An alarm on the smartjack primary means there is a circuit issue. I would contact the PRI provider.  Many proactively respond to these errors, but, that varies, obviously.

Thanks for the quick reply. We had circuit problems yesterday and Verizon tech noticed one smart jack card had red alarm, he put a new one in. New one also had red alarm. He said that our Cisco router "may need to be reset" in order for the red smartjack alarm and the yellow Cisco alarm to go away. He did plug some small device into the smartjack (loopback device??) and said he was getting a signal, whatever that means. I just dont want to call them to come in when it's really our routers problem.

Take a look here and perform a quick test as stated in my initial reply on the following post.

https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/27262816/E1-Receiver-is-getting-AIS.html

Also, take a closer look at the smartjack LEDs.  Post the info here or possibly a close-up photo. If I see what type of smartjack it is, I may be able to pin-point if its in your network or your provider's. Let us know.

Sounds like he put in a eth loopback (most smart jacks can also do this internally, usually by a remote technician).  This is the equivalent of linking the port to any other ethernet device,  making surer it's talking on 1,2,3,6 positions for TX/RX.
Did the alarm light go out when he looped it?  Getting signal is not good enough...they should be running a CRC error count to see how many errors are being generated.  A few or normal, but if they are seeing anything over 1-2%, they have an issue on the circuit.  In my experience, I'll get an alarm if there is as low as 10% dropped or collided packets.

If it did go green on his loopback, you may try brining your cisco interface admin down / up just to see if that re-syncs. Or, plug it into a hub/switch just to get your own "loopback" to double check. Normally, any continuity should make it green, but he's then just stating the alarm light is a local connectivity indicator.  Which, it should not be.  With Bell, it definitely means a circuit error.

It would not be out of the question that the cable connecting the smart jack to your CISCO CSU interface is bad.  It happens.  If a loopback plug causes it to go green, and anything else is red, I'd suspect a bad cable first, or at least use a known good one to remove that from the equation.

Warlock is dead on, and after checking my own T1 lookback, it's the pinout he described.  Not 1236. ;)

Ya, T1 pinouts are as follows:

Pin 1 = RCV1
Pin 2 = RCV 2
Pin 4 = Xmit 1
Pin 5 = Xmit 2

So, as a side note and for future ref. From ANY Smartjack handoff from your provider to the device it connects to it should look like the following:
SmartJack Side:                                                                            Router Side:      
Pin 1 = RCV1                                  connects to                            Pin 4                                        
Pin 2 = RCV 2                                 connects to                            Pin 5
Pin 4 = Xmit 1                                 connects to                            Pin 1
Pin 5 = Xmit 2                                 connects to                            Pin 2

This way you're Transmitting from smartjack to the end devices receive and vice versa.

Thanks again for all the quick replies. I'm not sure if the alarm went green when the tech did his loopback test - if that's what he even did. I attached a pic of the smartjack - it's the card on the left. One on the right is in the same box and not operational.

I read the post about making a loopback plug but not even sure where to start. I do have a 'network tester' here in the office, but it says 'NOT FOR LIVE CIRCUITS'. I'm not even sure how to use it - our hardware guy left a couple months ago - hardware now is my responsibility.

So, it is possible that the smartjack red alarm is due to a problem with our equipment? Bad cable perhaps. Should I just try to swap the cable with a new one, and the alarms might go away?? Thanks so much - again!
2012-01-05-13-57-44-471.jpg

Unfortunlatey, loopback tests are not the complete answer unless telco is on-site and performing the test with a loopback plug on the inside of the smartjack (the slot to which you connect your cable).  Ask them to perform a test in this manner.  Problem could also be at the remote end.

Jesper, tech was on-site yesterday and I think the test he did was a loopback test. He did not use the term loopback, though. He plugged a small device into the port on the smartjack that my cable goes into. He basically said that what he did was "OK". That the problem is on my end. He did show me the yellow alarm on my 2821 router.

First thing I would try is a new cable, then reset the interface on your network device.

Thanks, I'll try swapping the cable now. Sorry for the noob question but what is the command for resetting the interface? Thanks.

So sorry again. I can do a sh int and get a list of the interfaces. there are 2 GE and 2 serial showing.

Serial0/0/1:0 is down, line protocol is down

What is the interface ID??

Serial0/0/1:0    <== that is the ID. You need to tell the router which interface you wish to shut down or no shutdown.

OK, so I was brave here at almost 5pm and did the shut, no shut on the serial interface. Nothing has changed. Assuming I did it all right. Anyway to check if the interface was shut, no shut??

I did change the cable as well. The yellow AL light is still on. Dont think I mentioned earlier but the green CD light is ON.

