The red/grn/yel/blk cable is most likely heading to the alarm box.
The way it's wired suggests that there may be a polarity issue.
You can check with a voltmeter or sometimes an old standard touch tone phone. Key presses won't generate tones on the old phones.
WHT is typically reserved for TIP
BLU is typically reserved for RING
GRN TIP Line 1
RED RING Line #1
BLK TIP line #2
RING Line #2
So the line comes in on the RED/GREEN screw, heads to the alarm panel and returns to the disitribution point as a YELLOW/BLACK respectfully.
So that''s the heads up without a voltmeter, toner, polarity checker or knowing how the other jacks are wired.
Can you do the following at the alarm panel:
Connect RED to YELLOW
and
Connect GRN to BLACK
and see if ALL phones generate a dial tone.
Connect RED to BLACK
and
GREEN to YELLOW
and see if all phones generate touch tones.
They may work in one or both connections.
The second thing I's like you to do, is to open a jack somewhere and determine what terminals the white and Blue wires connect to.
White should be connected to G and Blue should be connected to R.
You have a couple of ways to solve the problem. One may be the absolute correct way and others will work.
But first, let's see what we have. Do you have a voltmeter? Even an LED and a resistor (properly sized) will work and available at Radio Shack.
I'm making the folloing assumptions:
1. he red/blk/yel/grn wire ran to the alarm panel
2. the blue/white connections are not reversed.
3. The polarity was accidentally reversed by the alarm installer. (confused by wht/blue colors.
The fixes are then:
1. Put an RJ31x or RJ38x jack at the location of the alarm panel. This is the way an alarm should be wired. Removal of the alarm will then not cause any issues. The RJ38x jack gives the alarm the additional ability of knowing that it's plugged into the jack. This is the BEST fix.
2. Make the Fix in the alarm closet without installing the jack.
3. Make the fix outside, eliminating the red/blk/grn/wht cable.
I would prefer 1 or 2. Small wirenuts are available at Radio Shack.
The color code designations came from here:
Standard Cable Color-Coding Reference
As I said earlier, polarity matters for certain phone devices. Most newer devices are polarity insensitive, but that still doesn't mean it should be wired wrong. I'd hate to have to change all the wires in all the other jacks and that's why I'll assume that the alarm installer messed up.
What I would like to see is it wired as follows
if the jacks are wired properly (White to terminal G and Blue to terminal R):
1. Swap the yel and black outside
2. Connect GRN to Black and Red to yellow at the alarm panel
So, you can approach the problem in two ways:
1. Make it work
... Check phones with two swaps at alarm panel
2. Make it work correctly.
... Verify jacks are wired correctly
... Make the required swaps.
Sorry for a long-winded explanation.
Background:
http://www.hometech.com/learn/rj31x.html