Acarda Messenger FAQ's

There are three sections in this FAQ: General and Technical Questions, Dialogic Hardware Questions and Troubleshooting Questions.

Section A:

General and Technical Questions

1. How much does your software cost?

2. Can I use my current PBX with your software for call transfers?

3. How do I purchase your software?

4. Where can I source a list of phone numbers to use with my autodialer?

5. What is the difference between Acarda Messenger and CallAssist?

6. How many calls can Acarda Messenger make in an hour or a day?

7. Will Acarda Messenger autodialers work with a modem?

8. Will Acarda Messenger work with Win XP?

9. How do I record prompts with Acarda Messenger?

10. How do I import prompts into Acarda Messenger?

11. I try to ring into the Message Manager, but it doesn't answer.

12. Can I use .wav files for my recordings?

13. What format do the dialogic vox files need to be in?

14. How can I convert from .wav to .vox files?

Section B:

Dialogic Hardware Questions

1. What Dialogic Card do I need?

2. How much does Dialogic Hardware cost?

3. Where can I purchase Dialogic Hardware from?

4.  Can Acarda Messenger use other cards beside Dialogic telephony cards?

5. What drivers do I need for my dialogic card and where can I get them from?

6. How can I be sure the dialogic card is installed correctly?

7. How do I start the dialogic card?

Section C:

TroubleShooting

1. My registration key and serial number aren't working

2. With Acarda Messenger I get an "Unable to load a required Visual Voice DLL" error.

3. I'm receiving .DLL errors and using Win 95.

4. I'm having trouble installing Acarda Messenger on Win ME

5. The Controller says Assumed Started and doesn't seem to assign the line to Acarda Messenger.

6. Acarda Messenger is not leaving the answer machine message on answer machines, ie it's not detecting them

7. I get a Run Time Error 3343 Unrecognized database format error

8. Some or all the lines in the Controller are greyed out

9. My professionally recorded vox files won't play in Acarda Messenger

10. I get an error or have a technical problem with the software not listed on this page

11. The first part of messages left on answer machines gets chopped off.

Section A:

General and Technical Questions

1.  How much does your software cost?

Visit the Pricing page for up-to-date pricing information.

2. Can I use my current PBX with your software for transfers?

Visit the Hardware Requirements page and check out the section "PBX Requirements"

3. How do I purchase your software?

You can purchase online with credit card from our pricing page.  If you prefer to pay by cheque or telegraphic transfer, use our order form page.

4.  Where can I source a list of phone numbers to use with my autodialer?

Click here for links to list providers.

5.  What is the difference between Acarda Messenger and CallAssist?

Acarda Messenger Sales Lead is an autodialer that will phone through a list of telephone numbers and play a recorded voice message.  It works with a Dialogic Telephony card, which it allows it to detect if the call has been answered so it can start straight into the recorded message.  For more info on this product, click here.

CallAssist is a product that assists live operators with telemarketing campaigns.  You click a Dial button to dial the next number in the dial list.  Once dialed, you pick up your telephone receiver or headset to take the call as the number is ringing.  If the call is busy or not answered you can press the Requeue button to have the number placed at the end of the list for dialling later.  CallAssist also has an inbuilt Do Not Call list.  For more info, click here.

6. How many calls can Acarda Messenger make in an hour or a day?

Typically autodialers can make 1000 calls per telephone line per day.  Some of the calls will be ones where the complete message is played, some only part of the message will be played before the recipient hangs up, other calls will be busy or no answer or disconnected etc.  So say on average then a call takes 36 seconds.  For a single line you're looking at:

1. 60 minutes * 60 seconds in a minute: 3600 seconds in one hour.

2. 3600 seconds divided by 36 seconds per call = 100 calls per hour.

3. In a ten hour day you'd call 10*100 = 1000 telephone numbers.  So if you had four lines you'd make approx 4000 calls in a day.

4. To be conservative take 60% of this so use a rule of thumb of 1 call per minute per lline.

7.  Will Acarda Messenger autodialers work with a modem?

Acarda Messenger autodialers only works with a Dialogic Cards so they won't work with modem cards.  Modem cards have too many limitations.

8. Will Acarda Messenger work with Win XP?

9. How do I record prompts with Acarda Messenger?

Find out how to record prompts under the Help Contents (click on Help, select the Contents Tab). Click on the title: Recording Message Prompts, then select the subtitle: Recording Messages.  You may find the subtitle section: "Diagram of how to Record Message Prompts" helpful too.

