Got two Dell Z9100-ON switches, cant access them!

[ihelpmathgeeks]

Hello,
So I do not own a serial to DB9/USB cable at all.

I do have a micro-USB to USB-A cable, but I cannot seem to get my laptop to see this device, to start a serial connection (using Putty).

Is there a trick to get this Dell switch to be seen by my laptop using the USB ports? (i tried looking for a uart driver, but I cant find one for the Z9100's).

 

[slidermike]

This doc says you have to contact Dell support to get the appropriate driver for usb.

Dell EMC Networking OS Configuration Guide for the Z9100–ON System 9.14.2.6 | Dell US

 

[ihelpmathgeeks]

So, after some further digging, buried in one document I found this:

USB-B driver NOTE: The Z9100-ON switch uses the Silicon Labs CP2102 USB-B chip. To find the correct USB-B universal asynchronous receiver-transmitter (UART) driver, see Development Tools - Silicon Labs software/usb-to-uart-bridge-vcp-drivers

So the UART drivers are a free download from there.

 

[DavidWJohnston]

I used to own a Z9100. In Windows, I don't remember installing any drivers manually, potentially it was done automatically by Windows Update. Unless you're using WSUS or something, the driver should be available to you the same way.

Once installed, you will see it in your Device Manager as a CP2101, observe the COM# then use PuTTY on that COM port at 115200; 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity, no flow control. (Flow control is under Serial settings at the bottom of the LH list)

As a tip, if you're going to buy a USB-serial adapter, the PL2303-based ones are the best. A few years back I bought a pile of Chinese CH340-based adapters to have all my console ports available remotely, and they do not work properly at 115200, but are good at any other rate.

 

[ihelpmathgeeks]

I used to own a Z9100. In Windows, I don't remember installing any drivers manually, potentially it was done automatically by Windows Update. Unless you're using WSUS or something, the driver should be available to you the same way.

Once installed, you will see it in your Device Manager as a CP2101, observe the COM# then use PuTTY on that COM port at 115200; 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity, no flow control. (Flow control is under Serial settings at the bottom of the LH list)

As a tip, if you're going to buy a USB-serial adapter, the PL2303-based ones are the best. A few years back I bought a pile of Chinese CH340-based adapters to have all my console ports available remotely, and they do not work properly at 115200, but are good at any other rate.

Yup, just ordered a USB to Console cable, and now I'm able to access the port. I still cant get the micro usb port to work though oddly enough.