Please Help!!! MSX6036F-1SFR Garbled or weird characters using console port

Infrastructure & Networking Switches and Gateways InfiniBand/VPI Switch Systems
1

Hi group,

I recently purchased a Mellanox MSX 6036 from a local company that is upgrading their hardware… I’ve tried using HyperTerminal and Putty with the com port set to 9600 baud and get very strange character showing up randomly… Another issue is when at the command line prompt the characters don’t always echo back, say I type in “enable”, usually I’ll get “nbl” echoed back or even less. Another issue is MGMT CPU_BOARD_MONITOR2 is displaying 57 C when all the other modules are displaying 30 C or less for temps… When I login on the web browser everything seems to work ok… Is something wrong with the unit or what? Below is a sample of what is displayed…

CPU: AMCC PowerPC 460EX Rev. B at 1000 MHz (PLB=166, OPB=83, EBC=83 MHz)

Security/Kasumi support

Bootstrap Option H - Boot ROM Location I2C (Addr 0x52)

Internal PCI arbiter disabled

32 kB I-Cache 32 kB D-Cache

Board: Mellanox PPC460EX Board

FDEF: J é ready

DRAM: ECC generatio 2 GB (ECC enabled, 333 MHz, CL3)

FLASH: 16 MB

PCI: Bus Dev VenId DevId Class Int

PCIE0: link is not up.

�root-complex

01 00 15b3 c738 0c06 00

, ppc_4xx_eth1•�settings from EEPROM

T–VÕ±Ñ�image: ‘PPC_M460EX 3.6.1002 2016-06-09 20:24:26 ppc’

Press Enter to boot this image, or ‘Ctrl B’ for boot menu

Booting default image in: 0

,WëË

}5Ñ60EX 3.6.1002 2016-06-09 20:24:26 ppc’

½½Ñ¥¹�ÿ

: PPC_M460EX 3.6.1002 2016-06-09 20:24:26 ppc

Starting udev: Setting clock (utc): Sat Feb 18 05:16:13 UTC 2017 [ OK ]

Setting hostname localhost: [ OK ]

Checking filesystems

Checking all file systems.

[ OK ]

Remounting root filesystem in read-write mode: [ OK ]

ë�local filesystems: [ OK ]

Running vpart script: [ OK ]

Applying file system skeletons:X®Öe…Éÿonfig .

×WÁÍé [ OK ]

INIT: Entering runlevel: 3

Starting system services

Starting sx_low_level_if: Starting sx_low_level_if:

Loading i2c_mux_pca954x - Success

Loading sx_glue_if ס‘½�� - Success

Loading cpld_handler - Success

Loading mellaggra_mod [ OK ]

Starting openibd: ZË

2½É�embedded system

Ë•Éé[ OK ]

BTW none of these weird characters show up when using the console port on any of my other switches ( So I’m sure it’s not my hardware causing problems )… While the switch seems functional at this point, just don’t want to be stuck with a boat anchor and would like to know if under the circumstances if I should just return the switch…

Thanks in advance…

Rob

2

P.S. I am still suspecting that the (Cisco) console cable you are using is causing your console issues. I’ve run into something similar with another user.

3

Are you using the console cable provided by Mellanox with this unit? (not all console cables shares the same pinout)

Did you try to connect to the box over the LAN (SSH)?

Beyond that, i can’t think of anything else but HW problem.

In case you don’t have the original console cable, here is the pinout schema. you can create your own cable:

713×872 68.2 KB

4

Based on the speed test you described (with limited info), i wouldn’t jump into conclusions about the switch itself.

The switch you have 56G InfiniBand ports or 40/56G Eth. ports (depends on the license you have and the configuration).

The cable you are using will limit you to 40G max:

http://www.mellanox.com/related-docs/prod_cables/PB_40GbE_Passive_Copper_Cables.pdf http://www.mellanox.com/related-docs/prod_cables/PB_40GbE_Passive_Copper_Cables.pdf

So in theory, you should be passing the 80G if you aggregate ports.

  • You didn’t mention elements like:

  • what are you measuring with? (Describe your test)

  • InfiniBand? Ethernet?

  • what OS and driver installed on the servers?

5

Hi yairi,

The console cable I have is for a cisco switch, but I’ve rung the cable out and the connections are exactly the same as the schematic you posted… The switch will connect via the web browser via the management port and seems to communicate fine, but when the switch is connected to my server via the Mellanox MCX354A-FCBT and 2 Mellanox MC2210130-002 cables even while both ports are teamed the connection speed only shows 36 Gb when I should be displaying around 100 Gb or better… So yes I do believe there is a hardware problem with the switch…

6

Refer to the HW manual of the switch (located on Mellanox.com) and make sure you configure the console port as needed (RS232).

Ophir.

7

set your console connection with the following:

Baud rate: 9600

Data Bit: 8

Stop Bit: 1

Parity: None

Flow Control: None

8

Hi,

I’ve configured the com port as follows:

Baud rate: 9600

Data Bit: 8

Stop Bit: 1

Parity: None

Flow Control: None

But still have the same problem… The characters are so garbled or weird that it makes it impossible to use CLI through the console port to configure anything… Is it possible the firmware image is corrupt and causing this? I was told the unit was upgraded to the latest version 3.6.1002