SG110-16 V03 Amber Lights

[doss406711]

I have a SG110 16 port gigabit switch connected directly to about 12 wall jacks. Some of the ports display a solid amber light when there is no device connected to the corresponding wall jack and other ports don't display any lights. When a network device is plugged into the wall of one of these amber lit ports, they turn to solid green and appear to work fine. However I'd like to know why some of the ports are amber and others are when not in use. One post I saw indicated that there was a POE device attached however I've never attached POE devices to this switch or network.

[balaji.bandi]

as per the document below information we have ( if any new firmware available worth upgrading it) - since it is not impacting any operationally  - you can review with cisco TAC team after upgrade still not solve the issue.

- if left LED light is flashing green and the right LED light is solid green - it indicates that activity is occurring on 1G

- if left LED light is flashing green and the right LED light is OFF - it indicates that activity is occurring on 100 Mbps or 10 Mbps for example.

- if left LED light is flashing amber and the right LED light is solid green - check the cables for network loop.

- if left LED light is solid amber and the right LED light is OFF - most probably you have PoE capable device attached, but there is no link anymore .

[doss406711]

That response is about as useful as a screen door in a submarine. As you can see from my original post there have not been any PoE devices attached and there is no firmware update available on the product page.

[GT37]

I saw this very same behavior today, I connected 5 patch panel ports that had no devices on the other end and all 5 had the left LED amber. All 5 ports were working with devices as tested later, and did not have any PoE devices attached (the SG110-16 is not a PoE switch anyway).

After looking around a bit for any info at all (nothing in the manual about this), I found nothing but the previous answer (a repost from another question) and a Reddit post saying that it's basically just a feature of the switch to detect open electrical circuits, i.e. it sees the cable in the switchport, but with nothing at the wall jack it's an open circuit and thus an "error code" to tell you something is potentially wrong. If you plug something into that wall jack, but leave it powered off, the circuit is closed but disengaged so no "error" there.

It might additionally be used for PoE-capable devices that are powered with no link, but in the case of non-PoE models that wouldn't apply.

[Martin Aleksandrov]

@GT37 

@doss406711 

Hi there,

Most likely you are facing cable open or short.

To put more light here let me explain in more detail. The Sx110/95 series switches have cable diagnostic and loop detection built-in functionality. Here are the four scenarios that might happen:

1. Cable Loopback Detection SG95/SG110.

When Loop happens, the in-RJ45 left Amber LED will be blinking. No mechanism to eliminate the loop automatically, it is just for loop indication/warning.

2. Cable Loopback Detection SF95/SF110.

When Loop happens, the in-RJ45 left Green LED will be blinking at a slower rate than the data traffic LED indication. No mechanism to eliminate the loop automatically, just for loop indication/warning.

3. Cable Diagnostics SG95/SG110.

Cable Diagnostics will do at normal operation only. When the Cable errors (open or short) happen, the in-RJ45 left Amber LED will be solid on. For all GE models, when the cable is not plugged, the LED will be off for cable diagnostics. If the cable is inserted, but the other end is floating, the Amber LED will be solid on, which will be seen as "Cable Open".

4. Cable Diagnostics SF95/SF110.

Power on -->Green LED solid on 800ms-1s (For LED diagnostic)-->Green LED off-->Green LED solid on 3s (for doing cable diagnostic)-->LED off-->Green LED solid on 5s(if cable diagnostic pass); Green LED blinking 5s (if cable diagnostic fail)-->Green LED off-->Enter to normal status. FE models will do cable diagnostic at boot-up time only.

These switches are unmanaged and you can't upgrade the firmware.

Regards,

Martin