Format: All system sectors

fallingtree · ‎07-31-2014

Recently after a power outage one of our routers would not boot. It gave some errors about not being able to see the flash device.

I replaced the compact flash and ran tftpdnld -r

Once I was in the IOS, I used the format command and copied the IOS over. I rebooted the router and now I get this message

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Readonly ROMMON initialized
program load complete, entry point: 0x8000f000, size: 0xc940
open(): Open Error = -66
boot: cannot open "flash:"
boot: cannot determine first executable file name on device "flash:"
c2821 processor with 262144 Kbytes of main memory
Main memory is configured to 64 bit mode with ECC enabled

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I also tried tftpdnld to restore flash in rommon and I got this error after it completed

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File reception completed.
Validating checksum.
Copying file c2800nm-spservicesk9-mz.151-4.M8.bin to flash.
program load complete, entry point: 0x8000f000, size: 0xc940

Format: All system sectors written. OK...
Formatting failure! Error code: -72

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It is odd after replacing the flash I was able to boot to the IOS via tftp and format and copy the IOS with no issues, yet as soon as I reboot it, it says it can not open or access it from rommon

Any help in this matter would be appreciated.

Leo Laohoo · ‎07-31-2014

Format: All system sectors written. OK...
Formatting failure! Error code: -72

This sounds like your CF is either faulty or your CF slot is dead.

Thankfully, you have another option: USB Boot.

You can boot a valid IOS on a supported USB stick. In order to do so, you need to know a few ground rules (especially if you're dealing with an ISR G1):

1. Not all USB sticks are supported. Find one which the router can recognize and format the USB stick using the router. Sizes supported up to 4 Gb.

2. Before you can boot from USB you will need to upgrade the router's ROMmon to version 12.4(13r)T11. Download the bootstrap from HERE.

And finally ...

3. The command to boot from USB is HIDDEN. You'll need to spell it out. This means no shortcuts. From the configuration mode, the command is "boot usbflash0:IOS.bin".

Hope this helps.

2811 flash issues