*** Level 2 Watch Dog Timeout ***

[John Collier]

I have a Cisco 2811 series router on my network that I found in ROMMON.

By getting into it via console port and issuing a reset, I get to watch the boot process (which is usually revealing if anything unexpected is happening).

What I find is that the router is doing fine all the way up to the point where it states

[QUOTE]
Initializing memory for ECC
*** Level 2 Watch Dog Timeout ***
[/QUOTE]

After that, it simply spits out what appears to be nonsense every 10 - 20 seconds. It is obviously stuck on something.

Both Clusty and Google, which are usually pretty good at finding information on issues like this, come back with no matches for the Level 2 issue.

Can anybody out there give me a clue into what this is referring to and what the next logical step would be?

Is this really a memory issue or is it likely that something else has blown up?

[OLARU Dan]

If ECC stands for Error Correction Code, then you might have a memory problem, or a memory management problem. I don't think "Level 2" means OSI Layer 2 in networking, especially when the error message includes "Watch Dog Timeout".

You might want to turn off the ECC feature (I know in some computers you can do that), if you have this possibility, thus by-passing the ECC watchdog issue - if the memory itself if physically good.

If you can't turn off this function and the memory is good, then it might be the memory controller on the motherboard: if you still have warranty from Cisco Systems for your device, make a warranty claim. Without warranty, you might have to change the board for yourself on your company's expense.

[OLARU Dan]

If you can turnoff the ECC feature, but the watchdog problem persist, then it is another watchdog at fault (out for a bone or something).

You'd be surprised to find out how many dogs that watch different things are there in this information technology of ours!!

[OLARU Dan]

It would make sense to also install an IOS image of a version that knows how to turn ECC off, if you already didn't do that.

[John Collier]

I appreciate your response and thoughts on the situation at hand, but turning off ECC is not an option.

Unfortunately, with this being in a business environment, I don't have time to troubleshoot this as I would like to.

The company has made the decision to simply replace the entire unit under the existing service contract.