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No flash memory in 2621 router

DarylPienta
Level 1
Level 1

I want to back up my IOS on a cisco 2621 router, but when I look at the directory I do not see any flash memory, nor can I find the IOS file in any directory

this is what I have on the router

TDS_Primary#dir ?

/all List all files

lex: Directory or file name

null: Directory or file name

nvram: Directory or file name

system: Directory or file name

xmodem: Directory or file name

ymodem: Directory or file name

Unknown file system <cr>

why is this ?? and how do I copy the IOS on these routers to tftp server and back to the router without a flash directory ????

Cisco Internetwork Operating System Software

IOS (tm) C2600 Software (C2600-JK2O3S-M), Version 12.0(7)T3, RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc1)

TAC Support: http://www.cisco.com/tac

Copyright (c) 1986-2003 by cisco Systems, Inc.

Compiled Fri 04-Jul-03 05:32 by dchih

Image text-base: 0x80008088, data-base: 0x8107A05C

ROM: System Bootstrap, Version 12.2(10r)1, RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc1)

TDS_Primary uptime is 7 weeks, 2 days, 3 hours, 43 minutes

System returned to ROM by power-on at 17:27:04 UTC Fri May 13 2005

System restarted at 15:12:10 UTC Mon Jun 27 2005

System image file is "flash:?"

cisco 2621 (MPC860) processor (revision 0x102) with 56320K/9216K bytes of memory.

Processor board ID JAB04170BWG (240725169)

M860 processor: part number 0, mask 49

Bridging software.

X.25 software, Version 3.0.0.

SuperLAT software (copyright 1990 by Meridian Technology Corp).

TN3270 Emulation software.

2 FastEthernet/IEEE 802.3 interface(s)

2 Serial network interface(s)

32K bytes of non-volatile configuration memory.

Configuration register is 0x3922

17 Replies 17

Hello,

try and change the configuration register to 0x2102 and reboot the router.

Can you see your flash after that ?

Regards,

GP

Why would changing the configuration register have any effect on my directory ?

I know it effects the boot process, but how it would make the flash memory dissappear is my question

Hello,

changing the configuration register by itself would indeed not make a difference, but 0x2102 is the standard setting. If for some reason, the current setting needs to remain, try to reboot the router anyway, that might make the flash show up again...

Regards,

GP

I tried resetting the config register once and rebooting

the reset did not take for whatever reason.

I can't reset it agian today.

I still don't quite understand this no dir flash: problem

I though all cisco routers have flash memory and store their IOS in the flash

am i wrong to think this ?

Hello,

the system image on the 2600 is loaded from flash into RAM, or, as CCO says:

´Many Cisco routers load the system image from flash storage into RAM in order to run the Cisco IOS. However, some platforms, such as the Cisco 1600 Series and Cisco 2500 Series, execute the Cisco IOS directly in Flash memory. These platforms are run-from-Flash memory systems´

As I understand it, that means that your router can function without flash once the IOS is loaded into RAM.

Looking at your problem again, it is possible that your flash memory is corrupt or broken. It might be a good idea to get new DRAM SIMMs before rebooting the router, because it might not boot again properly if the flash is really damaged. If that is the case, you will need to load the IOS into flash again.

Copy the configuration to a TFTP server, or just a text file, for backup purposes...

HTH,

GP

I have this problem on another Cisco 2600 router. there is no flash memory or I cannot see the flash memory.

both of these routers have been rebooted multiple times in the the not so distant past.

here is the show ver of the other router in question

Police#show ver

Cisco Internetwork Operating System Software

IOS (tm) C2600 Software (C2600-JK2O3S-M), Version 12.0(7)T3, RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc1)

TAC Support: http://www.cisco.com/tac

Copyright (c) 1986-2003 by cisco Systems, Inc.

Compiled Fri 04-Jul-03 05:32 by dchih

Image text-base: 0x80008088, data-base: 0x8107A05C

ROM: System Bootstrap, Version 12.2(10r)1, RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc1)

Police uptime is 21 weeks, 3 days, 6 hours, 15 minutes

System returned to ROM by reload

System image file is "flash:?"

cisco 2620 (MPC860) processor (revision 0x00) with 56320K/9216K bytes of memory.

