| Help and Support |
|---|
SI1
ADI Is Unable To Send Text Messages To Certain Cell Phone Providers.
This problem is usually a result of restrictions
imposed by the individual provider to help combat online spamming activities.
Most providers do, however, allow verified message senders (such as fire
departments) to be placed on their "white list" which lifts the sending
restrictions. Providers known to FDCMS that restrict inbound text messages are
listed below. A White list Request Form must be filled out and submitted to
the provider(s). If your agency needs assistance in submitting a WRF then we
would be glad to help.
| Provider | Link |
| Verizon | www2.verizon.net/micro/whitelist |
Affected Programs : ADI, Rapid Page
Applicable Operating Systems: Windows
2000, XP
Applicable Territories:
All
Last Reviewed: 5/16/05
SI2
ADI does not automatically print dispatches and closes even though these events
are properly selected and mapped to the correct printer(s).
It is possible that the non-printing is due to the
dial-up modem not being properly configured through ADI. Make sure the make,
model and baud rate of your modem is properly selected on the Reception
Properties form.
ADI needs to see the Carrier Detect signal from the modem drop in order for it to automatically begin processing any received data. Improperly configured modems may prevent the CD signal from being sent to ADI.
Affected Programs : ADI
Applicable Operating Systems: Windows 2000, XP
Applicable
Territories:
All
Related Service Issues:
SI5
Last Reviewed: 5/16/05
SI3
ADI does not display any installed printers in the pull-down combo boxes when
running in Service mode.
There can be two reasons for this.
1. When ADI is installed as a Windows Service in Windows 2000, by default, it is unable to retrieve the installed printers on that machine. This is because Windows stores the installed printers list in the User section of the registry. When ADI is running as a Service, it is forced to look for the printers in the System hive of the registry. In order for ADI to see the installed printers list it must be manually moved in to the System hive of the registry. Microsoft Knowledge Base article #Q184291 addresses exactly how to perform this move. It is important to know that any time you add or change the name of a printer, this procedure must be repeated. Notice: Any time you edit the Registry, you run the risk of corrupting a setting which can potentially prevent your computer from restarting. Use caution!!!
2. While ADI is running as a Windows Service, it has no access to any network printers therefore, they are not listed in the Printing Selector. Windows will only allow ADI to use locally connected printers, so because of that, only local printers will be displayed in the ADI Printing Selector.
Affected Programs : ADI
Applicable Operating Systems: Windows 2000, XP
Applicable
Territories:
All
Last Reviewed: 6/23/07
SI4
ADI displays foreign or "garbage" characters on the screen and on the
printouts. Sometimes it is so bad that it even prevents our calls
from being printed or paged.
The cause of this problem is usually caused by
noise on the telephone line between the ADI dial-up modem and the dispatch
center. If the noise is on the dispatch center end then most likely
multiple agencies are seeing the noise. In most cases however, the noise is on
your end - either in your building or outside in the telco's wiring.
The bad connection can disrupt the data coming in to ADI and can be seen at any point in the transmission. Foreign characters may be seen before, after and worst yet, in the middle of your data. Noise in the middle of your transmission is what will cause the most disruption of your received data, printouts and pages.
Small amounts of telephone line noise do not usually cause any noticeable disruption of data on territories that use modem error correction. If there is a noisy line there then the modems will compensate for this and filter the noise out. However, large amounts of line noise can prevent any data from coming in.
The solution to this problem is to have all modem line wiring, jacks and cords checked from the back of your modem to where it enters your building. Have your telephone company check the outside cables if necessary. Worst case, the noise could even be coming from inside your modem. It should then be replaced to eliminate it as a potential source.
Note: Some modems will always generate noise on the screen at the time the dispatch center disconnects from them. This is normal and is usually manufacturer-specific. US Robotics seems to be the predominant manufacturer that exhibits this behavior.
Affected Programs : ADI
Applicable Operating Systems: All
Applicable
Territories: Chester PA
Last Reviewed:11/10/07
SI5
What procedure can I perform to reset my modem's settings back to the factory
defaults?
When different software applications share a
modem, each app. may try to write a custom initialization string to the modem.
In most cases this is perfectly acceptable. However, all modems expose
internal commands that allow an application to not only change the init. string
but to save that string to the modem. When this happens, turning the modem off
and then back on will not reset the modem's memory. The downside to this is that
when another application must use the modem there may already be settings saved
that will conflict with the proper operation of the second application.