Yes, the link light will be off (on your Cisco device port), and when you do a
sh ru
it will show the link administratively down

OK, so it seems Verizon did some testing over the weekend. Below is there final response in the ticket. Seems like they have no problem and they do mention the tech doing a loop test here on the smartjack. Is there any command to see why the router/WIC has the yellow alarm?? Anything else to try? Thanks again for all the help.



TWZ --- On Hold --- Verizon has placed this ticket on hold until we receive further information. Testing indicates no problem on the network, please check on-site equipment, and engage your vendor if necessary.
Ticket will remain on hold pending your response. vz local dspd today, advsd ckt repaired w/in vz local network plz advs enduser to check/reset cpe/csu.......... notes per log: 199 2012-01-04 21:38:36 Add Comment VRZ.LD VRZ.LD Customer LEC Initiated Activity - <WNYTB103018> 01/04/12 1627 - RMK :TEST THIS GOOD TO THE SMT JK, ALSO TO A LOOPINGPIN TO THE DEMARC. CKT TOK.

Have you teseted your end? Replaced the cabling as you stated you were gong too yet?

Yes, I changed the cable. I did the shut/noshut as well. I did not try any type of  my own loop test.

tested your end*

Meaning, make a looping plug or replaced the cable feeding the router from the smartjack on your end?

Do you have access to the smartjack? If so, you can use the "Local LP"(Loopback) feature on the smartjack. Just depress the little black button marked "LOC" on the face of the smartjack and hold it until the YELLOW light appears just above it. Release it. This should administer a loop between the smartjack and your router. Go and check the router.
If possible, please post the results from a:
sh interface stats
and
sh interface counters

Or post a screentshot of the actual interface while viewing it so that I can see if there are any errors.

Is this what a loopback plug looks like? Googling for it brings up some different things.


>sh interface stats
GigabitEthernet0/0
          Switching path    Pkts In   Chars In   Pkts Out  Chars Out
               Processor  283262313 1657035462   78671922 3433798863
             Route cache 1960622002 3268862759  183978336 2759735847
                   Total 2243884315 4925898221  262650258 6193534710
GigabitEthernet0/1
          Switching path    Pkts In   Chars In   Pkts Out  Chars Out
               Processor     694217   53616617    1220722  119530384
             Route cache  977782902 1991556459 1179887943 2964541154
                   Total  978477119 2045173076 1181108665 3084071538
Serial0/0/0:0
          Switching path    Pkts In   Chars In   Pkts Out  Chars Out
               Processor          6        198  174268883 1431961225
             Route cache  245278008  319711283  722444366 1775793891
                   Total  245278014  319711481  896713249 3207755116
Serial0/0/1:0
          Switching path    Pkts In   Chars In   Pkts Out  Chars Out
               Processor         22        561         62       2041
             Route cache          0          0          0          0
                   Total         22        561         62       2041
Multilink1
          Switching path    Pkts In   Chars In   Pkts Out  Chars Out
               Processor    1059783   58311849     891283   47990834
             Route cache  239084712 3033397026  890688510 3077641120
                   Total  240144495 3091708875  891579793 3125631954
loopback-plug.jpg

Read above in my earlier post if you have the capability to make one........You only need 2-wires(IE: Wh/Bl; Bl/Wh = 2 copper wires)

White Blue from Pin 1 to Pin 4
Blue White from Pin 2 to Pin 5

All done.

And the above displays only some info I needed.

try:
show interfaces serial display


Below is an example of what im looking for...


example.jpg

Serial0/0/1:0 is down, line protocol is down
  Hardware is GT96K Serial
  MTU 1500 bytes, BW 1536 Kbit, DLY 20000 usec,
     reliability 202/255, txload 1/255, rxload 1/255
  Encapsulation PPP, LCP Closed, multilink Closed, loopback not set
  Keepalive set (10 sec)
  CRC checking enabled
  Last input 2d15h, output 2d15h, output hang never
  Last clearing of "show interface" counters 42w6d
  Input queue: 0/75/0/0 (size/max/drops/flushes); Total output drops: 0
  Queueing strategy: weighted fair
  Output queue: 0/1000/64/0 (size/max total/threshold/drops)
     Conversations  0/1/256 (active/max active/max total)
     Reserved Conversations 0/0 (allocated/max allocated)
     Available Bandwidth 1152 kilobits/sec
  5 minute input rate 0 bits/sec, 0 packets/sec
  5 minute output rate 0 bits/sec, 0 packets/sec
     22 packets input, 561 bytes, 0 no buffer
     Received 0 broadcasts, 0 runts, 0 giants, 0 throttles
     746986 input errors, 746986 CRC, 320127 frame, 174982 overrun, 0 ignored, 557655 abort
     62 packets output, 2041 bytes, 0 underruns
     0 output errors, 0 collisions, 7 interface resets
     0 output buffer failures, 0 output buffers swapped out
     22 carrier transitions
  Timeslot(s) Used:1-24, SCC: 1, Transmitter delay is 0 flags

So, you either have a defective cable going from your smartjack to the router serial port, or a bad connector on either end of that cable. Change it out. How far of a cable run is it?


