Cisco 7970 Series Phones not booting

[jmaurer1205]

I have 14 phones that have just stopped working, they are the 7970 series with color displays. The phone powers up and the 8 buttons on the top right flash green from the first button down and the head set is lit green. The screen does not come on. I have checked the DHCP server and do not see that the mac address has registered or asking for an address. I have the options 150 and 66 pointing to the server with the images. I have tried holding # till the light go down the side and hitting 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 * 0 #, but nothing. I have tried with the network PoE and just the power adapter. I can not even get the sceen to light out so see setting.

Do I need to open the phone up and reset something?

I have other phones that have done this giving me around 40 phone that have fallen to this problem. The phones are only around 4 years old. Is this a common problem?

[paolo bevilacqua]

The phone is trying to get term70.default.loads, make sure you have that on the tftp server.

If you put the phones on a separate lan with a PC and tftpd323, you can more easily observe the boot process and recover the phones. Including the DHCP that is probably not working for some reason on the live network.

[jmaurer1205]

Ok I tried that and this is what I received.

The 192.168.1.10 was an IP address from the DHCP server that was on. I turned it off when after I seen that.

The scope was 192.168.1.20 - 50.

Rcvd DHCP Rqst Msg for IP 0.0.0.0, Mac 00:14:6A:9C:42:22 [01/03 13:33:13.188]
Rcvd DHCP release Msg for IP 192.168.1.10, Mac 00:14:6A:9C:42:22 [01/03 13:33:13.251]
Rcvd DHCP Discover Msg for IP 0.0.0.0, Mac 00:14:6A:9C:42:22 [01/03 13:33:15.219]
DHCP: proposed address 192.168.1.20 [01/03 13:33:17.641]
3344 Request 2 not processed [01/03 13:33:17.704]
Rcvd DHCP Rqst Msg for IP 0.0.0.0, Mac 00:14:6A:9C:42:22 [01/03 13:33:17.766]
Previously allocated address 192.168.1.20 acked [01/03 13:33:19.266]
3344 Request 2 not processed [01/03 13:33:19.329]
Connection received from 192.168.1.20 on port 1024 [01/03 13:33:22.907]
Read request for file . Mode octet [01/03 13:33:22.922]
Using local port 1045 [01/03 13:33:22.922]
: sent 2 blks, 642 bytes in 1 s. 0 blk resent [01/03 13:33:23.001]
Rcvd DHCP Rqst Msg for IP 0.0.0.0, Mac 00:14:6A:9C:42:22 [01/03 13:34:52.219]
Previously allocated address 192.168.1.20 acked [01/03 13:34:53.735]
3344 Request 2 not processed [01/03 13:34:53.797]
Connection received from 192.168.1.20 on port 1024 [01/03 13:34:57.376]
Read request for file . Mode octet [01/03 13:34:57.391]
Using local port 1046 [01/03 13:34:57.391]
: sent 2 blks, 642 bytes in 0 s. 0 blk resent [01/03 13:34:57.454]
Rcvd DHCP Rqst Msg for IP 0.0.0.0, Mac 00:14:6A:9C:42:22 [01/03 13:36:26.485]
Previously allocated address 192.168.1.20 acked [01/03 13:36:28.001]
3344 Request 2 not processed [01/03 13:36:28.063]
Connection received from 192.168.1.20 on port 1024 [01/03 13:36:31.641]
Read request for file . Mode octet [01/03 13:36:31.657]
Using local port 1047 [01/03 13:36:31.657]
: sent 2 blks, 642 bytes in 0 s. 0 blk resent [01/03 13:36:31.719]

The phone reboots a could of times but still has not come to life. The screen is still black. Is there anything else I can try?

All the other phones on the network are working properly so I do not believe it is a configuration problem.

[paolo bevilacqua · Accepted solution]

Phone is trying:

Read request for file . Mode octet [01/03 13:34:57.391]

You may be trying a firmware too recent. Try some 7.x first. Also try the other reset sequence 3491672850*#

[jmaurer1205]

I ended up going back to cmterm-7970_7971-sip.8-5-2.cop and was able to get the phone up from there. I was unsuccessful using a newer version. After I was upgraded to this version I was able to upgrade to what was currently being pushed out on the network.

What I did.

-Create a test vlan.

-Used tftpd32 to setup dhcp and for tftp. Also configured additional option to 66 and the tftp server. (tftpd32 was great for showing logs for communication.)

-Extracted cmterm-7970_7971-sip.8-5-2.cop to a folder and pointed the tftp to it. I changed the name to cmterm-7970_7971-sip.8-5-2.cop.tar.gz for extracting.

Connected the dhcp / tftp to the test vlan along with the phones needing the firmware.

After the update, place the phones on the original phone vlan and allow updates.

[paolo bevilacqua]

Yes, all it takes is observation and perseverance.

Use FW .zip files for easier extracting.

Thanks for the nice rating and good luck!

[Joseck]

Thank you very much jmaurer1205 for that information. It has also worked for me. I thought I had lost my Cisco 7970 IP Phone but the screen which was blank/black/dark is now working properly.