2900XL IOS questions

[jetkins-ali]

Hi, folks.

I've just picked up a used 2900XL switch which I intend to use for tinkering, learning, and eventually integrating into my home LAN. The previous owner was apparently a certain large PC manufacturer here in town, because it still had their configuration loaded. I've got past resetting the password and clearing the configuration, but I have several questions before I get too deeply into this:

(1) The IOS version loaded is "IOS (tm) C2900XL Software (C2900XL-H2S-M), Version 11.2(8.1)SA6, MAINTENANCE INTERIM SOFTWARE". Am I correct in my belief that this is not an official "gold" release?

(2) Reading the 2900 series IOS release notes, it seems that 11.x is for 2900XL's with 4MB of DRAM, and that units with 8MB should run a 12.x IOS. My switch appears to be an 8MB unit ("cisco WS-C2924-XL (PowerPC403GA) processor (revision 0x11) with 8192K/1024K bytes of memory"), so am I correct that this is in fact the wrong IOS for this device?

(3) If I do indeed have the wrong version, how do I get the right one? Are updates only available with a service contract?

(4) Three of the FastEthernet interfaces are failing POST ("looped-back packet not received"). I'm not particularly concerned if these are dead, since 21 ports is more than I need anyway, but I'm curious how, if I didn't have access to the POST messages, I would be able to determine which ports were dead, since the "sh int" output doesn't appear to give any indication of hardware failure.

(5) Is it possible that these failures might be related to the incorrect IOS version (if indeed it is incorrect)?

(6) The Java applets on the Visual Switch Manager and Switch Network View web pages never load correctly. I've tried from several machines, with both IE and Firefox. Another IOS mismatch problem?

Thanks in advance,

Jon Etkins

Austin, TX

[jetkins-ali]

OK, after some more digging, I have managed to answer most of my own questions! I found the link to download 12.0(5)WC10 and installed it with no problems. It has resolved the Java issue, and CMS shows the bad ports, though I'd still be interested to know how one identifies bad ports if one only has the CLI available.

Cheers,

JE

[Reza Sharifi]

Hi Jon,

You can run a test on the copper ports to diagnose the problem. See link below:

The link is not for the 2900XL, but the command should be the same if it is available in your IOS version.

BTW, that switch is at least 20 years old. You can probably get a much newer switch (3600, 3700, 3800 series) for a reasonable price on eBay and play with it.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/smb/switches/cisco-350-series-managed-switches/smb5560-ipsec-connection-status-on-rv180-and-rv180w-routers.html

HTH

[Joseph W. Doherty]

---

@Reza Sharifi wrote:

BTW, that switch is at least 20 years old. You can probably get a much newer switch (3600, 3700, 3800 series) for a reasonable price on eBay and play with it.

---

So was the original posting, although it was edited "only" about 5 years ago.  ; )

[Reza Sharifi]

So was the original posting, although it was edited "only" about 5 years ago.  ; )

Good one, Joe!

I never looked at the date.

Reza

[Joseph W. Doherty]

Laugh, I occasionally miss a posting's age too, as we assume a recent response is to a relatively recent thread.

That aside, though, you're right a 2900XL is 20 years old (if not more?).

[Enes Simnica]

cool stuff man!