No console port access

[JohnnySmith]

Hi,

I bought two refurbished 2911 routers for a home lab. When I boot them up, they both have solid green lights under "SYS" and "PS". I have a console to USB cable and use putty to access the routers. I plug the console cable into the router and the USB into my PC. The PC does not show any extra COM ports under device manager so I am not sure what port to use in Putty. All I see is COM3 and COM4 for "standard Serial over Bluetooth link". I just purchased the cable brand new yesterday. 

Is there a driver I need to install in order to get my PC to recognized the console cable? Or is there something wrong with the hardware on the routers?

Thanks!

[Richard Burts]

While it is possible that there is some problem with the routers, I would think that it is less likely to be a router problem and more likely to be an issue on the PC side.

- what kind of cable are you using for the connection? In particular is this a Cisco rollover console cable or is it a standard Ethernet cable?

- what brand/model of USB console adapter is this? What type of PC are you using? It is quite possible that there is some driver that is needed to get this to work.

[JohnnySmith]

The cable is a OIKWAN Console Cable, USB to RJ45 Console compatible with Cisco routers for Windows. It was purchased from Amazon. 

I just have a standard Windows 10 PC and laptop. I have tried both. I tried installing the Cisco USB driver from here. But it did not work either. 

[balaji.bandi]

Looks for me as of now as per the OP, the cable issue, you can clearly view when you plug in the USB cable Windows 10 show you what com port allocated.

when you use putty, if you use wrong com port, it will not open it will give you error.

make sure you use right settings  as below ( except com port number)

[JohnnySmith]

The problem is I cannot view the COM port in Windows 10. I plug it in and nothing happens, not COM port is allocated that I can see. In device manager, I see COM3 and COM4 for bluetooth connections. Even with "Show hidden devices" enabled.

[balaji.bandi]

Then you need to fix USB cable driver issue. before you connect to device.

[JohnnySmith]

How would I go about that? Is there a different driver download I should be using?

[balaji.bandi]

we are  not sure what USB cable your Purchased ? so send the picture to suggest better.

also is this cable from Cisco or 3rd party ? then you need to look 3rd party website download any drivers required for that cable to recognise.

[JohnnySmith]

It is a third party cable. It says it should not require drivers but I read in a review that it might need the FTDI chip driver. I installed that to my PC and it still does not work. No COM port to use in Putty

[balaji.bandi]

get another cable and test it.

[Martin L]

You should not need driver for this one; I mean driver should come with Windows already; Have you tried those ports COM3 and COM4 and try COM 1 thru 8 (changing port number in Putty config window) to see if u get any output action.

Make sure your cable plugged into Blue Console port (not Management or Ethernet); easy to make mistake there.

Check Windows 10 security settings for device install and permission; make sure your login as Admin.

Regards, ML
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[JohnnySmith]

I tried COM ports 1-8 and did not get an output from any of them. Just the error message "The system cannot find the file specified". 

I double checked to make sure I am in the blue console port and my account on Windows 10 is the local admin. 

[JohnnySmith]

I tried every USB port on my laptop and desktop PC. I did notice that the cable tends to get very hot after being plugged into the router and my PC.

[vencislav.metev]

You need drivers for this.

If you have miniUSB to USB console cable you can use drivers from Cisco.

If you have serial to usb with converter then you might need some 3rd party drivers if Cisco drivers don`t help.

In any case you should check device manager and see on which COM port you can connect.

If everything is fine with the drivers COM port should appear in device manager

Regards,

Ventsi

[JohnnySmith · Accepted solution]

I ended up buying a new cable and it worked. I got a console to serial then serial to USB cable and it showed up as Com6 on my PC. No drivers required. Maybe just a bad cable