Troubleshoot › Error Decoder › %HSRP-4-STATECHANGE

What does %HSRP-4-STATECHANGE mean?

HSRP router keeps changing role

%HSRP-4-STATECHANGE: Vlan10 Grp 1 state Standby -> Active

Platform: Cisco IOS / IOS XE. Values shown are the documented defaults — confirm them on your platform with the check commands below.

What it means

HSRP pairs two routers so devices see one 'virtual' gateway; one router is Active (working) and the other is Standby (waiting). This message means the standby just took over. Once during a real failure is the system working as designed. Repeated changes mean the standby keeps losing contact with the active router and seizing the gateway — then handing it back — and users feel it as random dropouts.

Likely causes, in order

• The two routers intermittently cannot hear each other's hello messages: a congested or failing link between them, or a VLAN problem on the path.
• The active router is overloaded (CPU spikes make it miss sending hellos).
• A spanning-tree event keeps briefly cutting the path between the pair.
• Someone set the timers too aggressively for a busy network.

Check, in order

1. Copyshow standby briefWhich router is Active for each group right now, and whether it matches the design.
2. Copyshow logging | include HSRPCount the changes and look at the pattern: constant flapping vs one clean takeover.
3. Copyshow spanning-tree vlan 10Whether spanning tree keeps re-converging on the VLAN the hellos travel over.

The fix

• Fix the path the hellos travel on — that is where this fault lives, not in HSRP itself.
• Give gateway traffic a clean, uncongested path between the pair (ideally a direct or well-provisioned link).
• Confirm stability: no new STATECHANGE lines for a full day, and show standby brief steady on the designed active router.

Sources

• Cisco: Troubleshoot HSRP Common Issues

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