Cisco 7905/7912 IP Phones
Basic Config
The 7905/7912 series phones from Cisco use a different style of config files when configuring from TFTP. One composes the configuration file and then converts it to a binary format the phone can read. This conversion is done using the cfgfmt utility which you can find in the .zip file of your firmware image.
The filenames of the config files are gkdefault.cnf for the default settings and gk<$mac_address> for the phone-specific configuration, for the 7912. For the 7905, change "gk" to "ld".
It is also possible to configure the phone from the lcd screen, for this press the globe button, select settings, go to network or SIP settings and press **# to unlock the settings (if you don't do this you won't be able to edit them).
If your phone asks for a password you might want to reset it to the factory defaults. The default password (for the 7912) is 1234.
the administration guide can be found at:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/phones/ps379/products_administration_guide_book09186a00801b178c.html
firmware and other software can be found at:
http://www.cisco.com/kobayashi/sw-center/sw-voice.shtml if you have a Cisco CCO login. Otherwise you need to buy a service contract, $8-15 a year.
Audio Parameters
The default SIP software load results in an odd fault, no receive audio on many calls except if you dial a digit after the call connects. This is due to silence suppression being on by default. This can be changed in the web configuration under Audio Parameters, be sure that AudioMode is set to 0x00000010 rather than 0x00000011.Note that the bits of the Audio Parameters also set the DTMF method used, as follows:
Bit 0: G.711 silence suppression:
–0=Disable.
–1=Enable.
Bits 1-3: Reserved.
Bits 4-5: DTMF transmission method:
–0=Always inband.
–1=Negotiated via SDP.
–2=Always out-of-band.
Bits 6-31: Reserved.
CODEC
Choice of CODEC is set via the RxCodec and TxCodec parameters as follows:1 = G.711A-law
2 = G.711u-law
3 = G.729a
Further details for some of the less obvious settings can be found on this Cisco Web page
Upgrading the software
Download the firmware package, copy the upgradecode line from the gkdefault.txt file in the package, paste it into your SIP config textfile and run the cfgfmt program (cfgfmt.exe for windows, cfgfmt.linux for linux and dfgfmt.sun for sun) to convert it to binary. Upload the firmware .sbin (or .zup with older 7905's) and the new gkdefault.cnf to your tftp server and reboot the phone.
A shortcut to reboot / restart Cisco 7905G phones is **#**.
Changing the logo
It is also possible to change the logo on these phones, but a different approach is needed than with the 7940/60 series.
First one has to make a monochrome .bmp of 88 by 27 pixels, and save this somewhere.
Then you have to get the bmp2logo.exe program (included in firmware release zip files or separately downloadable at cisco.com).
bmp2logo download
syntax: bmp2logo.exe <imageid> <infile> <outfile>
image id: a unique integer identifier for this image
infile: the input .bmp file (make sure it's monochrome and not grayscale)
outfile: the output cisco logo file, any file extension will do
example: bmp2logo.exe 10 newlogo.bmp newlogo.logo
and then in your config txt file you have to add:
upgradelogo:$imageid,0,$logo_filename
so in this case it would be:
upgradelogo:10,0,newlogo.logo
And naturally you have to convert this to binary again with the cfgfmt program and upload the binary config and logo file to your tftp server and you should be all set.
For those without Windows systems, Pontus Freyhult has implemented the same functionality in Python, which should run fine on most systems (does require Python Imaging Library though). http://soua.net/img2logo.py
Resetting to factory defaults
Read the next section before doing this!Step 1 Press the Menu button.
Step 2 Use the Navigation button to select Settings, and then press the Select softkey.
Step 3 Use the Navigation button to select Network Configuration, and then press the Select softkey.
Step 4 Perform either of these procedures:
Procedure A:
- Press **2. The phone displays "Do you want to reset all system settings to default values?"
- Press the Yes softkey.
Procedure B:
- Press **#. If your phone displays "Enter Admin Password," enter your password and then press the Enter softkey. Make sure that an unlocked padlock icon appears in the upper-right corner of your LCD.
- Scroll to Erase Configuration.
- Press the Yes softkey and then press the Save softkey.
The phone cycles through normal startup procedures.
