Reviving a Cisco Catalyst 2960G
Reviving a Cisco Catalyst 2960G
One of the coolest wins for my homelab recently was getting a failed a Cisco Catalyst 2960G switch.
When I first powered it on, all the indicator lights looked good—except the top “SYST” light, which stayed solid amber. Normally, this means there’s a hardware fault, so I initially suspected a bad power supply. But after some digging, I discovered that many others had seen this exact issue, and it was often caused by a failed RAM chip.
Investigating the Faulty RAM
After opening up the switch and taking a closer look at the board, I found the suspected RAM chip.
Based on forum posts and YouTube videos, it seemed like thermal instability in the chip was causing the boot issue.
So, I decided to test a workaround: heating the RAM chip just before powering on the switch. I grabbed a small handheld heat gun from Walmart, gave the chip a solid blast of hot air, and sure enough—the switch booted right up!
Still works
Now, I’ve got a working 2960G in my lab setup—but there’s a catch: if the device powers down, I have to reheat the chip before booting again. Definitely not ideal, but it works for now.
Eventually, I’d like to attempt desoldering the bad chip and replacing it with a new one. Until then, it’s staying warm and running!
For anyone doing homelab on a budget, this kind of hardware revival trick is worth keeping in your toolbox.