)

phones seems a bit KO'd
Is that only way for the phone to be able to get latest firmware update?


As I have a thread open - another issue we see is there are a few phones which are working but the interface is just blank( i think some people have said due to sunlight, seems a bit odd) anyway we can fix that - or is that a pure hardware issue?

[ralph]

If it's still stuck at DHCP discovery then the setting for static IP isn't correct.  It should not be looking for DHCP any longer.

Regarding the display being blank, I don't know.  Hopefully someone will jump in on this thread with the answer.  (assuming you've already check to see if it's just a contrast issue)

Ralph

[acejavelin]

When statically assigning phones, there are two methodologies... one is to manually set the necessary information in each field, the minimum required is

IP Address
Subnet Mask
Gateway
ICP IP Address (phone system IP)
TFTP IP Address (phone system IP)

This is generally all that is needed to get the phone to boot properly. Phones do not get updated to the latest firmware, the firmware must match what is in the PBX... if you upgrade a phone to something different, it will upgrade/downgrade itself when it properly connects.

The second methodology is to allow DHCP to give the device all the information EXCEPT the ICP/TFTP address (a normal DHCP offer) with no special information. Boot the phone and factory default it, then reboot the phone and press and hold 7 and setup Teleworker mode, select New, IPv4 (if prompted), then enter the phone system's IP address and press the VOL DN, Save and reboot.

If the phone doesn't pull firmware or boot properly, there are a number of possibilities to look at... is the phone in the same subnet as the PBX, if not it could be a routing, firewall, switch, or VLAN issue. These need to be addressed first... take a working phone and reboot it, watch the display, does it show anything different for VLAN or pause anywhere unique? Connect a phone that doesn't boot to the same port, does it act differently? Start the phone in configuration mode and go through the "Current Network Settings" paying attention to things like VLAN ID, ICP, TFTP, etc. and look for something that is either manually assigned or looks odd, these settings may have to be duplicated manually.

A trained technician could probably figure this out quickly, the problem is there are so many possible variables here it is difficult to pin it down in a forum sometimes.

As far as the blank display, is it just when in use (after booted) or does it work when you first plug it in? If it doesn't work when you first connect the phone, repeatedly press the VOL UP key to change the contrast and see if you can get a display. If not, default the set via configuration menu. If there is still no display, this is likely a hardware issue in the phone itself.