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shoe
@109.228.154.x

shoe

Anon

[H/W] ASA 5510 won't boot (amber status, no power light)

Greetings,

Many google searches end up here, so here I am Great forum btw!
Just got my hands on a used 5510, but it won't boot up. Status lights are as follows:

Power: off
Status: amber
Active: amber
VPN: green
Flash: off

PSU: green

Fans are running OK. Console on 9600 8-N-1 is totally dead.

Here's what I've done so far: PSU "seems" OK, I have measured 12, 5, 3.3 and some odd 0.7 V on the blue wire I think. Dunno if that's what it's supposed to be. Would love to get this verified.

Replaced RAM - no change.
Replaced CPU (original 1.6GHz Celeron -> 2.4GHz Celeron) - no change

I also noticed there's a CRxxxx battery underneath the CF-slots, but the slot's soldered in place so I can't get to the lithium battery. But I could verify it's at 3.03V (correct??)

Would LOVE to get this 5510 up and running, my next step is to try to get my hands on a second PSU to verify it. If that doesn't make and difference I guess the mobo is dead and then I'll just give up and have a bonfire or something :/
cramer
Premium Member
join:2007-04-10
Raleigh, NC

cramer

Premium Member

You should see "Booting system, please wait... " and the power light go green almost immediately after power on. I suppose incompatible memory could hang it, but I don't recall them being very picky about memory.
HELLFIRE
MVM
join:2009-11-25

HELLFIRE to shoe

MVM

to shoe
Console has NO output, even before CPU and RAM was replaced? I'm wondering about a borked console port config myself --
you could try a couple different console settings to see.

Guessing this is an ebay jobie? Is the seller reputable? If so, could see what kind of warranty / return policy
they have. Offhand though, I suspect even TAC would advise you to RMA the whole thing.

My 00000010bits

Regards

shoe
@109.228.154.x

shoe

Anon

Thanks guys for your replies!
I've studied the comprehensive ASAS 5505-memory thread here on the fora, and there seem to be some issues with the rev's on the ASAs and the chips/timings on the mem modules indeed. My 5510 is rev 06. And the replacement module I tried yesterday was a Kingston KVR-something PC3200 which in some cases didn't work for other users.

So I picked up ten(!) sticks today from work, ranging from PC2100 up to 3200 all with different brands and timings, hoping that ONE of them would do the trick. But it seems that memory is not at fault here, since not a single one took me past the amber status light.

So my conclusion is a faulty PSU or in worst case the motherboard or firmware. If the BIOS/Firmware is fried, how would one go about troubleshooting this? Is there any way to reflash the on board firmware? The ROMMON or what it's called??

I guess I can kiss the license on this unit goodbye in that case too..
HELLFIRE
MVM
join:2009-11-25

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MVM

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If you mean this thread be aware that the 5505 and the 5510 are two COMPLETELY different beasts.

Far as I know, Cisco doesn't have any documentation about troubleshooting a faulty BIOS; as I mentioned before, they'd likely direct you
to get an RMA.

FYI, here's a link to Cisco's docs on the 5510 platform if you want to puruse it.

My 00000010bits

Regards

shoe
@88.131.56.x

shoe

Anon

Hi HELLFIRE,

thanks for your reply and the link. What docs exactly do you recommend there? What I'm mostly interested in at the moment is the voltage exact output of the PSU. Since that's my next best bet and I'd hate to waste $70 on one if that's not to problem.

Mine has all the 12V, 5V and 3.3V Ok, but there's one wire with .7V that I'm suspicious about. Also even after running for 5-10 minutes (still amber status) the CPU heatsink is dead cool to the touch, even with fans disconnected. The memory controller (Northbridge) gets warm though.

I also took an oscillioscope and looked at the 2.5V on the DIMM (one of the slots missing a socket, my V06 ASA only has 1 DIMM socket) and it looked steady and fine to the best of my knowledge.

So you can see I'm doing my best to get this bad boy running here
shoe

shoe

Anon

One more rather important thing that I would love to know that could verify if my PSU is borked or not - should all four fans be running on a default ASA 5510 or just the two covering the main board?

On mine the two leftmost fans (seen from behind the unit, the two covering the SSM expansion slot) only twitches when the system is powered on. Then stops.

If someone could verify this for me I would greatly appreciate it! Thanks!
HELLFIRE
MVM
join:2009-11-25

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MVM

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I'm just providing that as just general overall reference material. Unfortunately, I haven't seen anything about
voltages on a 5510, but I'm pretty sure all fans should be running on this puppy.

My 00000010bits

Regards
cramer
Premium Member
join:2007-04-10
Raleigh, NC
Westell 6100
Cisco PIX 501

cramer

Premium Member

At power on, yes, all fans should spin. After init ("bios"), it will turn off the 2 for the SSM, if there isn't one installed. His box isn't getting even that far.

Try to power it on with no RAM at all. It shouldn't get far enough to know it has fans.

shoe
@88.131.56.x

shoe

Anon

@cramer,

It behaves exactly the same with or without RAM installed. Rightmost fans at normal speed. The two on the left only twitches, then goes dead.

I'm suspecting the BIOS or entire logic board is dead here That really sucks, and the guy I picked the unit up from (nice guy!) claims he ran the unit two weeks ago! He even posted info about it in the ad! (Not ebay, it was a local Swedish board called Blocket.se)

*frustrated*
shoe

shoe

Anon

So IF the BIOS is fried. Is there any way to reflash it on the ASA? Is there an JTAG or anything similar on the board?

Bigzizzzle
Premium Member
join:2005-01-27
Beverly Hills, CA

Bigzizzzle to shoe

Premium Member

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Worth while Field notice to read about regarding your model ASA.

»www.cisco.com/c/en/us/su ··· 741.html

found via

»www.cisco.com/c/en/us/su ··· dNotices
cramer
Premium Member
join:2007-04-10
Raleigh, NC

1 edit

cramer

Premium Member

Highly unlikely as he's tried numerous memory modules.

Also, funny how cisco wants the entire SSM back, when it's DIMMs are just as easily replaced.