Cisco SPA504G freeze

[markprice9]

We have 7 SPA504G phones recently deployed, connected to an ESW 520 24P PoE switch.

At very random times, a phone will "freeze" such that the screensaver is stuck and the time displayed on it stands still.  Pressing keys on the phone including menu button do not show any results on the screen of the phone.

Oddly, I was able to ping the phone when this happened and also load the web interface in my browser.  The web interface shows the current time on the phone being the same time that is "frozen" on the screensaver.

This doesn't seem to be related to a calling or QOS issue as my phone froze at 6:18am before anyone was in the office.

All phones are running the current latest firmware, 7.4.6

[carl.rozema]

I was experiencing lots of freezes on SPA504G and SPA303 phones. Every 5 minutes or so the phones froze at the moment of dialing a number.

I can confirm that using the IP address of the SIP server instead of the DNS name completely solved my freezing issues.

Regards

Carl

[Patrick Born]

Carl,

Thanks for sharing this with the community.

Slow or delayed DNS response can often be identified as the root cause of a phone behaving "badly".

Regards,

Patrick

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You only need one reference document for all SPA phone firmware, information, and utilities.

[keith-perry]

We were experiencing freezing until we upgraded to 7.4.7. I have just tried making more than 10 calls and still don't experience any freezing.

[westlandict]

I have one spa509 that reboots about every 5 minutes.

How can i see that reboot codes so i can see what the reason is of that reboots?

[nseto]

Here's some of the reboot reasons at this link.

https://supportforums.cisco.com/docs/DOC-9889

[westlandict]

I have one spa509 that reboots about every 5 minutes.

How can i see that reboot codes so i can see what the reason is of that reboots?

I don't mean de codes what they meaning, but how to see what code the spa50x give when it's reboot.

I think i can see it in a logfile, but where can i found that logfile?

The codes are listed on https://supportforums.cisco.com/docs/DOC-9889

[Patrick Born]

Hi Danny,

I've modified the subject field ... Next time, feel free to start a new thread that better describes the problem you're experiencing.

You can enable syslog or debug on the phone to see messages from the phone that describe what it's doing. Here are instructions:
https://supportforums.cisco.com/docs/DOC-9934

Regards,

Patrick
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You only need one reference document for all SPA phone firmware, information, and utilities.

[ikoimecs]

Dear Support,

We faced the same problem with phone lock up on the SPA5xx phones.

I read the topic and din not found that the issue is somehow related to presence, but in our case it was related to BLF option configured on the phone or Attendant console.

It looks like the phone is locking up after about 2 hours of normal  operation when Attendant Console configured to monitor other extensions'  status (BLF+CP+SD). The phone is locked up only on user interface: no  buttons can be used, no calls can be accepted or made, no answers to  server messages, no registration . At the same time Web interface still  accessible, except configuration changes and reboot. Only power reboot  brings the phone to life again. It happens about every 2 hours. When BLF option is off, the phone works normally.

We made investigations and found that the phone locks up on some Notify messages and it is somehow related to Subscribtion expiration time (7200s=2h). We find a workaround by decreasing expiration timeout to 20sec on the server side, but it is certanly a Cisco Phone BUG !!!

I can send network traces and phone debugs, but there is nothing except that the phone stops answering to the server requests at the moment of lock up.

Regards,

Ivo Koimecs

P.S.

we tested on  Cisco SPA504G and SPA508G phones with different hardware  and software combination with the same result:

Cisco SPA508G IP Phone
HW: 1.0.0(0001)
SW: 7.4.4, 7.4.6 and the latest 7.4.7

Cisco SPA504G IP Phone
HW: 1.0.2(0001)
SW: 7.4.4, 7.4.6 and the latest 7.4.7

Plus two different sidecars (changed between the phones): Cisco SPA500S  Attendant Console
HW: 1.0.6
SW: 2.0.2

[carl.rozema]

I see firmware 7.4.8 is available. In the release notes it says under fixed problems:

CSCtl72495 The phone may be temporarily unresponsive in the event of a substantial delay in DNS resolution.

Does this mean the freezing issue is now solved? Has anyone who had this problem tried it already?

I'll try an report it back here

Carl

[andrewhaji]

I have two SPA504s and both of them have exhibited the "freezing" problem. The problem only occurs when I'm on a call and another incoming call arrives. When the phone gives the "call waiting" beep, the interface freezes and it requires a power cycle to come back to life.

I believe I have figured out how to work around this issue. On both my phones I had configured a STUN server. However, when I disabled the STUN server, the phones stopped freezing! I have not had a single freeze since. Perhaps it's an issue with the way the phones handle STUN requests?

I'm using firmware 7.4.8a, which is the latest at the time of writing.

[richard.splat]

We tested and found the same problem as Andrew - congrats on finding the problem.

Here's our test scenario using two SPA504G handsets, extensions 110 & 104:

1.   Ext110: Answer an outside call (must be an outside call, problem won't occur when answering a page)
2.   Ext104: Page 110 (ie, just call 110)
3.   Ext110: Incoming call "pips" are heard and display shows 104 is calling.  Do nothing.
4.   Ext104: After 5 or so seconds, hangup.
5.   Ext110: LCD and sidecar indicate 104 is still calling.  External call is still working.  Hangup on external call.  LCD and sidecar are frozen, still indicating external call in progress and 104 calling.  Keys turn on backlight but otherwise do nothing.  Phone has "frozen".  A power cycle is the only fix.

We have not tried disabling STUN since we are routing to an Asterix server over the internet through a NAT router.  Using firmware 7.4.8.

[Versimedia]

We have a SPA504G with the same issue and can reproduce the results...

All 4 lines are connected to Teliax (SIP provider) with different registrations.

Line 1 on Phone is set in Teliax as "Extension 101"

Line 2 on Phone is set in Teliax as "Extension 100"

With Teliax, you can just dial "101" or "102" and it will ring that specific line

If we hit Line 1 and dial "100", it will ring line 2...

If we hit line 2 and dial "101", it will ring line 1...

If we do this back and forth a few times, answering/hanging up the lines randomly, it hangs... It seems to happen after the 3rd attempt(?) -- I've reproduced it 3 times in the last 10 minutes.

We ARE using STUN -- stunserver.org to be specific

[andrewhaji]

Now that we have several first-hand reports of the same issue, and the likely cause for the issue, is there any way we can escalate this issue to a Cisco engineer? This problem needs to be addressed.

[Steven DiStefano]

Andrew,

the S-TAC will entertain your call and all you have to do is ask for escalation for the purpose of getting your data to their tier2 team, who have bi-weekly meetings with the BU.  They always appreciate data collection or exact reporoduction of bug assistance.

They are on 866-606-1866 in the U.S.  Consult the web pages for world wide center contact numbers.

Steve

[Versimedia]

Followup - we just turned off STUN as we no longer needed it with this setup, and we can't seem to make the phone lockup.  It seems highly likely to revolve around STUN server usage.  (We also have NAT turned on FYI)