Processor board ID JAD07100FP2 (951553698)

M860 processor: part number 5, mask 2

Bridging software.

X.25 software, Version 3.0.0.

SuperLAT software (copyright 1990 by Meridian Technology Corp).

TN3270 Emulation software.

1 FastEthernet/IEEE 802.3 interface(s)

1 Serial network interface(s)

32K bytes of non-volatile configuration memory.

Configuration register is 0x2102

here is the dir flash: command

Police#dir flash:

^

% Invalid input detected at '^' marker.

her is the dir ? command

Police#dir ?

/all List all files

lex: Directory or file name

null: Directory or file name

nvram: Directory or file name

system: Directory or file name

xmodem: Directory or file name

ymodem: Directory or file name

Unknown file system

I don't even see the commands necessary to view the flash memory or directory in either of these 2600 series routers

Do you see this problem on all your 2621's or just on some? If the problem is not apparent in all 2621's, then is there a relationship between devices which are experiencing the problem and the IOS version they are running ?

This is likely to be a bug if your device is able to reload successfully i.e. loading the image from flash successfully

Incidentally, I am running a 2621 with 12.1.13 (General Deployment) and 'dir flash:' works fine. 12.0(7)T3 is an Early Deployment release and, therefore, full of bugs !

HTH

Marcus Jones

interesting info about our IOS 12.0(7)T3

Both routers in question are running the same IOS, one is a cisco 2620, the other is a cisco 2621

Now if someone could confirm this hypothesis about the flash dir: / memory and educate me on how to go about installing an updated IOS to router that does not recognize flash

Here is some good information to complete this section on the config register.

Hope you all enjoy this and learn.

Straight from Cisco.

CONFIGURATION REGISTER ANALYSIS

-------------------------------

Current Value (in hexadecimal): 0x3922

Current Value (in binary): 0011 1001 0010 0010

Default Value (in hexadecimal): 0x2102

Default Value (in binary): 0010 0001 0000 0010

General Software Configuration Register Bit Meanings (left to right):

Bit(s) Meaning: Current Status

----- ------------------------------------------- --------------

15 Enables diagnostic messages and ignores NVRAM contents: No

14 IP broadcasts do not have net numbers: No

13 Boots default ROM software if network boot fails: Yes (default)

. Setting this bit causes the system to load the helper image from ROM

without any network retries. Clearing this bit causes the system to load

image from ROM after six unsuccessful attempts to load a boot file from

the network.

11-12 Console Baud Rate in bps: 115200

10 IP broadcast with all zeros : No

. This causes the following setting based on bits 14 and 10

Net all ones, Host all ones (default)

9 Reserved

8 Break disabled: Yes (default)

. Clearing this bit causes the processor to interpret Break as a command

to force the system into the bootstrap monitor, halting normal operation.

A Break can be sent in the first sixty seconds while the system reboots,

regardless of the configuration settings.

7 Original Equipment Manufacturer(OEM) bit enabled: No

. Enabling the OEM bit disables the boot strap messages at start up.

6 Ignore NVRAM contents: No (default)

. Setting this bit causes the system software to ignore nonvolatile

memory contents during next bootup

5 Not used

4 Reserved

3-0 Current boot field value is 0010 (default)

. This causes the system to boot the image from default boot filename

"cisco2-C2600" if boot from flash fails.

Note: Enabling the boot system command override the default filename

for booting over the network from a TFTP server.

DarylPienta
Level 1
Level 1

I'm going to bump this up and hope I get some more feedback. lots of theories but no one seems to know for sure.

I am going to want to upgrade my IOS in both ofmy routers that have the 12.0(7) IOS version. however I will need to figure out how I access my flash memory !!!

Not to be stupid but the show version you gave us earlier does not show any flash!

Have you physically taken the cover off and verified / reseated the flash?