This line pretty much says it all:
746986 input errors, 746986 CRC, 320127 frame, 174982 overrun, 0 ignored, 557655

I did put a new cable there. What kind of cable do I use?? Regular cat 5 cable? Crossover cable?? Again, so sorry for the noob questions, I'm new to hardware, thanks.

I stated the type of cable above and the pinouts in my comment: 37382815

You see it displays the Smartjack and router sides respectively. If youre still not sure, post back.

I'm still unsure. Do I need to make my own cable? Get the wire strippers and crimper out? The cable that was originally being used looked like a home-made job. Not being a hardware guy I'm just unsure of what the following means.

SmartJack Side:                                                                            Router Side:      
Pin 1 = RCV1                                  connects to                            Pin 4                                        
Pin 2 = RCV 2                                 connects to                            Pin 5
Pin 4 = Xmit 1                                 connects to                            Pin 1
Pin 5 = Xmit 2                                 connects to                            Pin 2

Yes, get your crimp tool out. You can use Cat5,5e,6,6e, or whatever you have within those cabling standards. Get 2 RJ-45 connectors, and pin it out as I have stated above. On Smartjack side, use the
White/Blue; Blue/White pair(2 copper strands) and put then into pins 1&2, and the White/Orange; Orange White in pins 4&5. Crimp it. Then do just the opposite on the router side. White/Blue; Blue/White in Pins 4&5; and the White/Orange; Orange/White in Pins 1&2. Done.

Just got out of a meeting, back to fiddling with this. This is much more fun than meetings! I made my own loop plug. I plugged it into the smartjack and the alarm light on the smartjack goes yellow for a few seconds, then back to red. When I unplug it it goes to yellow for a few seconds then back to red.

I'll work on the full cable as mentioned above next.

Yeah, I wanted you to plug thee loop plug into a female to female coupler. 1-side of the coupler is the loop plug and the other side is the cable that feeds your router. That should be able to tell you right off the bat if its a defective cable after you do that nd the alarm clears on the router's WIC card. But, replace it anyways as this seems to be your issue.

I went rummaging through my boss's old desk and found a SuperLooper. This is ok to use as a loopback test? Just plug the male end into the smartjack, no cable in the female end?

No....My test was to isolate the cable to the router's WIC card. Leave the smartjack out of it. Unless you have access to the front panel of the Smartjack itself...Then you wont need a looping plug. Just depress + HOLD the "LOC"  button on the face of the smartjack til the LED above it is Yellow. This would show that you are looping the network from the smartjack to the router WIC. Then go to the router and look at the rear LEDs. Are the alarms gone? If not, then the issue is in your network(IE: Cabling, connectors, etc). Once this is determined, you can then go back to the smartjack and drop the local loopback by performing the same task as above except the Yellow light will drop indicating the local loop has been removed.

I dont have access to the frontpanel of the smartjack, it's locked.

I dont even think that we are using the right cable from the smartjack to the router. What was plugged in was just a regular patch cable, I think. I'm very confused. I have patch cables with wires cut and spliced and I'm just too afraid to plug this into my router, I'm not confident in my skills or if I'm even reading any of the above correctly.

Pic of my loopback plug is attached. This gets plugged into the coupler, which I have? Then the cable from the router goes into the other end of the coupler?? Alarm light on router WIC should go off?
2012-01-09-14-17-42-844.jpg

If that is the same patch cord and we're viewing both ends in this pic, then YES. That will create the desired effect. Now take that and go to the smartjack. Disconnect your router cable(The one that feeds the T1 from the smartjack to your router) from below the smartjack. Plug that into the coupler, and the cable from above into the other side of that same coupler. Now, walk back to your router and view the LEDs on the rear of the T1 WIC card in question. Do the alarms clear? At this point if the cabling, connectors, and WIC card are good the only light that should be on is "CD" light on the WIC for carrier detect.

