Salvaged some "junk" today

JSK

Came home with some routers and switches that were being discarded at work.

2 x 2514 routers (couldn't remember which models were AS so I took a chance)

4 x 2650 routers (already own a 2650XM so I should be good to go)

1 x 3512-xl-en switch (I had no switches and this seemed better than the 2900XLs laying around)

1 x 3550-48-smi (I knew this was a gem. Didn't hesitate to grab it)

1 x 3550-24-fx-smi (Another gem but now I need to figure out what to do with it)


I don't know how it's all going to tie together. (or if it even works) But I'm going to have to invest in some WICs, GBICs and cabling to get it up and running. Definately not complaining though.

notgoing2fail

Very cool and luck you....

As time goes by, you will be able figure out how to use them approriately...

The 3550's are definitley gems....

JSK

notgoing2fail wrote: »

Very cool and luck you....

As time goes by, you will be able figure out how to use them approriately...

The 3550's are definitley gems....

Yes, I definately got lucky. I will have some extra $$$ in my paycheck on Friday and had been looking on eBay for my next purchase. Now it looks like that purchase is going to be a rack.

I might take the 2514s back tomorrow and go through the rest of the pile. There might be some more 3550's buried in there. And I'll have to take a screwdriver to snag some sets of rack ears and any WIC cards that I might find. I only saw ISDN WIC cards though.

notgoing2fail

JSK wrote: »

Yes, I definately got lucky. I will have some extra $$$ in my paycheck on Friday and had been looking on eBay for my next purchase. Now it looks like that purchase is going to be a rack.

I might take the 2514s back tomorrow and go through the rest of the pile. There might be some more 3550's buried in there. And I'll have to take a screwdriver to snag some sets of rack ears and any WIC cards that I might find. I only saw ISDN WIC cards though.

Why not snag everything?

JSK

notgoing2fail wrote: »

Why not snag everything?

lol, that is what everyone kept telling me. Just take it all! But there is a lot of equipment. Probably another 10-15 routers, 8-10 switches, hubs, firewalls, servers, etc. I even saw an old catalyst chassis with switch modules.

I'm sure it would fetch a few $$$ on ebay but I'd feel really uncomfortable reselling company equipment.

alan2308

notgoing2fail wrote: »

Why not snag everything?

No kidding. Use what you can and sell the rest to finance upgrades.



And JSK, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but from an IOS stand point, that 3500XL is identical to the 2900XL. Its faster, but the feature set is identical.

chmorin

JSK wrote: »

lol, that is what everyone kept telling me. Just take it all! But there is a lot of equipment. Probably another 10-15 routers, 8-10 switches, hubs, firewalls, servers, etc. I even saw an old catalyst chassis with switch modules.

I'm sure it would fetch a few $$$ on ebay but I'd feel really uncomfortable reselling company equipment.

Hook a forum member up

Cyanic

Sweet, I would have loaded up the truck. If there are more 3550s, I would go back and get them.

JSK

alan2308 wrote: »

And JSK, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but from an IOS stand point, that 3500XL is identical to the 2900XL. Its faster, but the feature set is identical.

Bummer, I had been hoping it was a step above. I'll find some use for it even if it is only temporary.

alan2308

JSK wrote: »

I'm sure it would fetch a few $$$ on ebay but I'd feel really uncomfortable reselling company equipment.

Then don't think of it as "reselling", think of it as "trading up." Seriously. The WIC's and cables have a way of nickel and diming you to death.

Paul Boz

Good job being ethical and only taking what you need. I'd definitely see if there are any more L3 switches, as those will seriously benefit you in the long run. I'd bring back the 2500 series routers because I don't think they'll help you much.

notgoing2fail

alan2308 wrote: »

Then don't think of it as "reselling", think of it as "trading up." Seriously. The WIC's and cables have a way of nickel and diming you to death.

And those "ears" don't forget some cost a lot...

Like my 1811's ears are about $30 out there...

tiersten

JSK wrote: »

or if it even works

If it doesn't work then you'll get some valuable experience in troubleshooting. If there are enough of a single item then you may be able to get 1 working unit out of a pile of broken units.

JSK

Well, it looks like I struck out on the 3550-48 switch. It powers on with blinking green LED but then goes to a solid amber with the amber light turned on above port 1. I'm guessing this is is a POST failure and probably means the switch is hosed.

JockVSJock

JSK wrote: »

Came home with some routers and switches that were being discarded at work.

I'm curious, were these "scrubbed," meaning a default IOS or does it still have the latest settings before being decommission?

JSK

JockVSJock wrote: »

I'm curious, were these "scrubbed," meaning a default IOS or does it still have the latest settings before being decommission?

I'm not totally sure. So far I only tried to power on a 3550 and it looks like that unit is toast. I haven't checked any other devices yet. They might all be bricks.

alan2308

notgoing2fail wrote: »

And those "ears" don't forget some cost a lot...

Like my 1811's ears are about $30 out there...

Buy the ears, but save on the rack

LackRack - Eth0Wiki

Edit - And stop exagerating, they're only $24.95 on cablesandkits.com

peanutnoggin

JSK wrote: »

I'm not totally sure. So far I only tried to power on a 3550 and it looks like that unit is toast. I haven't checked any other devices yet. They might all be bricks.

What do you mean toast... the switch may be salvagable. Try posting some of the errors you're getting. It may just be a power supply in which you could replace.

