Cisco 3750 and IBM 6400 printer dropping

BILLY MCARTHUR · ‎07-16-2012

I am at a loss and not sure what else can be done to solve this issue.

I have a IBM 6400 printer that is connected to our cisco 3750 switch and the problem is that every 5 to 10 min the printer drops off the network.

Testing that I have conducted is the following:

Attached a small unmanaged switch to the port that is connected to the printer and connected the printer as well as a laptop to the unmanaged switch. The printer again loses connection to the network after 5 to 10 min.

Connected the printer and the laptop to the unmanaged switch, but this time did not connect it to the network and the printer stayed online.

I have had IBM come in and update the printer firmware, but this has not fixed the issue either.

The printer has a static IP and we are not seeing any other issues with devices except for this printer. The IBM techs are scratching their heads and pointing to the network as the problem. While from my testing I have to agree, but I cannot see what is causing the issue. The only other thing I can think of it would have anything to do with is the MAC address time or perhaps the ARP timeout. I am just having a tough time identifying the root issue and hope someone has some ideas for further testing.

The network is pretty flat and is only a /23. Being that it is all local to the LAN routing should not be a factor, but I am willing to try anything to get this issues addressed.

Thanks,

Kris

Leo Laohoo · ‎07-16-2012

I have a IBM 6400 printer that is connected to our cisco 3750 switch and the problem is that every 5 to 10 min the printer drops off the network.

Hi Billy,

Can you please specify the EXACT model of your 3750?

I want to know if your copper port is a GigabitEthernet or not.

If not, do you have a 3560/3750 with a GigabitEthernet?

BILLY MCARTHUR · ‎07-17-2012

The exact model is a C3750G-24TS and it is stacked x2. They are all GigabitEthernet ports. I have adjusted speed on the ports since the IBM printer NIC is on a 10/100 Nic. However this did not change the problem and the connection is still dropping between 5 and 10 minutes.

Any thoughts?

Kris

Leo Laohoo · ‎07-17-2012

The exact model is a C3750G-24TS

Woo-hoo! Let's PLAY!!!

Right, we may be able to do some troubleshooting.

1. Kindly post the output to the command "sh interface Gi"; and

2. Kindly post the output to the command "sh controller e Gi"

Next, after the ones above, let's do some TDR test. Just want to warn you that TDR can bring your connection down for approximately 5 to 7 seconds. Here's how it's done:

1. Command: test cable tdr interface Gi;

2. Wait for 5 to 7 seconds;

3. Command: sh cable tdr interface Gi; and

4. Post the output to the #3 command.

I await to see the results.

BILLY MCARTHUR · ‎07-18-2012

Thanks again the reply Leolaohoo..

The interface output is the following

#sh interfaces gigabitEthernet 1/0/13

GigabitEthernet1/0/13 is up, line protocol is up (connected)

Hardware is Gigabit Ethernet, address is 000f.23d8.5d0d (bia 000f.23d8.5d0d)

MTU 1500 bytes, BW 10000 Kbit, DLY 1000 usec,

reliability 255/255, txload 1/255, rxload 1/255

Encapsulation ARPA, loopback not set

Keepalive set (10 sec)

Half-duplex, 10Mb/s, media type is 10/100/1000BaseTX

input flow-control is off, output flow-control is unsupported

ARP type: ARPA, ARP Timeout 04:00:00

Last input never, output 00:00:00, output hang never

Last clearing of "show interface" counters never

Input queue: 0/75/0/0 (size/max/drops/flushes); Total output drops: 0

Queueing strategy: fifo

Output queue: 0/40 (size/max)

5 minute input rate 0 bits/sec, 0 packets/sec

5 minute output rate 12000 bits/sec, 15 packets/sec

175705 packets input, 33557775 bytes, 0 no buffer

Received 44169 broadcasts (628 multicasts)

