3750x 48ts IOS not booting

louis0001 · ‎10-19-2017

We have a 3750x 48ts. When I tried to update the IOS with 3750e-universalk9-mz.152-4.E5.bin, it fails to boot.

If I try 3750e-universalk9-mz.152-1.E1.bin, it boots. I've downloaded the newer image a couple of times now and still the same result.... no boot.

This switch is destined for a stack with 152-4.E5.bin so I suspect adding it to a stack will result in the IOS being updated and it failing to boot again.

I know I can downgrade the stack but it's a pain.....

Any ideas why the newer image won't boot?

Reza Sharifi · ‎10-19-2017

Does the switch have the required memory and flash space for 152-4?

HTH

ARUN · ‎10-19-2017

Verify /md5 for ios file you uploaded to switch .

Switches with the same major version number but with a different minor version number as the stack master are considered partially compatible. When connected to a switch stack, a partially compatible switch enters version-mismatch (VM) mode and cannot join the stack as a fully functional member. The software detects the mismatched software and tries to upgrade (or downgrade) the switch in VM mode with the switch stack image or with a tar file image from the switch stack flash memory. The software uses the automatic upgrade (auto-upgrade) and the automatic advise (auto-advise) features.

The auto-upgrade occurs if the software release that runs on the stack master is compatible with the switch in VM mode and the tar file of the current image is available with any of the stack members. If tar file of the current image is not available, the auto-advise feature will recommend that a compatible image be downloaded with the required commands. The auto-upgrade and auto-advise features do not work if the switch master and switch in VM mode run different feature sets/packaging levels (IP services and IP base), but, from Cisco IOS Software Release 12.2(35)SE, auto-upgrade does support upgrades between cryptographic and non-cryptographic images of the same packaging level.

Note: If the auto upgrade does not work on the switch that shows the version mismatch error, use TFTP to manually upgrade the switch."

Typically, when I deploy a stack, I make sure that all of versions match before the switches is installed into the stack. It has just been easier for me to do it that way.

DRAM/Flash required for 3750e-universalk9-mz.152-1.E1.bin is same as 3750e-universalk9-mz.152-4.E5.bin.
still clean up if any old ios in flash

Leo Laohoo · ‎10-20-2017

@louis0001 wrote:

We have a 3750x 48ts. When I tried to update the IOS with 3750e-universalk9-mz.152-4.E5.bin, it fails to boot.

If I try 3750e-universalk9-mz.152-1.E1.bin, it boots. I've downloaded the newer image a couple of times now and still the same result.... no boot.

Console into the switch and force the switch to boot 15.2(4)E5. I want to see the entire boot-up process.

~~FYI: I've got three stacks running on this IOS.~~

louis0001 · ‎10-20-2017

I'm not sure what's happening with it. I can't get past the 152-1.E1.bin. I've tried 152-2, 152-3 and still the same.

The image decompresses with the following:

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

File "flash:c3750e-universalk9-mz.152-2.E7.bin" uncompressed and installed, entry point: 0x3000
executing...
Loading "flash:/c3750e-universalk9-mz.152-2.E7.bin"...@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Then:

The system is unable to boot automatically. The BOOT
environment variable needs to be set to a bootable
image.

Back into the switch and set it to 152-1.E1.bin and away it goes. Strange.....

Leo Laohoo · ‎10-20-2017

Can you try 15.2(4)E5.

louis0001 · ‎10-20-2017

That's the same. That is the level I'm trying to get to but anything above 152-1.E1 throws up the same error as above.

louis0001 · ‎10-23-2017

Think the only solution is from what I can see, is to downgrade the existing switch to 152-1.E1.bin and then add this switch (which doesn't want to go past that firmware) to the stack?

regards,

Louis

Leo Laohoo · ‎10-23-2017

@louis0001 wrote:

That is the level I'm trying to get to but anything above 152-1.E1 throws up the same error as above.

Sounds like an IOS bug to me.

louis0001 · ‎10-23-2017

I'm wondering if completely wiping the flash might help?

Leo Laohoo · ‎10-23-2017

Give it a try but I doubt it will work.

paul driver · ‎10-24-2017

Hello

When you say it fails - whats the error

I assume this ios is compatible and you have sufficient flash and memory space as queried by reza?

Did you verify the ios after install?

res

Paul

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louis0001 · ‎10-24-2017

HI Paul,

error as in above posts. Anything above 152-1.E1.bin goes uncompresses and then seems to go into a loop before failing. See my post above.

Interestingly, I downgraded a switch today from 152-4.E5 which was working on that firmware. This switch is the one which I want to stack with the switch that won't upgrade. Interestingly, when I went down from 152-4.E5 to 152-1.E1.bin, the switch did an additional microprocessor upgrade and then booted into 152-1.E1.bin.

So I now have 2x switch on the same firmware 152-1.E1.bin and am fairly confident I can stack them without issue.

Quite why an identical pair of 3750x-48TS behave differently with the same IOS is beyond me. One can upgrade to 152-4.E5 but the other can only go to 152-1.E1? Baffling!!

LJMpasc · ‎03-20-2018

I had a similar problem with stacks of 3750X switches. The master would finish booting to 15.2(4)E5 but the slaves would not. They would get to the point where they should ask the master for config, and then after a few minutes would reboot again. The console indicated that vstack had been turned on even though we turned it off for all our devices. After trying to troubleshoot for a few hours we had to separate all the stack members, individually boot them, downgrade them to 15.2(4)E4, shut everything down, reboot the master into 15.2(4)E4, then reattach the stacking cables and power the slaves up in numeric order. Shortly they all returned to service. Fixing this for three stacks was an 8 hour chore.

I don't know what's wrong with 15.2(4)E5 but there is no way in the world I would use it again on a C3750X stack.

LJMpasc · ‎12-14-2018

The official answer to my inquiry was that this version of IOS was incompatible with VTP. We would have to use transparent mode for VTP. That wasn't acceptable to us, so we waited until the bug had been fixed in 15.2(4)E7 to finish the upgrade.