Core Issue
The Network Processor Engine (NPE-300) is designed with a separate, fixed configuration 32MB of DRAM DIMM, which is only used for packet memory. Therefore, if the NPE-300 has total of 64MB of DRAM, only 32MB of the memory is used for processor memory. The NPE-300 may even have less than 32MB of DRAM, because some of that memory may also be used for packet memory. A Cisco IOS Software image requiring 64MB may fail to boot and display the SYSTEM INIT: INSUFFICIENT MEMORY TO BOOT THE IMAGE! message because the Cisco IOS image resides in the processor memory.
Resolution
Follow the steps below if a 7200 series router with an NPE-300 and 64MB of total DRAM fails to boot a Cisco IOS image. This image shows a minimum memory requirement of 64MB, and displays the SYSTEM INIT: INSUFFICIENT MEMORY TO BOOT THE IMAGE! message.
- Verify the amount of memory installed by issuing the show version command, as follows:
Router#show version
Cisco Internetwork Operating System Software
IOS (tm) 7200 Software (C7200-IS-M), Version 12.0(3)T3, RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc1)
Copyright (c) 1986-1999 by Cisco Systems, Inc.
Compiled Fri 16-Apr-99 11:19 by kpma
Image text-base: 0x60008900, data-base: 0x60EB0000
ROM: System Bootstrap, Version 12.0(19990210:195103) [12.0XE 105], DEVELOPMENT SOFTWARE
BOOTFLASH: 7200 Software (C7200-BOOT-M), Version 12.0(2)XE2, EARLY DEPLOYMENT RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc1)
Router uptime is 39 weeks, 5 days, 16 hours, 32 minutes
System restarted by abort at PC 0x60442A34 at 11:52:54 UTC Thu Aug 12 1999
System image file is "slot0:c7200-is-mz.120-3.T3"
Cisco 7206VXR (NPE300) processor with 28672K/36864K bytes of memory.
R7000 CPU at 262Mhz, Implementation 39, Rev 1.0, 256KB L2, 2048KB L3 Cache
6 slot VXR midplane, Version 2.0
In the above example, the total memory is 65536K (64MB). This is determined by adding the two numbers in the Cisco 7206VXR (NPE300) processor with 28672K/36864K bytes of memory. line. The 28672K (28MB) is the amount of processor memory available. The 36864K (36MB) is the amount of packet memory available.
- Boot the image by adding at least 32MB of DRAM if the image requires 64MB minimum of DRAM.
- Determine the memory requirements for a 7200 series router with an NPE-300 engine by subtacting 32MB from the DRAM total on the router. This is how you get the amount of main memory available for the Cisco IOS requirement. This is not required with other NPEs or Network Service Engines (NSEs).
When Problem Occurs
After software upgrade
Error Messages and Warnings
SYSTEM INIT: INSUFFICIENT MEMORY TO BOOT THE IMAGE!
