I am trying to regain access to an SLCxx or SLB that has an unknown username/password.  I can't use the procedure in answer 1230 because when I press the Enter button, I get a message that the front panel is disabled, or that access is restricted from the front panel. How do I reset the factory defaults in this case?

If someone has password protected the SLC with an unknown password, and also disabled front panel access, then the only way to recover is to re-flash the internal flash memory in the SLC.

If the SLC is running v5.x or higher this is relatively easy to do from the front panel.  

You will need

• SLC-01 and -02 or SLB884-01 (with two PC card slots on front panel)
• • a Compact Flash card (SLCx-02 or SLBx-01) or USB Flash drive (SLC-03 or SLB-02) the same size or larger than the SLC's internal flash memory
  • a Compact-Flash-to-PC-Card adapter (SLCx-02 or SLbx-01 only)
  • and a Unix or Linux machine with a CF card slot, e.g. an inexpensive USB memory card reader/writer (SLCx-02 or SLBx-01).
• SLC-03 and SLB884-02 (with USB port on front panel)
• • A USB flash drive formatted for FAT (not FAT32) or ext2 (not ext3)

You can download the image file for your SLC/SLB from the "Image files for Front Panel recovery" near the bottom of this article: 

Older SLCs & SLBs with PC card slots:
Latest Firmware for SLC8, SLC16, SLC32, SLC48 -03 Models with USB port on front panel

Instructions for burning an image file onto a CF card are in the file README-SLC_Image_Files.txt.

Current SLCs & SLBs with USB ports
Latest Firmware for SLC8, SLC16, SLC32, SLC48 -03 Models with USB port on front panel

For USB units, just copy the uncompressed image file onto the USB flash drive

The procedure for re-flashing an SLC from the front panel is in answer  
Loading SLC or SLB firmware from the USB connector on the front panel

If the SLC is running v4.x or lower then you'll need to open it up, remove the internal CF card, burn the image onto it from a Unix or Linux host as described above and then re-install it.  SLCs require a specific model of CF card, so swapping in a CF card you purchased elsewhere is very unlikely to work.

Either way, you'll need to completely re-configure the SLC after re-flashing it.
 

DANGER!:
Lethal voltages are present inside these products when power is applied and for about an hour after power is removed.  Please remove all power and wait one hour before opening the case. 

Warning:
Opening the case will void the warranty of your SLC or SLB.

NOTE: The SLC is designed to be very secure, and as you've found, it can be configured so that if a password is unknown it is completely inaccessible.  For this reason Lantronix recommends leaving access to the front panel enabled, and leaving the front panel password set to 999999. If the front panel must be disabled, or if a non-default front panel password must be used, the sysadmin password and/or the front panel password should both be filed in a safe location, with procedures in place to make sure the password(s) on file are kept up-to-date.

[Originally Published On: 07/21/2009 11:54 AM]