Frozen Cisco 2960G

[dwaynebmw]

Hi Guys,

I inherited a Cisco 2960G. Consoled and powered up and absolutely nothing. 

No post on console. During power up all of the mode lights come on then only the SYS light stays on. 

So why Can't I console in? I've tried all of the baud rates and parity settings. Nothing seems to work. 

I also patched each WAN and LAN ports to a another switch or router, nothing is lighting up.

So if the MODE lights are testing out during power up, yet the switch is not responding to anything, what does that mean? 

Also...  let me ask this...  is there a hardware reset solution for this switch? Anything I can do to rebuild it ?  

Thanks Guys in advance. 

[Ben Walters]

Have a look here , it seems to describe the issue you are seeing.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/field-notices/637/fn63744.html

Problem Symptoms

If the affected hardware (listed in the Products Affected section) has been in continuous operation for approximately 24 months, then the hardware might fail to boot up due to memory failure during a power cycle event.

This occurs when power is removed and reapplied to the switch (the switch is power cycled).

Note: This issue does not affect switches while they are in operation. The switch failure might occur after the switch is power cycled.

The failure symptom is observed when the switch fails to boot up with no console response (no characters are written to the console).

[dwaynebmw]

*Hi Ben, thank you for the reply. *

*Yes, this is exactly what is happening. But from what I understand the
switches were power cycled every quarter, and not at the same time. one
month in other words the primaries were power cycled while the next month
the backups were. This customer followed very prudent procedures to avoid
this very thing. Yet this has happened. *

*What I find shocking is Cisco hardware being so expensive yet having this
problem in the fist place. I have old Netgear switches that had been in
constant service for almost 10 years that still work. I was convinced that
Cisco was top of the line and didn't experience these kinds of issues, thus
the high costing hardware.*

*So now that the problem is possibly identified on two switches here....
what is the solution? How do I fix them? *

[Richard Burts]

Here is what the Field Notice says

Normal SmartNet and warranty entitlement rules remain in place and are applied by the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) if you experience a failure in one of the products listed in the Field Notice. In other circumstances, such as out of warranty or out of contract, Cisco encourages you to raise your concern directly with your Cisco account team.

Fix on Failure Replacement Guidelines: Request Return Material Authorization (RMA) product through normal service support channels.

If you have a support contract for these switches clearly Cisco will replace them. If you do not have a support contract and do have a Cisco account team you should consult with them. If you do not have a Cisco account team then you might get in touch with Cisco TAC and talk with them about what options you may have.

HTH

Rick

[dwaynebmw]

Thank you. Will do.

[dwaynebmw]

Guys a quick question...

If the iOS was removed during the decommissioning process, would this prevent me from consoling in? 

If so...   since this switch does NOT have a USB flash drive or internal hard drive, how is the iOS loaded on these switches?

Is there some magical procedure I'm missing here to load a new iOS on the 2960G switches? 

A bit confused here. I don't want to contact Cisco TAC if there is a simply fix to load the iOS. 

Thanks. 

[Richard Burts]

There are perhaps several possible explanations about what is the source of this problem. One possibility is that of a memory failure as discussed in the Field Notice. You are now asking about the possibility that the IOS was removed during the decommissioning process. I believe that is possible but not likely and not a good fit for the symptoms you describe. If the IOS was removed then the switch should still boot into rommon. And in rommon the console should still function. Also in rommon interfaces should still operate and that would allow you to load a different IOS into the switch. I do not believe that there is any magical procedure that you are missing. I understand that you do not want to contact TAC if there is a simple fix. But I do not believe that there is a simple fix. I believe that your best alternative is to contact Cisco TAC.

HTH

Rick