Problems if no default password set
If you do set your phone back to factory defaults, it may have a blank admin password (the 'UIPassword'), in which case you can no longer change the phone's settings from the Web interface! The only way to re-setup the UIPassword is via TFTP, which means you need to have a tftp server running on your network. A very useful, free, Windows-based TFTP server can be found here: TFTPD32In order to re-setup the UIPassword, your TFTP server must present the file gkdefault.cfg (7912) or lddefault.cfg (7905) to the phone as it boots (in fact, the parameters placed in these files are picked up by ANY 7912/7905 as they boot.) The contents of the .cfg file start out as a text file containing something similar to the following:
# Set the GUI/Web config password to 1234; the password must NOT be 0
# (disabled) if configuring via the phone's web interface is desired.
UIPassword:1234
Unfortunately, the actual .cfg file is made by using a Cisco software tool to compile the text file into the desired .cfg file - and this tool is only available to users with support contracts. If you do obtain the official software kit then there is a sample .cfg containing the required text that can just be copied to your TFTP root folder.
if you do not have the ability to re-setup your UIPassword then you may want to carefully consider whether resetting your phone completely is a good idea!
Footnote: All of this hassle seems to be Cisco's way of 'punishing' those who dare to use SIP on these phones!
Rebooting the phone
The phone can be reset through the keypad by scrolling into Settings, then pressing **#** and answering "yes" to the prompt "do you wish to reboot the phone?"
SIP Software Limitations (please add)
So far I have come by the following limitations (software 8.0.1)
- XML services are not supported
- US Daylight Savings Time Policy Change Effective March 2007 is not supported.
- The problem is that the "system time" and all timestamps will be incorrect by an hour for three weeks in the spring and one week in the fall.
- Cisco is not providing any updates to correct this problem.
- Workaround: You will need to manually adjust TimeZone parameter. Menu >> Settings >> Network Configuration >> Time Zone Time Zone configuration.
- See http://www.cisco.com/en/US/ts/fn/620/fn62666.html for more information
Cisco Announcement of End of Sale/End of Life for the 7905G
Cisco has recently announced that the 7905G phone will become End of Sale on 01-JUN-2006, end of software maintenance on 01-JUN-2007 and End of Support on 01-JUN-2011.
Customers are encouraged to migrate to the Cisco IP Phone 7906G when available (approximately May '06). The Cisco IP Phone 7906G will offer a greater feature set than the current Cisco IP Phone 7905G. When ready, information about the replacement product will be found at: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/phones/ps379/index.html.
Troubleshooting
You may run into a problem where your 79XX phone loads the appropiate GK file or gkdefault.cfg from the TFTP server and just stops there, even though you expected it to download a new logo, firmware, etc. Make sure that your "Profile Encrypt Key" is set to "0", and not to any other value. To set, go to:
Menu Key-> Settings-> Network Configuration -> Profile Encrypt Key -> Edit
(make sure your phone is unlocked by pressing **#)

Comments
333Re: Reverting back to default logo?
I have tried everything that I can think of to try and get it back but I'm Stumped
Cisco really doesn't make it easy to use these phones with SIP do they
My Cisco 7960 works perfecty on SIP so I can't see why this shouldn't
Anybody figured a way of doing it yet?
Thanks
333Re: Reverting back to default logo?
Perhaps someone would be motivated enough to make an 88x27 monochrome image file of the Cisco logo and post a link to the file on this site, so we could use that. Otherwise, I don't see any actual way to get the "original" Cisco logo back on the phone.
333Re: Example gkMAC.cfg file
UIPassword:cisco
upgradecode:3,0x601,0x0400,0x0100,10.19.140.13,69,0x060412A,CP7912080001SIP060412A.sbin
dhcp:1
StaticIp:10.19.140.21
StaticRoute:10.19.140.1
StaticNetMask:255.255.255.192
Proxy:sip.awmn
AltProxyTimeOut:0
UID:27641
PWD:0
LoginID:0
UseLoginID:0
SIPPort:5060
SIPRegInterval:3600
SIPRegOn:1
MaxRedirect:5
OutBoundProxy:0
RxCodec:2
TxCodec:2
MsgRetryLimits:0x00000000
AudioMode:0x00000011
NumTxFrames:2
ConnectMode:0x00000010
TimeZone:2
NTPIP:10.19.140.1
AltNTPIP:0.0.0.0
DNS1IP:0.0.0.0
DNS2IP:0.0.0.0
UseTftp:1
TftpURL:0
CfgInterval:3600
EncryptKey:0
NPrintf:0
TraceFlags:0x00000000
IPDialPlan:1
DialPlan:911|1>#t8.r9t2-|0>#t811.rat4-|^1t4>#.-
RingOnOffTime:2,4,25
DialTone:2,31538,814,30831,2032,0,0,0,0,0,0
DialTone2:2,30743,1384,29864,1252,0,0,0,0,0,0
BusyTone:2,30467,1104,28959,1404,1,4000,4000,0,0,0
ReorderTone:0,2,30467,1104,28959,1404,0,0,1,2000,2000,0,0,0,0,0,0
RingBackTone:2,30831,2032,30467,1104,1,16000,32000,0,0,0
CallWaitTone:1,30831,2412,0,0,1,2400,2400,0,0,4800
NATIP:0.0.0.0
MediaPort:16384
TOS:0x000060b8
SigTimer:0x01418064
OpFlags:0x00000002
VLANSetting:0x0000002b
NatServer:0
NatTimer:0
CallForwardNumber:0
VoiceMailNumber:9999
CallFwdBusyNumber:0
DisplayName:Elias Aggelidis
ShortName:eaggel
TimeFormat:H:i
DateFormat:d-M-Y
DoNotDisturb:0
BlockCallerId:0
CallWaiting:1
AttendedTransfer:1
BlindTransfer:1
Conference:1
BlockAnonymous:0
ForwardToVMDelay:20
CallPrefGuiShow:0xffffffff
CallPrefGuiSet:0xffffffff
333Example gkMAC.cfg file
333Found the info i needed!
