Physical Side of Cisco Switches

ICND1 and ICND2 break down

LEDs on the front panel of the switch provide information on switch status during startup, normal operation, and fault conditions.

front panel LEDs

1	SYST LED	5	Speed LED
2	RPS LED	6	PoE LED1
3	Status LED	7	Mode button
4	Duplex LED	8	Port LEDs

1 The PoE LED is only on the Catalyst 2960 PoE switches.

The following table details switch LED status indicators.

System LED

The System LED shows whether the system is receiving power and is functioning properly. Table 1-2 lists the LED colors and their meanings.

Table 1-2 System LED  

Color	System Status
Off	System is not powered on.
Green	System is operating normally.
Amber	System is receiving power but is not functioning properly.

RPS LED

The RPS LED shows the RPS status. Table 1-3 lists the LED colors and their meanings.

Note The Catalyst 2960 8-port switches, and the Catalyst 2960-24-S, 2960-24TC-S, 2960-48TC-S, and 2960-48TT-S switches do not have an RPS LED.

Table 1-3 RPS LED 

Color	RPS Status
Off	RPS is off or not properly connected.
Green	RPS is connected and ready to provide back-up power, if required.
Blinking green	RPS is connected but is unavailable because it is providing power to another device (redundancy has been allocated to a neighboring device).
Amber	The RPS is in standby mode or in a fault condition. Press the Standby/Active button on the RPS, and the LED should turn green. If it does not, the RPS fan could have failed. Contact Cisco Systems.
Blinking amber	The internal power supply in a switch has failed, and the RPS is providing power to the switch (redundancy has been allocated to this device).

Port LEDs and Modes

The port LEDs, as a group or individually, display information about the switch and about the individual ports (Table 1-4):

Table 1-4 Modes for Port LEDs

Selected Mode LED	Port Mode	Description
STAT	Port status	The port status. This is the default mode.
DUPLX	Port duplex mode	The port duplex mode: full duplex or half duplex.
SPEED1	Port speed	The port operating speed: 10, 100, or 1000 Mb/s.
PoE2	PoE port power	The PoE status.

1 When installed in Catalyst 2960 switches, 1000BASE-T SFP modules can operate at 10, 100, or 1000 Mb/s in full-duplex mode or at 10 or 100 Mb/s in half-duplex mode.2 The PoE LED is only on the Catalyst 2960 PoE switches.

Even if the PoE mode is not selected, the PoE LED shows PoE problems when they are detected (Table 1-5). The PoE LED applies only to Catalyst 2960 switches that support PoE.

Table 1-5 PoE Mode LED 

Color	PoE Status
Off	PoE mode is not selected. None of the 10/100 PoE ports have been denied power or are in a fault condition.
Green	PoE mode is selected, and the PoE status is shown on the port LEDs.
Blinking amber	PoE mode is not selected. At least one of the 10/100 PoE ports has been denied power, or at least one of the ports has a PoE fault.

To select or change a mode, press the Mode button until the desired mode is highlighted. When you change port modes, the meanings of the port LED colors also change. Table 1-6 explains how to interpret the port LED colors in different port modes.

Table 1-6 Meaning of Port LED Colors in Different Modes on the Switch 

Port Mode	LED Color	Meaning
STAT (port status)	Off	No link, or port was administratively shut down.
	Green	Link present.
	Blinking green	Activity. Port is sending or receiving data.
	Alternating green-amber	Link fault. Error frames can affect connectivity, and errors such as excessive collisions, cyclic redundancy check (CRC) errors, and alignment and jabber errors are monitored for a link-fault indication.
	Amber	Port is blocked by Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) and is not forwarding data.Note After a port is reconfigured, the port LED can remain amber for up to 30 seconds as STP checks the network topology for possible loops.
	Blinking amber	Port is blocked by STP and is not sending or receiving packets.
DUPLX (duplex)	Off	Port is operating in half duplex.
	Green	Port is operating in full duplex.
SPEED	10/100 and 10/100/1000 ports
	Off	Port is operating at 10 Mb/s.
	Green	Port is operating at 100 Mb/s.
	Blinking green	Port is operating at 1000 Mb/s.
	SFP ports
	Off	Port is operating at 10 Mb/s.
	Green	Port is operating at 100 Mb/s.
	Blinking green	Port is operating at 1000 Mb/s.Note When installed in Catalyst 2960 switches, 1000BASE-T SFP modules can operate at 10, 100, or 1000 Mb/s in full-duplex mode or at 10 or 100 Mb/s in half-duplex mode.
PoE	Off	PoE is off.If the powered device is receiving power from an AC power source, the PoE port LED is off even if the powered device is connected to the switch port.
	Green	PoE is on. The port LED is green only when the switch port is providing power.
	Alternating green and amber	PoE is denied because providing power to the powered device will exceed the switch power capacity. The Catalyst 2960-24PC-L, 2960 48PST-L, 2960-48PST-S, and 2960-24PC-S switches provide up to 370 W of power. The Catalyst 2960-24LT-L and 2960-24LC-S switches provide up to 124 W of power.
	Blinking amber	PoE is off due to a fault. Caution PoE faults are caused when noncompliant cabling or powered devices are connected to a PoE port. Only standard-compliant cabling can be used to connect Cisco prestandard IP Phones or wireless access points or IEEE 802.3af-compliant devices to PoE ports. You must remove from the network the cable or device that causes a PoE fault.
	Amber	PoE for the port has been disabled. By default, PoE is enabled.

For more detail, check this Cisco document about Catalyst 2960 Switch Hardware.