PoE issues on a Cat4507-R

[Peter Paluch]

Dear friends,

I am facing a problem with one of our Catalyst 4507 and a line card refusing to power devices through PoE.

Regarding the technical data, this is the setup of the switch:

Switch# show module 
Chassis Type : WS-C4507R

Power consumed by backplane : 40 Watts

Mod Ports Card Type                              Model              Serial No.
---+-----+--------------------------------------+------------------+-----------
 1     6  Sup V-10GE 10GE (X2), 1000BaseX (SFP)  WS-X4516-10GE      JAE1118FMYP 
 3    24  10/100/1000BaseT (RJ45)                WS-X4424-GB-RJ45   JAB072805CF 
 4    48  10/100/1000BaseT (RJ45)V, Cisco/IEEE   WS-X4548-GB-RJ45V  JAE1134URO9 
 5    24  10/100/1000BaseT (RJ45)                WS-X4424-GB-RJ45   JAB072805AW 
 6    48  10/100BaseTX (RJ45)                    WS-X4148-RJ        JAE04261QNQ 
 7    18  1000BaseX (GBIC)                       WS-X4418-GB        JAE063808EW 

 M MAC addresses                    Hw  Fw           Sw               Status
--+--------------------------------+---+------------+----------------+---------
 1 000d.29d4.b280 to 000d.29d4.b285 3.4 12.2(31r)SGA 15.0(2)SG10      Ok       
 3 000c.ce7e.7710 to 000c.ce7e.7727 1.5                               Ok       
 4 001d.4554.2ee0 to 001d.4554.2f0f 3.3                               Ok       
 5 000c.ce7e.7860 to 000c.ce7e.7877 1.5                               Ok       
 6 0002.b94f.d2f0 to 0002.b94f.d31f 2.3                               Ok       
 7 0008.e37a.ba1e to 0008.e37a.ba2f 1.1                               Ok       

Mod  Redundancy role     Operating mode      Redundancy status
----+-------------------+-------------------+----------------------------------
 1   Active Supervisor   SSO                 Active                            

Switch# show power  
Power                                             Fan      Inline
Supply  Model No          Type       Status       Sensor   Status
------  ----------------  ---------  -----------  -------  -------
PS1     PWR-C45-2800AC    AC 2800W   good         good     good   
PS2     PWR-C45-2800AC    AC 2800W   good         good     good   

Power supplies needed by system    : 1
Power supplies currently available : 2

Power Summary                      Maximum
 (in Watts)              Used     Available
----------------------   ----     ---------
System Power (12V)        561        1360
Inline Power (-50V)        17        1400
Backplane Power (3.3V)     40          40
----------------------   ----     ---------
Total                     618        2800

The switch is running Catalyst 4500 L3 Switch Software (cat4500-ENTSERVICESK9-M), Version 15.0(2)SG10.

We are facing PoE issues on the module 4 (WS-X4548-GB-RJ45V). Even with a factory default configuration, the module does not power up any device connected to ports Gi4/1 - Gi4/12, and to ports Gi4/25 - Gi4/36. The remaining ports appear to be providing power correctly. Approximately every 15 minutes, the following console message appears:

%C4K_CHASSIS-5-POEHEALTHCHECKFAILED: Poe Health Check failed on slot 4 (count = 1)

As far as data communication is concerned, all ports appear to be communicating normally, so the issue is limited strictly to PoE.

The following (abbreviated) output is interesting:

Switch# show power inline 
Available:1400(w)  Used:17(w)  Remaining:1383(w)

Interface Admin  Oper            Power(Watts)     Device              Class
                            From PS    To Device                    
--------- ------ ---------- ---------- ---------- ------------------- -----

Gi4/1     auto   on         17.3       15.4       Cisco PD            n/a  
Gi4/2     auto   off        0.0        0.0        n/a                 n/a  

Both ports shown are connected to devices that do not come up even though they are supposed to be powered through PoE. Gi4/1 connects to an Aironet AP (1230 series). This AP is not really powered up even though the output claims otherwise. Gi4/2 connects to a Cisco 7970 IP phone series. This phone is not powered up and not even detected as a PoE device in the output above.

Configuring static PoE settings on the affected ports does not help, and the fact that they fail in sets of 12 (1-12 are unpowered, 13-24 are powered, 25-36 are unpowered, 37-48 are powered) unfortunately suggests that this can be a hardware problem.

In any case, does anyone have any suggestion? Thank you very much in advance!

Best regards,
Peter

[Mark Malone · Accepted solution]

Hi Peter

unfortunately looking at what you have posted and when I check that alert in the docs it does look like maybe a hardware module issue as you suggested as you see it every 15minutes or so and below the odd time seems ok but continuously that's an issue with hardware

Error Message    C4K_CHASSIS-5-POEHEALTHCHECKFAILED: Poe Health Check failed on slot 
[dec] (count = [dec])

Explanation    The PoE health check has failed on a module. The PoE service provided by the module may be unavailable.

Recommended Action    If the message shows up rarely and coincides with external events such as input power supplies being changed, this message can be safely ignored. If the message shows up continuously, please contact your Cisco representative for a replacement of the PoE switching module.

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/lan/catalyst4500/12-2/46sg/system/messages/emsgbk/emsg.html

[Reza Sharifi · Accepted solution]

Hi Peter,

Hope you are well!

I agree with you and Mark that this is a hardware issue. Unfortunately, I don't think there is much you can do with it except opening a ticket with TAC and RMA the module. 

BTW, is the chassis running cool enough?

Thanks,

Reza

[Peter Paluch]

Hi Mark, Reza,

Reza: I am well, thanks! Happy to be back here, and looking forward to meeting you at CLUS :)

Guys, thank you. It really appears that this is a hardware issue. Unfortunately, RMA is not an option because this is a refurbished line card we have purchased for a relatively negligible price, so I guess this is the risk that comes with it.

Best regards,
Peter