Is my Serial Console enabled and switched on?

RouterOS General
1

Hi all,

I have a CRS328-24P-4S+RM, and have it’s serial console plugged in. The serial console does not respond. Other serial consoles work on other devices, so we know the client side works fine. We have tried different cables, introducing null modem cables, nothing works.

The question is, given this configuration, is the serial console enabled and switched on?

[minfrin@router] /system console> print 
Flags: X - disabled, U - used, F - free 
 #   PORT                                                                                         TERM
 0 F serial0                                                                                      vt102

There is a flag called F for “free”. What does “free” mean? There is another option called “used”. What does “used” mean in this context.

If I can eliminate “configured wrong”, and I can send this router in for repair.

Regards,
Graham

2

Quick test says that “used” is when there’s user logged in on that console.

3

Also check that port is configured correctly in system/ports. You can also try no handshaking as some boards only connect RX/TX and nothing else.