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Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting

The two useful sources of information about switch operation are the LEDs on the front panel and the statistics available from the web interface, command-line interface, or SNMP workstation. The LEDs indicate POST failures, port-connectivity problems, and overall performance of the switch. The statistics list errors by port that can be used to troubleshoot typical switch problems. See the "LEDs" section in the "Introduction" chapter for a full description of the switch LEDs.

This chapter discusses troubleshooting problems with the following topics:

Understanding POST Results

The POST is composed of eight tests that run each time the switch is powered on. These tests check the most important system components before the switch begins forwarding packets. The "Reading POST Results" section in the "Installation" chapter describes how to read a POST failure.

Table 7-1 lists the eight POST tests and their associated LEDs.


Note POST failures are usually fatal. Call Cisco Systems if your switch is unable to pass POST, or refer to the section "Recovery Procedures" in this chapter.

Table  7-1: POST Test Descriptions
Switch LED Component Tested
LED 1x DRAM
LED 2x Flash memory
LED 3x Switch CPU
LED 4x System board
LED 5x CPU interface ASIC
LED 6x Switch core ASIC
LED 7x Ethernet controller ASIC
LED 8x Ethernet interfaces

Diagnosing Problems

Common switch problems fall into the following categories:


Table  7-2: Common Problems and Their Solutions
Symptom Possible Cause Resolution
Poor Performance or Excessive Errors Autonegotiation mismatch See the "Identifying an Autonegotiation Mismatch" section in this chapter.
Cabling Distance Exceeded

Port statistics show excessive frame check sequence (FCS), late-collision, or alignment errors. For 100BaseTX connections:

  • The distance between the port and the attached device exceeds 100 meters.

Reduce the cable length to within the recommended distances.

  • If attached to a repeater, the total distance between the two end stations exceeds the 100BaseT cabling guidelines.

See your 100BaseT repeater documentation for cabling guidelines.

For 10BaseT connections: The distance between the port and the attached device exceeds 100 meters. Reduce the cable length to within the recommended distances
Bad Adapter in Attached Device

Excessive errors found in port statistics.

Run adapter card diagnostic utility.

No Connectivity

Incorrect or Bad Cable

The following are indicated by no link at both ends:

  • A cross-over cable was used when a straight-through was required, or vice-versa.

  • The cable is wired incorrectly.

See the "Crossover and Straight-Through Cable Pinouts" section in the "Technical Specifications" appendix for the correct pinouts and the proper application of cross-over vs. straight-through cables.

No Connectivity Bad cable Replace with a tested good cable.
System LED is amber, and all port LEDs are off. Switch is not responding due to corrupted firmware. Attach a monitor to the serial port to display the switch boot loader. See the "Recovering from Corrupted Software" section of this chapter for software upgrade instructions.
Expansion slot LED is amber. Module is not seated in the expansion slot.

Switch software might not support module functionality.

Tighten the thumb screws on the module front panel.

See the Release Notes for the Catalyst 2900 Series XL Modules for the latest information.

Unreadable characters on the management console. Incorrect baud rate. Reset the emulation software to
9600 baud.

Autonegotiation Mismatches

The IEEE 802.3u autonegotiation protocol manages the switch settings for speed (10 Mbps or 100 Mbps) and duplex (half or full). There are situations when this protocol can incorrectly align these settings, reducing performance. A mismatch occurs when:

To maximize switch performance and ensure a link, follow these guidelines when changing the settings for duplex and speed:

or

Identifying an Autonegotiation Mismatch

An autonegotiation mismatch of the duplex setting can reduce performance or cause no link. You can identify a duplex mismatch by checking the port statistics for the following errors:

Follow these steps to determine if slow performance is caused by autonegotiation:


Note This procedure requires some knowledge of the Cisco IOS command-line interface. See the "Cisco IOS Management" chapter for an introduction to this interface.

Step 1 Connect a PC with emulation software to the switch console port or display the command-line interface by using Telnet.

Step 2 Display the command-line interface.

Step 3 Enter the enable command to enter EXEC command mode:

Switch> enable


The switch enters EXEC command mode.


