Flash Read only

jayantpatankar · ‎08-09-2006

I am troubleshooting an IOS upgrade.

Initially after copying the IOS image from TFTP server to flash it reported and invalid checksum.

After going thruogh the troubleshooting tips I retried, but to the same effect.

Below is the Router output;

%Error: System flash location 0x3A00000 - wrote 0x2F000000, read 0x0

COPY: Text checksum verification failure

TFTP from 1.1.1.2 failed/aborted

Verifying checksum... invalid (expected 0x6ED3, computed 0x4940)

Flash copy took 0:06:17 [hh:mm:ss]

%FLH: retry #1

%FLH: c2500-js56i-l.121-12b.bin from 1.1.1.2 to flash ... (retry)

System flash directory:

File Length Name/status

1 10485696 c2500-js56i-l.121-12b.bin [invalid checksum]

[10485760 bytes used, 6291456 available, 16777216 total]

Accessing file 'c2500-js56i-l.121-12b.bin' on 1.1.1.2...

Loading c2500-js56i-l.121-12b.bin from 1.1.1.2 (via Ethernet0): ! [OK]

Erasing device... eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

ee ...erased

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

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

%Error: System flash location 0x3A00000 - wrote 0x2F000000, read 0x0

COPY: Text checksum verification failure

TFTP from 1.1.1.2 failed/aborted

Verifying checksum... invalid (expected 0x6ED3, computed 0x4940)

Flash copy took 0:06:17 [hh:mm:ss]

%FLH: Idling for 30 secs before retry #2

%FLH: c2500-js56i-l.121-12b.bin from 1.1.1.2 to flash ... (retry)

System flash directory:

File Length Name/status

1 10485696 c2500-js56i-l.121-12b.bin [invalid checksum]

[10485760 bytes used, 6291456 available, 16777216 total]

Accessing file 'c2500-js56i-l.121-12b.bin' on 1.1.1.2...

Loading c2500-js56i-l.121-12b.bin from 1.1.1.2 (via Ethernet0): ! [OK]

Erasing device... eeeeeeeeeeeee

Loading c2500-js56i-l.121-12b.bin from 1.1.1.2 (via Ethernet0): !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!

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

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

%Error: System flash location 0x3A00000 - wrote 0x2F000000, read 0x0

COPY: Text checksum verification failure

TFTP from 1.1.1.2 failed/aborted

Verifying checksum... invalid (expected 0x6ED3, computed 0x4940)

Flash copy took 0:06:16 [hh:mm:ss]

%FLH: Flash download failed

%FLH: c2500-js56i-l.121-12b.bin from 1.1.1.2 to flash ...

System flash directory:

File Length Name/status

1 10485696 c2500-js56i-l.121-12b.bin [invalid checksum]

[10485760 bytes used, 6291456 available, 16777216 total]

Accessing file 'c2500-js56i-l.121-12b.bin' on 1.1.1.2...

Loading c2500-js56i-l.121-12b.bin .from 1.1.1.2 (via Ethernet0): ! [OK]

Erasing device... eeeeeeeeee

AS you can see it is looping into the IOS copy process and also reporting the same error again and again, (expected 0x6ED3, computed 0x4940)

I am wondering if my Flash memeory itself is ok or what.

Any and all help apprecited.

Also what is the way to make a Flash R/W, mine is read only. SO does not allow me to erase falsh.

Thanks in advance.

gpulos · ‎08-09-2006

some flash have a small sliding mechanism on one of the sides to enable/disable write protection. check for this.

also, you may have to reFormat your flash. (of course can only be done if WRITE enabled)

the fact that i see 'eeeeeee....' output from your erase command tells me that it at least began erasing. (should not get the 'e' if the device is write protected; should get '........' if it is write protected.

Richard Burts · ‎08-09-2006

Greg

I believe that the significant detail here is that the router is a 2500 router. The 2500 is a run from flash router and in normal operation the flash is indeed read only. One of the ways to get around this is to use Flash Load Helper (notice the messages that come from FLH) which is a utility that Cisco developed which does some things in the background to get around the read-only condition.

I wonder if the flash does have a problem. Though if it really was bad flash I would expect the erase to have a problem. My experience with 2500 routers is that sometimes when they have problems loading the image that you could open the case, reseat the flash, and the problem was resolved. It might be a good idea to reseat the flash and see if that helps.

