Screen OS

Hello all.  I just recently picked up a ns5gt, ScreenOS 5.3.0r2, off of Ebay and have run into a mess of problems with it that lead me to believe that the box is defective.  Before I send it back, I wanted to present the issues I have been experiencing to see if anyone on this forum has witnessed anything similar with a 5gt box. 

 

First, I cannot seem to get the console port to work at all.  I tested my null modem cable by making a console connection on my SMC 24-port managed switch, and all worked fine.  But, for some reason, it just will not respond when connected via COM1 to the Console port on the 5gt, with comm settings of  8, N, 1, none, 9600.  On the other hand, I can access the CLI via Telnet, and the WebUI via a browser when connected using  a patch cable.  Any ideas on why the console connection will not work?

 

Second, after resetting the box to its Factory Default settings using the pin-hole reset button, and configuring the box for the first time using the Rapid Deployment wizard, everything appeared to work perfectly for the first 30-45 minutes.  I then used the WebUI to activate the trial av, anti-spam, and URL web filtering features that are built-in, and everything appeared to go off without a hitch.  But, about 20 minutes later, the 5gt began rebooting all by itself about every 2 or 3 minutes.  Just before it would reboot, I would see the Status Led blink red once, and then the box would reboot.  This happened about 5 times before I finally pulled to power plug, waited a few, and then plugged it back in.  It continued to reboot all by itself again after about 5 minutes of up time.  I then pulled the patch cable out of the untrusted port, rebooted, and managed to get back into the WebUI and disable the Web Filtering on the one and only policy setting I have, before the box did another reboot.  I then powered it down and rebooted only to witness yet another couple of reboots, this time it took a little longer between the reboots, but the results were basically the same.

 

I would very much appreciate it if I could get some feedback from this forum as to whether this box might still be salvageable, or should I not waste any more time with it, and just send it back.

 

Thanks-a-million,

Bill D.

Oviedo, FL

 

You should have been able to access the console via COM1. What kind of cable did you use? Straight?

 

I would give it a try to upgrade to latest ScreenOS 5.4 at least as 5.3r2 is really old software already.

 

Also try to disable the UTM features first and see if it remains stable.

 

Can you post console output when the box reboots itself, at least a couple of snapshots. We should be able to tell something from there.

I have been using a null modem cable that I picked up at the local CompUSA, which worked fine on the console port of my SMC 24-port Managed Switch.  I am not sure what the cable pin outs should be, but shouldn't a standard null modem cable work?

 

The original support contract on this box has long expired, and when I call Juniper to get information on renewing it, they told me I had to find a reseller that still sells support contracts for this model.  I have not had any luck locating a vendor who stills sells contracts for this box.  I tried CDW, but didn't see anything in the way of support contracts for the 5GT.

 

The box does appear to run stable when the UTM functions are disabled, but that defeats the purpose for why I purchased it.  It is the UTM (AV, DPI, content filtering, etc.,) that I am most interested in.

 

I would have posted the console output if I could get into the console.

 

Thanks-a-million for your help.

 

Best regards,

Bill D.

Oops!  Got the console port working.  Turns out I was hooking the null modem cable up to the modem port instead of the console port.  I did this because the null modem cable I used is a db9 female-to-db9 female.  I bought a USB-to-Serial converter, which got me into the console port via USB cable perfectly.  Now onto the other problem with the UTM feature set causing the 5GT to go into a never-ending reboot cycle.

 

Thanks,

Bill D.

Oviedo, FL

WL, I was finally able to get into the console port; once I connected to the correct port on the 5GT.  I fired the 5GT back up and let it run for awhile without any connections on the untrusted port. The box appeared to working fine. Once I connected the untrusted interface to my switch and setup the routing table on the box to route to my other internal network to test internet activity, the box went back into its crash/reboot phase.  Once it entered into the crash/reboot phase, it would reboot continuously about every 6-10 seconds. Keep in mind that all the UTM features were never re-enabled on the box, and yet it still entered into the crash/reboot mode.

 

I captured one complete cycle of the console dumps once it entered into this phase, and provided them below.  From the dump data, it appears as if the reason is due to the Watchdog Time expiring as a result of some other Exception being thrown.

 

Any advice you can offer that will help me figure this out is greatly appreciated. 

 

Best regards,

Bill D.

