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Set baud command on Catalyst 2950 is not working. Well, maybe it is.

Steve Waechter
Level 1
Level 1

I have several Catalyst 2950s that were somehow erased.

They do not boot, there is no IOS image in the flash.

.

I need to reload the IOS on it, and as far as I can tell all I can do in this case is Xmodem transfer.

I read the procedure here:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps628/products_tech_note09186a0080169696.shtml

And followed it, it worked. I recovered one but it took a very long time through the console at 9600.

There is a procedure for using the set baud command to reset the console to 115200 at the bottom of that document:

How to Speed Up Xmodem Recovery

When a user tries to recover the switch from a corrupted or missing       IOS, the copy xmodem: flash:[IOS filename] command       might not be displayed under the switch: prompt.       The copy command might be displayed under the       switch: prompt, but not the copy       xmodem: command.

Complete these steps in order to speed up the Xmodem       recovery:

  1. Set the baud rate to 115200 on the             switch: prompt.

    switch: set BAUD 115200

    !--- The screen goes blank after you enter this command.

  2. Restart HyperTerminal.

  3. Under COM PORT properties, select the bits per second as             115200. The switch: prompt is             displayed.

  4. Start the Xmodem recovery.

  5. After the Xmodem recovery, set the BAUD rate back to             9600. If the set BAUD 9600 command             does not bring the baud rate to 9600, issue the unset BAUD command in order to bring the baud rate to a default value             of 9600 bps.

I did type set baud 115200, but the screen didn't go blank and I did not lose contact with the console.

I typed set

the switch reported it's settings, including

baud 115200

which I assume means that command did work, but did not take immediate effect.

I expected it to.

I reloaded the switch, but I still didn't lose contact with the switch at 9600. Clearly the switch console port speed did not change at all.

So I copied the file by xmodem at the same speed, but I should have been able to get this all going much faster.

I tried unset baud and typed set, and the baud setting was missing from the listing, so I assume that means my unset baud command was accepted.

What did I do wrong?

Is the writeup incorrect?

Can anyone shed any light on this?

Thanks in advance.

Steve

2 Accepted Solutions

Accepted Solutions

paolo bevilacqua
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame

Did you type BAUD uppercase ?

View solution in original post

Steve,

There is a typo in your filename:

boot system flash:/c2950-i6k2l2a4-mz.121-22.EA14.bin

It should be q4 - I apologize, the typo was caused by me - I am truly sorry. Can you give it another try?

The dir and dir flash: tests are not conclusive - remember that these are IOS commands and may have their operational defaults but when the switch is booting up, there is no IOS running, only the bootloader, and the bootloader may be very picky about the correct syntax - completely different from the IOS itself.

Best regards,

Peter

View solution in original post

11 Replies 11

paolo bevilacqua
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame

Did you type BAUD uppercase ?

No. Could that be it?

As I said, when I typed set to review settings the switch confirmed what I had typed.

Does it need to be uppercase?  If so, that might be the only case sensitive part of Cisco CLI programming.

Type it uppercase and let us know.

Do not make assumptions about case sensitivity, this is rommon, not IOS.

Paolo,

Thanks, that worked.

I can't believe it.

I think the tech note I mentioned should be changed to stress that the word BAUD must be UC.

The ROMMON command set is not well documented.  Not like I work with it very often either.

Thanks again.

Perhaps the note should be improved, the thing is that BAUD is technically an environment variable, and historically, these are always written uppercase, so it I guess it "looks right" to experienced eyes..

Thanks for the nice rating and good luck!

I've programmed cisco stuff for years and years, and ya know, the system helps you so much, well, it's unusual I have to look anything up.

I just type ? if I don't remember something.

Not like I have had to deal with dead switches that lack a valid image too often.

Never before, really.

Or ROMMON except for password resets.

Thanks again for your help.

OK, one more thing.

After the xmodem transfer completes successfully,

I type

unset BAUD

Change hyperterminal back to 9600 BAUD

switch: dir flash
unable to stat flash/: permission denied

Which is what I got before.

