Nexus 3172PQ Stuck in Bootloader

[Plaats]

Pretty much the title. 

I was trying to upgrade from 9.2.2 to 9.3.4 but something went wrong and now I am locked to the boot loader. The switch wants to boot the nxos.9.2.2.bin image but the file does not exist and is not in the directory. If I try to boot nxos.9.3.4.bin (which is in the dir) using boot bootflash:/nxos.9.3.4.bin, I get the following:

Booting kickstart image: bootflash:/nxos.9.3.4.bin
CardIndex = 11117
Image valid
MD5Sum mismatch
File does not exist, boot failed.
error: ERROR: MD5 checksum not match

The same goes if I am trying to boot from usb1:, which also has the 9.3.4 image on it.

Any ideas on how I can get this switch back up and running?

[Francesco Molino]

Hi

Have you compared the md5 of your file on your usb stick with the md5 on Cisco download website?
If different, can you download it back, push it on your usb and try to reboot using the file from your usb drive?

[Sergiu.Daniluk]

Hi @Plaats,

The "MD5Sum mismatch" error indicates that the nxos image is corrupted. You will need to download/copy again the file on the USB. Alternatively, you can boot from tftp. 

Example:

loader> set ip 172.21.55.213 255.255.255.224
loader> set gw 172.21.55.193  
loader> boot tftp://172.28.255.18/tftpboot/nxos.9.3.4.bin                                                            

Either way, make sure that the MD5 checksum of the image you have, matches with the one from software download page:

MD5 Checksum	791d5c7d98020ef439d89949eb3eb7dc
SHA512 Checksum	aa478ac11f088e17ed2e2eb9f9ceaa3b1d8823da6ac6151398a8e6bdd4f38e67f244887575c43b92e7f3c7bf6d1617777f5b3d95289b8143eba2ca4f75e32f35

Stay safe,

Sergiu

[akrradford]

Wouldn't the hash have changed when you ran the compact function? Trying to work through this problem too.

[Christopher Hart]

Hello,

You are correct - the MD5 and SHA checksums of an NX-OS binary image file that has undergone the Compact Image Procedure would absolutely change and would not match the checksums found on Cisco's website.

The root cause of the OP's issue (and perhaps your issue as well) is a known limitation documented by CSCvs23686. I recommend following the Workaround procedure documented in that bug.

I am working internally to correct our documentation such that documented upgrade paths avoid this issue.

Thank you!

-Christopher