Oviedo, FL

 

---------------------

Console Dump

--------------------- 

ns5gt-> ###Crash Time: 14 June 2009 11:56:23###
System Level:
Image In Interrupt Level

*********************************************************
                  Exception Dump
*********************************************************
System up time: 0 hours 31 minutes 58 seconds
Version 5.3.0r2.0
Exception(WatchDog Timer Expired)
Exception address: 008c3d98
Registers of Main Processor:
R0:      021f74fe   R1:      00000008  R2:      00000001
R3:      00000006   R4:      021f74f8  R5:      0240e704
R6:      021f74e4   R7:      0240e77c  R8:      ffffffff
R9:      efffffff   R10(sl): ffffffff  R11(fp): ffbfffff
R12(ip): ffffffff   R13(sp): 8ffffdb0  r14:     008c3d9c
lr:      0037d5a8   SPSR:    80000092  CPSR:    800000D1
The registers of control processor 15:
CR1ARM:  000031FD   CR1XSCALE:  00000000   CR2:     07f60000
CR3:     000000E4   CR4:        Reserved   CR5:     00000017
CR6:     80007000   CR7:        N/A        CR8:     N/A
CR9:     00000000   CR10:       N/A        CR11:    Reserve
CR12:    Reserve    CR13:       00000000
Trace Dump:
008c3d98 0037d5a8
FP Trace Dump:
00000000 00000000 ffbfffff
Crash dump is done.

NetScreen NS-5GT Boot Loader Version 2.1.0 (Checksum: 61D07DA5)
Copyright (c) 1997-2003 NetScreen Technologies, Inc.

Total physical memory: 128MB
    Test - Pass
    Initialization.... Done

Hit any key to run loader
Hit any key to run loader
Hit any key to run loader
Hit any key to run loader

Loading default system image from on-board flash disk...
Done! (size = 8,519,680 bytes)
Ignore image authentication!

Start loading...
.................................................................
.................................................................
.................................................................
.................................................................
.................................................................
.................................................................
.................................................................
.................................................................
.................................................................
.
Done.

 

Juniper Networks, Inc
NS-5GT System Software
Copyright, 1997-2005

free_bootmem: sidx = 0, eidx = 7f7d
reserve sidx = 0, eidx = 4c02
Version 5.3.0r2.0
Load Manufacture Information ... Done

Initialize FBTL 0.... Done
Load NVRAM Information ... (5.3.0)Done
Install module init vectors
IPv6 is disabled. To enable it, " set env ipv6=yes" and reboot

Initial port mode trust-untrust(1)
Install modules (00c34000,014c9c70) ... load dns table .... Done

Initializing DI 1.1.0-ns
b314a90b1100106b
System config (1859 bytes) loaded
.
Done.
Load System Configuration ......................................................
................................................................................
.............................................Done
system init done..
login: trust interface change state to Up
untrust interface change state to Up
###Crash Time: 14 June 2009 11:58:07###
System Level:
Image In Interrupt Level

*********************************************************
                  Exception Dump
*********************************************************
System up time: 0 hours 0 minutes 6 seconds
Version 5.3.0r2.0
Exception(WatchDog Timer Expired)
Exception address: 008c3da4
Registers of Main Processor:
R0:      021c54fe   R1:      00000008  R2:      00000001
R3:      00000006   R4:      021c54f8  R5:      0240e704
R6:      021c54e4   R7:      0240e77c  R8:      ffffffff
R9:      efffffff   R10(sl): ffffffff  R11(fp): ffbfffff
R12(ip): ffffffff   R13(sp): 8ffffa60  r14:     008c3da8
lr:      0037cff4   SPSR:    80000092  CPSR:    800000D1
The registers of control processor 15:
CR1ARM:  000031FD   CR1XSCALE:  00000000   CR2:     04d50000
CR3:     000000E4   CR4:        Reserved   CR5:     00000017
CR6:     80007000   CR7:        N/A        CR8:     N/A
CR9:     00000000   CR10:       N/A        CR11:    Reserve
CR12:    Reserve    CR13:       00000000
Trace Dump:
008c3da4 0037cff4
FP Trace Dump:
00000000 00000000 ffbfffff
Crash dump is done. 

Hi

 

crash traces seem to be different. and I have seen some similar crashes which were resolved by an RMA meaning hardware issues.

 

would suggest you return it especially since the UTM features were not turned on but still you are seeing crashes

To add to WL's comments ... for the console issue, do you know if the console adapter (db9 to rj45) is one that may have came with the box, or is it one that you had lying around.  In other words, is this a cisco adapter, or a juniper provided adapter?  If it is a cisco adapter, you need to use the standard rollover flat cable.  If it is a Juniper provided adapter, you need to use an ethernet straightthrough cable.  We have seen problems where someone uses a rollover cable with the Juniper provided adapter, and it does not work, and that is as expected.  Try either flat rollover, or ethernet, then see if you have any better luck.