Why shouldn't I be able to get a directory of the flash?

I typed flash_init

I got back

...the flash is already initialized


I type boot

The system tries to boot the old (missing) image, then boots the new image normally.


All seems fine. It works.


On reboot however

C2950 Boot Loader (C2950-HBOOT-M) Version 12.1(11r)EA1, RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc1)
Compiled Mon 22-Jul-02 17:18 by antonino
WS-C2950-24 starting...
Base ethernet MAC Address: 00:0f:24:7f:0d:80
Xmodem file system is available.
Initializing Flash...
flashfs[0]: 2 files, 1 directories
flashfs[0]: 0 orphaned files, 0 orphaned directories
flashfs[0]: Total bytes: 7741440
flashfs[0]: Bytes used: 3724800
flashfs[0]: Bytes available: 4016640
flashfs[0]: flashfs fsck took 6 seconds.
...done initializing flash.
Boot Sector Filesystem (bs:) installed, fsid: 3
Parameter Block Filesystem (pb:) installed, fsid: 4
Loading "flash:c2950-i6q4l2-mz.121-22.EA1.bin"...flash:c2950-i6q4l2-mz.121-22.EA
1.bin: no such file or directory

Error loading "flash:c2950-i6q4l2-mz.121-22.EA

I think it's booting from the xmodem FS.

I think I need to get the files in the flash FS

So I copied the image to flash. That seemed to work. Here is the directory below:

Switch#dir
Directory of flash:/

    2  -rwx         311  Jan 04 1970 17:53:12 +00:00  env_vars
    3  -rwx     3722880  Jan 01 1970 00:09:30 +00:00  c2950-i6k2l2q4-mz.121-22.E
A14.bin

7741440 bytes total (4016640 bytes free)
Switch#show boot
BOOT path-list:       flash:c2950-i6q4l2-mz.121-22.EA1.bin
Config file:          flash:/config.text
Private Config file:  flash:/private-config.text
Enable Break:         no
Manual Boot:          no
HELPER path-list:
NVRAM/Config file
      buffer size:    32768
Timeout for Config
          Download:    0 seconds
Config Download
       via DHCP:       disabled (next boot: disabled)

I changed the boot image name:
Switch#config t
Enter configuration commands, one per line.  End with CNTL/Z.
Switch(config)#boot system c2950-i6k2l2q4-mz.121-22.EA14.bin


It seems right to me.

Switch>ena
Switch#show boot
BOOT path-list:       c2950-i6k2l2q4-mz.121-22.EA14.bin
Config file:          flash:/config.text
Private Config file:  flash:/private-config.text
Enable Break:         no
Manual Boot:          no
HELPER path-list:
NVRAM/Config file
      buffer size:    32768
Timeout for Config
          Download:    0 seconds
Config Download
       via DHCP:       disabled (next boot: disabled)
Switch#write
Building configuration...
[OK]


That all looks right to me.


But on power cycle

C2950 Boot Loader (C2950-HBOOT-M) Version 12.1(11r)EA1, RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc1)
Compiled Mon 22-Jul-02 17:18 by antonino
WS-C2950-24 starting...
Base ethernet MAC Address: 00:0f:24:7f:0d:80
Xmodem file system is available.
Initializing Flash...
flashfs[0]: 4 files, 1 directories
flashfs[0]: 0 orphaned files, 0 orphaned directories
flashfs[0]: Total bytes: 7741440
flashfs[0]: Bytes used: 3726848
flashfs[0]: Bytes available: 4014592
flashfs[0]: flashfs fsck took 6 seconds.
...done initializing flash.
Boot Sector Filesystem (bs:) installed, fsid: 3
Parameter Block Filesystem (pb:) installed, fsid: 4
Loading "c2950-i6k2l2q4-mz.121-22.EA14.bin"...c2950-i6k2l2q4-mz.121-22.EA14.bin:
permission denied

Error loading "c2950-i6k2l2q4-mz.121-22.EA14.bin"

Interrupt within 5 seconds to abort boot process.
Loading "flash:/c2950-i6k2l2q4-mz.121-22.EA14.bin"..