You mentioned you have another router with 12.07 but this doesn't matter when the router boots up do you see any failures showing no flash or lack thereof? This is a bootrom function. In rommon mode I beleive you can type dir flash: and this will give size and filename if present.

You do not need flash to boot up it will default.

I even believe you can tell the router to get the IOS from a TFTP server, so I would like to see a copy of the configuration. You do have NVRAM which holds the config which can tell it to load from elsewhere.

Just some thoughts I had.

Exactly, there is no flash memory shown when I use the show ver command, the dir ? command or the dir flash: command.

No I have not physically taken the cover off of the router to see if there was flash memory installed. All the rest of my 2600 series routers have 16K on board flash. I won't have an opportunity to boot to rommon or open the cover for awhile since these routers are in production.

We are not getting IOS from TFTP. I know this for a fact !!!!

If all I have to do is install flash memory then that is what we will do in thenear future, however I am still interested in knowing if the no flash memory is normal, most everyone I ask seems puzzled by my lack of flash memory installed on these routers.

thanks for the replies

This is a strange problem. I did find a bug that comes very close to your problem. It is for 2600XM running various levels of 12.1, 12.2, 12.3T, 12.3. I do realize that you're running 12.0(7)T3.

Something to try when you can schedlue some down time.

1. Back up config.

2. Open case and verify flash chips installed. Note the manufacturer if possible

3. Find another 2600 that does show the flash chip and IOS. Does it have the same brand of flash chip?

4. Swap flash from bad router with flash from good router.

5. Does the symptom stay with bad router or move to good router?

If problem follows the flash chip I'd say that you have some flaky chips and should replace them.

Please let us know how you make out.

CSCed51523

Symptoms: The show flash-filesystem EXEC command and the dir filesystem EXEC command may not work properly on a Cisco 2600XM, preventing you from seeing the flash images.

In addition, the copy destination url flash: EXEC command may fail when the erase option is not selected (that is, you type in no when you are asked if you want to erase the device). The copy destination url flash: EXEC command functions fine when you do select the erase option.

Conditions: These symptoms are observed on a Cisco 2600XM that is configured with a particular third-party vendor 16-MB SIMM. Note that the router is still functional with this SIMM; you can boot or reload the router, perform a TFTP download operation, and similar actions without any difficulty.

Workaround: There is no workaround.

Hi Daryl

Sorry, I did not see your post earlier

This conversation seems to be getting really confused

My view on this problem is as follows:

1) If you see this problem on all devices running this code and not on devices running newer code then this is definitely a bug

2) If you are able to reload these routers successfully, then you must have fully functional flash, otherwise, the router would not boot up fully - It would only boot into ROMMON mode.

3) If the device boots up successfully, then this would suggest that the Flash is fine, but the IOS has a bug which prevents if from fully recognising the hardware

3) The image you are running not good (to be polite) - I would never run a T-Train image on a production device unless I really needed the new features. T-train images are technology images which are built to introduce new features which means bugs, bugs and more bugs ! Unless you really need the new feature provided by a T-Train image, then use a main-train image, preferably a GD (General Deployment) image which incorporates bug fixes with every revision

4) I would not recommend going down the 'hardware swap' route yet i.e. moving flash cards around. It's messy and requires more effort than a software fix ...

5) If you have a spare device, I would first replicate the problem on the spare by installing the same IOS on the device. If you can't replicate the problem, then it may well be a hardware problem

6) If you can replicate the problem, then this suggests further that this is a software problem

7) Try installing a newer image on the spare, or a live device if you have no spare to see if this resolves the issue

8) I would recommend trying the latest GD release in the 12.1 Train i.e. c2600-ik2s-mz.121-27b.bin which requires 8MB Flash and 40MB RAM

Instructions on how to upgrade the IOS can be seen through the following link:

http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/130/sw_upgrade_proc_ram.shtml

Incidentally, the bug which S. Conway mentioned is fixed in 12.1(24), so would be fixed by the above upgrade

Let us know how you get on

HTH

Marcus

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