Troubleshooting HotWire EasyFax

HotWire EasyFax can be an adventure to set up, but once it is, it should give you years of trouble-free service,  The Troubleshooting section is divided into three major areas:
  GENERAL

In order for your fax system to function properly you must make sure that your modem is supported, the cabling is already functioning and that the Flow Control works correctly. Some modems (eg. ZOOM V.32bis FaxModem) will operate in fax mode at only 19200 baud, so make sure that you have chosen the correct baud rates and other parameters correctly from your Configuration Screen.  All the modems supported currently come with defaults preconfigured, including the baud rate and bit order and we STRONGLY discourage you from changing these needlessly. If you have a modem that is not on the suported modems list, try one of our definitions for a supported modem - it'll probably work with your modem anyway.  Always reset the fax subsystem after changing anything in the Configuration screen.
 

Fax Reception

Problem: Modem doesn't answer

Make sure that the modem has power to it and is turned on. Check that the telephone cord is connected to the correct socket (usually indicated by the picture of a cable coming out of a telephone wall jack) on the modem.

Check that the serial cable (if your modem is external) is connected to both the computer and the modem.

Check that the MR, TR, DTR or READY LED on the modem is lit. If not, the listener is probably not enabled.

Make sure that the serial port on your computer that has the cable connected to the modem is the one that is specified in your Configuration Screen.

Make sure that the AA LED is lit on the modem. If it is not, check all of the above, and if all the above are correct, add the string "ats0=1" to your Init. String #1 in the HotWire EasyFAX Configuration screen.

Problem: Modem anwers but disconnects after a few seconds.

Make sure that you have chosen the correct Flow Control and baud rate in the Configuration Screen.

Try changing the Bit Order. If it is set to MSB try changing it to LSB and vice versa.

Problem: Faxes are received but can't be viewed.

This is nearly always a Flow Control problem. Make sure that you have the flow control set up correctly for your serial port and modem. Make sure that if you're using Hardware Flow Control that you have the appropriate signals in your modem cable. You'll need at least pins 2,3,4,5,6,8 and 20 connected from the modem to the computer serial port for Hardware Flow Control. If this makes no difference, change the BitOrder of incoming faxes. In the Configuration screen toggle the MSB/LSB radiobutton and Reset Fax Subsystem off the main screen's Admin menu.

Problem: Faxes are received but are only partially visible.

This problem is almost always Flow Control. Change the flow control parameters in the Configuration screen and reset the Fax Subsystem.

Check the BitOrder and try changing it.

Problem: Faxes are received, but contain excessive streaks.

Same as above.

Problem: Fax Listener keeps on turning itself off.

If the Fax listener process keeps on turning off its /etc/inittab entry it is because it cannot properly initialize the modem. This is usually because of a bad initialization string but could also be because of other processes contending for the serial/modem port. Try the Admin->Listener->Reset fax subsystem option.

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Fax Transmission

Problem: Modem doesn't dial.

Make sure that the modem has power to it and is turned on. Check that the telephone cord is connected to the correct socket (usually indicated by the picture of a cable coming out of a telephone wall jack) on the modem. Make sure that you have dialtone on the line that you're using.

If your modem stil ldoes not dial, make sure that it is one of the supported modems and that the initialization strings are correct.

Problem: Modem dials but never establishes connection.

Make sure that you're using one of the supported modems or if you've added you own modem, that the initialization strings and command strings are correct in the Modem Capability Database, ${FBHOME}/modems. This might also happen on some systems if the BitOrder is selected incorrectly.

Problem: Fax transmission begins, but fails after a while.

Your Flow Control is not working. Change your Flow Control parameters in the Configuration screen or replace your modem cable if you're using hardware. If you're using an intelligent I/O card (eg. Stallion), make sure that you have the correct port name for the type of Flow Control that you have selected and that Flow Control has been correctly configured using the I/O board manufacturer's setup/admin utility.

Problem: Fax transmissions don't follow the schedule.

Not all of the schedules are implemented in version 1 of HotWire EasyFax. Faxes are queued, dispatched and (if necessary) retried according to their scheduled priority. The TimeSlot A and TimeSlot B are not enforced in this version. Automatic retry of unsent faxes can be disabled by deselecting the Auto Retry option off the Admin menu.

