
Data Sheet
January 1998
T7256 Single-Chip NT1 (SCNT1) Transceiver
Lucent Technologies Inc.
103
Questions and Answers
(continued)
Miscellaneous
(continued)
A54:
(continued)
Either of these states could cause potential con-
fusion to maintenance personnel in the event that
a T7256-based NT1 is connected to an S/T loop
that is longer than permitted by the standards.
For example, an 11 Hz rate is difficult to visually
distinguish from the 8 Hz rate, but the 11 Hz case
indicates a problem on the S/T-interface and the
8 Hz case indicates a problem on the U-interface.
To troubleshoot the STLED indication, unplug the
S/T connector and repower the T7256 and initiate
a start-up on the U-interface. If there is no prob-
lem on the U-interface, the STLED will reach a
1 Hz flashing state and remain there, indicating
that the fast flashing was a result of S/T-interface
problems.
Q55:
The STLED on my T7256-based NT1 behaves in
an unexpected way. When a start-up attempt is
received, it flashes at an 8 Hz rate. Then it
flashes briefly at 1 Hz, indicating synchronization
on the U-interface. This is expected. However,
after this, it starts flashing at 8 Hz, and yet it
appears as though the system is operating fine
(data is being passed end to end, etc.). Shouldn’t
the STLED signal be always low (i.e., ON) at this
point
A55:
Yes it should. Referring to the STLED Control
Flow diagram in Figure 18 of this data sheet, it
appears as though you may be receiving aib = 0
from the upstream U-interface element. This will
cause the behavior you are seeing. If you have
access to the microprocessor registers, you can
check this by monitoring register CFR1, bit 6 to
see if it ever goes to 0.
Q56:
We have equipment that operates fine against a
5ESS switch, but never gets to layer 3 when
operating against a Northern Telecom DMS-100
switch. The equipment uses the SCNT1 device
talking to a Motorola MC68360 device over the
TDM highway and serial
μ
P port. We do not use
the S/T-interface connection on the SCNT1—
instead we originate and terminate the calls on
the SCNT1 TDM highway. Do you have any idea
what the problem may be
A56:
Some DMS-100 switches require that the
upstream U-overhead bit sai (S/T-interface activ-
ity indicator) is set to 1 before they allow full
transparency at layer 3. The state of the transmit-
ted sai bit in the SCNT1 is controlled by register
GR1, bits 7 & 8. The default state of these bits
causes transmission of an sai that reflects the
S/T-interface status. Since there is no TE con-
nected in this particular product, sai = 0 is trans-
mitted upstream to the switch by default. To
override this value and force sai to 1 (which is
necessary for transparency in this case), bit 7, 6
should be set to 0, 1, respectively. Note that the
switch software in this case is not in accordance
with ANSI T1.601-1992.
Q57:
We are testing out T7256-based equipment
against a Lucent SLC Series 5, and performance
seems OK except that we get a burst of errors,
and even drop calls, approximately every 15 min-
utes. Can you explain why
A57:
Check to make sure that your equipment is set-
ting the ps1/ps2 power status bits correctly. The
SLC equipment monitors the ps1/2 bits and, if
they are both zero (meaning all power is lost), it
assumes that there is some sort of terminal error,
since this is not an appropriate steady-state value
for ps1/2. When this condition is detected, the
SLC deactivates and reactivates the line approxi-
mately every 15 minutes. This causes the symp-
toms you describe.
Q58:
When I try to activate our T7256-based NT1, it
appears as though the U-interface is synchroniz-
ing (i.e., STLED flashes at 1 Hz), but the
S/T-interface won’t activate, and there is not even
any signal activity on the S/T-interface (i.e., no
INFO 1 or INFO 2). What might the problem be
A58:
The behavior you have observed can be caused
if the uoa bit received on the U-interface from the
network is set to 0. This causes the T7256 to acti-
vate the U-interface only, keeping the
S/T-interface quiet, per the ANSI and ETSI stan-
dards. We have heard of some network equip-
ment that incorrectly sets this bit low. If you have
access to the microprocessor registers, you can
check this by monitoring register CFR1 bit 3 to
see if it is low. If it is, the problem is in the network
equipment, not your NT1.