It shouldn’t need to be reloaded, but sometimes that fixes things. Do you have any other unused ports you could test with? Are you getting link lights on the ports? Can you try to configure it from the web interface and see if that works? Page 293 ftp://ftp.dell.com/Manuals/all-products/esuprt_ser_stor_net/esuprt_powerconnect/powerconnect-5424_User%27s%20Guide_en-us.pdf
I'm having some issues setting up a port monitor on one of the old switches that we have. My config is listed below along with what I am seeing from from the "show ports monitor" command after I have set the mirror up. From the documentation this looks very easy. Am I missing something?    testsw# show running-configvoice vlan oui-table add 0001e3 Siemens_AG_phone________voice vlan oui-table add 00036b Cisco_phone_____________voice vlan oui-table add 00096e Avaya___________________voice vlan oui-table add 000fe2 H3C_Aolynk______________voice vlan oui-table add 0060b9 Philips_and_NEC_AG_phonevoice vlan oui-table add 00d01e Pingtel_phone___________voice vlan oui-table add 00e075 Polycom/Veritel_phone___voice vlan oui-table add 00e0bb 3Com_phone______________interface ethernet g12port monitor g11exitiscsi target port 860 address 0.0.0.0iscsi target port 3260 address 0.0.0.0iscsi target port 9876 address 0.0.0.0iscsi target port 20002 address 0.0.0.0iscsi target port 20003 address 0.0.0.0iscsi target port 25555 address 0.0.0.0interface vlan 1ip address 10.0.0.1 255.255.0.0exithostname testsw Default settings:Service tag: 910WFH1 SW version 2.0.0.46 (date 14-Apr-2011 time 13:10:53) Gigabit Ethernet Ports=============================no shutdownspeed 1000duplex fullnegotiationflow-control offmdix autono back-pressure interface vlan 1interface port-channel 1 - 8 spanning-treespanning-tree mode STP qos basicqos trust costestsw#    testsw# show ports monitor Source Port Destination Port Type Status----------- ---------------- ------- ---------- g11 g12 RX,TX notReady testsw#
Port Monitor issues Powerconnect 5424 Status notReady