IP5000 "network is down"

[Anonymous]

Hallo

I have what is allegedly a brand new IP5000. However it appeared to be looking for a third party provisioning server on boot, which it never found. Under DHCP it rebooted endlessly, looking aimlessly. With a static IP set it completes start up but is not present at the specified IP address, doesn't work, and has no web interface etc. etc. It reports "network is down" if it ever gets that far. 

I have set up a local TFTP server with the appropriate bootrom and split software bundle for this phone under SIP. I specify the IP address of my TFTP server and the phone hangs looking for the 3111-30900etc. bootrom. It's there on the TFTP server. I have checked the TFTP server with other kit and it's working fine.

I conclude that there is some sort of fundamental networking problem, The phone is powered using PoE and if I connect other devices to the ethernet cable they can see the LAN, ping etc. I've port scanned the IP5000 back from the LAN - nothing seems to be there at all. 

Does an IP5000 respond to ping by default? If not, why not? Sure, disabling this once it's up and running might be advisable, but surely this should be the "out of the box" setting?

I've performed all three factory reset steps under Settings:Advanced etc. which makes no difference except that wiping the file system has resulted in a phone that now must find a server before it will even purport to boot!

Is this phone a "door stop"? It certainly seems so. 

I've read a lot of the info here and I would comment that someone needs to urgently get their head around the notion that a simple, basic, up-to-date "Polycom for newbies" document, together with one simple "factory reset" option on the hardware and perhaps a Polycom centralised provisioning server with basic "get you started" defaults loaded on it would make life a whole lot simpler. Endlessly telling people to read documentation that is generally inpenetrable (since it assumes considerable familiarity with the product range/options/history) is not acceptable customer service. Your competitors - without exception in my experience - do this far better. Snom for example, make flashing an IP phone back to defaults, new firmware, etc. almost childishly simple by comparison and their website is an object lesson in how to present a mass of information in a manner that makes it useful for newbies (yes I was a Snom newbie about five years ago) and yet still provides the depth of examples and information that can be required for very specific queries. I've now spent the best part of three days reading stuff, downloading software, playing with boot server settings etc. etc. and nothing works. I don't know if I have a broken phone or am just being extraordinarily dumb, but a phone that acquires an IP address by DHCP and presents a web interface by default would be really helpful! It's not clear from your docs whether this should be the anticipated behaviour, or whether this "boot server" stuff has to complete (even in standalone mode) before it will do the basics. Sure, auto-provisioning is great, but there should be a robust, simple and properly documented fallback. If I find I've spent three days simply to have to conclude that the phone's networking is broken in hardware I'll not be best pleased! 

Your comments, both specific to my issue and in general re your docs would be much appreciated and will dictate whether we continue to consider Polycom IP conference phones as part of our recommended systems for our customers. 

regards

John

[SteffenBaierUK]

Hello John,

welcome to the Polycom Community.

Your Polycom Reseller is your first point of contact so you should always contact them for any support question.

The Phones come from factory with a fully working software installed and should not need any provisioning server.

If you format the filesystem, just like on your PC, the phone will require a server to load the software again.

Based on your description it sounds like the Ethernet port on the SSIP5000 is faulty. I am not aware of this being a common fault and maybe something in your environment have caused this. Due this being a new unit please contact your Polycom reseller to issue an RMA.

The way our software is designed may not be the easiest to understand for an end users and a simple and basic document can be found => here <=

Please ensure to provide some feedback if this reply has helped you so other users can profit from your experience.

Best Regards

Steffen Baier

Polycom Global Services

[Anonymous]

Hi

Very many thanks for your prompt reply. 

I'd already found and followed the steps in the document you linked, and I too suspect the ethernet port on the phone by now. 

I'll follow your recommendation and refer this back to the supplier of the SSIP5000. Hopefully they can issue an RMA and get this sorted out.

regards

John