cisco catalyst 2960-S switch prompt

[johntampac]

Hello Guys,

I have a problem with one of our switch a cisco catalyst 2960-S switch. It suddenly went inaccessible. I went to check the configuration via console it seems my configuration was gone and I could  not go to the configurations cz it was prompting a switch prompt. I decided a reset it by pressing the mode button and power up the switch and execute commands  flash_init and boot but there were problems in it (see below). Is this a case of a corrupted IOS? or Is there any other way to resolved this?

switch:
Using driver version 1 for media type 1
Base ethernet MAC Address: XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
Xmodem file system is available.
The password-recovery mechanism is enabled.

The system has been interrupted prior to initializing the
flash filesystem.  The following commands will initialize
the flash filesystem, and finish loading the operating
system software:

    flash_init
    boot

switch:

switch:

switch:

switch: flash_init
Initializing Flash...
mifs[2]: filesystem check interrupted!
...done Initializing Flash.

switch: boot
Loading "flash:/c2960s-universalk9-mz.122-55.SE7/c2960s-universalk9-mz.122-55.SE7.bin"...flash:/c2960s-universalk9-mz.122-55.SE7/c2960s-universalk9-mz.122-55.SE7.bin: invalid argument

Error loading "flash:/c2960s-universalk9-mz.122-55.SE7/c2960s-universalk9-mz.122-55.SE7.bin"

Interrupt within 5 seconds to abort boot process.
Boot process terminated.

switch: dir flash:
unable to stat flash:/: invalid argument

switch: dir

List of filesystems currently registered:

                  bs[0]: (read-only)
               flash[6]: (read-write)
              xmodem[7]: (read-only)
                null[8]: (read-write)

[Leo Laohoo]

Reboot the switch and post the entire bootup process.

[johntampac]

Hi Leo,

This is the only logs of the boot process that I can see

Using driver version 1 for media type 1
Base ethernet MAC Address: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Xmodem file system is available.
The password-recovery mechanism is enabled.

The system has been interrupted prior to initializing the
flash filesystem.  The following commands will initialize
the flash filesystem, and finish loading the operating
system software:

    flash_init
    boot

[Leo Laohoo]

John, 

What you've posted is INCOMPLETE.  I repeat my request:  REBOOT THE SWITCH and post the entire boot-up process. 

[johntampac]

Hello Leo,

I know what you mean but this the only thing I've got in my screen when I  reboot the switch. Perhaps did I missed something? 

switch: reset
Are you sure you want to reset the system (y/n)?y
System resetting...

Using driver version 1 for media type 1
Base ethernet MAC Address: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Xmodem file system is available.
The password-recovery mechanism is enabled.

The system has been interrupted prior to initializing the
flash filesystem.  The following commands will initialize
the flash filesystem, and finish loading the operating 
system software:

    flash_init
    boot

switch: 

[Leo Laohoo]

Something is missing from the output.  

No error message.  

It's like the appliance doesn't have any IOS.

[johntampac]

could this be a hardware problem specifically the flash? I tried to create a directory and it flagged not created - invalid argument. same also when executing dir flash: it always flagged invalid argument.

[Leo Laohoo]

 invalid argument.

Could be.  

Normally, if the config-register is set at default (value should be "0xF"), the output will show the appliance ATTEMPTING to boot the IOS.  In your case, the appliance goes straight into ROMmon, hence the reason why I kept insisting something is missing from the output.

[InayathUlla Sharieff]

check this;-

https://supportforums.cisco.com/discussion/11227051/recovering-catalyst-switches-corrupted-or-missing-image