APC UPS (INC2199979) No communicating network setup

[DavidGro]

Good Day

I trust you are well

Please can you assist us, we have two units that are not communicating with our client network and when we investigated we could not see any setting on the LCD console indicating network setup. We did find a USB to micro USB cable which we tried and connected to the port labelled console and we tried the APC PowerChute it did not find the UPS, but in fact, it powered down the unit. Do you have a cable and app that we can use to configure the client UPS without disruption?

Serial numbers

AS2114271742

AS2114271711

Regards

Dave

[Teken]

Without knowing the specific model APC UPS the following information and reply will be very generalized. 

Smaller consumer (APC Backups) are connected to a computer system using a proprietary APC USB to RJ50 Serial cable.

Using anything besides this proprietary cable will shut the unit down immediately! ☝️

Newer models use a standard USB cable to connect to Power Chute Personal / Business to a computer system.

The larger enterprise Smart-UPS can communicate using the back USB, Serial ports. The USB port is to connect to a server (computer) so it can use Power Chute Network Shutdown.

The RJ50 port is the Serial Console port used to access, configure, and manage the system.

If the unit has a Smart Slot and a NMC (Network Management Card) was installed the unit can be connected to the network easily via a standard RJ45 Ethernet cable. The NMC incorporates a built in web, SSH, Telnet, FTP, SNMP, SMTP, BACnet, features and more etc. 

Provide the specific model APC UPS and a photo of the front / back of the unit. Please insure you verify the image can be seen on the APC forum! 

Otherwise all we see is a big X box. 🤦‍♂️☹️ 

[DavidGro]

Hi Teken

I will send you those pictures and serial numbers after May the19th as we are not near the client at the moment.

Also the area is a bit hard to get to but will update you as soon as I can

Regards

Dave

[DavidGro]

Hi Teken

I have managed to get those pictures as requested

Unit 1 only could get the front

Unit 2 both front and back

Thank you

[Teken]

The first thing is to verify when the Ethernet cable is connected to the NMC there is activity seen on the green / orange LED.

If there is (No ) activity you’ll need to identify the root cause. If there is activity on the two LED’s on the NMC. Go to the LCD on the unit and confirm there are network attributes present such as IP Address, Subnet, Gateway.

Obviously if the unit is assigned a Static IP Address and different subnet / gateway you won’t be able to access or connect to the NMC until you change those parameters or use a laptop with a cross over cable to connect directly to the NMC to make the required changes.

If we just assume everything is fine in the network infrastructure and you want to quickly get to a known good state.

You can always press the reset button on the NMC and hold it for 20 seconds. This will format the NMC and default it to a out of the box OEM state and enable DHCP.

[DavidGro]

Hi Teken

Did checked the LED display for the Network menu but none can be found, does this mean the Nic control card is faulty or something else?

Thank you

[Teken]

Hi Dave,

What happened when you followed the steps I outlined up above?!?

[DavidGro]

The first thing is to verify when the Ethernet cable is connected to the NMC there is activity seen on the green / orange LED. - no light as you can see in the pictures I sent

Go to the LCD on the unit - no network menu on the LED display

Still getting a cross over cable.. also we don't know the default factory IP as we don't have access to this..

 The ports on the switch that the UPS's are connected too, have been checked and are working.

[Teken]

I would back up a little bit and stick with some basics right now. Connect the UPS to a computer that is running Power Chute Business Edition / Power Chute Serial. Doing so will achieve a few things as it relates to what available settings are there / enabled.

Cross Over: Most computers today will auto negotiate a straight through ethernet cable. If it doesn't you have a cross over cable enroute so can try that later. Keep in mind all of this is predicated on the fact the NMC has been assigned an IP Address, Subnet, Gateway.

LCD: Go to the LCD and select the configuration tab. Ensure the (Advanced) view is enabled as this will offer more features and options than in the (Basic) view. Once the Advanced view has been enabled scroll through the Status / About. It should indicate the network attributes currently defined along with the model NMC, Firmware, etc.

Format: As noted formatting the NMC to a factory state will erase all previous settings and login credentials. The most important aspect is it will enable DHCP on the NMC. Press and hold the reset button on the NMC until you see the (Right Side) LED turn (Orange) than release. That same (Right Side) LED on the NMC will begin to blink rapidly alternating from green / orange. Once the format process has been completed the LED will go out and may resume to a green color.

At this point insert a known good Ethernet cable and connect it to the switch.

The switch should indicate the connection, IP Address, etc. There should be activity on both the NMC and the Switch port at this time. 

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NOTE: It goes without saying if this business environment follows any kind of security best practices such as Port Security, Authentication, 802.1X, Radius, the NMC will never ever be allowed to connect until such time as it has been so configured! ☝️

This is why formatting the NMC to a good known factory state is essential. Than, connect it to a simple network with no firewall, authentication, port security, etc. The NMC must be able to obtain a DHCP Lease from a router, firewall, DHCP Server, etc. 

Just bring a cheap router and make your own LAN . . . 👍