ShoreTel: How to reset a voice switch to defaults / "DHCP broadcast" loop

We had a ShoreTel SG90BRI switch that was brand new and failed to boot. It always tried to request a DHCP address and it looked like it get's no answer from DHCP first. This was wrong as the network is clean and working properly. It is just the operating system of ShoreTel that is broken and not updating it's DHCP settings after moving the switch from one network to another.

Symptom:

The switch boots up and shows you this in an endless loop:

Searching for active link Found active link on port 1 ENET Speed is 100 Mbps - FULL duplex connection DHCP broadcast 1 DHCP broadcast 2 DHCP broadcast 3 DHCP broadcast 4 DHCP broadcast 5

Retry count exceeded; starting again DHCP broadcast 1 DHCP broadcast 2 DHCP broadcast 3 DHCP broadcast 4 DHCP broadcast 5

Retry count exceeded; starting again DHCP broadcast 1 DHCP broadcast 2 DHCP broadcast 3 DHCP broadcast 4 DHCP broadcast 5

Solution:

You need to reset the switch to it's defaults and make a clean boot. This command works for all ShoreTel voice switches including VxWorks and Linux based devices.

1. Connect with a console cable to the switch
2. Powercycle the switch
3. When you see Hit any key to stop autoboot - hit any key :-)
4. Enter below commands
   1. bootc clean to clear all stale/broken settings
   2. boot
5. Let the switch boot until finished and upgraded to your latest ShoreTel version
6. Done

History:

• 2016/05/31: Found solution