Issue with Catalyst 9200L Switch Boot Failure and ROMMON Mode

[Noah C]

Hello everyone,

I have an issue with an image for the Catalyst 9200L switch series.

I first tried to install it on a switch that no longer has any image and is stuck in ROMMON mode. However, writing to the flash is blocked and I am unable to boot from a USB drive...

For my second switch, it had a factory configuration so I wanted to update it with the new image. The copy to the flash was completed successfully and the image was present. However, when attempting to boot from it, I encountered the following error:

Initializing Hardware...
System Bootstrap, Version 17.9.1r [FC8], RELEASE SOFTWARE (P)
Compiled Wed 07/13/2022 19:01:21 by rel

Current ROMMON image: Primary
C9200L-24T-4X platform with 2097152 Kbytes of main memory

boot: attempting to boot from [flash:/cat9k_iosxe.17.15.01.SPA.bin]
boot: reading file /cat9k_iosxe.17.15.01.SPA.bin
Extfs: Unable to convert block 320065 to sector
Extfs: Unable to read block 320065
Error reading Double indirect block ptr
rd_inode_bk_info failedboot: failed to load flash:/user/cat9k_iosxe.17.15.01.SPA.bin

ERROR: failed to boot from flash:/cat9k_iosxe.17.15.01.SPA.bin (Not Found)

Please wait while the system restarts.

Even though the image was correctly installed on the flash, the switch failed to boot and displayed this error.

I don’t understand what went wrong. Could you help me troubleshoot the second case first and then the first one?

Thank you !

[marce1000]

  - It looks like the flash on the device is corrupt ;if you have a prompt available after the boot process halts
     try fsck flash:

  M.

[Noah C]

Hello Marce1000,

Thank you for your quick response !

I tried your suggestion but my switch is currently in ROMMON mode and I can only use the following commands:

arp to dump or clear the ARP table

boot to load and boot an executable image

cat to display text content from a file

copy to copy a file

dir to list filesystems or a directory on a filesystem path

help to list command information

history to show command history

idprom to show IDPROM data

ping to send an ICMP ECHO_REQUEST to a host

ping6 to send an ICMP ECHO_REQUEST to a host using IPv6

reset to reset the entire system

set to define an environment variable

unset to remove an environment variable

version to display ROMMON version and runtime information

Let me know how I should proceed from here.

Thank you !

[marce1000]

   - I would advice to power cycle the device but attach a console first; watch for errors ,if any.
     Then try again,

 M.

[Leo Laohoo · Accepted solution]

---

@Noah C wrote:

rd_inode_bk_info failedboot: failed to load flash:/user/cat9k_iosxe.17.15.01.SPA.bin

ERROR: failed to boot from flash:/cat9k_iosxe.17.15.01.SPA.bin (Not Found)

---

Da fuq?

This is not going to work no matter what. 

The switch is a 9200/9200L but someone is forcing the 9200/9200L to boot the firmware that is meant for the 9300/9400/9500/9600.

Download the correct file (it is free!) and put a copy into a USB flash drive (FAT16) and do the following: 

emergency-install usbflash0:cat9k_lite_iosxe.17.15.02.SPA.bin

[Noah C]

Hello Leo Laohoo !

Thank you for your help !

I hadn’t checked if it was the right version because the person who provides our switches delivered the switch with a USB drive containing that version so I trusted him. I’ve now downloaded the correct version and it works fine for my second switch. For the first switch, I was able to fix the issue simply by booting with the .pkg files using the packages.conf file. 

Thanks again for your help !