Reimaging of Cisco MARS25

[joby.joseph]

Hi,

I am trying to reimage a Cisco MARS 25 appliance for the pnadmin password recovery procedure. I am trying to boot the system with Recovery DVD (Version 5.3.2) shipped with the appliance. I connected a VGA monitor and USB keyboard to the appliance and when I do a reboot, I can see the Installation options.

Please Choose A MARS Model To Install...

1. Distributed Mars - Local Controller

But I am not able to select the Option 1 for the reimaging of Local Controller since my keyboard is not responding for the selections. During the LILO boot process, I can see some error message that 'Keyboard Not Present'. I tried to connect the keyboard to different USB ports and the PS/2 port using a USB to PS/2 adapter. Still keyboard is not functioning.

I am able to select the BIOS options while connecting the USB keyboard to appliance. But it is not functioning when booting from Recovery DVD. Also the keyboard is functioning if I boot the appliance directly with previous image. Unfortunately I dont have any PS/2 keyboard available for connecting and admin password for Login.

Is there any workaround/solution for supporting the USB keyboard during the Recovery Procedure ?

I tried the serial connection with hyperterminal but some junk charaters appear even after setting the recomended Baud rate, parity, flow control etc.

The Ethernet console seems not working with the default IP address 192.168.0.101 for eth1.

Appreciate your quick response on this.

2. Distributed Mars - Global Controller

3. Mars Operating System Recovery

4. Quit

[mwinnett]

It looks like USB keyboard support is disabled by default. Reboot and press DEL to get to the boot menu. Select advanced ->
advanced chipset features -> USB keyboard support (at the bottom). Enable this, save and reboot.

Matthew

[joby.joseph]

Hi Matthew,

Thanks for your response. I could not find any 'Del' key prompt for going to the Boot Menu and selecting 'Advanced' options.

I have a Cisco MARS25 Appliance and the sytem BIOS is AMI and it is accessed by pressing the F2 key.

I cross checked the BIOS settings in Advanced tab under 'USB Configuration' and all the parameters are enabled

USB Controller : Enabled

Legacy USB Support : Enabled

Port 60/64 Emulation : Enabled

USB 2.0 Controller : Enabled.

Are you refering to the same configuration or something different should I try?

The USB keyboard is working when I enter the BIOS configuration and inside the Appliance OS (I cannot login since I dont have password).

The keyboard is not working only when I boot from Recovery CD.

Thanks

Joby

[mwinnett · Accepted solution]

Joby, I tested on a mars50 and assumed (probably incorrectly) that the BIOS was the same. However, I would have ended at the same panel you have described and enabled the features as per your email. You could open a TAC case and ask if there is anything to be done, but unless there is another BIOS config, I don't think that anything will be changed to the s/w at this point in its lifecycle.

Matthew

[joby.joseph]

Hi Matthew,

I could get a PS/2 keyboard today and it working when I boot from Recovery CD.

Thanks for your responses.

Regards

Joby

[mwinnett]

OK, great. I had a similar issue when I needed to re-image my sons PC a year or so back and needed to dig into the BIOS to allow his USB wireless keyboard to work for the windows re-install.