I'm finally progressing! I really do appreciate all the help. I did what you said above and the alarm light goes off, the CD light goes on. When I unplug it the CD goes off, the AL comes back on. So, after this I can assume that my equipment is ok? Cabling, WIC, router etc??

so far..... Maybe leave it on there for about 20mins but as soon as you connect it, go back to the router and issue the "clear counters" command for that serial interface. Then watch it. See if the CRC, frame, etc errors start coming in. If it stays error free for 20mins, then your cabling should be good. Can you explain the path the cable takes? Was there any recent work done around this area that would have interfered with this cable that feeds your T1 to the router?

clear counters s0/0/1

GUess that's the command?

The smartjack and router are in the same phone closet, about 5ft apart. Cable goes from the smartjack right to the WIC. No body goes in this closet but me. No work done in that closet. Same cables have been there for a while, nothing changed.

conf t
int s0/0/1 (<====assuming this is the defective link)
clear counters

Cant get the clear counters to work. Do I hit Enter or CNTRL z??


Enter configuration commands, one per line.  End with CNTL/Z.
XXXXXXX(config)#int serial0/0/1:0
XXXXXXX(config-if)#clear counters
                                  ^
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.

XXXXXXX(config-if)#clear counters^Z                                  ^
% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.

Sorry, had too many windows open earlier.

Just go in and login
enable
enter password
clear counters serial0/0/1:0

Sorry about that.

After 20 minutes this is what I have. No errors it seems.

Serial0/0/1:0 is up, line protocol is down (looped)
  Hardware is GT96K Serial
  MTU 1500 bytes, BW 1536 Kbit, DLY 20000 usec,
     reliability 255/255, txload 1/255, rxload 1/255
  Encapsulation PPP, LCP Listen, multilink Closed, loopback not set
  Keepalive set (10 sec)
  CRC checking enabled
  Last input 00:00:06, output 00:00:06, output hang never
  Last clearing of "show interface" counters 00:22:41
  Input queue: 0/75/0/0 (size/max/drops/flushes); Total output drops: 0
  Queueing strategy: weighted fair
  Output queue: 0/1000/64/0 (size/max total/threshold/drops)
     Conversations  0/1/256 (active/max active/max total)
     Reserved Conversations 0/0 (allocated/max allocated)
     Available Bandwidth 1152 kilobits/sec
  5 minute input rate 0 bits/sec, 0 packets/sec
  5 minute output rate 0 bits/sec, 0 packets/sec
     542 packets input, 13821 bytes, 0 no buffer
     Received 0 broadcasts, 0 runts, 0 giants, 0 throttles
     0 input errors, 0 CRC, 0 frame, 0 overrun, 0 ignored, 0 abort
     542 packets output, 13821 bytes, 0 underruns
     0 output errors, 0 collisions, 28 interface resets
     0 output buffer failures, 0 output buffers swapped out
     0 carrier transitions
  Timeslot(s) Used:1-24, SCC: 1, Transmitter delay is 0 flags

Any other ideas out there? A new set of eyes, maybe??

Current status is the same. Red alarm light on the smartjack card.

With a cable plugged in from the smartjack to the router = Yellow AL and green CD both lit.
If I unplug the cable the CD light goes out, AL stays lit. Looping my router does the opposite.

Can I just try a 'reload' (reboot) of the router? Will that help possibly?? Performing a loop test on my router

I would do a reload, or actually a power cycle, if you have not done that previously.
I'm starting to think your multilink if has an issue.  A cold reboot may re-init those interfaces.

If you are sure your running-config /startup-config is saved (or not, if you want to revert to last working and you haven't written changes), then I would not do a reload, I would do a complete power cycle, leaving it off for at least 30 seconds.

reload and power cycle are different? How?

How do I do the powercycle, just pull the plug? Thanks

reload just reboots the image (similar to restarting a computer), but doesn't completely reset the (off / on) the power (as in powering off a computer, turn it back on).

I would want to go for as complete a "reset" as I could at this point..."power cycle" is just a fancy way of saying turn it off / on (cold boot).

You can safely unplug it and re-plug it back in if you are certain you have the startup-config you want saved (usually the running-config and the "write" command, unless you want to loose everything you've done since the last "write" command was given).

Remember, reloading or power cycling will revert all config changes since you have last specifically given the write command.  running-config doe not = starup-config unless you have written your changes.

I can just do a wr mem or a copy running-config startup-config before the power cycle, yes? Just to be safe. Thanks again for all the info.

While you are in config mode, just doing a "write" command will save your current running config and boot it as your startup-config on next power up.
if you have not done a write command since you started working on this project, and want to boot it up with your config before you touched any commands, you can just power cycle it as-is, and your old config will be back.
I've found many instances when I wanted to revert, so, if that's your case...there ya go. :)

It was a Verizon problem after all. I didnt know much about loopback stuff and all the info here helped alot, thanks so much. The red alarm light is out and the circuit is operational!!