Reception error - 8218 event

[Vic Ridgley]

Almost always, I receive "reception error" tags on incoming
faxes (outbound faxes work satisfactorily). Very few
inbound faxes have ever nade it in; the ones that have made
it, are ones I was expecting; the ones that didn't, were
unsolicited. (In other words, I have never had an inbound
fax that I expected fail to arrive).

I have tried rebooting, turning the external 56K modem off
and on again, and changing the baud rate between 9600 and
115200, with no change in results.

I checked the event viewer and find that all the
unsuccessful incoming fax incidents are logged as "8218"
events.

What is an 8218 event? If that's not a helpful clue, what
else might be wrong? Noisy phone line? Or is there
something in the nature of unsolicited faxes (mass
mailings?) that make them difficult to receive?

TIA

 

[Vibha Rathi [MSFT]]

Possible reasons for your problem could be :

a.. The use of a phone line connected through a PBX or other switch.
a.. Other devices on the same line as the fax modem, such as other modems,
fax machines, answering devices, and so on.
a.. Noise on the phone line.
a.. The inability of the telephone line to pass the tones used by the modem
correctly.
a.. Outdated firmware or an outdated .inf file used to install the modem.

To troubleshoot these types of errors:
a.. Verify that the latest firmware updates from the manufacturer (if
available) have been applied to the modem, and that the modem is installed
with the latest .inf file from the manufacturer. The updated firmware or
..inf file may have improved error handling for the modem.
b.. Try a different modem, preferably of a different brand and model, from
the Hardware Compatibility List (HCL).
c.. Verify that the telephone line connected to the modem is a direct
connection from the telephone company and is not running through a PBX or
other telephone switchboard.
d.. If there are other devices on the same line, remove them.
e.. Try connecting another telephone line to the modem to help identify
whether the telephone line is contributing to the problem.
f.. If none of these suggestions helps, it may be necessary to involve the
local telephone company to correct telephone line issues and certify the
telephone line. Generally, a standard telephone line is referred to by the
telephone company as "POTS" ("Plain Old Telephone Service") and is
guaranteed to handle voice communications but not necessarily digital data
tones. Your telephone company may be able to make wiring configurations to
help with line issues.
You could also search on the Help and Support Center that comes with a
standard windows installation. for "events" and then search within the
results for 8218.

Vibha Rathi
Microsoft Printing,Imaging and Fax Team

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