0 runts, 0 giants, 0 throttles

0 input errors, 0 CRC, 0 frame, 0 overrun, 0 ignored

0 watchdog, 628 multicast, 0 pause input

0 input packets with dribble condition detected

21894690 packets output, 2151658160 bytes, 0 underruns

0 output errors, 14 collisions, 3 interface resets

0 babbles, 0 late collision, 0 deferred

0 lost carrier, 0 no carrier, 0 PAUSE output

0 output buffer failures, 0 output buffers swapped out

The Controller output is the following:

#sh controller ethernet-controller gigabitEthernet 1/0/13

Transmit GigabitEthernet1/0/13 Receive

2157729474 Bytes 33561895 Bytes

460755 Unicast frames 131582 Unicast frames

3166081 Multicast frames 628 Multicast frames

18332997 Broadcast frames 43549 Broadcast frames

0 Too old frames 10420666 Unicast bytes

49 Deferred frames 109004 Multicast bytes

0 MTU exceeded frames 23032157 Broadcast bytes

8 1 collision frames 0 Alignment errors

5 2 collision frames 0 FCS errors

1 3 collision frames 0 Oversize frames

0 4 collision frames 0 Undersize frames

0 5 collision frames 17 Collision fragments

0 6 collision frames

0 7 collision frames 91852 Minimum size frames

0 8 collision frames 37828 65 to 127 byte frames

0 9 collision frames 8132 128 to 255 byte frames

0 10 collision frames 798 256 to 511 byte frames

0 11 collision frames 36472 512 to 1023 byte frames

0 12 collision frames 677 1024 to 1518 byte frames

0 13 collision frames 0 Overrun frames

0 14 collision frames 0 Pause frames

0 15 collision frames

0 Excessive collisions 0 Symbol error frames

0 Late collisions 0 Invalid frames, too large

0 VLAN discard frames 0 Valid frames, too large

0 Excess defer frames 17 Invalid frames, too small

15748236 64 byte frames 0 Valid frames, too small

2673658 127 byte frames

2776423 255 byte frames 0 Too old frames

515415 511 byte frames 0 Valid oversize frames

169779 1023 byte frames 0 System FCS error frames

76322 1518 byte frames 0 RxPortFifoFull drop frame

0 Too large frames

8 Good (1 coll) frames

6 Good (>1 coll) frames

The Cable test results:

#sh cable tdr interface gigabitEthernet 1/0/13

TDR test last run on: July 18 15:10:37

Interface Speed Local pair Pair length Remote pair Pair status

--------- ----- ---------- ------------------ ----------- --------------------

Gi1/0/13 10M Pair A N/A Pair B Normal

Pair B N/A Pair A Normal

Pair C 23 +/- 2 meters Pair D Short

Pair D 23 +/- 2 meters Pair C Short

I have changed the cables. I have changed the punch. Also I have had a laptop and a unmanaged switch on this punch and port and the connection never dropped. Even thought the printer ip stops being reachable on the network, the port always appears to be connected.

Thanks again,

Kris

BILLY MCARTHUR · ‎07-18-2012

Also I changed the connection on the printer to be 100 half from 10 half and this was the results of the cable test. I have seriously changed the cables on both moved the punch to different locations but the results are the same no matter what I put in.

GPA-Core#test cable tdr interface gigabitEthernet 1/0/13

Link state may be affected during TDR test

TDR test started on interface Gi1/0/13

A TDR test can take a few seconds to run on an interface

Use 'show cable-diagnostics tdr' to read the TDR results.

GPA-Core#sh cable tdr interface gigabitEthernet 1/0/13

TDR test last run on: July 18 16:03:44

Interface Speed Local pair Pair length Remote pair Pair status

--------- ----- ---------- ------------------ ----------- --------------------

Gi1/0/13 100M Pair A N/A Pair B Fail

Pair B N/A Pair A Normal

Pair C 23 +/- 2 meters Pair D Short

Pair D 23 +/- 2 meters Pair C Short

BILLY MCARTHUR · ‎07-18-2012

Results from 100 Full

#test cable tdr interface gigabitEthernet 1/0/13

Link state may be affected during TDR test

TDR test started on interface Gi1/0/13

A TDR test can take a few seconds to run on an interface

Use 'show cable-diagnostics tdr' to read the TDR results.

