3500 catalyst switch how to

Hello, I was wondering if someone could point me in the right direction. I have come upon a Cisco 3500 catalyst XL switch and I want to connect to it via the console and configure it. However, #1 - I know nothing about configuring a cisco switch and #2 I have everything setup and all I see is a blank screen with the cursor blinking at the top #3 - I read somewhere to do this, so I unplugged it and plugged it back in while holding down the mode button but now all led's are on solid except the port 1 led and the rps led... and I still cant see anything through the console - so am I screwed or is there a way to get this thing to start going through the setup??

By holding down to mode button and power cycling the switch, you began password recovery on the switch. I haven't done password recovery on a Catalyst for a while, so I don't remember if those lights are normal or not. Two things to check before you try to console in again:

1.) The cable must be a rollover Cat 5 w/an RJ-45 connector on one end (the end that plugs into switch) and a DB-9 connector on the other (plugs into serial port of computer).

2.) Your terminal emulation program must be configured correctly. These are the settings for Cisco: Bits per second (baud): 9600; Data bits: 8; Parity: None; Stop bits: 1; Flow control: Xon/Xoff.

Unless your cable is bad or the switch is dying, you should be able to console into the switch now.

Yes, I am able to console into it now - however I cant recover the password... So I'm stuck again. I'd like to just reset the thing back to factory defaults if possible.

Check out this Cisco document on password recovery .