AP7900 - Switched Rack Power - Will Not Come Up

[Anonymous user]

Hello,

   I recently acuqired an AP7900 from one of our labs and am looking to start using it in a new test environment.

   I was able to determine the IP address (hold grey button for 5 secs), and log in via the web interface to change the IP address to the new subnet.

   After the change, I unplugged the unit, connected the new network cable, and powered it back up.

   It has been sitting > 10 mins now with the solid amber light on (warning); and on the Ethernet port, top light solid amber (100Mb - flickers sometime), bottom light flashing amber (status = x). 

   I tried a soft boot - reset ping for 1 sec - nothing happens.  I tried longer hold of the reset pin (30 sec) - nothing again.

   The grey button no longer give IP info; I am guessing the unit is in an odd state?

   I do not have a debug cable for the RJ-11 port; does anyone know where I can find the pin-out?

Any suggestions appreciated!

Thanks,

Dan. 

[Anonymous user]

Could try this:

http://www2.schneider-electric.com/sites/corporate/en/support/faq/faq_main.page?page=content&country...=en&id=FA198118&locale=en_US&redirect=true

[BillP]

Ok, so solid amber LED on the phase/bank indicator (that says OK, warning, overload next to it) is typically not good and means the display board has not initialized. This state should only last for maximum 30-45 seconds typically upon PDU boot up process.

I agree something is wrong now. The status LED (next to the checkmark and X) flashing amber means the PDU is doing bootP requests.  Holding the pinhole reset button won't do anything on this model.

I agree with tracking down the serial cable, part number 940-0144. It is a proprietary cable so I can't post the pinout here but I am sure it is out there somewhere if you search the part number.

If this unit somehow defaulted back to factory fresh, the PDU will do some DHCP requests, then switch to BOOTP (or if an older firmware, maybe just BOOTP). If you don't make/obtain the serial cable, you *could* try using our APC Device IP Configuration Wizard, available for download here (http://www.apc.com/tools/download/index.cfm) and do a direct connection (with a crossover cable if you need it) to the PDU's ethernet jack and search the peer to peer network you just made for unconfigured devices using the Device IP Config Wizard.

I would also power cycle the device again - meaning unplug it for 10 seconds and plug it back in and see if it boots up that display board. The flashing amber LED on the the ethernet jack seems to tell me that the management interface itself at least booted.

[Anonymous user]

Hi Angela,

   Just a quick update, I was able to track down the cable pin-out by searching 940-0144; combined with a RJ12 ~ DB9f adapter, I was able to build the cable and connect with no issues.

   After a factory default, the unit came back.

   I cannot get DHCP to work still; but am able to manually provision an IP address and access the unit.

Thank you for your help!

Dan.

[Terry_Kennedy_apc]

For DHCP, you have to set the unit to "cookie not required". I think it is under "advanced" once you set the boot mode to DHCP.

[BillP · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the update Dan. The most common issue with DHCP and these older style Rack PDUs is the fact that the Rack PDU is requiring DHCP option 43 to be configured on your DHCP server - which majority of people don't use or know what it is. You can disable that requirement through the serial interface if you want to give DHCP a go. You'd go to Network Menu->TCP/IP->(Make sure boot mode is set to DHCP)->2-Advanced Menu and look for DHCP Cookie: and select Not required to accept offer. Then log out by hitting Esc and selecting 4-Logout on the main menu. The PDU's management interface will reboot and take about 45 seconds to a minute and then likely your DHCP will work fine. That is only a one time thing you have to set (unless you reset to defaults again).

Hope that helps or gives you a little background on what could be the issue with DHCP.