Accessing the Root Interface from Saturn Prompt - C90

[Luke Sykes]

Good Morning

We have been working on a C90 this morning that will not boot past the Cisco Logo.

We attempted to do a software recovery but this hasnt worked. We think that if we remove the config file from the Lynux back end, a software recovery will be possible as the customer reported that the codec started to reboot when he entered at 50 character system name. (maximum allowed)

We are currently unable to get to the root interface, we can only get to the saturn prompt.

Any ideas?

Many thanks

Luke

[Magnus Ohm]

Awesome

[david.sharp]

Hi

Actually i spoke to soon, it looks like the unit has failed again as it is not loading the firmware image again, i shall give the reload another go.

the firmware image did load without issue first of all, but after a period of about 10 to 15 minutes the codec appeared to crash and doesn't load the firmware now.

Cheers

Dave

Think with Portals

[Danny De Ridder]

OK,

good to see it worked.

However, the error you had before does not seem to be very promising :

Bad trap at PC: 1ff4f82c, SR: b032, vector=300

NIP: 1FF4F82C XER: 00000000 LR: 1FF4F7EC REGS: 1ef2f8b8 TRAP: 0300 DAR: AAAAA9FC

MSR: 0000b032 EE: 1 PR: 0 FP: 1 ME: 1 IR/DR: 11

GPR00: 00000000 1EF2F9A8 1EF2FF4C 1EF5A660 1EF5A660 00000001 1EF5A6E4 00000000

GPR08: 00000001 1FFF6CF0 AAAAA7E4 AAAAAA00 48042022 DFFFFFFF 1FC03000 00000000

GPR16: 00000000 00000000 00000000 1FFD5644 1FFFB754 00000000 00000000 00000000

GPR24: 1EF69F50 1EF69F46 1EF700F4 1EF5A6E8 1EF343B8 1EF5A6E8 1FFD1DA0 1EF5A660

Call backtrace:

1EF5A6E8 1FF586B4 1FF58EDC 1FF5F94C 1FF547F8 1FF548A8 1FF4E8D4

1FF8D904 1FF9522C 1FF9581C 1FF94A1C 1FF9536C 1FF9581C 1FF949E4

1FF99278 1FF9522C 1FF9581C 1FF949E4 1FF99278 1FF9522C 1FF9581C

1FF9665C 1FF97E74 1FF4DB1C 1FF35600

Exception in kernel pc 1ff4f82c signal

I wonder whether it is just an issue in U-boot.

Which version of U-boot do you have now installed?

OK

xstatus SystemUnit Hardware BootSoftware

*s SystemUnit Hardware BootSoftware: "U-Boot 2010.06-108"

** end

OK

I have a pretty recent one.

Once the codec has loaded, the U-boot no longer comes into play, so I assume your codec is OK now.

Danny.

[david.sharp]

Hi Danny

No, sorry please see post above, the codec appears to crash out then the firmware image appears to become unstable, the uboot image we are using must only be a couple of weeks old, as this was provided by a TAC engineer whilst we attempted to recover the C90 that was covered under a contract.

i'm fearing a hardware failure now, as i remember being told this codec has been connected to a failing power supply, i wonder if that could have caused a hardware fault.

i do hope not, as i really need to recover this codec but without a maintenance contract i'm a little stuck, oh good days!

Cheers

Dave

Think with Portals

[david.sharp]

Yep reloading the image has failed again, hmmmm RMA my only option now i think.

Think with Portals

[Danny De Ridder]

Hello,

you have U-boot 101, the most recent version is 108.

I would recommend you try to load a new U-boot.

Mind you : check whether the files are indeed in the correct location, i.e.

same location as where you put your TC5 release so we do not mess up your U-boot!!!

I will send you a zip file with new U-boot and pkgextract.elf.

Go into Orion> prompt and then set everything as you did before to load the

TC5 image.

But, rather then "run pkgex" run the command "run reprog".

This will load that new U-boot and also start to load the new TC5 image.

Should the load fail, then reboot the codec and do "run pkgex" since then you will have the new U-boot.

Where can I email the U-boot zip files to?

Danny.

[david.sharp]

Hi Danny

Excellent, another suggestion, i shall certainly give that a go, could you Email to david.sharp@uk.logicalis.com

the files, the uboot and the elf file are all located in the "firmware" folder along with the saturn.pkg file, which is the TC5.1.4 firmware file.

hopefully we will get there in the end.

Cheers

Dave

Think with Portals

[david.sharp]

Hi Danny

i'm afraid the new boot loaded doesn't appear to have made a change, i have done the run reprog and run pkgex but the codec is still stuck in initialising.

i also cannot load the admin tshell, the codec just sits there saying "tshe"

i'm becoming less confident about the recovery

thanks for your help with this.

Cheers

Dave

Think with Portals

[Danny De Ridder]

Hello,

it could be a hardware error making the codec crash. Or a config.db issue.

If you cannot login, that means the tandberg shell has stopped.

Please reboot again and in u-boot set :

setenv othbootargs noboot allowroot

And then boot. You should be able to login as root.

Then do following command so we can get the logfiles :

cat /var/log/* /var/log/eventlog/*

And log all the screen output to a file so we can have a look at it!

Danny.

[david.sharp]

Hi Danny

i'll take a look to gather those files again, i've been writing up knowledge base articles.

can you remind me of the command we entered in root to stop the codec from rebooting when the application crashed?

Cheers

Dave

Think with Portals

[Danny De Ridder]

Hello,

that would be :

setenv othbootargs noboot allowroot

Then you should be able to login as root and get those files.

Would be interested to see those!

[mubakhta]

Hi David,

Have you had a look at the following document:

https://supportforums.cisco.com/docs/DOC-27345

I had created for such issues. If you're building a knowledgebase, then I would definitely recommend that you go through it and you might find some key information.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Mubashshir Akhtar

[david.sharp]

Hi Mubashshir

thanks for providing the information, this is indeed highly useful and I shall certainly be using some of the information provided in my knowledge base, I am doing pretty much the same internally, writing up a process which we can follow to attempt to recover a codec should there be a complete software failure.

this document (maybe I just can't see it) however doesn't list the command that I am looking for.

I know there is a specific command that can be entered in the root prompt that prevents the codec from rebooting when the application crashes. I remember very vaguely that it was a file location then a noboot argument, but I cannot for the life in me remember the actual command, or it is certainly possible I have gotten this mistaken with the setenv noboot argument.

Cheers

Dave

Think with Portals

[david.sharp]

Actually I think I'll just use the setenv command.

Cheers

Dave

Think with Portals

[mubakhta]

David,

This is the command you're looking for:

setenv othbootargs noboot allowroot

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Mubashshir Akhtar