Step 4 Enter the show controllers ethernet-controller command, identifying one of the connected ports:

Switch# show controllers ethernet-controller fa0/4


Transmit                           Receive
26869777 Bytes                   402753236 Bytes
      460 Unicast frames                  1 Unicast frames
     45408 Multicast frames           198165 Multicast frames
     12207 Broadcast frames                0 Broadcast frames
         Discarded frames                0 No bandwidth frames
         Too old frames                  0 No buffers frames
         Deferred frames                 0 No dest, unicast
       0 1 collision frames             0 No dest, multicast
       0 2 collision frames             0 No dest, broadcast
       0 3 collision frames             1 Alignment errors
       0 4 collision frames             0 FCS errors
       0 5 collision frames             0 Collision fragments
       0 6 collision frames
       0 7 collision frames             0 Undersize frames
       0 8 collision frames        198166 Minimum size frames
       0 9 collision frames              65 to 127 byte frames
       0 10 collision frames             28 to 255 byte frames
       0 11 collision frames             256 to 511 byte frames
       0 12 collision frames             512 to 1023 byte frames
       0 13 collision frames             1024 to 1518 byte frames
       0 14 collision frames             0 Oversize frames
       0 15 collision frames
       0 16 Excessive collisions
         1102 Late collisions

Note the high number of late collisions. According to the guidelines, late collisions could be a half-duplex port trying to communicate with a full-duplex port.


Step 5 Enter the show interface command to check the duplex setting of the port:

Switch# show interface fa0/4


FastEthernet0/4 is up, line protocol is up
  Hardware is Fast Ethernet, address is 0eef.4e19.31ea (bia e002.320a.1102)
  MTU 1500 bytes, BW 10000 Kbit, DLY 1000 usec, rely 255/255, load 1/255
  Encapsulation ARPA, loopback not set, keepalive not set
  Half-duplex, 100Mb/s, 100BaseTX/FX
  ARP type: ARPA, ARP Timeout 04:00:00
  Last input 4d16h, output 00:00:00, output hang never
  Last clearing of "show interface" counters never
  Queueing strategy: fifo
  Output queue 0/40, 0 ...


The port is transmitting and receiving in half duplex.


Step 6 Use Telnet to log in to the switch that contains the port this port is connected to.

Step 7 If the other switch is a Catalyst 2900 series switch, you can enter the show interface command for the connected port:

Switch# show interface fa0/8


FastEthernet0/8 is up, line protocol is up
  Hardware is Fast Ethernet, address is 00e0.1e69.22c8 (bia 00e0.1e69.22c8)
  MTU 1500 bytes, BW 100000 Kbit, DLY 100 usec, rely 255/255, load 1/255
  Encapsulation ARPA, loopback not set, keepalive not set
  Full-duplex, 100Mb/s, 100BaseTX/FX
  ARP type: ARPA, ARP Timeout 04:00:00
  Last input 00:00:00, output 00:00:18, output hang never
  Last clearing of "show interface" counters never
  Queueing strategy: fifo
  Output queue 0/40, 0 drops; input queue 0/75, 0 drops
  5 minute input rate 1237000 bits/sec, 34 packets/sec
  5 minute output rate 0 bits/sec, 0 packets/sec ...


Step 8 The connected port is operating in full duplex, and the other end of the connection is operating in half duplex. Confirm the mismatch by checking this port for FCS errors. Enter the show controllers ethernet-controller command for the port:

Switch# show controllers ethernet-controller fa0/8


Transmit                           Receive
   2698618 Bytes                    46540972 Bytes
      2065 Unicast frames              15305 Unicast frames
      7497 Multicast frames          2116545 Multicast frames
        23 Broadcast frames          1722720 Broadcast frames
         0 Discarded frames                0 No bandwidth frames
         0 Too old frames                  0 No buffers frames
         0 Deferred frames             12826 No dest, unicast
         0  1 collision frames        225729 No dest, multicast
         0  2 collision frames            17 No dest, broadcast
         0  3 collision frames             0 Alignment errors
         0  4 collision frames             2245 FCS errors
         0  5 collision frames             0 Collision fragments
         0  6 collision frames
         0  7 collision frames             0 Undersize frames
         0  8 collision frames       1800540 Minimum size frames
         0  9 collision frames        263844 65 to 127 byte frames ...