JSK

peanutnoggin wrote: »

What do you mean toast... the switch may be salvagable. Try posting some of the errors you're getting. It may just be a power supply in which you could replace.

Ok, well by toast I mean that I plug in the switch. The power supply seams to work. The fan powers up and the green, blinking system LED starts. All port lights are green.

After about 15 seconds the system LED turns solid amber and so does the LED above port #1. All other LEDs are green.

I get no output from the console port. No further activity from the switch.

On a side note, I've now powered on the other 3550 (fiber model) and the 3512xl and both of those work fine. I also powered up both 2514's and each of the 2650 routers and they all booted as well.

Unfortunately the one device I was most excited about is giving me the problem. lol


**EDIT ** I should add that I tried to follow Cisco's instructions for the 3550 recovery. I unplugged the switch, held down the mode button and plugged the switch back in. I kept the mode button held down for the entire time but still received the same amber light.

JSK

Ok, this is weird but I was able to get the 3550 to boot up error free. After I had finish testing the other routers/switches I was putting everything away. I was unplugging the power cord and realized that I had it plugged into my power strip. For the hell of it I plugged it directly into the wall and fired up the 3550. It booted right up without batting an eyelash.

Life is good now. Balance has been restored to the force.

tiersten

JSK wrote: »

Ok, this is weird but I was able to get the 3550 to boot up error free. After I had finish testing the other routers/switches I was putting everything away. I was unplugging the power cord and realized that I had it plugged into my power strip. For the hell of it I plugged it directly into the wall and fired up the 3550. It booted right up without batting an eyelash.

Life is good now. Balance has been restored to the force.

That shouldn't affect anything unless your power strip is defective in some way which would also cause every other device plugged into it to malfunction. There is probably still something wrong with the 3550 but it is intermittent or only affects it during specific times like when it is cold.

JSK

tiersten wrote: »

That shouldn't affect anything unless your power strip is defective in some way which would also cause every other device plugged into it to malfunction. There is probably still something wrong with the 3550 but it is intermittent or only affects it during specific times like when it is cold.

Yes, I believe you are correct. After booting successfully I attempted a reboot and the switch gave the amber LED error again.

JSK

This 3550 definately has a problem that seems to be heat related. I disconnected and put it back in my basement. It's pretty cool down there since the AC is running. After about 20 min I can plug in the switch and it will boot. It seemed to work just fine as long as it was running. But once I issued the command to reboot I got the amber LED error yet again.

notgoing2fail

JSK wrote: »

This 3550 definately has a problem that seems to be heat related. I disconnected and put it back in my basement. It's pretty cool down there since the AC is running. After about 20 min I can plug in the switch and it will boot. It seemed to work just fine as long as it was running. But once I issued the command to reboot I got the amber LED error yet again.

Maybe it's just a bad fan?

JSK

notgoing2fail wrote: »

Maybe it's just a bad fan?

It's possible. I can tell that the fan is operating. However I do not know if it is operating properly. Assuming parts are identical I supposed I could swap fans with the 3550-24-FX to see if there is any difference in behavior. I'm not sure I want to risk it though.

peanutnoggin

Well... the best part about it all is... it was free!! So if it works then great, if not, oh well... no money lost out of your pocket!!!

mgeorge

pop open the case on the troubled 3550 and ensure that the heatsinks are all properly seated on the ASIC's and processor. Check for bad resistors (visually and with a multi-meter if possible) in the power supply as bad resistors will fail to operate properly under different temp conditions.

Nice score though. I agree with everyone else, grab everything you possibly can and eBay it (if you're allowed) to build a nicer lab.

JSK

I returned the 2514's today since I have no planned use for them. I picked up 2 more 2650's though. I plan to use of of them as an access server once I get a module and octal cable.

Also snagged 4 ATM 1A-T3 modules and 2 WIC-T1-CSU/DSU modules. Plus a few sets of rack mount ears. Didn't really see much else left that might be useful. There are a dozen 2610s and 10 2900XL switches.

They received in 2 pallets of Cisco 1900 switches today. I was told that they will be pulling more old equipment as the new switches get deployed. I'll have to keep my eyes open for any more 3550s.

tiersten

JSK wrote: »

They received in 2 pallets of Cisco 1900 switches today.

Catalyst 1900s are boat anchors in terms of usefulness for any Cisco certification. They're fine as a generic switch but they don't run IOS at all and the enterprise version of the software just has an IOS like interface.

tiersten

mgeorge wrote: »

Check for bad resistors (visually and with a multi-meter if possible) in the power supply as bad resistors will fail to operate properly under different temp conditions.

If you don't know what you're doing and aren't 100% sure of yourself then don't mess around in the PSU.

Kaminsky

Awsome you get first dibbs on this stuff. Keep going. You can have too many switches but you can never have too many routers as long as they are upto 12.4T ios spec.

Today I got a pre birthday present from work from a large decom that was going on purely by a chance conversation in the smoking shelter about equipment that would be good if it didn't end up on the lorry going to the recycling centre..

2 x 3550-12T hardware layer 3 switches. I am absolutely over the moon as, except for a few routers I am sure I can squeeze in somewhere, my lab is complete.

Last year I pulled out of the skip
2 x 3750 routers
3 x 3550 48 smi switches
IP350 firewall
bigip f5 load balancer

I have added another 4 smaller routers since then all capable of 12.4T ios. That'll keep me going for a long while.

Keep grabbing it when it is offered and get a skele rack if you can.

PS: be carefull not to blow up your house's fuse box