Old 1760 With password recovery disabled, no way to factory reset

federico_tv · ‎12-03-2013

Hi

I have an old 1760 router with Password Recovery Functionality Disabled

I don't care about its actual configuration , I need factory reset

I Followed the well documented procedure :

Normal boot

Self decompressing the image : #################################################
################################################################################
################################################################ [OK]

Smart Init is disabled. IOMEM set to: 15

PMem allocated: 57042944 bytes; IOMem allocated: 10065920 bytes

Restricted Rights Legend

Use, duplication, or disclosure by the Government is

subject to restrictions as set forth in subparagraph

(c) of the Commercial Computer Software - Restricted

Rights clause at FAR sec. 52.227-19 and subparagraph

(c) (1) (ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer

Software clause at DFARS sec. 252.227-7013.

cisco Systems, Inc.

170 West Tasman Drive

San Jose, California 95134-1706

Cisco Internetwork Operating System Software

IOS (tm) C1700 Software (C1700-SV8Y7-M), Version 12.3(6d), RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc1

)

Compiled Fri 15-Oct-04 03:46 by kellythw

Image text-base: 0x80008120, data-base: 0x81440804

Send break at this time , then :

Do you want to reset the router to factory default

configuration and proceed [y/n] ? y

Reset router configuration to factory default.

cisco 1760 (MPC860P) processor (revision 0x500) with 55706K/9830K bytes of memor

y.

Processor board ID FOC07450X9P (3881152211), with hardware revision 0000

MPC860P processor: part number 5, mask 2

Bridging software.

X.25 software, Version 3.0.0.

1 FastEthernet/IEEE 802.3 interface(s)

32K bytes of non-volatile configuration memory.

32768K bytes of processor board System flash (Read/Write)

WARNING:

Executing this command will disable password recovery mechanism.

Do not execute this command without another plan for

password recovery.

Are you sure you want to continue? [yes/no]: y

The router boot up normally anyway , still with original password unrecovered instead a fresh factory default.

Any hint please ?????

Thank you

Leo Laohoo · ‎12-03-2013

Recovering a Router with the Password Recovery Service Disabled

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federico_tv · ‎12-03-2013

That was exactly the document I read to reset the router to factory default

The problem is that after this phrase appears :

Do you want to reset the router to factory default
configuration and proceed [y/n] ? y
Reset router configuration to factory default.

The router continues boot with the old configuration and the factory reset doesn't take place

Any idea why ???

Thanks

Leo Laohoo · ‎12-03-2013

The router continues boot with the old configuration and the factory reset doesn't take place

If you can break in and do password recovery, delete the old config.

federico_tv · ‎12-03-2013

I mean the router still boot with old configuration AND the password recovery disabled.

So, no way to break it

I don't understand why the whole thing is wiped out after it says " Reset router to factory default" like all other routers do (i wiped many cisco with password recovery disabled)

Leo Laohoo · ‎12-03-2013

I mean the router still boot with old configuration AND the password recovery disabled.

Hmmmm ... That's bizarre.

I've used the same process several times and I've been able to remove previous configurations.

Peter Paluch · ‎12-04-2013

Federico,

There is something quite strange going on but one thing has caught my attention in particular. This is a part of your transcript:

Send break at this time , then :

Do you want to reset the router to factory default

configuration and proceed [y/n] ? y

Reset router configuration to factory default.

cisco 1760 (MPC860P) processor (revision 0x500) with 55706K/9830K bytes of memory.

Processor board ID FOC07450X9P (3881152211), with hardware revision 0000

MPC860P processor: part number 5, mask 2

Bridging software.

X.25 software, Version 3.0.0.

1 FastEthernet/IEEE 802.3 interface(s)

32K bytes of non-volatile configuration memory.

32768K bytes of processor board System flash (Read/Write)

WARNING:

Executing this command will disable password recovery mechanism.

Do not execute this command without another plan for

password recovery.

Are you sure you want to continue? [yes/no]: y

Notice that the first question is whether you want to erase the configuration - you respond with yes, and the router continues booting. The second question displayed clearly shows that the router continues loading the configuration file and in particular processes the no service password-recovery command.

What would happen if you answered with n to this second question, preventing the router from accepting the no password-recovery stored command? Could you reload the router afterwards and try the password recovery procedure again?

Also, if this router has a removable Flash card, would you be able to enter the ROMMON and set the configuration register to 0x2142 if you removed the card and tried booting the router?

Best regards,

Peter

federico_tv · ‎12-09-2013

When I answer NO to second question the router still continue booting without changing anything...

Still old configuration, still password recovery disabled also after reboot.

I found the good old hardware hacking way to be useful :

As 1760 has no compactflash , I opened the device and remove the 27c4001 flash using an extractor tool

Then I replaced it with a same flash coming from a 1721 router

At first boot it said "corrupted flash, using default"

When boot ends, I power-off 1760 and replaced again the flash with the original one

It still gave me the "corrupted flash, using default" message but I was able to entering rommon with initial BREAK

Thus the usual password recovery was possible.

Thank you for interesting in my issue.