Cisco 7970, reset, black screen, won't configure ethernet interface let alone download firmware

[peter.borg]

I have several 7970 phones (and a couple of 796x phones) working just fine. The network infrastructure is in place to provide dhcp responses and a tftp server to provide firmware. This is all proven to work with many other phones.

However, I have one phone that I simply cannot make work. I have a console cable and can successfully connect to the console, see log output and interact with the phone, so I know it's not totally dead.

The phone was working fine, but after a failed firmware upgrade attempt a factory reset was attempted, and the phone has not worked since.

This is a CP-7970G-V01. Factory resets (both 123456789*0# and 3491672850*#) have been performed on this phone using a power brick, connected to a non-poe switch port.

It looks like the interface simply isn't configured for IP when using DHCP.

Further, manually configuring the interface at the setipcfg> prompt on the console also doesn't work.

I've tried cables and switch ports used with known working phones. For the sake of completeness I've tried both SWITCH and PC ports on the phone.

The phone has been left powered on and attached to the network for up to 48 hours and simply cycles through the same process with the same results again and again.

I've attached some files:

dhcp.txt - is the output from the console if the phone is configured to use dhcp - i.e. the factory default for the phone. At the bottom of the log is the output from a tcpdump from the server whilst the phone is booting

static.txt - is the output from the console if the phone is configured with a static IP; again, at the bottom the relevant boot sequence tcpdump

Curiously, at times when changing the configuration from dhcp to stating a getcfg will show information from the dhcp response, even though the phone has complained that no response was received.

Even when assigned a static IP it's not possible to ping the phone.

Any suggestions or pointers would be greatly appreciated!

[Rajan]

Hi Peter,

From the description, I guess that the phone is unable to load the firmware after factory reset. You could try the following:

- Download firmware version 8.5(2) for the phone model 7970 (as this is the minimum firmware need to upgrade to 9.1 or later firmware releases) and follow the steps in the below link to upload the firmware manually by connecting to a PC. This will bring the phone display back

http://www.adrianandgenese.com/blogger/2011/02/16/how-to-upgrade-or-convert-a-cisco-ip-79xx-7940-7960-794x-796x-797x-phone-to-sip-or-sccp/ 

- Once its up, you could upgrade to the current firmware release

Let me know if this helps.

Shenbagarajan

[peter.borg]

Hi Shenbagarajan,

Thanks for the suggestion, though 8.5.2 is exactly what's waiting on the server for the phone. Problem is, the phone never gets that far.

As you can see from the console output and in the tcpdump output at the bottom of each file on the original post, the phone isn't actually sending TFTP requests despite what the console output says. The phone apparently never configures the ethernet interface for IP, so consequently can't successfully make a TFTP request. Therefore, it doesn't make a blind bit of difference what firmware is on the server!

Thanks for the suggestion though, your time is appreciated.

Peter.

[peter.borg]

Update - dug the phone out again today just to see if a week on the shelf had improved matters - it hasn't.

However, I did discover something else; if configured with a static IP the interface responds to ping requests for a short time and then stops responding. Disconnecting and reconnecting the ethernet cable causes the same thing to occur again - responds to pings for a bit (roughly 20 seconds), then again disappears.

Is it possible this is actually a hardware fault?

Does anyone have any ideas? Kind of surprised at the lack of suggestions....!