M5300 Stacking w/ AX742 kit

[WillieEverlearn]

Forgive me if this is a question that is answered elsewhere, but I am attempting to stack a couple groups of 4-5 M5300 switches in my school district.

Installing the kits is easy enough and I powered them on in sequence to control which switch is the master.  It is common for the power to go out for extended periods here, and I have had a problem with one switch or another displaying a "code mismatch" error after power is restored.

The most recent outtage resulted in the master switch displaying this error.

I was able to "fix" the problem by disconnecting power from all switches and powering on only the master...and then one swtch at a time after.

Is there something that I can do to prevent this problem from occuring?

Am I doing it wrong?

Please point me in the right direction.

[WillieEverlearn · Accepted solution]

I spoke with NetGear support and he will continue to research, but he suggested that the only solution would be to configure the UPS to power on the master switch first.

[DaneA]

Hi WillieEverlearn,

Welcome to the community! 

Let us isolate the problem.  Kindly answer the questions below:

a. Are all the M5300 switches within the stack have the same firmware version? 

b. What is the current firmware version of each M5300 switches in the stack? 

Kindly read this article if ever you have not yet came across with it.  

Regards,

DaneA

NETGEAR Community Team

[WillieEverlearn]

All switches within the stacks are running the same version of firmware. (11.0.0.10)

I will most likely upgrade them to 11.0.0.12 soon.

I found that link when attempting to troubleshoot the problem.

I found it odd that by doing nothing other than powering them off and them on in the proper order, the problem was not present.

It seems to occur after a power outtage while all switches are powering up at the same time and only if there are more than 2 switches in the stack. (I have some 2 switch stacks that have not had any problems)

[WillieEverlearn]

Also, thank you for replying to my question.

[DaneA]

Hi WillieEverlearn,

Here are my follow-up questions below:

a. Did you observe this behavior whenever there is a power outage using previous firmware version/s of the M5300?

b. Have you tried to factory reset the switches in the stack then reconfigure all of it from scratch?  

I look forward to your response.

Regards,

DaneA

NETGEAR Community Team

[WillieEverlearn]

a. The switches are new, and the stacking kits are newer....this is the only Firmware that we have since installing the stacking kits.

b. By 'reconfigure' do you have any documentation that I could look at?  Is there a recommended method of setting up the stack manually?

    We simply unplugged the switches, installed the stacking kits, powered switches on in order. 

[DaneA]

Hi @WillieEverlearn,

---

@WillieEverlearn wrote:

a. The switches are new, and the stacking kits are newer....this is the only Firmware that we have since installing the stacking kits.

b. By 'reconfigure' do you have any documentation that I could look at?  Is there a recommended method of setting up the stack manually?

    We simply unplugged the switches, installed the stacking kits, powered switches on in order. 

---

What I mean by 'reconfigure' is setting up the stack, the IP address, VLANS, etc.  Kindly try to factory reset the switch/es the reconfigure it from scratch then observe if same problem occurs.

Regards,

DaneA

NETGEAR Community Team

[WillieEverlearn · Accepted solution]

I spoke with NetGear support and he will continue to research, but he suggested that the only solution would be to configure the UPS to power on the master switch first.