10. How do I import prompts into Acarda Messenger?

First, you must record your prompts in .vox format (there are several formats that Dialogic voice files might be recorded in however the voice files for our software must be recorded in the Dialogic vox format VOX_PCM_8k which is PCM at 8kHz, Mu-law). 

Each prompt must be saved with the correct filename or Acarda Messenger will not recognize it.  Find a list of filenames under the Help Contents (click on Help, select the Contents Tab).  Click on the title: 'Recording Message Prompts', then select the subtitle: 'Prompt List - Message Prompts'.  Each prompt and an example is listed in the table, the filename you need use for saving your .vox files in listed in the column 'Filename (as used by Acarda Messenger).  Please note the second digit in the filename is variable, and needs to be the same as the system number you will be using that prompt for.

Once you have saved your prompts, you need to copy them to the correct directory.  Prompts are kept under the Prompts directory found in the application directory, e.g. if you installed Acarda Messenger Sales Lead to the default directory this will be: C:\Program Files\Acarda Messenger Sales Lead\Prompts.

11. I try to ring into the Message Manager, but it doesn't answer.

The steps to access the Message Manager  are as follows:

1. Set the schedule for some date in the future

2. Start the Acarda Messenger on for example line 1 via the Controller screen (MUST be done AFTER setting the schedule)

3. Call into that line eg line 1 and after a couple of rings Acarda Messenger will answer the call

4. Follow the prompts. You can refer to the F1 Help for more details.

If it doesn't answer the call when you try calling in please check that the telephone line is plugged into the correct socket on the back of the Dialogic card.  The top plug position is for lines 1 and 3, the lower plug is for lines 2 and 4.  To be certain that you have the correct line I suggest you use the default prompts and get Acarda Messenger to call out to a test number eg. your mobile number.  To do this you need to setup your number as a recipient and then change the schedule to be past so that it will start right away.  Once you have it calling you then you can follow the above steps to try and ring in.

12. Can I use .wav files for my recordings?

No, dialogic cards require recordings to be .vox format.  There are utilities that can convert between file formats.  You may like to try Vox Converter, a free utility which can also convert from .vox to .wav files.  Find out more here.

13. What format do the dialogic vox files need to be in?

There are several formats that Dialogic voice files might be recorded in however the voice files for our software must be recorded in the Dialogic vox format VOX_PCM_8k which is PCM at 8kHz, Mu-law.

14. How can I convert from .wav to .vox files?

Use our free utility, Vox Converter which can also convert from .vox to .wav files.  Find out more here.

Section B:

Dialogic Hardware Questions

1. What Dialogic card do I need?

Visit the Hardware Requirements page and read the section "Dialogic Hardware Requirements"

2. How much does Dialogic Hardware cost?

Visit the Dialogic Purchasing Info page for an indication of the Dialogic hardware cost.

3. Where can I purchase the Dialogic Hardware from?

Visit the Dialogic Info page for details of how to contact a Dialogic Reseller in your area.

4.  Can Acarda Messenger use other cards beside Dialogic telephony cards?

No, Acarda Messenger autodialers will only work with Dialogic telephony cards.  It won't work with modems or other brands of sophisticated telephony hardware

5. What drivers do I need for my dialogic card and where can I get them from?

You must get the Dialogic drivers from the supplier of the Dialogic Card.  The driver you need to depends on whether you are using Win NT4/2000 or Win 95/98 and the type of card you are installing.

You can no longer get older drivers from Intel's web site. 

For Win NT/Win2000 you need the Dialogic System Release Version 5 for Windows on Intel Architecture.

If using Windows 95/98 then you need System Release 3.01 for Windows 95. When using Win 95 driver you need to also install the PTR5083 patch - download here.

Please note these are very large files to download so you are better getting them on CD when you order the Dialogic Card. 

6. How can I be sure the dialogic card is installed correctly?

You should run the Dialogic sample test program so you can be confident everything is installed correctly.

Step 1. Click on the Windows Start button, select Program Files, select Dialogic Development Package, then click on the Voice Sample Program icon.

Step 2. Once the program opens, select File, then Open.

Step 3. Select the channel to open. Just select the first one. This is probably called dxxxB1C1 then click OK. In response a window opens up and the first line should say ‘Device Opened’.

Step 4. From the menu select Function, then Offhook. In response you should get the message ‘Setting Offhook … done’.

Step 5. Select Function, then Onhook.  In response you should get the message ‘Setting Onhook … done’.

If you get this far then it looks like everything is installed correctly.  You can play around with the sample program if you like.  For example try select Function, then Dial, and enter the number to dial, then select OK.  In response the sample program should try and dial a number. If you have it call someone, once they answer you should be able to play a voice file to them.  Don’t forget to hang up afterward (Function, Onhook).  When you have finished select File then Close to close the channel.

