@GRALVES 

 

Hey,

 

When you power on the switch, did you keep click the keyboard? If no, the switch will enter autoboot process, and you will fail to enter the BootUtil menu.

 

BTW, if the switch refuses to enter BootUtil menu, what did the screen show? Any picture you can provide?

@Somnus I tried:

  1) Hitting a key only once

  2) Hitting random keys 

  3) Hitting random keys + ENTER

  4) Hitting CTRL+B several times

 

  At all the times, after the countdown,  I get the following:

 

 

Starting kernel ...

#2006-01-01 08:00:41,[Link]/5/Gi1/0/23 changed state to up.
#2006-01-01 08:00:41,[NETIF]/5/Line protocol on Interface VLAN1, changed state to up.
#2006-01-01 08:00:42,[Link]/5/Gi1/0/21 changed state to up.
#2006-01-01 08:00:42,[ARP]/3/IP address conflict on interface VLAN1 for IP address 0.0.0.0. Conflicting host MAC address is 78:24:af:bd:72:99.
#2006-01-01 08:00:43,[ARP]/3/IP address conflict on interface VLAN1 for IP address 0.0.0.0. Conflicting host MAC address is 78:24:af:bd:72:99.

***************** User Access Login ********************

User:

 

 

@GRALVES 

 

The screenshot shows you have IP conflict. What's your topology? And what is the conflicting MAC address for?

Hi, the conflicting MAC is from my workstation - I think the IP conflict is because the workstation is configured in promiscuous mode for debbuging purposes. On my current setup I have my router (ER7206) connected to port 23 and my workstation to port 21. All other ports are disconnected.

Hi, you should disconnect the router as well. The default IP of the router is also 192.168.0.1, so it will conflict with the switch.

@Somnus 

 

I disconnected everything from the switch but the USB cable, had the same issue as before, but without the IP errors:

 

 

Couldn`t make it work throught USB, I ordered a cheap USB-RS232 cable and connected throught the RS232 console. Using this I was able to reset the switch on my first try. 

 

@GRALVES 

 

So it's the issue of the USB cable? I just saw the note in the FAQ that Micro USB cable is more difficult to enter the BootUtil than RJ45 console cable and USB-to-RS232 cable.

@Somnus 

 

I was able to reset it on the first try using the RS232 cable. I think the problem is not on the cable but on the USB port on the switch. If I understood how it was implemented, it looks like the USB-serial IC on the switch only gets powered once the switch is on. There is always a small delay for the workstation to map and load the USB device drive.

 

I think this delay + the time for the IC to power on is greater than the time the switch allows for a key-press to enter the Bootutil. Perhaps it could be solved if tp-link released a firmware with a longer delay - but it needs to be tested. Another option would be, in a latter HW revision, that the USB IC be powered by the USB cable and not by the computer itself.