2960x - 15.2.4E6 Error - POST ACT2 Test Failed

[Marinos Makris]

Today we upgraded 8 WS-C2960X-48FPD-L switches to 15.2.4E6 using c2960x-universalk9-tar.152-4.E6.tar

For 3 of them the upgrade was completed with no errors. The rest 5 all had the same issue;

After the reboot we got the error message

%ILET-1-AUTHENTICATION_FAIL: This Switch may not have been manufactured by Cisco or with Cisco's authorization. This product may contain software that was copied in violation of Cisco's license terms. If your use of this product is the cause of a support issue, Cisco may deny operation of the product, support under your warranty or under a Cisco technical support program such as Smartnet. Please contact Cisco's Technical Assistance Center for more information.

The fiber module would not work and the faulty ones that were in stack would not recognize each other.

Switch# Role Mac Address Priority Version State
----------------------------------------------------------
*1 Master 0059.dc7b.b080 1 4 Ready
2 Member 0000.0000.0000 0 0 Provisioned

After some research on the issue I came upon

https://community.cisco.com/t5/switching/ilet-1-authentication-fail-on-2960x-after-ios-update/m-p/3682974

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/field-notices/639/fn63972.html

I removed the power for 10 minutes on all affected switches with no success.

I removed all stack modules and sfp+ cards and I also tried

c2960x-universalk9-tar.150-2a.EX5

c2960x-universalk9-tar.152-2.E4.tar

c2960x-universalk9-tar.152-2.E7.tar

c2960x-universalk9-tar.152-2a.E1.tar

c2960x-universalk9-tar.152-6.E1.tar

After each install I would remove power (cold reboot) the sw

and the error persists...

Do you have any suggestion, before I start the hardware replacement procedure?

[Leo Laohoo · Accepted solution]

---

@Marinos Makris wrote:

The fiber module would not work and the faulty ones that were in stack would not recognize each other. 

---

Raise a TAC Case.  This is a very, very well-known bug, CSCur56395 (1,276 Support Cases as of 01 August 2018!).  

[paul driver]

Hello

Have you validated that those five switches flex-stack modules serials are in/out of scope regards that cisco field notice - here

[Marinos Makris]

Hi,

thank you for your suggestions

3 out of five switch have flex stack modules and they are not in the list.

[Sergei1]

what to do if there is a similar problem, but no flex stack modules at all

[Leo Laohoo]

---

@Sergei1 wrote:
what to do if there is a similar problem, but no flex stack modules at all

---

Raise a TAC Case.  This is a very, very well-known bug, CSCur56395.

[Sergei1]

"show idprom" don't gives the following error :
hulc_sfp_iic_intf_read_eeprom sfp _index 3 yeti_iic_read_retry fail
in my case gives the following errors
POST: ACT2 Authentication : Begin
POST: ACT2 Authentication : End, Status Failed
extracting front_end/front_end_ucode_info (43 bytes)
Waiting for Stack Master Election...

And
%ILET-1-AUTHENTICATION_FAIL: This Switch may not have been manufactured by Cisco or with Cisco's authorization. This product may contain software that was copied in violation of Cisco's license terms. If your use of this product is the cause of a support issue, Cisco may deny operation of the product, support under your warranty or under a Cisco technical support program such as Smartnet. Please contact Cisco's Technical Assistance Center for more information.
Error shows both without sfp modules and with them
I tried hard reset twice and reboot
Switch WS-C2960X-24PD-L V03

[Leo Laohoo]

Segei,
Create a new thread.

[Marinos Makris]

Hello,

I opened a TAC case. It appears there was nothing I could do and they replaced the switches. RMA

Opening a TAC case is the recommended action. 

[GiancarloRamirez2030]

ihhhhhgood morning :

I have exactly same issue, how did you solve it?

[T-Rex]

Add 15.2(4)E8 to this list.... lost 2 switches with stacking modules last night with the exact same symptoms.

[GiancarloRamirez2030]

well my advice:

after a week trying multiple solutions, nothing work. So I open a RMA with
cisco and they sent me a New one.

[florian666]

Any news here? Because i need to upgrade a few stacks as well with the 152-4.E8 IOS.

Or should i better wait?

[jedavis]

The news is that I got a call at 5:00 AM this morning.  One of my sites in Germany had a power failure on a stack of 2 switches.  Since I have previously loaded new IOS on all of these switches one of them came back up exhibiting this error.  We took a spare out of the box and it too failed with the same problem.  The third switch worked.

This is the only site that I have these problems and it is as common for a switch to fail an IOS upgrade here as it is to have a successful upgrade.  I have to believe this particular batch of hardware was acquired while Cisco was churning out defective product.  It would sure be good to know what serial numbers are affected.

Cisco?  Are you listening?

[Leo Laohoo]

The easiest (and fastest) way of fixing this is to RMA the switch.