need help with a catalyst 3500 xl

[keithsjslaw]

My director gave me a project to test out and see if I can get the old hardware working. I came across a catalyst 3500 XL and tried to boot it up but the RPS LED was a solid amber. I looked it up online and saw that, that mean the RPS could be faulty or down. So before I jump to any conclusions I want to know if there is anyway to reset the switch w/o the command interface? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[JORGE RODRIGUEZ]

Keith, you need to console to the switch to find out whether you see it booting up, most likely you don't have any password information on the switch since it has not been used.. so try to find console cable to connect to it locally through a terminal emulator and try password recovery and get into the switch to configure it.

here are few links.

Password recovery

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps628/products_password_recovery09186a0080094184.shtml#intro

3550 support link (understanding LEDs ),

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/switches/lan/catalyst3550/hardware/installation/guide/35TRBL.html#wp1028602

3550 switch installation configuration etc..

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/switches/lan/catalyst3550/software/release/12.2_25_sec/configuration/guide/swpref.html

HTH

Jorge