Fellow techies,
I’m attempting to configure a Cisco 7965G phone with our Asterisk (version 11.11) system, using the chan_sccp module. I’ve got the basic functionality down, but I could still use some assistance with getting these features going.
(1) Configure the ‘Messages’ button to speed-dial our internal voicemail extension.
(2) Get the custom ringtone list working.
(3) Get a custom image to come up on the phone’s display for background.
I would like to point out that all the above, with the obvious exception of a custom graphic on the screen, worked just fine with the previous phone (a Cisco 7940) and the chan_skinny module. I tried using chan_skinny when I first plugged in the 7965, but it wouldn’t register and I got some bizarre-looking errors in the CLI log about less data than expected or some such.
So – Who’s our Cisco-with-Asterisk specialist? 
Thanks much.
--------------------UPDATE, 27-Nov-14
Given a little further research, I got everything working. For the benefit of others who may be looking for the same answers I was, here’s what I found.
(1) Pressing the ‘Messages’ button would, initially, bring up nothing but some odd ‘Selection’ screen, despite having the correct entries in the ‘line’ section of sccp.conf. The problem turned out to be a conflicting entry in the phone’s SEP[MAC].cnf.xml file, in the ‘messagesURL’ directive. This directive must, apparently, be blank if you want the ‘Messages’ button to be a speed-dial to the voicemail (or whatever other extension you want it to call).
(2) The ringtones issue was trickier, and rather subtle. I discovered how to fix it by examining /var/log/messages while the phone was booting up. It seems, while RINGLIST.XML (all upper case) is perfectly suitable for the older 7940 series phones, the newer 7965 requires this file name be in all lower case (ringlist.xml). Copying the content between the two different filenames cured the issue neatly.
(3) Turns out the image was pretty easy. The phone looks for a subdirectory of Desktops/320x212x16 off whatever main TFTP directory you’re using to give it its firmware and configs, and a filename of List.xml (case-sensitive). From there, just follow the directions at this link:
supportforums.cisco.com/documen … -phone-new
Happy tweaking.
