Yesterday I tried to console two HP Procurve 3800 switches under my possession but strangely I couldn't get connected into both switches. Before this, I never have a problem accessing those switched via console. I tried to console into my other switch, which was HP Procurve 2920 and I was able to access the switch via console. So I guess there should be no problem with either my laptop, my console cable, nor my terminal setting.
Any idea what happened? I asked the users that are connected to those switches and they said they did not feel any disruption regarding the network connection via LAN cable.
My putty setting was baud rate set at 9600, data bits set at 8, stop bits set at 1, parity check set at none, and flow control set at XON/XOFF.
You're right, if it works for one, it should work for the other. Is there any chance you are plugging into the out of band ethernet port instead of the console port? The console port is in the dark grey plastic area at the bottom left.
At 9600 baud, you will see the boot process if everything is working. If it is possible, you could try rebooting the switch with the console cable plugged in.
I guess there is no chance I plugged it into the wrong port since the console port has a designated name on it and it has a different place too from the other ports. A friend of mine yesterday tried to console the switch but things get more interesting. He had no difficulties accessing the switch via console. The only differences are the laptops we used to console the switch and the console cable (I used the one issued by HP while he used the one issued by Cisco). Both of the serial to USB were the same brand which is BAFO.
