Serial port on 4050 not showing output

[eastsidebuzz]

I picked up a used 4050 on ebay. It booted when I got it and I missed the prompt window to type "maint" so I could wipe it. Now I get no display. I am getting pretty frustrated with this unit. Does this console access acct weird by design? Why did it work at first? Can I pop the lid and go mount the drive in a PC and delete the /ect/config directory to get it flat to I can use it? I don't care about all the features, I just would like a lab unit for testing of cli commands.

[TomYoung]

Hi @eastsidebuzz ,

I ran into the exact same thing with a customer once.  He was using MacOS terminal.  We switched to Putty and it displayed fine.  Bottom line:  Try a different terminal program.  I have seen terminal programs work with other devices but not with the PANW console.  The serial connection settings are probably correct, but please double check.  The hardware should be fine.

https://knowledgebase.paloaltonetworks.com/KCSArticleDetail?id=kA10g000000ClkFCAS

Thanks,

Tom

[eastsidebuzz]

I know my cable and setup works because every once and awhile I get output. I got it earlier and typed maint and it booted so I dont think I made it in the 5 seconds. Now it is back to playing peekaboo with me. I am thinking of taking this thing out behind the barn and shooting it. This cant be this hard.

Booting 'PANOS (sysroot0)'

root (hd0,1)
Filesystem type is ext2fs, partition type 0x83
kernel /boot/vmlinuz ro root=/dev/sda2 console=ttyS0,9600n8 quiet
[Linux-bzImage, setup=0x3000, size=0x21f070]

INIT: version 2.86 booting

Welcome to PanOS
Setting clock (utc): Mon Dec 31 16:00:33 PST 2001 [ OK ]
Starting udev: [ OK ]
Setting hostname PA-4050: [ OK ]
Checking filesystems:
Running filesystem check on sysroot0: [FIXED]
Running filesystem check on pancfg: [ OK ]
Running filesystem check on panrepo: [ OK ]
[ OK ]
Remounting root filesystem in read-write mode: [ OK ]
Enabling /etc/fstab swaps: [ OK ]
INIT: Entering runlevel: 3
Entering non-interactive startup
Setup PAN Hardware: Using file: /boot/fpga/nac.bin
Starting Networking: [ OK ]
Starting system logger: [ OK ]
Starting kernel logger: [ OK ]
Starting portmap: [ OK ]
Starting NFS statd: [ OK ]
Starting sshd: [ OK ]
Starting ha-sshd: [ OK ]
Starting xinetd: [ OK ]
Starting ntpd: [ OK ]
Starting NFS services: [ OK ]
Starting NFS daemon: [ OK ]
Starting NFS mountd: [ OK ]
Starting PAN Software: [ OK ]

PA-4050 login: maint
Password:

[BPry]

@eastsidebuzz,

I'd take a good look at the console port and make sure it's clean and doesn't have any bent pins if you're getting inconsistent behavior like that. 

[OtakarKlier]

Hello,

If FIPS is enabled, it disables the console port. reboot it into maint and wipe it.

Regards,