Solved: Re: difficulty in re-installing ios on cisco 2821

AlfredNketia · ‎04-07-2011

I'm trying to install ios into my cisco 2821 which boots in rommon. Apparently the ios is corrupted, I have set the IP_ADDRESS, IP_SUBNET_MASK, DEFAULT_GATEWAY, TFTP_SERVER, TFTP_FILE but anytime I issue the 'tftpdnld' and confirm to continue, the process will time out give this error message

" ...........
ARP: address resolution for 10.203.8.49 timed out.
ARP failed with failure code 1. TFTP transfer aborted.

TFTP: Operation terminated prematurely. "

What may have gone wrong. Please help me out.

Joe Clarke · ‎04-22-2011

IPBASE refers to the feature set. You're trying to load a very feature-rich image that is quite large. Try loading c2800nm-ipbase-mz.124-24.T5.bin instead. Once you get the router booted into IOS, it should be easier to get your desired image loaded.

View solution in original post

Joe Clarke · ‎04-10-2011

This could be CSCsg05110. If this is the case, the workaround is to configure a static ARP entry for the GigabitEthernet0/0 interface of the router on the TFTP server.

AlfredNketia · ‎04-12-2011

Thanks to you all for taken interest to help me resolve the issue.

After following the advice and connecting the the tftpserver to interface ge0/0, I am not getting the arp error again.

However I have not been able to re-install the IOS because the arp error was corrected the it rather the coping is now timing.

The following is the output.

rommon 17 > tftpdnld

          IP_ADDRESS: 10.203.8.138
       IP_SUBNET_MASK: 255.255.255.0
      DEFAULT_GATEWAY: 10.203.8.254
          TFTP_SERVER: 10.203.8.49
            TFTP_FILE: c2800nm-advipservicesk9-mz.124-24.T.bin
         TFTP_VERBOSE: Progress
     TFTP_RETRY_COUNT: 18
         TFTP_TIMEOUT: 7200
        TFTP_CHECKSUM: Yes
         TFTP_MACADDR: 00:1e:be:01:44:60
              GE_PORT: Gigabit Ethernet 0
        GE_SPEED_MODE: Auto

Invoke this command for disaster recovery only.
WARNING: all existing data in all partitions on flash: will be lost!
Do you wish to continue? y/n: [n]: y
.................. [TIMED OUT]
TFTP: Operation terminated.

Infact I am new to the forum and didn't know where it was very appropriate to post my issue. Sorry for any inconvenience

Thanks

Alf

Richard Burts · ‎04-12-2011

Alf

I am glad that you have resolved the problem with ARP. Now the next stage of solving the problem is this issue with timeout. My first suggestion would be to try to verify whether the TFTP server is seeing the copy request from the router. Depending on which TFTP server you are using there may be logs you can check on the TFTP server, or some of the TFTP servers have status messages that they display in the application window when a request is received, so you might want to start the tftpdnld and quickly look at the TFTP server to see any signs of activity.

Is it possible that there is a firewall running on the TFTP server that is not allowing the TFTP request? (I recently did that to myself - re-installation of the firewall had resulted in very conservative settings and it was rejecting TFTP requests)

And at the risk of asking the obvious - can you verify that your TFTP server is listening for requests to address 10.203.8.49?

HTH

Rick

HTH

Rick

AlfredNketia · ‎04-12-2011

Hello Rick

In fact the Firewall was rather preventing the router to communicate with the tftp server. After stopping the firewall, it started copying the file. It copied for about 10 mins and it time out again which gave the error message as tfttp server has aborted. That happened 2 times and I decided to restart the router but what I'm experiencing now is quite unusual. Now when the router boots to rommon mode, it does not resond to any key, not even the return key. I believe part of the file was copied onto the flash and preventing it from booting well. What can I do at this instance?

Thanks

Alf

Joe Clarke · ‎04-13-2011

The contents of flash should not be affecting ROMMON. The symptoms you describe sound like a console cabling problem. I'd check to make sure your cable is still properly connected.

As for the TFTP server issue, make sure that if your image is greater than 32 MB, your TFTP server supports large file transfers.

AlfredNketia · ‎04-13-2011

Hello Joe,

First, it was indeed the problem with the console cable because the router is accepting keyboard inputs after the console cable was removed and put back.

However, I have tried with two different tftp servers but all resulted in the same error. The tftp servers i used don't give any limit on the file size. I would be happy if you will suggest other tftp server you believe will do the magic for me

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.................. [T
IMED OUT]
TFTP: Operation terminated.
rommon 11 > ð

AlfredNketia · ‎04-13-2011

Hello All,

After your assistance, now the the IOS starts copying onto the router but it does end successfully. It copies to about 46+ MB out 57+ and starts to time out. Below is the error it displays. Kindly help to re-install the IOS

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.................. [T

IMED OUT]

TFTP: Operation terminated.

rommon 11 > ð

Thanks

Alf

Joe Clarke · ‎04-13-2011

You may want to try copying an IP BASE image through ROMMON since it is smaller. Once that image is copied and you can boot the router, you can copy the larger ADV IP SERVICES images using FTP or SCP. I suspect there may be a size problem with the TFTP server you're using. By nature, TFTP was originally designed to top out at 16 MB. Some extensions were later added for 32 MB, then later on a method to copy much larger files. Your TFTP server (or the ROMMON software) may not have this large file support.

AlfredNketia · ‎04-19-2011

Upon suggestions from a number of you, I have tried the 'tftpdnld' and the 'xmodem' methods but all of them will be doing the copying but can not finish and times out. It copies 46113996 (ox2bfa4cc) out 57544900 (ox36e10c4) always and time times out. I have tried both methods more than once but it starts to time out exactly at this point.

Is hope still there for me.

Looking forward to hear from you all.

Thanks

Alf

Joe Clarke · ‎04-19-2011

Have you tried the IPBASE image? I think you'll have luck copying the smaller image, then upgrading from that to the desired image using the main IOS image. This would rule out the TFTP client in ROMMON.

AlfredNketia · ‎04-21-2011

Joe,I am not so familiar with IPBASE image, can you explain a bit for me.

Thanks

Alf

Joe Clarke · ‎04-22-2011

IPBASE refers to the feature set. You're trying to load a very feature-rich image that is quite large. Try loading c2800nm-ipbase-mz.124-24.T5.bin instead. Once you get the router booted into IOS, it should be easier to get your desired image loaded.

AlfredNketia · ‎04-21-2011

Could the size flash size be of problem sice I'm beging to suspect it. though i copied the IOS from another Cisco 2821series and want to put it on another cisco 2821 series I 'm thinking the size should not be a matter. Whether I use 'tftpdnld' or ' tftfpdlnd -r', it sometimes copy as much as 96 or 97% and starts to time out.

I really need to get this thing done.

Thanks all for the assistance so far

Alf

AlfredNketia · ‎06-07-2011

Hello All

Thank you for your invaluable assitance. The issues started from arp, to timout which was due to firewall as Richard Burts rightly suggested. I became happy when it started copying for the first time but got disappointed whenit began to timeout after copying 96% and continuely behave so. Upon suggestion from Joseph Clark, I tried IPBase and now the router is revived and alive.

Thank you all.