3850 terminal unreadable

[A_Marquez]

Hello all,

I was working on getting IOS image 3.6.6e onto a new 3850 switch that we got this week to match up with the other ones in our environment. I got the image on there and tried booting to the new image but ran into a bug where it would say "BIST failed. Abort init" with the apparent fix being to upgrade to 3.7.xE. While attempting to to use xmodem to transfer that image to the switch it was running a bunch of text in the terminal instead of transferring the file which has made the terminal completely unreadable. I tried changing the BAUD value but it didn't seem to help. Is there a way to recover from this?

[Richard Burts]

I am not clear what you are describing. But when using xmodem the speed of the console connection is frequently increased. If the console speed was increased and you are attempting to connect with the typical speed of 9600 then the result would be that the console is unreadable. Can you try setting the speed of your terminal emulator to the high value used for xmodem and see it that helps?

HTH

Rick

[A_Marquez]

I had tried several different rates and none of them made a difference: 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600, and 57600 < This was the speed I tried using for transferring the IOS image. I made sure to change back to 9600 on both the terminal emulator and on the switch. I could try some of the other rates but I really doubt that's the issue. This only happened after transferring the files.  

[Reza Sharifi]

Hi,

Maybe a hardware issue and the switch needs to be RMA.

https://quickview.cloudapps.cisco.com/quickview/bug/CSCul95378

https://community.cisco.com/t5/cisco-bug-discussions/cscul95378-catalyst-3850-unable-to-boot-bist-failed-abort-init/td-p/2886836?utm_source=bugqv&utm_content=https://bst.cloudapps.cisco.com/quick

view/bug/CSCul95378

HTH

[jalejand]

A BIST error is usually a result of a downgrade from a Polaris-shipped 3k switch (16.x.x) to a Nova release like 3.6.6, the reason is that an internal package file required for 3.6.6 to boot correctly is missing from the linux filesystem.

Usually, it is possible to copy that missing file to the switch, that process alone will require TAC assistance as kernel access in IOS XE switches is only accessible for TAC.

If not required, you can upgrade the 3k switch to any 16.x.x version that suits your needs, I would highly suggest that instead of trying to fix the BIST error issue.

Instead of using xconnect to transfer a file, as it is a 3k IOS XE switch, please try booting the image from a fat32 usb.

[Deepak Kumar]

Hi @jalejand 

That's good and he may not require RMA. I think boot from the USB is a good option. Thanks for this new trick. 

[A_Marquez]

Thank you for the info. Yesterday the issue I was running into was not being able to read the terminal screen at all. After rebooting the switch though I can at least see the 'switch:' prompt. However, I still have a concern about seeing these weird characters after typing in the 'set' command (Image of what I'm talking about is attached). It's not all like this as I can read some of the output. I believe I could transfer the image via USB now but I'm just concerned these weird characters may cause me grief down the road. 

[Reza Sharifi]

This should be Cisco's problem and not yours.  If you have a support contract, open a ticket and let them send you a new one overnight. Why bother spending so much time coming up with workarounds. Let them deal with it.

HTH

[A_Marquez]

I'm leaning this way now too. I tried booting from a different image on USB which the switch appeared to be doing until it apparently booted to the image that's currently on the system. 

[Springlet]

This is an older post, but I ran into this issue last week. Scared of having to do an RMA (time issues) I was able to open a TAC case and got an immediate response and the engineer was able to help. We booted into ROMMON and she was able to revert to a 3.7.x version and then we were able to 'downgrade' to our company's standard.