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8500 Controller - No Serial Access

jdgriffiths
Level 1
Level 1

I am prestaging a 8500 series wireless controller and am having problems getting connected to it. I apply power and connect my serial connector to the serial port at the back - i see nothing on my putty session. I have connected VGA so can see the box boots, it gets to

"Decompressing Linux......done.

Booting the kernel."

No messages appear after this. From the install guide i can see that using the serial connection is the proper approach, but i have absolutely nada appearing on screen. I've checked serial cable with another box, seems ok - only difference is the gender changer i am using on the 8500, but this is brand new.

Am i doing something completely stupid??

j

13 Replies 13

Erwin Salazar
Cisco Employee
Cisco Employee

James,

The VGA port should not be utilized on the 8500 unit as there have been known issues while having a device plugged into this port on bootup.  What kind of cable is being used to plug into the serial port?  You would typically require a USB-to-Serial cable(PC side) along with a Serial-to-RJ45 converter(WLC side) used in conjunctino with a standard console cable(light blue flat cable).

Cheers,
Erwin

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Thanks for your reply Erwin. I have tried a cold boot of the controller with no VGA, still nothing via the serial connection.

My serial cable is a USB-to-serial adaptor. - i've used it for years on numerous vendors with no issues and have confirmed it is still working by using it to connect to the CLI of a 2500 i have in my lab.  The 8500 WLC connection is actually a male DB9 serial port, not RJ-45 as per every other controller i have used. As such, to connect i have simply used a serial gender changer to convert my male ended serial cable to a female connection and connected directly to the serial port on the 8500.

Hope this helps to shed any light on what i may be doing wrong......

James

I don't believe it will work converting that way.  You will require the following:

http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/Tripp-Lite-DB9F-RJ45-Modular-Serial-Adapter-Ethernet-to-Console-Server/1787786.aspx?cm_mmc=ShoppingFeeds-_-GoogleBase-_-Cables/Network%20Cables-_-1787786_Tripp%20Lite%20DB9F%20-%20RJ45%20Modular%20Serial%20Adapter%20E...

Then you should have no issues getting into the console normally.

Cheers,
Erwin

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Sorry Erwin, already tried that before trying the gender changer on my serial connection. So i tried USB-Serial adaptor connected to standard Cisco console cable with a RJ45 to DB9 adaptor - still nothing i'm afraid.

I've also had a look through the configuration guide but dont see anything different in there from what i am doing.

Getting worried now!

James,

That should be all that is necessary.  Have you tried other applications such as hyperterminal, sercure crt, etc.?  If you are still not seeing any output it is quite possible that you may have a faulty unit. 

Cheers,
Erwin

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Yes, have tried several applications but still see nothing. Beginning to think you might be right, and the unit may be faulty. I have a second 8500 in stores (the pair were purchased for HA) so will see if i have any luck with the second unit. Thanks for your advice, will let you know how we get on.

j

Facing the same issue, different approach not success. Did you get it work?

thanks

AC

 

As soon as I changed the USB-Serial cable converter and connect a PROLIFIC instead of the TRENDNet that I had, I could access right away the WLC 8500. I have been using the TRENDNet for a long period of time with no issues connecting to Cisco Devices so I would have to take a look on this.

I reboot completely the WLC and now I can see everything on the console connection. I am attaching to this case a brief procedure with screenshots that I made just in case that somebody else face the same problem.

AC

 

Hi,

 

I guess you didnt use that cable only. What other converter you implemented as the picture you showed is the usb to male but the wlc 8510 console port is male also. im thinking this way but havent tested yet:

 

usb to serial (male)--->female serial tu rj45----->converter (rj45 to female)

 

https://www.cdw.com/product/Tripp-Lite-DB9F-RJ45-Modular-Serial-Adapter-Ethernet-to-Console-Server/1787786?cm_mmc=ShoppingFeeds-_-GoogleBase-_-Cables/Network%20Cables-_-1787786_Tripp%20Lite%20DB9F%20-%20RJ45%20Modular%20Serial%20Adapter%20Ethernet%20...

Abhishek Abhishek
Cisco Employee
Cisco Employee

Hello,

As per your query i can suggest  you chapter 26 of the following configuration guide for 8500 controller -

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/wireless/controller/7.5/config_guide/b_cg75.pdf

Hope this will help you.

jdgriffiths
Level 1
Level 1

I did finally work this out - the DB9 adaptor i had was a standard one with a standard PIN out - works fine for the majority of use cases, but to be able to communicate with the 8500, i needed a specific Cisco DB9 convertor with a specific PIN out. Luckily one of my former collegues was able to supply one of these. That sorted my issue and I was able to see the 8500 boot then input the initial configuration. Hope this helps!

Do you have any picture of the cable you used? my connector on the 8510 is male and idk what to use.

Hi there

 

My customer is facing a similar issue and I wanted to understand what the PID of the DB9 adaptor and Cisco DB9 convertor is to console into the 8510 please?

 

many thanks

Rob

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