The settings you need are:
Baud: 9600
Data bits: 8
Parity: No
Stop bits: 1
Flow Control: None
On Windows, I use putty for this connection. Yes, putty can be used to make serial connections as well as telnet/ssh. Hyperterminal works great as well. On Linux, I use minicom and on FreeBSD/OpenBSD, I use cu (cu -s 9600 -l /dev/cuad0).
Reboot the router and press the Break key to interrupt the boot sequence.
For break key sequences, refer to this Cisco link:http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/routers/ps133/products_tech_note0...
Type confreg 0x2142. This tells the router to bypass NVRAM during bootup. In other words, your existing configuration won't be loaded. The good news is that it won't be deleted either.
Type reset to reboot the router. Answer No when prompted to run setup.
Type copy start run. This loads your startup configuration into memory. Now, if you type ashow run config, you'll see the router configuration. Also, you should notice that your router name is now in the prompt instead of the default “Router”.
Change the enable secret - “enable secret new_password”
Change the register back to 0x2102:
config-register 0x2102
When the router reboots it will load the old configuration with the new password.
Save the password so that it will be persistent during reboots, type copy run start
Reboot the router by typing reload at the enable prompt.
Now, keep that password in a nice safe place – in your head does not count. I keep mine saved in a safe place for future retrieval and I make sure my customers have a copy as well. Remember, passwords are nice until you forget them.
