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Prosafe GSM7224r cannot access either via IP or Serial
Hi all,
First post so go easy.
I bought what turned out to be two GSM7224r switches from a local auction house (listed as one lot). Powered both up, and was able to have my machine "see" both (after manually configuring the NIC with a 169.254.100.0/24 address), so figured they must be working...
Got them home, and cannot connect. Have tried resettting (via reset button). Both switches power up, but the power light on each blinks (as though the device is post-ing), but never goes beyond that.
I can manually configure a connecting devices NIC to manage what should be default settings - that is 169.254.100.0/24 addressing, but cannot ping or connect to what should be the switch's default address - 169.254.100.100. I've also connected a null-modem cable to the device (settings 9600 baud, 8, 1, none, none), but this also will not connect.
Given that both devices are exhibiting the same behaviour, my guess is that something has been done to them when being sanitised (they came out of a Govt. Dept.), and that they now need to be reset to factory defaults. Question is, how do I do this if pressing the reset button doesn't work? (FWIW, I tried a 30-30-30 reset on one of them yesterday - no change).
I'm quite stuck, so if anyone has any ideas as to how I get some connectivity to these switches, I'd much appreciate it.
Thanks in advance.
Last update:
I was able to successfully flash both switches with newer firmware, and now both will successfully boot/can be managed.
I stunbled across this guide https://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/2923-what-to-do-when-my-managed-switch-does-not-boot, which was quite helpful.
One point to note is that I could not get the switches to save settings when I tried to "up" the baud rate from the default 9600 to, say 38400. I would configure the switch (via the partially corrupted boot menu, option 2, I believe), and then disconnect/reconfigure hyperterminal to match those settings, but when I tried to login again, it would not connect. Rebooting the switch "reset" it back to the default 9600 baud rate. This meant that flashing it with 6-7Mb of firmware took a reasonable length of time - ~3.5 hours. Something to keep in mind.
Hopefully someone else might find this helpful if they acquire similar switches which have been over-zeaously sanitised, and they don't know where to start.
3 Replies
Update: I've been able to connect with a (new) null-modem cable.
It appears that someone has been a little over-zealous when sanitising the switches. In effect, they've deleted the boot code, so the switches won't actually boot...I also believe that the operational code has been tampered with/deleted.
So, the question becomes, where do I source relevant boot code for the device, and how do I upload it (via XMODEM?). I'm guessing that once that is done and I can get it to boot, I "should" be able to apply the latest firmware to it, thus updating the operational code at the same time...?
Suggestions?
Last update:
I was able to successfully flash both switches with newer firmware, and now both will successfully boot/can be managed.
I stunbled across this guide https://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/2923-what-to-do-when-my-managed-switch-does-not-boot, which was quite helpful.
One point to note is that I could not get the switches to save settings when I tried to "up" the baud rate from the default 9600 to, say 38400. I would configure the switch (via the partially corrupted boot menu, option 2, I believe), and then disconnect/reconfigure hyperterminal to match those settings, but when I tried to login again, it would not connect. Rebooting the switch "reset" it back to the default 9600 baud rate. This meant that flashing it with 6-7Mb of firmware took a reasonable length of time - ~3.5 hours. Something to keep in mind.
Hopefully someone else might find this helpful if they acquire similar switches which have been over-zeaously sanitised, and they don't know where to start.
Hello biased99,
Thank you for this very useful information. I'm sure this will help other users if they experience the same issue. We encourage you to mark the appropriate post as the “Accepted Solution” so others can be confident in benefiting from the solution. The Netgear community looks forward to hearing from you and being a helpful resource in the future!
Thanks,
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