PIX 520 ISA upgrade

geraint_williams · ‎10-14-2008

Hi,

I've purchased a 16MB ISA Flash Card for a PIX520 to operate in a QA environment. Reading the instructions, it states that it comes with Pix 5.2 preloaded.

I've removed the old 2MB card and installed the 16MB but when I boot the PIX I get the usual beeps but no console access. I've removed the new card and resinserted the old, and I get console access.

Have I missed anything, is there anything else I need to do apart from the Cisco instructions or have I been sent a faulty card?

Thanks,

Geraint

andrew.prince · ‎10-14-2008

Geriant,

Does the 16MB card actually have the image on it? It sounds like there is nothing on the card - I would double check it.

HTH>

geraint_williams · ‎10-14-2008

Hi,

The documentation provided suggested it was installed, but I thought I'd test out and upgrade to 6.1. This failed, with the following when using the boothelper

Cisco Secure PIX Firewall floppy loader (3.0) #0: Tue Sep 11 07:34:46 PDT 2001

Reading installation media..............

256MB RAM

mcwa i82557 Ethernet at irq 11 MAC: 00a0.c9ab.7b17

mcwa i82559 Ethernet at irq 10 MAC: 0090.27a7.2de8

mcwa i82559 Ethernet at irq 15 MAC: 0090.27a4.81a3

Flash=i28F640J5 @ 0x300

BIOS Flash=I28F256A @ 0xfffd8000

Obsolete FLASH card. Upgrade required. See release notes for this version.

I've noticed on the Internet that others seem to had BIOS Flash=AT29C257. Does this mean I need to upgrade something else? If so, any tips?

Thanks,

Geraint

andrew.prince · ‎10-14-2008

Very good question - I would do what is says:-

"Obsolete FLASH card. Upgrade required. See release notes for this version"

you might not be able to upgrade straight to 6.1

cisco24x7 · ‎10-14-2008

that is completely NOT true. Here is how you

do this. This is very simple.

1- Keep in mind that the Pix520 comes with

a floppy disk drive. You need to download

the boot helper from Cisco and then use

rawrite.exe to decompress this image into the

floppy disk,

2- inser the diskette into the floppy drive of

the Pix 520 and turn on the power. This will

take you to the monitor mode of the Pix.

3- Have the Pix 6.3(5) ready on the TFTP

server,

4- Now you can download the the pix635.bin

from the tftp server into the 16MB flash card,

Easy right?

geraint_williams · ‎10-14-2008

Hi,

Thanks for all your help on this, it's much appreciated.

It does sound easy enough, but that's the process that I'm following when i get the obsolete card warning (despite the 16MB ISA card being in the box)

It displays the message then reboots itself...

cisco24x7 · ‎10-14-2008

I do NOT have a Pix520. I only use this

technique on a "franken" Pix. In other words,

I use this method on a generic PC with intel

etherexpress NICs. The PC motherboard is

Intel BX440-SE2 (aka Seattle Edtion 2).

When I inserted the ISA 16MB flash into the

motherboard and bootup the pc with the floppy

disk, I was able to upgrade the code to

6.3(5).

It could be that the motherboard on your

Pix520 has very old BIOS. If I can recall,

the motherboard on the Pix520 is also Intel

BX440-SE as well. You may want to upgrade the

BIOS on it.