iDirect 5350- How to Recover Password

1. Has your ISP recently undergone any upgrades?  

2. If you do not have a RX Light (indicating the presence of a downstream carrier), the following are some areas to consider:

a. You may not be pointed properly.
b. Your LNB or associated RX cabling may be bad.
c. They may be having problems at the teleport earthstation (this the least likely)....either weather related (not likely for an extended duration) or possibly RFT related (failure of RFT compenent such as a BUC/SSPA).
d. Your satellite ISP may have changed something in the hub config (such as a carrier property) which has caused and interruption in service.

Suggest you check the pointing, the LNB, and the cabling FIRST to prevent any unecessary calls to an ISP.

Do you have multiple modems in this network?  Are all of them exhibiting the same problem?

If I were to assess your situation right now, I would say that you may have a faulty LNB or associated RX cabling, or you may not be pointed properly. Beyond that, your ISP may have changed something in the Hub side configs to cause an unscheduled service interruption.  

What version iDS is this?  Your inability to get into iSite is somewhat alarming. I suggest closing iSite and trying again. You need to get on console of that iDirect unit and check its interface config (ifconfig is the command from the linux prompt).  Your IP may have been changed by your ISP.  You can confirm that with a console cable and the ifconfig command.

(with regards to having to negotiate the process quickly)

Recommend you prevent falcon from restarting by typing the following command at the linux prompt (this will prevent that pesky reboot you get):

service idirect_falcon stop

This will prevent falcon_monitor from restarting/rebooting, thus giving you ample time to negotiate the falcon.opt copy via WinSCP or CAT >.  

Be advised, the copy option will only work if you have an options file OTHER than the one you are having problems with (and that you happen to KNOW the password to....maybe a generic factory default opt?)

It is possible that falcon is so currupt it cannot load properly.  Thus yielding you the error. When typing the string to stop falcon, ensure that you type the entire string: service idirect_falcon stop at the linux prompt.  

Here is the procedure to CAT the options file in:

If you decide to do this from console (which is probably the easiest). I want you to negotiate the process like this:

1. Open the GOOD options file in notepad
2. Control-A and Copy ONLY the text portion of the options file. NOTHING MORE...just the text.
3. From console (the prompt should look like this - #) type cd .. (be advised there is a single space between cd and ..)
4. Then type cd /etc/idirect/falcon/
5. type ls -l  (you should see a filename falcon.opt which is your options file on the box).
6. type cat > falcon.opt
7. (on the next line) paste in the copied options file (the one you copied in notepad)
8. Once the options file pastes in, hit the <enter> key once and then Control D (for done).  
9. This should bring you back to the # prompt.  
10. Type reboot to reset the unit.  

Prior to engaging the above, attempt to stop falcon

I think his intent is to change the falcon/telnet password but the only real way to do that is to call the Hub and have them do it, or possibly inject a new options file into it with a password that is known (which is what you eluded to). 

Other than that, the only other password recovery possible is the redboot recovery procedure (linux password recovery).

Yeah, stopping falcon will give you all the time you need to copy in (with WinSCP), or console paste a new opt into the box.  I learned that the hard way thru lots of trial and error!