GPA-Core#sh cable tdr interface gigabitEthernet 1/0/13

TDR test last run on: July 18 16:27:52

Interface Speed Local pair Pair length Remote pair Pair status

--------- ----- ---------- ------------------ ----------- --------------------

Gi1/0/13 100M Pair A N/A Pair B Fail

Pair B N/A Pair A Normal

Pair C 23 +/- 2 meters Pair D Short

Pair D 23 +/- 2 meters Pair C Short

BILLY MCARTHUR · ‎07-18-2012

I have read through a ton of the documentation about the printer connecting to the network and the best setting for it is at 10 half. Also I moved the connection to the 3750 so that I could perform testing since the switch it was on was a Cisco Small Business Switch.

Thanks again

Kris

Leo Laohoo · ‎07-18-2012

Thanks. The output are very, very helpful.

Firstly, excuse my ignorance because I'm no expert on the IBM printer.

I would like to know what is the "normal" NIC card of the IBM printer. Is is 10 or 10/100BaseTx?

You see those results of the TDR? Unless the IBM printer has GigabitEthernet, then don't worry about the bad results from Pairs C and D.

For basic (and I mean the word "basic") ethernet to work, you need at least Pair A and Pair B to come back as "Normal". If you get a results for boths Pair A and Pair B as either Fail, Short, Impedence Mistmatch, then you have a Layer 1 issue.

The entire TDR output is showing that the cable connected to the 3750G switch could be of bad quality of simply bad. Can I ask if you replace this with something else?

Read more of the TDR here: How To Use TDR

BILLY MCARTHUR · ‎07-19-2012

The network card for the IBM printer is a 10/100. Currently it is set to be 10 half, but I have had it set to be 100 full and was getting the same results.

I have replaced the cables from the switch to the punch and from the wall to the printer. I have also tried a different punch with the new cables and the results are the same dropping between 5 and 10 minutes.

The test results for the 10 H on the cable is the following:

#sh cable tdr interface gigabitEthernet 1/0/13

TDR test last run on: July 19 11:59:22

Interface Speed Local pair Pair length Remote pair Pair status

--------- ----- ---------- ------------------ ----------- --------------------

Gi1/0/13 10M Pair A N/A Pair B Normal

Pair B N/A Pair A Normal

Pair C 28 +/- 2 meters Pair D Short

Pair D 28 +/- 2 meters Pair C Short

BILLY MCARTHUR · ‎07-19-2012

I have connected it directly to the switch this afternoon and I am still getting a fail on Pair A...when running it at 100 F I have changed the cable out with a # of cables and the same results. See below:

#sh cable-diagnostics tdr interface gigabitEthernet 1/0/13

TDR test last run on: July 19 16:21:34

(AUTO on switch)

Interface Speed Local pair Pair length Remote pair Pair status

--------- ----- ---------- ------------------ ----------- --------------------

Gi1/0/13 100M Pair A N/A Pair B Fail

Pair B N/A Pair A Normal

Pair C 7 +/- 2 meters Pair D Short

Pair D 6 +/- 2 meters Pair C Short

(Speed and Duplex Manual on Switch)

#sh cable-diagnostics tdr interface gigabitEthernet 1/0/13

TDR test last run on: July 19 16:26:24

Interface Speed Local pair Pair length Remote pair Pair status

--------- ----- ---------- ------------------ ----------- --------------------

Gi1/0/13 100M Pair A N/A Pair B Fail

Pair B N/A Pair A Normal

Pair C 6 +/- 2 meters Pair D Short

Pair D 6 +/- 2 meters Pair C Short

When I have it set to 10 H I get the following results.

