Can't reset switch to factory defaults

boe wrote:

I hooked up a usb to mini cable and connected to the mini console port which shows up in device manager as

Silicon labs CP210x USB to uart (Com3)

I try to attach using Com3 in Putty - no response- pressed enter many times

Reads more you have a very basic connectivity issue to the undefined M4300 model switch. 

boe wrote:

I hooked up my old serial RS232 to USB to an RJ45 adapter - it shows up in device manager as

Aten USB to serial Bridge (COM6)

I try to attach using Com6 in Putty - no response- pressed enter many times

To my knowledge, there is only a USB-C port connecting to a built-in Silicon labs CP210x UART. There is -no- other serial console port on most if not all M4300 switch models. Are you mistaking the OOB (Puit-of-band) GbE port with an RJ45 connector? This is not a serial console.  

What your PC does designate as COM3 might be the console port indeed. When you head to https://netgear.com/support/ and locate your model, head to the downloads, there is a "USB Console Driver" - to my knowledge nothing Netgear specific (except of the USB-console-driver.zip file name), these are generic Silicon Labs CP210x drivers.

In case there is no output on the designates USB UART console port after cold power-up the switch, the hardware must be badly broken. Are some LED - and specifically the power LED - light-up when applying power? Just to be on the safe side, re-install this driver on your computer - and reboot the system.

Time to contact Netgear Support via https://my.netgear.com/ to request a hardware exchange, as these switches have lifetime warranty (to the original buyer).

Regards,

-Kurt.