Problem: HotWire EasyFax doesn't try to send a fax.

Almost certainly the maximum number of retries has been reached for this fax. Select the fax in question from the Spooler Management option off the Admin menu and press the REFRESH button. This will reset the retry count to 0 and this fax will be retried at the scheduled interval. Other possibilities are that the fax data file has been removed, or that the number being called is disconnected.

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Fax Viewing and Printing

Problem: Can't view faxes with the FaxVue program.

There is no data in the fax data file. Its possible that the fax data was not received because of a line or other error. Make sure that the list of faxes show that there is at least one page in this fax and that there is no error message in the list of available faxes.

Problem: FaxVue shows only about 1 inch of the fax.

Its possible that the send of the fax sent only a few lines, but if you're sure that the whole image is not visible, try resizing or scrolling the FaxVue image window. If this doesn't help, check for streaks in the part of the fax that is visible. If there are streaks, then the Flow Control parameters are incorrectly set. See :Faxes are received but can't be viewed" above.

Problem: FaxVue can't ZOOM to maximum image size.

Some large or complex images require large amounts of display memory and will be shown as blank when zoomed to maximum size. This behaviour is seldom seen except on X-Terminals.  Increase the memory in the X-Terminal or export the image to a file and then use some other graphics program (ApplixWare, XV, ImageMagic etc.) to manipulate the image.

Problem: Printing fails.

Make sure that you have selected the correct printer for printing your faxes from the Configuration screen. If you have a PostScript printer, make sure that you have at lease three megabytes of RAM. Only PostScript and PCL (HP LaserJet) printers are supported in Version 1. The HP printer capabilities have been tested on the LaserJet Series II and should therefore work on any HP PCL printer. If printing PARTIALLY fails, you don't have enough memory in your printer. If printing doesn't take place at all, make sure that your printer is properly configured using your System Administration tools. You may also print to a postscript file and then use GhostScript (gs) to view or print the fax to another type of printer.

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Debugging Everything

In order to determine why transmission or reception are failing, you can turn on debugging. Once you have resolved the problem you must turn off debugging or huge amounts of disk space will be consumed because the transaction and error logs are not purged. Debugging is turned on by Pulling down the Admin Menu and choosing Debug. Any debug level leaves behind the activity logs. Each inbound or outbound fax is designated a fax number by the system and all files pertaining to a certain fax will bear this number. All HotWire EasyFax information is stored below the HotWire home directory, $HW_HOME.  Then send a fax and email the log to support off the Debug Menu.
 
 
$HW_HOME/  The home directory below which all HotWire EasyFAX files live
receive The directory under which all received faxes and logs are stored
receive/log The directory under which all received logs are stored
receive/data The directory under which received fax images are stored
send The directory under which all information pertaining to transmitted faxes is stored
send/log The directory under which the log for each fax transmission is stored
send/data The directory under which all transmitted fax images are store
send/pkg The directory where "packaged" or predefined faxes are stored
send/status The directory under which the current status of each outpgoing fax is stored
covers The directory under which all coverpages must be stored
bin The directory under which all HotWire executables (binary/perl/shell) are stored
fonts The directory under which the fonts for the bitmap converter are stored
spool The directory under which all outputgoing fax information is spooled
tmp Temporary workspace for HotWire EasyFAX
 

If your fax filename is, say 000128, a transaction log is kept during transmission of reception called $HW_HOME/receive/log/00128. If the reception is successful and debug is NOT enabled, the log is removed upon completion. If debug is enabled, or the fax failed for some reason, the log file is left behind for examination. If you're sending a fax, say 00029 (you can find the number in FaxVue or the Spooler Management screens) the actual fax image will be in $H_HOME/send/data/00029, the log will be in $HW_HOME/send/log/00029 and the status in $HW_HOME/send/status/00029

With all this information at your fingertips its pretty easy to determine the cause of any problem.

DO NOT EDIT ANY FILES MANUALLY - Use only the HotWire interface to manipulate the configuration files.