ADI is one application that has the capability of saving its initialization string to the connected modem. This is ok because ADI shouldn't be sharing its modem with anything else. It should always be dedicated to the receipt of incident data and not used for other purposes such as paging, Internet access, etc. If these functions must be accomplished on the ADI workstation then it is strongly recommended that a second modem be installed in or attached to the computer.
Follow these procedures to reset a modem back to the factory defaults:
Affected Programs : ADI
Applicable Operating Systems: Windows 2000, XP
Applicable
Territories:
All
Last Reviewed: 5/24/05
SI6
My modem seems to only answer every other call?
This problem is associated with some versions of
the US Robotics modem line. What happens is ADI will tell the modem to go into
auto-answer mode. According to the modem's AA indicator, it received this
command and is ready to answer the next call on the first ring. However, the
modem may not answer at all. Usually, if you power the modem off and then on
again the modem will answer as it is supposed to. Obviously, this functionality
is unacceptable for a system that must be running 24 hours per day.
At this time, US Robotics claims the problem does not exist and therefore they have not issued a fix for the problem. Through our testing, we have confirmed this problem with the following versions of firmware:
To view your USR firmware version from ADI perform the following steps:
Affected Programs : ADI
Applicable Operating Systems: Windows 2000, XP
Applicable
Territories:
All
Last Reviewed: 9/25/05
SI7
Is there another way for me to lock the computer without having to log out of the account each time and have ADI run as a service?
Yes. Install ADI as a normal application (not as a Windows service) and just lock the computer when you are not using it. To lock the computer press the 
key + "L". This will lock the computer and only allow an administrator or the owner of the account that locked it to unlock it. ADI will finction normally while the computer is locked.
Affected Programs : ADI, Rapid Page, FSID
Applicable Operating Systems: Windows XP
Applicable
Territories: All
Last Reviewed: 9/16/06
SI8
Are FDCMS software applications compatible with Windows Vista?
All of our software products have been found to be compatible with Windows Vista with the exception of one thing, Alarm Data Interface can not be run as a Windows Service in Vista. Running ADI as a normal application however, will work fine in Vista. At this time, our recommendation is to run our products on Windows XP Professional due to its stability and minimal memory usage, as compared to Vista.
Affected Programs : ADI, Rapid Page, FSID
Applicable Operating Systems: Windows Vista
Applicable
Territories: All
Last Reviewed: 6/23/07
SI9
ADI does not display any installed printers in the pull-down combo boxes when
running in Service mode.
When ADI is installed as a Windows Service in
Windows 2000, by default, it is unable to retrieve the installed printers on
that machine. This is because Windows stores the installed printers list
in the User section of the registry. When ADI is running as a Service, it
is forced to look for the printers in the System hive of the registry.
In order for ADI to see the installed printers
list it must be manually moved in to the System hive of the registry. Microsoft
Knowledge Base article #Q184291 addresses exactly how to perform this move.
It is important to know that any time you add or change the name of a printer,
this procedure must be repeated.
Notice: Any time you edit the Registry, you run the risk of corrupting a setting which can potentially prevent your computer from restarting. Use caution!!!
Affected Programs : ADI
Applicable Operating Systems: Windows 2000
Applicable
Territories: All
Last Reviewed: 5/16/05
SI10
We often see garbage characters come through in the middle of our data received from the dispatch center.
Extraneous characters in data can cause ADI to misinterpret what it receives from your dispatch center. This issue can range from strange characters in your printouts to actually causing your received data to be ignored by ADI, thus not printing or paging when it should. This is most likely caused by a weak data radio signal. If you are using a data radio to receive your dispatch information you may need to either relocate the receiver or add an external antenna. Once the signal reception has improved your data will be cleaner and ADI will be able to function properly.
Affected Programs : ADI
Applicable Operating Systems: All
Applicable
Territories: Montgomery, PA
Last Reviewed: 11/14/07
SI11
What is the longest cable length that can be used with my LED Sign?
Fire Station Information Display uses serial RS-232 to send data to any connected Alpha LED sign boards. The RS-232 standard was originally written to allow a cable length of 50' or a length that did not allow the capiciatnce of the cable to exceed 2500 pF (pico farads). Because the cable that we use has an inherent low capacitance per foot, we are able to safely exceed the 50' standard. Our custom made cables are rated at 17 pF per foot, The original RS-232 standard was based on a maximum Baud rate of 20,000. FSID is only allowed to transmit data at a maximum Baud rate of 9600 so, at that rate, a cable length of 300' feet is not out of the question. It should also be noted that as the transmitted Baud rate is reduced, the cable length can be proportionally increased.
Affected Programs : FSID
Applicable Operating Systems: All
Applicable
Territories: All
Last Reviewed: 1/1/08