You can also configure the phone network settings from the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server. For SIP phones, make sure that the DHCP server uses Option 66 for the TFTP server. These DHCP options are usually configured from the DHCP server:
*
IP Address (DHCP Option 50)
*
Subnet Mask (DHCP Option 1)
*
Default IP Gateway (DHCP Option 3)
*
DNS Server Address (DHCP Option 6)
*
TFTP Server (DHCP Option 66)
*
Domain Name (DHCP Option 15)
Note: Cisco CallManager uses Option 150 for the TFTP server, while SIP phones expect Option 66 for the TFTP server.
So, using the option 66 insted of 150 it started to ask for a software via tftp :)
3337912G
Now what? Option 150 seams not to work with the 7912G, any other idéas?
333
333Cisco 7912g with SIP 8.0.1 image doesn't request RingList.xml
We have Cisco 7912g IP-phone with SIP image version 8.0.1. This version supports only one Ringtone - Chirp 1. Other ringtones can from TFTP taken via RingList.xml file (so said in Cisco's Call Manager Guides). But we have no CCM. And the IP-phone doesn't request RingList.xml from our Asterisk server with TFTP.
Can someone say, possible it new ringtones from TFTP server to download or not. If yes, how to do it.
Thanks.
333Cisco 7912g with SIP 8.0.1 image doesn't request RingList.xml
We have Cisco 7912g IP-phone with SIP image version 8.0.1. This version supports only one Ringtone - Chirp 1. Other ringtones can from TFTP taken via RingList.xml file (so said in Cisco's Call Manager Guides). But we have no CCM. And the IP-phone doesn't request RingList.xml from our Asterisk server with TFTP.
Can someone say, possible it new ringtones from TFTP server to download or not. If yes, how to do it.
Thanks.
333Re: 7905 does not start
This is usually caused by a part-blown firmware upgrade which failed part way through.
The phone itself appears useless, but it is actually locked in a startup loop, and as Raza correctly identified it's requesting a DHCP address.
In order to solve the issue a bit of work is necessary:
Firstly a DHCP server is required, and a TFTP server.
Setup option 150 in the DHCP scope to point to the IP address of the TFTP server (the phone is looking for a TFTP server address via DHCP option 150 - I won't go into details about how to do this as there's so many different DHCP servers around, but if you're not sure, google it).
Make sure the TFTP server is running, and check your DHCP server logs to ensure the phone is requesting, and receiving a DHCP address.
Personally, I prefer to use Solarwinds' free TFTP server (I'm a windows user) as it has a real-time log window which gives plenty of information about what the phone is actually requestin if you do use this version, ensure you've set it to both transmit and receive files, as by default it will only receive).
Now for what was a bit odd for me - my failed firmware was the version 8.0 SIP firmware, and the phone was apparently looking for a file called CP7912080000SIP060111A.zup <-- Notice the ZUP not ZIP extension! Hmm...I only had a CP7912080000SIP060111A.sbin in my tftp folder and I could find no info on a ZUP file.
Out of sheer desperation I changed the extension of the .SBIN to .ZUP and the TFTP server sent it down to the phone and hey presto it came back to life!!
Sweet.
I hope this helps others - It kept me up to 1.30 am trying to work out what was wrong (I know - sad geek!).
Cheers
Tony