Network problem multiple AP7941 units

[Anonymous user]

Dear all,

We have several hundreds of the APC AP7941 running in our datacenter but with a few of them, we have network problems. When a cable is connected, nothing happens. Sometimes a quick led pops up but the switch and the APC console tells me that the link is down. All the broken APC's do the same.

I have opened one AP7941 and dissambled the network card unit but I can't find any replacements on the Internet. Is there anyone who knows a place where I can get this replacement? The part numbers are:

AP9517MS3 (main part number, I guess)

640-0802-A REV06

640-0917 REV01

I hope someone can help me out because it would be a waste of money to throw the APC's away because they are functioning very well through the console.

Thank you!

Regards,

Dirk

[Anonymous user]

Dear all,

We have several hundreds of the APC AP7941 running in our datacenter but with a few of them, we have network problems. When a cable is connected, nothing happens. Sometimes a quick led pops up but the switch and the APC console tells me that the link is down. All the broken APC's do the same.

I have opened one AP7941 and dissambled the network card unit but I can't find any replacements on the Internet. Is there anyone who knows a place where I can get this replacement? The part numbers are:

AP9517MS3 (main part number, I guess)

640-0802-A REV06

640-0917 REV01

I hope someone can help me out because it would be a waste of money to throw the APC's away because they are functioning very well through the console.

Thank you!

Regards,

Dirk

[BillP]

Hi Dirk,

The Network Management Cards in AP79XX (or AP78XX) are not field replaceable by the user. If you want to troubleshoot this issue further to see if there is anything we can try to reset them, I can assist you with that.

If interested, let me know what led to this condition, what you've done so far to troubleshoot. Can you serial into these PDUs? Which "LED pops up?" There is a status (with a checkmark next to it or an X) and a link LED (that says 10/100 next to it).

[Anonymous user]

Dear Angela,

Every broken unit was operating in our datacenter but stopped working at some time. If we looked into the console and switch, there was no link. So first the network interface on the unit is working and then suddenly it stops working. So maybe it is a microchip on the network interface that is from a bad revision? It can't be wrong firmware because some units were updated with the latest firmware and some with older firmware.

I have reset the units within the console with a complete reset including the IP settings. After the unit is rebooted, there is still no link. The green led pops up sometimes very quick and then turns off again.

I hope you can help me further, but I really think a new network interface is the only option as it is not software related.

Regards,

Dirk

[BillP]

Have you physically checked the pins on the jacks? Jiggled the cable maybe? This is not something we see often so I really don't think it is a "bad batch." I don't think I would also not blame firmware either for this type of problem.

Have you tried a crossover connection to any of them just for testing? I imagine you also did not have so many network cables "go bad." The other idea I had was via a console cable connection in the network menu->TCP/IP, does the device show a valid MAC address still?

The bottom line is on these models, the network management module is not field replaceable. If it's out of warranty though, you can pursue it on your own but you could run into issues since its not designed to be user replaceable. 

[BillP]

Even if we did, we could not provide them. I also forgot, if you swap the NMCs in these anyway, it requires reprogramming that is normally done at the factory so you're PDU would not display the correct model/serial number through the interface.

The AP8941 replacement for now discontinued AP7941 does have a field replaceable module now that is available as a spare part to eliminate having to replace the entire unit.

[Anonymous user · Accepted solution]

Ok, well, nothing to do about it then! We will go for the AP8941 once our AP7941 stock is finished.

Thanks for the help!