Cannot access PA-200 via Console

[mfkoko]

Greetings all,  I have a PA-200, there it was previously configured and it was stored for long time, we wanted to reuse it, however, I cannot access it via console, when I connect to it nothing there in Putty just black screen. here is what I have: Console cable connected to USB-Serial( Iam sure the cable and adaptor works fine, I tested it with Cisco switch) PA Powered on fine. Power light is green. FAN light is green. TEMP light is green. STATUS light is green. HA & ALARM there is no lights. Any idea how I can access it ? I don't remember the configurations that was there nor any IP's to access GUI. is it possible that my PA has H.W fault ? specially the console port? is the only thing I can think of. Regards, 

[BPry]

When you have your console cable connected and you restart the box, do you see any indication that this device is trying to boot? Can you get into maintenance mode? 

[mfkoko]

Thanks for your replay, unfortunatly, No, I dont see any indications, its stays black. the only indications I see is phisically the green lights and the FAN. I cant really go to any mode nor do anything 

is there is aways to access it via the mgmt port ? whats the defualt IP ? is it CLI or GUI via mgmt? 

[BPry · Accepted solution]

@mfkoko,

If the MGMT port is enabled and was left as default it would have 192.168.1.1 as it's IP address. If that doesn't work you could attempt to iniciate an IP scan to the MGMT port to see if you can determine what IP it's set to. 

[mfkoko]

Thanks, I guess we are progressing now, I connected the mgmt port to my laptop, both (laptop & PA) ports showing up (green light).

I assigned 192.168.1.10 to my laptop and disabled all other NIC's, tried to access the PA GUI via 192.168.1.1 but no luck its not even ping-able.  not sure how to do the scan though ?

[mfkoko]

Okay. I installed WireShark and got the IP. I just loggeed in to the PA GUI. Thanks a lot for your support. Just one more thing, can I troublshoot the Console port via the GUI ? any hints ?

[BPry]

I'm not sure how you you troubleshoot a console port issue with the GUI. You'll now be able to enable SSH access to the device to get CLI access however. 

[mfkoko]

Thanks a lot 🙂 at least I got into it and I can use it, the only issue I cant really deploy it into production if the Console port is faulty.

[gwesson]

Make sure the firewall is not in FIPS/CC mode. Those modes disable the console connection entirely. CLI itself should work just fine (SSH to the management IP).

You can check the differences to see if that applies to your firewall:

https://live.paloaltonetworks.com/t5/Management-Articles/Changes-that-Occur-if-FIPS-Mode-is-Enabled/...