Hard Reset / Rebooting a Soekris Net 5501

If you have a Soekris Net5501, sometimes they will not reboot when you tell them to. Hanging just after the memory test. Here is how you force them to reboot.

The only thing you have to have is a serial connection to the console port of the Soekris. Any good network design should give you some sort of console connection as a backup path, if you don’t have access to the console on your box from remote, you might want to work out how you can do this.

Having a modem with dial back is one way, but I usually cross connect boxes together so that if one fails, I can get to the console via the serial port of another. This way, I can always get to the console of any unit that dies.

So, the reset command is quite easy. Connect to the console and type “+ + +” then wait about 2 seconds and type “POWER”

This will turn the Soekris off, wait about 5 seconds, and then turn it back on again.

This is a life saver when you have a CF card that does not initialize in time for the box to boot.

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