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I'm trying to debug a Cisco ASA 5505 that I do not have physical access to. I am using GoToMeeting to control a techs computer to talk to the router.

Here is a picture of the router output right after it's been rebooted: http://i1256.photobucket.com/albums/ii488/joshschmelzle/puttyissue.png

The speed has not been changed in the router config. The serial setting wasn't changed. When I connect with PuTTY after it's been rebooted. I just see a cursor and when I type anything it stays on the same line even if I hit Enter.

I tested this router on my Windows 7 machine at my desk before I sent it to the customer and it worked fine.

Here are the COM1 settings: Bits per sec: 9600 Data bits: 8 Parity: none Stop bits: 1 Flow control: none

I tried removing and installing the COM1 drivers on the remote machine, and having someone unplug power and plug it back in several times. I think this is a baud rate issue, but i'm not sure.

Evan Anderson
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jsz
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    Pretty sure the baud rate on an ASA is 9600 by default. I'll plug mine in and see if it can't be changed. If someone bothered to change is they probably went with 28800 or 115200, try those and see what you get. – SpacemanSpiff Jul 19 '12 at 15:42
  • Depending on your computer's hardware (the exact type of serial port you've got) Putty might not be able to set the baud correctly. Check the setting in Device Manager as well, make sure they match. – Chris S Jul 19 '12 at 16:32

2 Answers2

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That looks exactly like baud rate mismatch should. It's possible that somebody changed the default baud rate on the ASA from 9600 to something else. Try 115200 N81, 38400 N81, and 19200 N81 and see how they act.

Evan Anderson
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It ended up being a faulty serial cable not a baud rate issue. IT swapped it out for me today.

jsz
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  • Hmm... looked like baud barf to me but glad you got it sorted out. – Evan Anderson Jul 20 '12 at 20:26
  • When the tech returns next week I'll try to duplicate it with the faulty serial cable to verify. – jsz Jul 20 '12 at 20:57
  • I didn't mean to imply you weren't right... >smile< That's just what baud barf looks like, too. A faulty serial cable definitely would be my second choice of root cause (because RS-232 is a pretty beefy signaling standard) after ruling out a baud rate mismatch. – Evan Anderson Jul 20 '12 at 21:03
  • Well, the tech didn't bring the cable back so I won't be able to duplicate it. :( Thanks everyone. – jsz Jul 31 '12 at 15:05