Fanvil X3U: Where to report issues?

[gnsim]

Hi

We are working around issues which specifically affect only the X3U (neither X3S, nor X4U, nor X210) and since as of this date, firmware release is 2.14 is only available via 3CX I'm asking where we can / should be reporting issues: 3CX or Fanvil?

• All X3U show audio dropouts after every 30 - 90 seconds when the voice VLAN is assigned dynamically using LLDP. (workaround: Disable LLDP voice VLAN on the switch, change from access to trunk mode on the switch, disable LLDP in phone provisioning and assign a static voice VLAN in phone provisioning)
• Some X3U (after some runtime show) "Handset is not onhook" when you place the handset on the hook. (Workaround: rebooting the phone seems to have worked but is only a temporary fix)
• Some X3U did not show the "V" for VLAN in the connection status logo on the upper left in the main scren but were VLAN as we saw on the switch side.
• Boot time: Not an actual issue but an annoyance when comparered to the X3S and X4U, where the overall boot time of X3U on firmware 2.14 is "quite a bit" longer than these 2 other models.

Overall the X3U has been a very bumpy road here and we were almost at a point where we'd rip and replace all X3U to be honest. The X4U from the same series however has been stable so it seems to be issues specific to the X3U.

 

[JohnS_3CX]

Hi @gnsim

The firmware 3CX supports is v2.4.12 and I do not even see the version you mentioned on their website.
I don't know what you mean by 2.14 to be honest it appears like it does not exist.

For the audio drops and VLAN issues, please report directly to to Fanvil. It could be something in their firmware or it could be something on your network which either way will have to be investigated by the manufacturer. We do not investigate such issues from our end, the firmware development and testing is done by the manufacturer.

Also, we have not had any major complaints about these phones, consider the possibility that this is an isolated problem in your setup/environment so you might have to do your own testing and replication with the help of Fanvil.

 

[gnsim]

Hi John,

You are right, it is 2.4.12, however Fanvil themselves only publish an unbranded firmware 2.4.8, there is no 2.4.12 from them. This is why I was asking here as it look like 3CX is getting a special treatment / firmware.

But concerning the X3U drops I can confirm that they appear with both 3CX 16 and 18 and in both cases can be amended by switching to a static VLAN. While it does amend the issue, the effect is that because the X3U is the most prevalent device deployed that we had to do some larger reconfiguration over a whole building.

 

[JohnS_3CX]

Understood. And I am glad that manually selecting the VLAN option and LLDP off is at least one way to get the desired effect in your case.

However, this does not change the fact that Fanvil ultimately produces the firmware so in this case I would highly recommend contacting them if you wish to investigate further.

If you find out something that you consider useful also please share it on our forum. There might be other users that use the same switch type that you do and may find the informaiton very useful.

 

[AMistich]

@gnsim

We have Fanvil X3U phones here running firmware 2.4.12 and to get around the LLDP issue we have a Ubiquiti Security Gateway that issues out the IPs for the the VLAN and keep LLDP disabled. On the switch we run Hybrid mode, not access or trunk. As for the V not showing up on the phone, early on we did find out that the X3U does not play well with the automated VLAN assignment. When I am provisioning a phone I have to assign the VLANs to each of the ports. We have HP switches and they verified the configuration is correct. But when you use the phone as a passthrough for a computer it tends to knock the phone off the VLAN. Not sure if this is true with other models or not. If you are not using the passthrough on the phone, then it works perfectly fine.

The boot time on the phones does suck, since I have not used any other models on the network yet, I assumed that it was the average time for a phone bootup.

 

[systemstech]

We are having some issues with non-branded fanvil phones as well, I was wondering if you found a way to reflash the nonbranded phones with the branded firmware?

 

[AMistich]

Are you trying to put in the 3cx firmware or the original Fanvil firmware? If you cannot see the phone in the 3cx system to update the firmware through there. You need to get into the phone's UI and update the firmware through it first. You can see the instructions to install the 3cx firmware from here: https://www.3cx.com/sip-phones/firmware-update-fanvil/ There is also a link to the current Fanvil x3u firmware on the page. If you want to put back on the Fanvil firmware you need to visit here: http://download.fanvil.com/Firmware/Release/X3U/ But I would only do that if your reselling the phones.

 

[systemstech]

I'm trying to update the firmware on an unbranded x4u phone but when I attempt to do it in the phone ui it gives me "invalid file" mesage on the phone display and doesn't take the firmware

 

[AMistich]

You need to share more details such as what firmware version and manufacture is currently on the phone, what version are you trying to go through. Are you doing this through the 3cx management console or the phone's UI?

 

[systemstech]

So it's currently the unbranded Fanvil x4u phones they have a generic firmware that makes the device appear as VOIP Phone, here is what it says in the info tab. I'm trying to update in the phone ui and using the current 3cx firmware for the fanvil x4u.

Model:	IP Phone
Hardware:	V1.0
Software:	2.4.2
Uptime:	00 : 55 : 43
VLAN Speed:	1000 (Mbps/s)
MEMInfo:	ROM: 23.5/128(M) RAM: 12.1/50(M)
System time:	2022-5-25 13:18 (SNTP)

 

[AMistich]

The Fanvil firmware 2.4.2 has an issue updating automatically to 3cx firmware. Get the newest Fanvil x4u firmware update it in the phone UI, then update it to the newest 3cx firmware. I had to do the same thing with the x3u phones.

 

[systemstech]

Yeah I tried that but it comes up "Invalid File" when I try to use the latest fanvil firmware as well from the phone ui

 

[AMistich]

You may need to try some of the older firmware then. I would suggest this one http://download.fanvil.com/Firmware/Release/X4U/20201028/ The one I used for the x3u was the release date of 2020-10-21. Once I updated to that one I had no issue. With your phone you may need to try each of them to find out which one gets you to a valid release that lets you update.

 

[systemstech]

Well I've tried all the published firmware for the x4u model and got the same invalid file error, didn't realize it would be so different from the regular x4u. You had the unbranded x3u and were able to reflash to the branded firmware without issue?

 

[AMistich]

I would suggest trying a different phone it may be an issue with the phone itself. Yes, I started with the unbranded phones. I originally had an issue with the 2.4.2 firmware from Fanvil. I updated it to the next one available at the time. Once that was done, I could see the phone in the 3cx management console and was able to update the 3cx firmware then. I do not believe there is any difference in firmware or hardware between the branded x3u and unbranded x3u phone. The difference is in the name plate on the front, everything else should be the same. I would try factory resetting the phone and trying to install the firmware again, otherwise I would go to Fanvil support to get the phone updated to newer firmware.

 

[systemstech]

ok so like many of my issues I've determined I'm an idiot, disregard, I thought we had the nonbranded x4u's but we had ended up ordering the x5u's and the 3cx firmware worked fine. Appreciate your help and if anyone else runs into this it might help.