Help with a WS-C5000

[Einlanzers]

I recently bought a WS-C5000 off of eBay. http://cgi.ebay.com/Cisco-Catalyst-5000-Series-Switch-WS-C5000_W0QQitemZ5820822298QQcategoryZ51260QQcmdZViewItem is the exact link.

Well anyways...I purchased that and all it came with was the powercord and the unit.

The unit doesn't seem to function properly. The top "management card" lights up orange then goes red after awhile. The two ethernet cards are red the entire time.

I thought that maybe I simply needed to configure it and saw that it had a DB25 Console port.

Taking a CCNA course I remember that you can use Hyperterminal to configure a router via a COM port, so I bought a Parrallel cable and a DB25 to DB9 converter and attempted to configure it via Hypterminal. That was a no-go.

Any suggestions?

I would be FOREVER greatful. I really want to get this up-and-running.

[ankurbhasin]

Hi Friend,

First make sure is it a sup 3 or not? I mean the management card is supervisor 3 and if it is you have to try using straight through cable from your PC com port via DB9 Connector to the console port of the supervisor.

If it is sup 2 or sup 1 and you have already tried with 2 different rollover cable still you do not get anything i am afraid you could have a fulty hardware also.

If sup is showing red colour it could be that sup is in rommon or might be bad also.

Try to console and see what you get.

Best Of Luck!!

Regards,

Ankur

[Einlanzers]

How do I check what supervisor it is? I posted the link to the product showing pictures and model no.

Also, the console port on the switch is a DB25 connection, so I really can't choose if it's crossover/rollover/straight through. I'm simply using a DB25 Male-Male cable with a DB25 to DB9 Female-Female adapter. So yeah...I can't change what "type" of cable it is. It isn't like a Cisco router were the console is a RJ-45/Ethernet connection. It doesn't always show red and I really hope it is just sticking in RomMon, but wouldn't that mean there's a problem with the IOS on the unit aswell? I really hope it isn't a faulty hardware problem. So, any suggestions on how to get to console?

[ankurbhasin]

Hi Friend,

It could be that supervisor is in rommon and the only way to access is via console and if you have already tried with correct cable somehow I will suggest to try with another cable or another adapter also might be a bad cable ro adapter which you are using.

Also on supervisor enginer I see few RJ45 ports ports can you read me whats written on it as I am not able to read it from the link which you have given.

Regards,

Ankur

[Richard Burts]

I wonder about this part of the original post:

so I bought a Parrallel cable and a DB25 to DB9 converter

if it truly is a parallel cable then I think that is part of the problem. For console access you need a console cable and a DB25 to RJ45 converter.

HTH

Rick

[Einlanzers]

In response to ankurbhasin, the two ethernet ports on the supervisor both say MDI X on them. Could they possibly both be console ports?

And rburts, the unit says that the parallel port is the Console Port and the ethernet are MDI X, so you want me to go from the switch (DB25) to my computer (RJ45) and use Hyperterminal? That's ludicrous. The only way to do a TCP/IP connection would be to define an IP address for the switch and that's impossible for it's DB25 port...I hope I'm wrong, but please explain to me how to do this.

[Richard Burts]

I certainly did not mention trying to do a TCP/IP connection. A typical Cisco console cable is 9 pin on one end and RJ45 on the other. My suggestion was to use a console cable and get an adapter that would allow the RJ45 (which plugs into the Cisco device) to connect to the DB25 console port of the switch.

HTH

Rick

[Einlanzers]

The adapter: http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat%5Fid=101&;sku=02448

The cable: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7003137&type=product&id=1099391933541

I've been messing with a multimeter I think that the parallel cable isn't a "straight-through". Any ideas?

BTW..I really can't open up the adapter it's kind of "enclosed well" and I really can't figure out how to test it because it's female. In male I can just test the pins, but in female it's a bit harder.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Einlanzers]

Ohhh ohh I just found this at Best Buy's website and with my discount it should be almost free :-P.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7002986&type=product&id=1099391933085

do you think that'd work?

[Richard Burts]

In your previous post you had a link for the adapter but when I clicked on the link I got a screen with the message that the part I wanted to look at was not available. The link for the cable did supply information about the cable and it really is a prallel cable. And that will not work on the console connection.

The modem cable looks like a good possibility. It is DB9 and connects to DB25 female. My concern is that the console cable is a rollover cable. This link has information about the console cable and its pinouts.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps708/products_configuration_guide_chapter09186a00803959e5.html

HTH

Rick

[Einlanzers]

I'm getting some display now with that new cable Smile. Right now it's running tests and the management card is actually green Smile. I had to use Xon/Xoff for the Flow Control...I remember routers not needing flow control, but oh well..it's working..thanks for the help...I'll be sure to repost if I need more help, but thanks for all the help thus-far!

[Einlanzers]

OK..now that I can connect to the switch I'm still having problems. Here is a bit of a log of it:

http://www.einlanzers.com/Cisco.txt

Basically it keeps looping because of a "hardware problem" I assume. I was able to actually access the user level of the Console for about 2 seconds before it started looping again. Any suggestions?

[Richard Burts]

I am glad that you have gotten past the problem of how to access the console. Unfortunately I think that it reveales that there is some problem with the switch. I can not interpret the error messages to determine whether it is a hardware issue or a software issue. But in either case I suspect that you need to communicate with the seller of the equipment that it is non-functional.

HTH

Rick