Conference netcad::hub_mgnt

    Are the modules properly seated and the latch fully closed? The problem
    you discribed happens often when the modules are not seated properly. 

    
    The customer has said he is inserting the modules correctly & pushing
    the catch down. He sees this as a design problem, but I am not convinced 
    he is inserting the modules correctly & was wondering if anyone else is 
    seeing this or if it is a problem just for this customer.
    
    
    Jon

    
    Well, occassionally the handle on the DEChub 900 don't always engage
    but just a slight pressure seats the handle which engages the
    microswitch. However, this is only when I lift the handle. Having my
    own demo gear, I literally slam the unit into place and the handle
    always engage. 
    
    I think the only way engineering might see what you are talking about
    is to videotape the customer doing it and sending in the tape. 

    I have watched people "slam" units into the HUB (much to my 
    dismay). It doesn't take too much of this "slamming" before
    the result is bent pins on some of the modules, or cracked
    and broken connector shrouds. I personally don't advocate the 
    "slamming" approach. Yes I know Ma Bell designed the telephone 
    such that people (frustrated by a busy signal at the other end), 
    can "slam" the receiver down and not have to worry about breaking 
    the phone, but I'd prefer to see a less aggressive approach to 
    installing modules in a HUB backplane. Try plugging the module
    in a gentler fashion, and then try repeated "snaps" of the little
    guillotine latch to get the module to power up. Failing this take 
    the module, hold the end of the module with the little lever near
    your ear so you can hear the "click" of the microswitch as you press
    down on the lever. If the "click" isn't heard until almost the end
    or at the end of the physical travel of the lever, then the lever
    must be straightened out a little so that the curved end of the 
    lever will make contact with the bottom edge of the guillotine latch
    sooner in its travel. This is usually the source of the problem. That
    is the curved end of the lever is bent too much, and needs a little
    subtle straightening out.
    
    Bob
    

    
    OK, but I've had my units for well over 1 yr now and they regularly
    take a beating. I've heard of one sales rep who take a DECrepeater
    900TM out of a demo hub, jumps up and down on it and then replaces it
    into the hub and shows the customer how it powers up. 
    
    The modules are built like tanks. It's one of the edges we have in the
    marketplace by demonstrating our superior module engineering. I use to
    carry my modules around in a cardboard box until I found these real
    nice Rubbermaid storage containers. 
    
    I agree that a less agressive approach might work for this problem, but
    the sales end of this requires an agressive, push it as far as you can,
    approach to demonstrate why Digital engineering is the best.

    Oh I don't mind the standing on them and jumping up & down on 
    them. The box is built to take a certain amount of that. :-)
    I'm more concerned about the fragility of the plastic around the
    connectors, and bending pins when "slamming" a module while taking
    one eyes off what one is doing.
    
    Bob :-)

    Thanks for all the replies,
    
    I don't think I will advocate the customer jumps up & down on his modules
    or slams them into the hub. 
    
    As I have not actually witnessed him inserting them, I cannot be sure if 
    he is doing anything wrong. Perhaps he has been unlucky in having
    several modules where the switch only just engaged.
    
    Thanks again,
    
    Jon