The switch then boots properly. But I don't think this is exactly right. It knows the name of it's boot image now, but it tries to boot somehow improperly.

What do I need to do?

Sheesh.

Hi Steve,

Switch(config)#boot system c2950-i6k2l2q4-mz.121-22.EA14.bin

You have missed the filesystem designator here. Correctly, the command should be:

boot system flash:/c2950-i6k2l2a4-mz.121-22.EA14.bin

Try that out.

Best regards,

Peter

Peter

I tried that.

Switch(config)#boot system flash:/c2950-i6k2l2a4-mz.121-22.EA14.bin
Switch(config)#exit

Write

reload

00:03:55: %SYS-5-RELOAD: Reload requested by console. Reload Reason: Reload Command.

C2950 Boot Loader (C2950-HBOOT-M) Version 12.1(11r)EA1, RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc1)
Compiled Mon 22-Jul-02 17:18 by antonino
WS-C2950-24 starting...
Base ethernet MAC Address: 00:0f:24:7f:0d:80
Xmodem file system is available.
Initializing Flash...
flashfs[0]: 4 files, 1 directories
flashfs[0]: 0 orphaned files, 0 orphaned directories
flashfs[0]: Total bytes: 7741440
flashfs[0]: Bytes used: 3726848
flashfs[0]: Bytes available: 4014592
flashfs[0]: flashfs fsck took 6 seconds.
...done initializing flash.
Boot Sector Filesystem (bs:) installed, fsid: 3
Parameter Block Filesystem (pb:) installed, fsid: 4
Loading "flash:/c2950-i6k2l2a4-mz.121-22.EA14.bin"...flash:/c2950-i6k2l2a4-mz.12
1-22.EA14.bin: no such file or directory

Error loading "flash:/c2950-i6k2l2a4-mz.121-22.EA14.bin"

Interrupt within 5 seconds to abort boot process.
Loading "flash:/c2950-i6k2l2q4-mz.121-22.EA14.bin"...

Looks same to me. Well, wait, it's not the same.  The error is maybe same though.


Hmm.


Well, this is kind of telling:


Switch>ena

Switch#dir flash:
Directory of flash:/

    2  -rwx         316  Mar 01 1993 00:03:25 +00:00  env_vars
    3  -rwx     3722880  Jan 01 1970 00:09:30 +00:00  c2950-i6k2l2q4-mz.121-22.E
A14.bin
    5  -rwx        1150  Mar 01 1993 00:03:50 +00:00  config.text
    6  -rwx          24  Mar 01 1993 00:03:50 +00:00  private-config.text

7741440 bytes total (4014592 bytes free)
Switch#

dir should work too:
Switch#dir

Directory of flash:/

    2  -rwx         316  Mar 01 1993 00:03:25 +00:00  env_vars
    3  -rwx     3722880  Jan 01 1970 00:09:30 +00:00  c2950-i6k2l2q4-mz.121-22.E
A14.bin
    5  -rwx        1150  Mar 01 1993 00:03:50 +00:00  config.text
    6  -rwx          24  Mar 01 1993 00:03:50 +00:00  private-config.text

7741440 bytes total (4014592 bytes free)
Switch#

Steve,

There is a typo in your filename:

boot system flash:/c2950-i6k2l2a4-mz.121-22.EA14.bin

It should be q4 - I apologize, the typo was caused by me - I am truly sorry. Can you give it another try?

The dir and dir flash: tests are not conclusive - remember that these are IOS commands and may have their operational defaults but when the switch is booting up, there is no IOS running, only the bootloader, and the bootloader may be very picky about the correct syntax - completely different from the IOS itself.

Best regards,

Peter

That works of course.I didn't notice that typo.

Thanks for your help!
Steve

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