Cisco 2960 - Console hangs at cursor

[Charger1129]

Hello. I have a Cisco 2960 48-port switch I am trying to get in to and when I boot the switch up with a console cable, it just hangs at a black screen on the putty session with the cursor. I get no text or prompts, etc. 

The cable is not faulty as I used it on a Router a day prior. The COM is also correct as I confirmed in device manager.

Could the switch have gone bad?

[ghostinthenet]

I have had switches where the console port goes on them, but that's not common. Are all of the status lights on the switch looking good? If not, there may be a hardware problem with the switch and it's failing its initialization.

If the lights look good, it's probable that you have a settings mismatch on the serial connection. If you've been using this PC/COM setup on other routers/switches, it's most likely on the switch. Do you have telnet, rsh or ssh access to the switch? If so, check the "line con 0" settings to see if the speed has changed. If not, try changing your COM port speed settings to different standard speeds (1200, 2400, 4800, 9600, 19200, 38400, 57600, 115200) to see if you get a response.

[Charger1129]

Hi Jody! Actually the only light I have is the first one, "SYST". Nothing else blinks. Based on that I would assume probably a hardware problem at that point, correct?

[ghostinthenet]

If the SYST LED is amber and not green, yes. The LED reference for the 2960 can be found here:

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst2960/hardware/installation/guide/2960_hg/higover.html#wp1227369

[Charger1129]

Actually the light is green on this one. 

[ghostinthenet]

Looks like it's getting past POST. Do you get a link if you plug an Ethernet device in?

[Aijaz Rehman]

just Power ON/OFF several times by removing power cable behind( don't let switch completely boot)  I got prompt by doing this only.

if you are not getting this way, then this could be from power failure you need to watch this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpeZEswrH-s

[mohamedlamine]

It's possible that the switch might have an issue preventing it from booting properly. Before concluding that it's faulty, you could try a few troubleshooting steps:

1. Reboot the Switch: Sometimes, a simple reboot can resolve minor issues with the switch. Try disconnecting the power source, waiting a few seconds, and then reconnecting it to see if it boots up correctly.

2. Check Console Cable Settings: Ensure that the console cable settings (baud rate, data bits, stop bits, parity, and flow control) match the recommended settings for accessing the Cisco switch console.

3. Reset the Switch: If possible, try performing a factory reset on the switch to see if that resolves the issue. Be aware that this will erase all configurations on the switch.

4. Update Firmware: If the switch does boot up successfully, consider updating the firmware to the latest version in case the issue is related to a known bug that has been fixed in a newer release.

If none of these steps work and the switch still doesn't boot up properly, it may indeed have a hardware issue that requires further investigation or repair.