To answer the question from Jayant about how to make the flash read/write it is necessary to boot the router into rxboot mode (config-register 0x2101) and when running the mini-IOS the flash will be read/write.

HTH

Rick

HTH

Rick

jayantpatankar · ‎08-10-2006

Thanks for your help.

Greg I have reseated the Flash twice but now it copies even less, see output below.

r2(boot)#copy tftp flash

System flash directory:

No files in System flash

[0 bytes used, 16777216 available, 16777216 total]

Address or name of remote host [255.255.255.255]? 1.1.1.2

Source file name? c2500-js56i-l.121-12b.bin

Destination file name [c2500-js56i-l.121-12b.bin]?

Accessing file 'c2500-js56i-l.121-12b.bin' on 1.1.1.2...

Loading c2500-js56i-l.121-12b.bin from 1.1.1.2 (via Ethernet0): ! [OK]

Device needs erasure before copying new file

Erase flash device before writing? [confirm]

Copy 'c2500-js56i-l.121-12b.bin' from server

as 'c2500-js56i-l.121-12b.bin' into Flash WITH erase? [yes/no]y

Erasing device... eeee

ee ...erased

Loading c2500-js56i-l.121-12b.bin from 1.1.1.2 (via Ethernet0): !!!!!!!!

!!!

%Error: System flash location 0x3200240 - wrote 0x20000000, read 0x0

COPY: Text checksum verification failure

TFTP from 1.1.1.2 failed/aborted

Verifying checksum... invalid (expected 0x101E, computed 0x9016)

%Error: System flash location 0x3000000 - wrote 0xBA000000, read 0x28000000

Flash copy took 0:01:21 [hh:mm:ss]

r2(boot)#

r2(boot)#cop tft fla

System flash directory:

No files in System flash

[0 bytes used, 16777216 available, 16777216 total]

Address or name of remote host [255.255.255.255]? 1.1.1.2

Source file name? c2500-js56i-l.121-12b.bin

Destination file name [c2500-js56i-l.121-12b.bin]?

Accessing file 'c2500-js56i-l.121-12b.bin' on 1.1.1.2...

Loading c2500-js56i-l.121-12b.bin from 1.1.1.2 (via Ethernet0): ! [OK]

Device needs erasure before copying new file

Erase flash device before writing? [confirm]

Copy 'c2500-js56i-l.121-12b.bin' from server

as 'c2500-js56i-l.121-12b.bin' into Flash WITH erase? [yes/no]y

Erasing device... ee

ee ...erased

Loading c2500-js56i-l.121-12b.bin from 1.1.1.2 (via Ethernet0): !!!!!

.

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

%Error: System flash location 0x3200240 - wrote 0x20000000, read 0x0

COPY: Text checksum verification failure

TFTP from 1.1.1.2 failed/aborted

Verifying checksum... invalid (expected 0x101E, computed 0x9016)

%Error: System flash location 0x3000000 - wrote 0xBA000000, read 0x28000000

Flash copy took 0:01:21 [hh:mm:ss]

r2(boot)#

I am reseating the Flash again after using a soft eraser to remove any carbon/dust etc from the connectors.

Help most appreciated.

Richard Burts · ‎08-10-2006

Jayant

I am sorry that reseating the flash did not solve it. One possibility occurs to me is that the image file you are attempting to copy and load may be corrupt. In particular I wonder if in the process of moving the file it might have been done with TFTP not in binary mode. I have had the experience of tftping an image file, forgetting to specify that the transfer needed to be binary mode, and the result is a file that looks like an image file but produces the same kind of checksum error that you are getting. It might be worth loading the image file from Cisco again and being very careful about how the file movement is done.

If that does not fix it then I wonder if it would be a hardware issue in the flash.

HTH

Rick

HTH

Rick

rvillagran · ‎08-11-2006

Could be an issue like the detailed in the bug identified in report CSCdk81077, Cisco 2600 and 1720 Series Routers running the ROM monitor command tftpdnld, the command may report a bad checksum comparison when loading Cisco IOS software images of Release 12.0(2.2)T or later

Rodrigo