CISCO 2950 Monitor port 6

[annoyed009]

hello,
I recently purchased a 2950
I have the proper cable, crossover Rj45, and an rj45 to serial adapter.
I have both windows and linux installed on my computer.
and the serial port is hardware, properly installed.

No matter what i've tried I can not connect using the monitor port. I dont get anything, just blank screen.
I read on some forums that it might not be refreshing output, and that if i restarted the switch, while connected, i should be able 2 see some output. that didn't work.
I have opened the switch up and the circuit seems Ok. I have an electricians circuit tester, and it shows complete circuit (1 to 1, 2 to 2.... ) .

When I plugin to , or reboot the switch, my sniffer programs, show 0x00 as output from the switch received on my serial port.
however no other output shown, no matter what i type.

I have tried minicom, cutecom, hyperterminal, and putty.

the cable is OK. the connections on the adapter, match what cisco's website shows.

I've tried resetting the switch (shut down, hold down the mode button, and restart) .. it blinks, but again no output except the Original 0x00.

I've ordered a serial to USB converter. However I am wondering if there is anything that you guys might have come across that I can try .

the guy that sold the switch to me, says the monitor port worked before he shipped it. and my basic test shows the connections are still OK...

any advice, help, pointers, will be appreciated.

I am getting fairly frustrated.

 

[lerdalt]

Not that I'm doubting you ability on the cable, but I've tried making my own as well and have had poor luck making one actually work properly. I would suggest picking up a roll-over cable off of ebay, or see if you can find someone that has one you can borrow.

I'd also check out the 172.16.0.0/16 subnet to see if anything comes back from that net as well. Of course, finding if the switch has an ip is only half the battle. You still would have to know the user/password to get in. But maybe you could get lucky and it would have private as the snmp string so you could push a new password to it, or at least clear out the config.

 

[burtsbees]

Well, my point in seeing if it had an IP address was to see if the switch was indeed alive...

Do the port lights turn off, one by one, or do they all stay green? Do all the STAT, UTIL and the other light blink all the time?

Burt

 

[annoyed009]

So... going to suck it up and admit that the serial port was not installed correctly to the mobo ..
hence the NULL messages. and the random hex from time to time.
upon proper installation all is now working.

thank you for ur help Burt and Lerdalt.

this was a learning experience for me...

cheers,
i guess beer and trouble shooting really works

 

[burtsbees]

Good for you---you almost made us grow gray hairs thinking that it was something other than the serial connection!

Burt

 

[lerdalt]

Way to go. I think it ended up a learning experience for us too.