7. How do I start the Dialogic Card?

Step 1. Click on the Windows Start button, select Program Files, select Dialogic Development Package, then click on Configuration Manager.

Step 2. The Dialogic Configuration Manger will open up.  You should see the Dialogic Card listed in the box and to the right of the name you should see the memory address and IRQ used.

Step 3. If a Dialogic Card is started it should say “1 board started’ in the Dialogic Configuration Manger.  If it doesn't then to start the Dialogic Card: Located the Start button on the right-side, click it.  You will see the Status change to ‘ Initialising boards, please wait …’ If the Dialogic board is configured correctly the status will change to “1 board started’ otherwise it will say ‘No board started’

Once you have successfully started the board you should set it into automatic start mode.  Open the Dialogic Configuration Manger and mid-way down the screen you will see the words Operation Mode.  Select the Automatic option then click the Close button.  Now whenever the computer is turned on the Dialogic Card will start automatically

Section C:

TroubleShooting

1. My registration key and serial number aren't working

When you enter your keys, it is best to copy and paste them into Acarda Messenger, as they are case sensitive.  Also, please make sure you do not have any spaces before or after the codes.  If you cannot copy and paste them and are having problems, try changing the font of  the keys in case a letter is appearing as a digit or vice versa. e.g a number one can appear as a small letter L at times.  Different fonts can often display the codes clearer.

2. With Acarda Messenger I get an "Unable to load a required Visual Voice DLL" error.

This error usually occurs when there is no dialogic card installed.  For more info on dialogic cards, and other hardware requirements, click here.

If you have a dialogic card installed, then this error suggests that one of the what's called dll's may no have been installed correctly when you ran the setup program.  Please run the our setup program again WITHOUT un-installing it i.e you effectively run the setup program twice, once on top of the other.

3. I'm receiving .DLL errors and using Win 95.

Please download Microsoft's DCOM95 file from here.  Exit out of all programs and run DCOM95 installation by double clicking on the downloaded dcom95.exe file.  Once you have run the dcom95.exe file then you will need to reboot you computer.  Next run the Acarda Messenger installation program again.

4. I'm having trouble installing Acarda Messenger on Win ME

5.  The Controller says Assumed Started and doesn't seem to assign the line to Acarda Messenger.

Problem Description: The controller says the line  is available/not-assigned.  When you check it and click "start," it says "Starting on Line 1 . . . (long pause) . . . Assumed started on Line 1 . . . Finished."  It returns you to where it says Line 1 is available/not-assigned, and there's no check mark by Line 1.

6. Acarda Messenger is not leaving the answer machine message on answer machines, ie it's not detecting them

7.  I get a Run Time Error 3343 Unrecognised database format error

Sometimes Microsoft Access databases get corrupted for no apparent reason, which is what has happened to your database.  Please download this utility we wrote for repairing databases.  Once downloaded, exit Acarda Messenger then double click on the exe and it will run the program.  You Click on the button with the 3 dots and select the database listed in the error message and then click the Compact & Repair button.  Please make sure you are not in Acarda Messenger when you do this.

8. Some or all of the lines in the Controller are greyed out.

Firstly, please click on the Telephony button and check the last counter box (total number of cards installed) is correct, ie it equals the number of lines you have available.  If it is correct, then you need to take the following steps to fix the problem:

9. My professionally recorded vox files won't play in Acarda Messenger.

There are several formats that Dialogic voice files might be recorded in however the voice files for our software must be recorded in the Dialogic vox format VOX_PCM_8k which is PCM at 8kHz, Mu-law.

10. I get an error or have a technical problem with the software not listed on this page

Please send us an email outlining the problem and attach your log files.  Please include in the email the following:

i. A description of the problem including the text of any error messages

ii The operating system you are using, e.g Win 95/98/ME/2000/XP or NT4

iii. Whether you have a dialogic card installed and if so, what type of card you are using

To send us your log files follow these instructions:

11. The first part of messages left on answer machines gets chopped off.

One of the reasons for this is that people when recording answer machine messages leave varying amounts of “speechless” recording at the end of the message.  Acarda Messenger starts playing its message when the answer machine finishes playing and sometimes the answer machine is not ready to record at that point.  In version 3.9.3 we made an improvement to try and resolve this problem.  In this version when an Answer Machine is detected Acarda Messenger will pause for a second before it plays the answer machine message.  You can get a small upgrade file from amupgrades.html