IOS dont boot from TFTP

[Lucas Rene]

Hi everyone!

Im doing some lab with one of my 1841 routers, and i want to load the ios from my tftp server but i cant get to it...

The tftp server has the right permissions (already copied my original ios from flash to the tftp and everything went well) and then deleted the original ios from flash. Then i type the boot system "filename" and "ip of the tftp" command and wr before reloading the router but when its booting i get this error message and then goes to romm... 

program load complete, entry point: 0x8000f000, size: 0xcb80
an alternate boot helper program is not specified
(monitor variable "BOOTLDR" is not set)
and unable to determine first file in bootflash
loadprog: error - on file open
boot: cannot load "tftp:c1841-adventerprisek9-mz.124-9.t1.bin 10.1.1.105"

What im i missing here? 

NOTE: In rommon mode i manage to get to the tftp and load properly the ios image, but what i want to achieve is that the router will search the ios image directly from the tftp server and not from the FLASH

[balaji.bandi]

For testing before you setup the boot image from tftp.

copy the file from TFTP Server to Flash, confirm the file in place, and IP reachable to Device.

Once that is confirmed you can setup the Boot variable.

config t

!

boot system tftp vestion.bin 1.1.1.1    <-- change the image name and IP address 
boot system flash   <- alternative falback to flash
!
end
!
wr

once you do above steps you can see below output/

show version

----omiited other lines---

System image file is "tftp://1.1.1.1/version.bin"

----omiited other lines---

Configuration register is 0x2102

test and advise

[Lucas Rene]

I dont get it, in order to work i have to copy first from my TFTP to my cisco device??? That doesnt make much sense, im trying to achieve some "redundancy" in case i "lost my ios from flash" thats why i delete it first my ios image from flash

What im trying to achieve is to boot up from tftp WITHOUT having an IOS image into flash...

[balaji.bandi]

the process is mentioned in the post to boot from the TFTP, if TFTP not reachable it will boot from flash, if the image available locally. make sense ?

[Lucas Rene]

I get it, but the thing is that i cant make it to boot from there (tftp server) i have an image that is larger then 32 mb so my idea is to boot it from there without copying it to the flash memory. What are the steps to do that? or what im i doing wrong? i believed that with the boot system tftp command will be all, but is not. 

Thanks in advance

[Lucas Rene]

This is the error i get when there is no flash in the device...

Readonly ROMMON initialized
boot: cannot open "flash:"
an alternate boot helper program is not specified
(monitor variable "BOOTLDR" is not set)
and unable to determine first file in bootflash
loadprog: error - on file open
boot: cannot load "tftp:c1841-adventerprisek9-mz.124-9.t1.bin 10.1.1.105"

[Richard Burts]

In the original post you tell us "Then i type the boot system "filename" and "ip of the tftp" command". I am guessing that the exact syntax of what you typed is not the same syntax suggested by @balaji.bandi. Can you either try it again using the syntax suggested by BB or can you post the exact syntax that you did use.

HTH 

Rick