09-01-2009 07:43 AM - edited 03-06-2019 07:32 AM
I have a 3560G that was sitting in a closet for a few months. I booted it up to put it into service and it didn't seem to be doing anything. Fan was running, but no lights, not even an initial Stat light or anything. Directly connected through Hyperterminal (9600-8-N-1) and it just sits there. I have tried the recovery procedures for a corrupted image as well as booting into ROMMON with no luck. It did display some output one time, which looked like this:
Base ethernet MAC Address: 00:21:1b:ee:f2:00
Xmodem file system is available.
The password-recovery mechanism is enabled.
Initializing Flash...
flashfs[0]: 455 files, 6 directories
flashfs[0]: 0 orphaned files, 0 orphaned directories
flashfs[0]: Total bytes: 32514048
flashfs[0]: Bytes used: 9055744
flashfs[0]: Bytes available: 23458304
flashfs[0]: flashfs fsck took 7 seconds.
...done Initializing Flash.
Boot Sector Filesystem (bs) installed, fsid: 3
done.
Loading "flash:c3560-ipbase-mz.122-35.SE5/c3560-ipbase-mz.122-35.SE5.bin"...@@@@
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Not sure what else to try at this point, other than to call Cisco TAC. I would greatly appreciate any suggestions or direction.
09-01-2009 07:57 AM
Hello Chip,
This surely is very inconvenient. Basing on the LED status you have described, it seems to have hardware problems - the power supply perhaps? If you had a Cisco RPS I would suggest trying connecting it to the RPS to bypass the AC power supply and see whether it comes up.
Apart from this, I would try setting the COM port speed on your PC to all the different values from 1200bps up to 115200bps and see whether it responds but I doubt that the console speed is the problem here - but let's try to rule out any of these stupid errors that happen to be the most common.
Best regards,
Peter
09-01-2009 08:15 AM
Hi Peter,
Thanks for your reply. I attempted changing the baud rates from every value between 1200 and 115200, but still all I get is the blinking cursor if it doesn't just freeze up my hyperterminal. It's done this on two different systems. I too suspected a power supply issue, but I don't have a Cisco RPS. Is there a way for me to purchase one of those? I don't recall one coming with the switch when I purchased it.
09-01-2009 08:36 AM
Peter,
This is pretty crazy, but I actually have gotten this switch to boot up now. Honestly, I did not do anything differently. I just unplugged all power cords again, and booted it up, and this time it loaded the image and the config I had put on this thing months ago. I am going to test it some more to make sure it doesn't die again. I am a bit concerned with putting this device into service, though, if the power supply is flaky.
09-01-2009 09:20 AM
Hi Chip,
This is the worst situation - you actually do nothing and the device behaves according to its current mood :-\ I would also be concerned with putting this device to production. It can fail any time.
Regarding that RPS - it is a standalone device and it is quite expensive.
All in all, sorry I couldn't be of more help. Unfortunately, this is the way it is with hardware issues.
Best regards,
Peter
09-01-2009 09:24 AM
Peter,
thank you, you were very helpful. You confirmed my suspicion and at least helped me to eliminate other problems. Unfortunately, I've had this type of experience with Cisco before. Used to manage a couple of 3660s where they would just randomly fail, but if you turned them off for a while and stood on one leg, and booted them back up, they would start working. Oh well, what can you do? Thanks again!
09-01-2009 10:51 AM
I had this happen on a 3548XL,
It wound up being a corrupt flash image.
09-01-2009 11:46 AM
Hello Jason,
Interesting. But did the switch behave exactly as Chip's 3560 - i.e., the LEDs remaining black, not even the POST and the boot loader showing? The flash is accessed only after the POST has completed and the boot loader has started and by that time, at least some output should have appeared on the console.
Best regards,
Peter
09-01-2009 12:04 PM
Yea the only light that came on was the system light. It never went out and the system got to Loading "flash: and just sat there throwing up gibberish "@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@"
I also tried changing the spped at which i was hypertermed in at and got tyhe exact error every time.
Speaking with Cisco they concluded there was a bad flash and It need to be replaced. Beacuse the switch was out of support/warranty I made its way into the circular file.
09-01-2009 12:57 PM
Hello,
Well, if I understood Chip correctly then his switch did not even come to the '@@@' phase. He started it - and completely nothing. A blank screen. That is something different from your situation as your switch basically started and the bootloader tried to load and execute the IOS but the IOS load failed. Chip's switch did not even reach that point.
In any way, sorry about that. I assume you have tried formatting the flash from the bootloader and it did not help.
Best regards,
Peter
09-01-2009 01:01 PM
I think according to his post
Chip got to the bootloader part as well
QUOTE "It did display some output one time, which looked like this"Loading "flash:c3560-ipbase-mz.122-35.SE5/c3560-ipbase-mz.122-35.SE5.bin"...@@@@
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
No worries, and yes I tried to format the flash to no avail. The xmodemed tar file would not extract.
09-01-2009 01:05 PM
Hello,
You have quoted it yourself: "It did display some output ONE TIME" - i.e. not always.
Best regards,
Peter
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