cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
cancel
4413
Views
0
Helpful
14
Replies

2921 Router Password Recovery Gone Bad! Help Please

Michael Reyes
Level 1
Level 1

Experts

In configuring my 2921 router, I became locked out.  Kept prompting me for username/password, which was rejected everytime.  I followed the procedure in the link below for the Cisco 2900 Integrated Services Router to reset the password.

In my initial configuration, I created a user root, priv 15 with a password.  I copied the commands into notepad to ensure that I had the correct username/password when I added the user.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps5854/products_password_recovery09186a0080b34901.shtml

When the router came back online, I'm seeing the output like this.

bÁ…Ä$礤„†¥æ‡„‡†Å‚Ä$@$#  €¦…F¤æ¦Ä$„ä…‡†„秥§¦å§Ç‡¤¦„ä…báÄÅÅ„¦†…„¤†Å¥‡Á…ÄÅD§Gc‡b÷ÌŠH/o)7ˆáŽñ

I've tried power cycling and even powered down the router, reinserted the compact flash card in hopes that it would come up in a normal boot mode, but that did not work.

Has anyone ever seen this?  What is the solution to resolve this and get me back on track?

Thank You,

Michael

4 Accepted Solutions

Accepted Solutions

Reza Sharifi
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame

Hi,

On your console try changing the baud rate to 9600, disconnect and than reconnect.  If 9600 does not work try 38400.  If not, try all the other once. .Make sure to disconnect and reconnect after each change.

Usually when you get garbage on the screen the issue is baud rate.

HTH

View solution in original post

mbailey
Level 1
Level 1

I agree, and I've also seen this on my laptop because the USB to Serial adapter driver is not very good in 64-bit Windows 7.  Typically a laptop reboot helps that side of things.

View solution in original post

Did you make sure to change the confreg to 0x2142?

This ensures that the start up config is ignored and let you back in the device so you can change the username and password.

HTH

View solution in original post

Mike,

By default the confreg is 0x2102.  During the password recovery you change the confreg to 0x2142, so it ignore the conifg so you can reset the password and username. 

Once you apply the new password and username, you also need to go to config mode and change the confreg back to 0x2102 and reboot the router. Once the router rebooted, do a "sh ver" you should see the config is 0x2102.

HTH

Reza

View solution in original post

14 Replies 14

Reza Sharifi
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame

Hi,

On your console try changing the baud rate to 9600, disconnect and than reconnect.  If 9600 does not work try 38400.  If not, try all the other once. .Make sure to disconnect and reconnect after each change.

Usually when you get garbage on the screen the issue is baud rate.

HTH

Thanks!  That did it.

I had to change the baud rate to 19200.  Is there a way to configure this back to 9600 permenently?

Michael

mbailey
Level 1
Level 1

I agree, and I've also seen this on my laptop because the USB to Serial adapter driver is not very good in 64-bit Windows 7.  Typically a laptop reboot helps that side of things.

This is an old Dell E5510 laptop with a serial port, so not using a USB to serial adapter.

So I've progressed through the password recovery procedure, but instead of getting prompted to answer setup questions, I'm still getting prompted to enter the username & password.

One step forward, two steps back.  Frustrating to say the least. 

Did you make sure to change the confreg to 0x2142?

This ensures that the start up config is ignored and let you back in the device so you can change the username and password.

HTH

Hello Reza,

Yes I did.  What am I missing?  I've followed the steps outline several times with the same results.  I'm looking at resetting back to factory defaults, but haven't found the exact procedure yet.

Michael

Hello Michael,

I do not want to interrupt Reza's established way of approaching to solve this problem - this is Reza's thread and I would like him to conclude it successfully, but I believe it would be very helpful if you recorded your entire console session as you perform the password recovery procedure, including changing the configuration register in the ROMMON to 0x2142, booting the device, etc. - so that we can potentially spot anything that may cause the password recovery procedure to fail. Use your HyperTerminal (or whatever) Capture Text... feature to record the entire transcript, then post the file here please.

Thank you!

Best regards,

Peter

Peter,

Thanks for the suggestion.  It helped me to locate my error.  I transposed the registry setting 2124 vs 2142.  I'm moving forward and let you know on my progress as soon as I can.

Michael

Hello Reza & Peter,

Thank you both so much for all your help.  I've recovered/reset the password and now able to access the router.  I really do appreciate the help.  I need to pay attention more closely to my commands and not move so fast.

Now I can focus back on my original issue of getting telnet, ssh and ACLs configured.

You Rock!

Best Regards,

Michael

Glad to help Michael, and thanks for the rating

Peter,

You can interrupt any of my treat anytime. No problem Sir. I always learn from your posts.

Thanks,

Reza

Hi Reza,

Quick question.  Step 14 of the recovery steps states to enter a value recorded in step 2.  However, step 2 never stated to record a value.  is the register configuration supposed to be 0x2102 or the 0x2142?

Type config-register . Where is either the value you recorded in step 2 or 0x2102 . For example:

hostname(config)#config-register 0x2102


Found a couple of things on line indicate this is the default setting to boot from NVRAM.  Is that correct?

Michael

Mike,

By default the confreg is 0x2102.  During the password recovery you change the confreg to 0x2142, so it ignore the conifg so you can reset the password and username. 

Once you apply the new password and username, you also need to go to config mode and change the confreg back to 0x2102 and reboot the router. Once the router rebooted, do a "sh ver" you should see the config is 0x2102.

HTH

Reza

Thanks Reza,

I appreciate the clarification.  When I entered sho ver, it showed that 0x0102 was to be loaded that next reload.

Here is after the reload:

Configuration register is 0x2102

It's been a good learning day!

Regards,

Michael

Getting Started

Find answers to your questions by entering keywords or phrases in the Search bar above. New here? Use these resources to familiarize yourself with the community:

Innovations in Cisco Full Stack Observability - A new webinar from Cisco