(AUTO on switch)

#sh cable-diagnostics tdr interface gigabitEthernet 1/0/13

TDR test last run on: July 19 16:30:00

Interface Speed Local pair Pair length Remote pair Pair status

--------- ----- ---------- ------------------ ----------- --------------------

Gi1/0/13 10M Pair A N/A Pair B Normal

Pair B N/A Pair A Normal

Pair C 6 +/- 2 meters Pair D Short

Pair D 6 +/- 2 meters Pair C Short

(Speed and Duplex Manual on Switch)

#sh cable-diagnostics tdr interface gigabitEthernet 1/0/13

TDR test last run on: July 19 16:32:40

Interface Speed Local pair Pair length Remote pair Pair status

--------- ----- ---------- ------------------ ----------- --------------------

Gi1/0/13 10M Pair A N/A Pair B Normal

Pair B N/A Pair A Normal

Pair C 6 +/- 2 meters Pair D Short

Pair D 6 +/- 2 meters Pair C Short

Thoughts?

BILLY MCARTHUR · ‎07-19-2012

Also as a note to think about.

I created an isolated network and put the printer on the unmanaged switch with a laptop on the same network. As long as it is not tied into the Company network the printer never drops on the laptop.

Once I introduced the printer to the Company network the IP drops after 5 to 10 min even though the link on the switch shows the connection is up.

#sh interfaces gigabitEthernet 1/0/13

GigabitEthernet1/0/13 is up, line protocol is up (connected)

Hardware is Gigabit Ethernet, address is 000f.23d8.5d0d (bia 000f.23d8.5d0d)

MTU 1500 bytes, BW 10000 Kbit, DLY 1000 usec,

reliability 255/255, txload 1/255, rxload 1/255

Encapsulation ARPA, loopback not set

Keepalive set (10 sec)

Half-duplex, 10Mb/s, media type is 10/100/1000BaseTX

input flow-control is off, output flow-control is unsupported

ARP type: ARPA, ARP Timeout 04:00:00

Last input never, output 00:00:00, output hang never

Last clearing of "show interface" counters never

Input queue: 0/75/0/0 (size/max/drops/flushes); Total output drops: 0

Queueing strategy: fifo

Output queue: 0/40 (size/max)

5 minute input rate 0 bits/sec, 0 packets/sec

5 minute output rate 17000 bits/sec, 21 packets/sec

182965 packets input, 39889393 bytes, 0 no buffer

Received 44267 broadcasts (628 multicasts)

0 runts, 0 giants, 0 throttles

4546 input errors, 0 CRC, 0 frame, 0 overrun, 0 ignored

0 watchdog, 628 multicast, 0 pause input

0 input packets with dribble condition detected

23609643 packets output, 2307349703 bytes, 0 underruns

1408 output errors, 35 collisions, 4 interface resets

0 babbles, 228 late collision, 0 deferred

0 lost carrier, 0 no carrier, 0 PAUSE output

0 output buffer failures, 0 output buffers swapped out

Again this make no sense to me and I am at a lose as to why it works when I isolate it from the network, but drops when it is on the network.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Kris

BILLY MCARTHUR · ‎07-19-2012

Just to show you what happens when the printer drops

Reply from 172.16.10.69: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=30

Request timed out.

Reply from 172.16.10.69: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=30

Reply from 172.16.10.69: bytes=32 time=53ms TTL=30

Reply from 172.16.10.69: bytes=32 time=89ms TTL=30

Reply from 172.16.10.69: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=30

Reply from 172.16.10.69: bytes=32 time=86ms TTL=30

Reply from 172.16.10.69: bytes=32 time=84ms TTL=30

Reply from 172.16.10.69: bytes=32 time=60ms TTL=30

Reply from 172.16.10.69: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=30

Request timed out.