Step 9 The duplex settings for these ports do not match. Use the command-line interface or the web-based Switch Manager to match the settings for the duplex and speed parameters. The "Port Management" section in the "Web-Based Management" chapter describes how to change these parameters with Switch Manager.


Note When you change the duplex parameters, ensure that both speed and duplex settings match. There should be no autonegotiating enabled on either port.

Recovery Procedures

The recovery procedures in this section require that you have physical access to the switch.

Recovering from Corrupted Software

Switch software can be corrupted during a download from CCO, and it is possible to download the wrong file. In both cases, the switch does not pass POST, and there is no connectivity.

The following procedure uses XMODEM to recover from a corrupt or mistaken image file. This procedure is largely dependent on the emulation software you are using.

Step 1 Connect a PC with emulation software to the console port.

Step 2 Set the line speed on the emulation software to 9600 baud.

Step 3 Go to the switch, and unplug the power cord from the back of the switch.

Step 4 Press and hold in the Mode button, and at the same time, reconnect the power cord to the switch. You can release the Mode button a second or two after the LED above port 1x goes off. The following message appears:

Image not found


Step 5 Although the switch did not boot, you can still use the boot loader to enter commands. Enter the following command:

switch> copy xmodem: flash:image_filename


Step 6 When the XMODEM request appears, use the appropriate command to start the transfer.

Recovering from a Lost or Forgotten Password

Follow the steps in this procedure if you have forgotten or lost the switch password. You need physical access to the switch to perform this procedure.

Step 1 Connect a PC or terminal with emulation software to the console port on the back of the switch. See the "Connecting a Terminal or PC to the Console Port" section in the "Installation" chapter for more information.

Step 2 Set the line speed on the emulation software to 9600 baud.

Step 3 Go the switch, and unplug the power cord from the back of the switch.

Step 4 Hold down the Mode button, and at the same time reconnect the power cord to the switch. You can release the Mode button a second or two after the LED above port 1x goes off.

The following instructions appear:


The system has been interrupted prior to initializing the flash file system. The following commands will initialize the flash file system, and finish loading the operating system software:
flash_init
load_helper
boot

Step 5 Enter the command:

flash_init


Step 6 If you had set the line speed for the console port to anything other than 9600, it has been reset to that speed. Change the line speed on your emulation software to match that of the switch.

Step 7 Enter the command:

load_helper


Step 8 Enter the command:

dir flash:


The switch file system is displayed:


Directory of flash:
  2  -rwx      843947   Mar 01 1993 00:02:18  C2900XL-h-mz-112.8-SA
  4  drwx        3776   Mar 01 1993 01:23:24  html
 66  -rwx         130   Jan 01 1970 00:01:19  env_vars
 68  -rwx        1296   Mar 01 1993 06:55:51  config.text
1728000 bytes total (456704 bytes free)

Step 9 Rename the configuration file as config.text. This file contains the password definition. Enter the command:

flash:config.text flash:config.old


Step 10 Now boot the system with the command:

boot


You are prompted to start the Setup program. Enter N at the prompt:


Continue with the configuration dialog? [yes/no]: N


Step 11 At the switch prompt, enter en (enable):

switch> en


Step 12 Rename the configuration file with its original name with the command:

switch# rename flash:config.old flash:config.text


Step 13 Copy the configuration file into memory with the command:

switch# copy flash:config.text system:running-config
Source filename [config.text]?
Destination filename [running-config]?


Press Return in response to the confirmation prompts.


Step 14 The configuration file is now reloaded, and you can use the normal commands to change the password. Enter the command to change to configuration mode:

switch# config terminal


Step 15 Enter the command to change the password:

switch(config)# enable password string


where string is the password.


Step 16 Write the running configuration to the configuration file with the command:

switch(config)# write mem


The new password is now included in the startup configuration.

Upgrading Software

New Catalyst 2900 series software releases can be downloaded from Cisco Connection Online, Cisco Systems customer web site available at the following URLs:

http://www.cisco.com

http://www-china.cisco.com

http://www-europe.cisco.com

From the CCO home page, select Service and Support. On the next page, select Software Library and then Switching Products. Find the Catalyst 2900 series heading, and select it to display the available software images.


Note You might need to register to download new images.

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