System and method for synchronizing switch fabric backplane link management credit counters

A system and method are provided for resynchronizing backplane link management credit counters in a packet communications switch fabric. The method comprises: at an input port card ingress port, accepting information packets including cells and cell headers with destination information; modifying the destination information in the received cell headers; routing information packets between the input port card and output port cards on backplane data links through an intervening crossbar; at the input port card, maintaining a credit counter for each output port card channel; decrementing the counter in response to transmitting cells from the input port card; generating credits in response to transmitting cells from an output port card channel; sending the generated credits to increment the counter, using the modified destination information; and, using the generated credit flow to resynchronize the credit counter.