Aileron88 · ‎07-19-2012

I think the best course of action would be to elimate the port on the 3750 as a cause of any issues. Connect the printer to a different port.

If this doesn't resolve the issue it would be interesting to see a 'sh interface xxx' when the printer 'drops' and the output of a 'sh ip arp' when this happens also. Or even the output of a sh logg to see if you have anything going on there. The other option is to create an access-list that references only 172.16.10.69 and debug ip packet against this until it drops.

Thanks,

Adam

BILLY MCARTHUR · ‎07-19-2012

Adam,

I switched it to a new port on the switch. I had tried that in the past to thinking I may have a bad port. Just FYI the port never drops the connection from the NIC on the printer and the switch I am always showing and up/up on the port. The only problem is the IP drops and I cannot reach the printer unless I reset the printer power.

The port comes up as you see below for interface stats and the sh ip arp

#sh interfaces gigabitEthernet 1/0/12

GigabitEthernet1/0/12 is up, line protocol is up (connected)

Hardware is Gigabit Ethernet, address is 000f.23d8.5d0c (bia 000f.23d8.5d0c)

MTU 1500 bytes, BW 10000 Kbit, DLY 1000 usec,

reliability 255/255, txload 1/255, rxload 1/255

Encapsulation ARPA, loopback not set

Keepalive set (10 sec)

Half-duplex, 10Mb/s, media type is 10/100/1000BaseTX

input flow-control is off, output flow-control is unsupported

ARP type: ARPA, ARP Timeout 04:00:00

Last input never, output 00:00:00, output hang never

Last clearing of "show interface" counters never

Input queue: 0/75/0/0 (size/max/drops/flushes); Total output drops: 0

Queueing strategy: fifo

Output queue: 0/40 (size/max)

5 minute input rate 2000 bits/sec, 4 packets/sec

5 minute output rate 23000 bits/sec, 22 packets/sec

2347 packets input, 467967 bytes, 0 no buffer

Received 1680 broadcasts (0 multicasts)

0 runts, 0 giants, 0 throttles

0 input errors, 0 CRC, 0 frame, 0 overrun, 0 ignored

0 watchdog, 0 multicast, 0 pause input

0 input packets with dribble condition detected

899264 packets output, 84383316 bytes, 0 underruns

0 output errors, 0 collisions, 1 interface resets

0 babbles, 0 late collision, 0 deferred

0 lost carrier, 0 no carrier, 0 PAUSE output

0 output buffer failures, 0 output buffers swapped out

#sh ip arp

Protocol Address Age (min) Hardware Addr Type Interface

Internet 172.16.10.162 0 0014.c240.16c4 ARPA Vlan1

Internet 172.16.10.230 1 0021.5abd.d335 ARPA Vlan1

Internet 172.16.10.207 0 3c4a.92ef.856c ARPA Vlan1

Internet 172.16.11.54 0 0026.1808.6269 ARPA Vlan1

Internet 172.16.11.59 0 0023.2431.19b8 ARPA Vlan1

Internet 172.16.10.16 217 0009.b7cc.8880 ARPA Vlan1

Internet 172.16.10.17 218 0009.b7cc.7000 ARPA Vlan1

Internet 172.16.10.26 0 0012.7992.2fa2 ARPA Vlan1

Internet 172.16.10.10 - 000f.23d8.5d40 ARPA Vlan1

Internet 172.16.10.8 0 1cdf.0fa6.5d40 ARPA Vlan1

Internet 172.16.10.83 209 0009.b7cc.7880 ARPA Vlan1

Internet 172.16.10.91 209 0009.b7cc.8e80 ARPA Vlan1

Internet 172.16.10.69 9 0080.720b.b486 ARPA Vlan1

As for the logs the only time that I see the interface drop is when the printer is power cycled.

I am going to create the ACL and run debug. I had not thought to try that just yet, but atleast will provide some information about what is going on.

Thanks again and more to follow as I get the debug logs.

Kris.