2960Xs with missing IOS

[spfister336]

We have several sites with stacks of 2960Xs as access layer switches. One particular closet has done something strange. There is one 24-port switch and three 48-port switches in this stack. The 24-port was fine, but the 48-port switches were missing their IOS (entire directory was gone) and weren't booting. These switches were only in places for a few months. What could have happened? No one who has access to these switches has been doing any work on them recently (they were fine before the weekend). Also, I reloaded the IOS over the serial port at 115.2kbps using XModem. Is there no other way to do this? 

[Leo Laohoo]

Also, I reloaded the IOS over the serial port at 115.2kbps using XModem. Is there no other way to do this? 

Since the release of the Catalyst 3560E & 3750E it has been made possible to boot an IOS, from ROMmon, using a USB flash drive.  

The most important thing is to find a compatible brand (and size) of USB flash drive BEFORE the urgency to use this method.