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Recovery
How to find and reset the user name and/or password on the APC AP9605 (and also the AP9606)
Introduction
The APC AP9605 PowerNet SNMP Adapter is a SmartSlot accessory which was sold by APC for
their UPS products (it has since been discontinued in favor of newer/more advanced cards).
Basically, is a 10 Mbps ethernet adapter which allows the UPS to communicate via SNMP instead
of having to use a serial cable connected to one computer. The benefit of this is that multiple
computers/servers can query the UPS directly, instead of having one "master" server which is
connected via a serial cable with which the other computers must communicate.
The AP9605 was produced sometime around the mid to late '90s, which means it is probably
considered an antique in most IT environments, however this card still has plenty to offer those of
us who are a little lower on the IT totem pole such as small networks, home users, etc. Unlike its
successor (the AP9606), the AP9605 does not have a web management feature; in order to
configure it, you must use the command line interface (via a serial cable or telnet, though it is
possible to disable telnet so that you need physical access to the device for a bit more security). By
shopping around a bit on eBay, these cards can be purchased for around $5 each in quantities of 5+
or so, or if you are just looking for a single card, $10 seems to be about the norm. (Those prices
assume used cards; "new" ones can be considerably more expensive, given that there are quite a
few goofball sellers out there who apparently are under the impression that these cards are made of
solid gold as opposed to being last decade's technology.)
The default username/password for these cards is apc/apc. One drawback to purchasing one of
these cards used is that sometimes a previous user has changed the default username and/or
password. If you cannot log in to change the networking configuration and such, the card is
useless.
One option which is available to you is to simply contact APC's customer service department (their
web site is www.apc.com). If you give them the card's serial number, they can provide you with a
backdoor password. When you log in with the username of apc in conjunction with the backdoor
password, the username and password will be reset back to apc/apc. This is probably the easiest
option, but if you are in a hurry, or just like doing things yourself, this page describes how to
determine the username and password for your AP9605 card and also how to reset it.
PC end
(female)
1
2
9
3
2
5
In addition, the female end should have sockets 1 and 4 connected ("shorted") together, and the
same for sockets 7 and 8.
(The pinout info above is courtesy of www.allpinouts.org, and it was confirmed by myself by
probing an actual APC cable. I have also used this info to build my own cable, prior to purchasing
an SNMP card. There are several other web sites out there with this pinout info which you can
Google for should you be so inclined.)
Once you've plugged in the cable and installed the card, fire up a terminal program on your PC
(Hyperterm comes installed by default on most Windows machines), and configure the comm port
to 2400 baud, no parity, 1 stop bit, and no flow control. (2400,N,8,1,none) (Note: I have come
across some cards which use the same settings except the baud rate is 19,200. I'm not sure what the
deal is there. So, if 2400 just gives you garbage on the screen, try 19,200 instead. I believe the
menu is different on the 19,200 version so the technique displayed on this page might not work.
Actually, I think that the 19,200 version might not even use a username/password, in which case a
reset like this may not even be necessary.)
When you connect, you need to hit "enter" a couple of times and you should be presented with a
"User Name" prompt. The default username is "apc", and the default password is also "apc". If you
cannot log in with those, then somebody has changed the username, password, or both. The rest of
this guide explains how to retrieve this information.
Password
Character
Location
Example
10
If there is no data in a particular memory location, a period will be displayed. The maximum
allowed password length is 10 characters so basically what you need to do is to grab a piece of
paper and put 10 blanks on it, numbered 1 through 10. Using the table above, simply start at 002C,
column 4, and write that character in spot 1, write the character on line 002C, column 3 in blank 2,
and so on. Keep going until you get to Line 0030, column 3, or until you hit a period. (If you hit a
period, that means the password is less than 10 characters, and that period signifies the end of the
password.)
The procedure for finding the username is the same as for the password, except that it is located on
lines 0040 and 0044. The "decoding sequence" is the same as for the password, except for the line
numbers, thus:
User
nam
Exa
e
Location mpl
Cha
e
ract
er
1
Line
0040,
column 4
Line
0040,
column 3
Line
0040,
column 6
Line
0040, column 5
5
10
A note for AP9606 users: I received an e-mail from a Mr. David Fulmer who informed me that this
procedure also works for the AP9606, however the username starts at offset 0x01D3 and the
password starts at offset 0x01DE. Thanks, David!
Once you've got the username and password, go back to the main menu and hit CTRL-A to exit the
factory backdoor menu. At this point, it will prompt you to change the baud rate back to 2400. Use
the same procedure as before - disconnect, set the comm port to 2400 baud, reconnect, and hit
enter.
Now that you know the username and password, when you connect to the UPS with your terminal
program and are presented with the username and password prompts, you can input the correct
values. Once you are logged in, you can reset the username and/or password to those of your
choosing. To do so, choose menu option 3 ("Adapter"), and then menu option 1 ("Passwords").
On the menu which is presented, if you want to set a new username, choose option 2, then type the
new user name. Use option 3 to input a new password, and then choose option 4 and input the
current password (the one that is currently set in the card, the one you just used to log in). Once you
have input the values you want, choose option number 5 ("Accept Changes").
In the example to the right, I am setting the new username to be "apc" and the new password to be
"apc". (The old/existing password was "PASSWORD".)
After you choose menu option 5, if you have entered the correct value in the "Current Password"
field, menu option 5 should change from "Pending" to "Success".
At this point, you can escape back to the main menu and log out. You should now be able to log in
using the new username and password you have chosen; give it a try.
Congratulations! You've just turned an expensive paperweight into a useful piece of networking
equipment.