Catalyst 3550, SecureCRT > COM3 Connected > Blank Screen

[shah.agam]

Day 1

Hi

I am very new to CISCO world! Preparing for CCNA and thought having a home lab would be a good idea! Got stuck on first ever session :(

I have got Catalyst 3550 which is connected via USB-Serial cable, after 2 days got to get it connected on COMM port. However when I start my switch having SecureCRT open it doesn't do anything. Just a blank screen. 

Could not find proper help online, may be new to Networking world and searching my problem using wrong keywords. Finally thought to jump on CISCO forum in search for an answer of my problem......

Anyone please, help ! 

Much appreciated! :)

Day 2

After few hours of waiting and trying few other things, thought to try if the COMM ports are working okay or not.

Using Windows Command Prompt;

echo hello > COM1 (as per device management in use) return no error message means working okay!

echo hello > COM3 (as per device management in use by my USB Serial Adapter) return no error message means working okay!

However when trying PuTTy, SecureCRt and Tera Term my Catalyst 3550 does not load anything in the screen and just a blank screen with cursor blinking.

Anyone please help!

[johnlloyd_13]

hi,

i'm sorry to hear that you've started learning CCNA with a rough situation with your 3550.

what's your terminal emulator (putty, teraterm, etc) setting? make sure it's at default: 9600-8-1-n.

try to increase baud rate until you get a console prompt.

4800

9600

19200

38400

57600

115200

[shah.agam]

Thanks for your reply!

I have tried all the baud rate in PuTTy in SecureCRt but no luck. I am not sure what am i missing here.

What am I doing then....?

1. Connecting Catalyst 3550

2. Console port

3. USB - Serial Converter

4. USB port(COM3 activated in Device Management)

5. Opening SecureCRT

6. New Connection to COM3 using Default settings (tried multiple baud rate as well)

7. Connecting power cable to switch (also tried connecting power cord after screen initialization in secureCRT)

8. Connection successful however blank screen....

Thought these information may be helpful so paste the all steps what am I doing!

Cheers!

[johnlloyd_13 · Accepted solution]

hi,

other options:

- use another COM port

- update driver for USB-to-serial adapter

- use another USB-to-serial adapter

- use another terminal emulator software aside from secure crt: hyerpterminal, putty, teraterm

- try another PC/laptop (older has serial port)

- try USB-to-serial and console cable on another router/switch

if all esle fails, i suggest replacing the 3550.

[shah.agam]

After spending couple of days on asking WHY to google found that USB - Serial adapter actually wanted correct drivers to work. Even my initial test through CMD was showing that COM port I was using were good!

Like to thanks johnlloyd_13 for answering my silly question.....

Thanks!

[johnlloyd_13]

hi,

thanks for the rating!

there will be a lot of WHYs (not to mention sleepless nights) during your IT/network endeavors.

good luck in your CCNA!