Brian: It is unlikely that the serial port is bad. The EIA RS-232 standard requires that any pin can be connected to any pin for any length of time with no damage. It is VERY likely that the RS-232 port has somehow been configured in a strange way, or that the cable has caused a short or open.
Things that I would try (not necessarily in order) include: 0. Make certain that your TEFT (terminal emulation and file transfer) program is Online. Some programs can be set Offline, which means that they ignore data from the serial port and do not send key-presses to the serial port. Registry corruption or shared DLL replacement can cause similar behavior. Did you install software on the PC since the last time it worked? With the current state of Windows software, you might have to substitute another PC to diagnose the problem, and might have to reinstall windows to fix it. 1. type ^Q (control-Q) to cancel any ^S (control-S) in effect 2. Try a different cable. Make certain that none of the pins on the DB-25 are shorted to another by a fine wire. 3. Check to see if hardware handshaking is enabled in the KX-TVS. Many breakout boxes will let you break and force lines. An inexpensive breakout box ($20 from the shack) will let you monitor TD, RD, RTS, CTS, DCD... as the VM starts up. You should see the LED's change color as the KX-TVS software takes control of the serial port. 4. If you have access to an oscilloscope, I would suggest connecting between the serial line from the KX-TVS and ground. You might be able to discern the serial bit rate in use. 5. Make certain that you are logged out of the system-manager and message-manager VMB's (voice mail-boxes). I do not think that the VM serial port will behave properly if someone is logged in to one of these. Since there are no timers on the KX-TVS, someone might have logged in to one of these mailboxes, then parked or placed on hold in the phone system. Hard to diagnose, but easy to fix: cycle the power on the KX-TD and KX-TVS, and allow the KX-TD to start first. 6. Check the computer serial communication configuration. Generally you want 8 bits, No parity, 1 start bit, 1 stop bit, and hardware handshaking. If you enable 8 Bits + parity your PC will generate 9 Bits -- too many! (although it might work with some serial configurations on the KX-TD or KX-TVS) I am able to communicate from a Macintosh G4 with USB serial port via CAT-5 cable to the closet containing the KX-TVS, and the KX-TD1232, so you should be able to make things work too. Good luck. Paul Gusciora San Rafael, CA ==== From: "Brian Mitchell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: KX-T: TVS200 RS232 port dead Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Mon, 26 Aug 2002 08:08:59 -0400 It appears our TVS200 RS-232 port has died. The voicemail is working fine, otherwise. I just can't get in to program new boxes. Are there any known tricks or failure points that are fixable on-site, or is my only choice to swap it out for a repair at Panasonic? I did try setting the dial to 1 to reset the baud rate to 9600. No luck. Thanks for any assistance. Brian Mitchell _________________________________________________________________ KX-T Mailing list --- http://kxthelp.com/ Subscription changes: http://kxthelp.com/mailman/listinfo/kxt
