Problems connecting to console

[danno74]

I connected the console port on the back of our Cisco 3524XL switch to a win95 desktop with the serial connector. I opened HyperTerm to try and access the switch through COM2, the port I thought it was connected to. I setup the connect exactly how the documentation says - 9600 baud, no parity, 1 stop bit, 8 data bits. It would no come up. I then tried COM1 in case I was wrong - nothing. I have rebooted the PC, turned the switch on/off - nothing. What am I missing???

Thanks for the help!

[thisisshanky]

Check to see what cable you have used (flat black/blue cable) and also the connector used

Another thing to be noticed is that the db9 connector used could be a wrong one.

I have here 3 equipments from different vendors which uses the same db9 connectgor, all looks pretty similar except for the color of the connector but, wont work if they are interchanged)

[warren · Accepted solution]

Try a different cable or put a null-modem in line.....

[danno74]

Thank you folks, I tried a different flat blur cable with the same serial connector, it worked.

Of course now that I have the console up, I am having other issues. I am trying to access the config file to see how the switch was setup originally. I am not sure what commands to use, and when I go to attempt to enable other commands I am prompted for the password. Do I need to know the password to look at the config and/or make changes? Thinking it might be easier to use the instructions for password recovery and reset all the settings and start from scratch...

[thisisshanky]

If you forgot the password, you can password recover it by referring to following link,

http://www.cisco.com/warp/customer/474/pswdrec_2900xl.html