3D8120 upgrade via serial console?

[rmgorichanaz]

In a bit of a pickle here.  I have a 3D8120 running SourceFire v5.4 that's about five hours away in a lights-out datacenter with only a serial connection to a Raritan concentrator.  When I try to boot into System Restore, I get a few rows of .'s and then a message that the BIOS checksum was OK, and then nothing - nothing more is displayed on the serial console.  According to the Cisco docs, I'm supposed to get a list of console connection types and select '1' for serial, but I never get that display.

Guessing, and its only a guess, that the box is flopping over to VGA console instead?  Or, its just hard-freezing.

Any thoughts on how to troubleshoot this, short of driving half a day each way?  On-site is basically a custodian who can push buttons but not much more.

[Marvin Rhoads]

I think your guesses are the most likely scenario.

I'd ask the tech if they can snap a picture of the back of the appliance to make sure there's nothing plugged into the VGA port.

If it's FMC-managed, you might end up having to RMA it and install, bootstrap and register a replacement appliance and then redeploy policies to it.