ISR 4431 stuck in Controller Mode

[Jason F]

I have an ISR 4431 router that is stuck in Controller Mode, running IOS XE 16.12.03 Gibraltar.

The command

controller-mode disable

does not exist in this IOS XE version.

Also, having the file

ciscortr.cfg

in

bootflash:/ 

and it doesn't seem to make a difference.

The only documentation I found refers to IOS XE 17.2 and later: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/routers/sdwan/configuration/sdwan-xe-gs-book/install-upgrade-17-2-later.html#switch-modes-using-cisco-cli

How do I change the ISR 4431 back to Autonomous Mode on 16.12.03?

Thank you!

Jason

[Leo Laohoo]

If the router is in ROMMON, post the complete output to the command

set

If the router boots into IOS, post the complete output to the command

dir

[Jason F · Accepted solution]

I was able to recover the unit using a 2nd ISR 4431 that had IOS XE 16.06.04.  I copied the older IOS image to

bootflash:/ 

and the

startup-config

from the working 2nd router to

nvram:/.

  Then I reloaded the bad router and interrupted the boot process to enter rommon and executed the following command:

boot bootflash:/<ISR_4400_16.06.04_image>.  

When the system booted, I confirmed it was now operating in autonomous mode.

[Leo Laohoo]

I still want to see the complete output to the command

set

to make sure the settings is permanent.

[Jason F]

I have confirmed that the settings are permanent.

Here is the output from the set command:

romon 1 > set

PS1=rommon 1 >

THRPUT=

MCP_STARTUP_TRACEFLAGS=00000000:00000000

BOOT=bootflash:/isr4400-universalk9.16.06.04.SPA.bin,1;

LICENSE_BOOT_LEVEL=

BSI=0

RANDOM_NUM=19058…

RED_2_RTS=20:32:50…

RED_2_RCALTS=16710…

[Leo Laohoo]

In ROMMON, do the following: 

DEVICE_MANAGED_MODE autonomous

or

DEVICE_MANAGED_MODE = autonomous

And then reboot.

[Jason F]

Both 

DEVICE_MANAGED_MODE autonomous

and 

DEVICE_MANAGED_MODE = autonomous

have the error message monitor: command "DEVICE_MANAGED_MODE" not found.

However, "DEVICE_MANAGED_MODE=autonomous" is accepted and I can see new entry in the output of the "set" command.  When I reboot the router and go in to ROMMON, I notice that the "DEVICE_MANAGED_MODE=autonomous" setting is not persistent.

[Leo Laohoo]

Post the complete output to the command "dir flash:".