I had a similar problem that was fully resolved by following the enclosed procedure (which I found on this forum, btw).
WIRELESS TAR IOS UPGRADE:
Follow the steps below to reload the access point image using the CLI. When the access point begins to
boot, you interrupt the boot process and use boot loader commands to load an image from a TFTP server
to replace the image in the access point.
Step 1 Open the CLI using a Telnet session or a connection to the access point console port.
Step 2 Reboot the access point by removing power and reapplying power.
Step 3 Let the access point boot until it begins to inflate the image. When you see these lines on the CLI, press Esc:
Loading "flash:/c350-k9w7-mx.v122_13_ja.20031010/c350-k9w7-mx.v122_13_ja.20031010"
...###########################################################################
Step 4 When the ap: command prompt appears, enter the set command to assign an IP address, subnet mask,
and default gateway to the access point.
Your entries might look like this example:
ap: set IP_ADDR 192.168.133.160
ap: set NETMASK 255.255.255.0
ap: set DEFAULT_ROUTER 192.168.133.1
Step 5 Enter the tftp_init command to prepare the access point for TFTP.
ap: tftp_init
Step 6 Enter the tar command to load and inflate the new image from your TFTP server. The command must
include this information:
• the -xtract option, which inflates the image when it is loaded
• the IP address of your TFTP server
• the directory on the TFTP server that contains the image
• the name of the image
• the destination for the image (the access point Flash)
Your entry might look like this example:
ap: tar -xtract tftp://192.168.130.222/images/c350-k9w7-tar.122-13.JA1 ftp://192.168.130.222/images/c350-k9w7-tar.122-13.JA1')> flash:
Step 7 When the display becomes full the CLI pauses and displays --MORE--. Press the spacebar to continue.
extracting info (229 bytes)
c350-k9w7-mx.122-13.JA1/ (directory) 0 (bytes)
c350-k9w7-mx.122-13.JA1/html/ (directory) 0 (bytes)
extracting c350-k9w7-mx.122-13.JA1/html/level1/images/apps_button_last_flat.gif (318
bytes)
-- MORE --
If you do not press the spacebar to continue, the process eventually times out and the access point stops
inflating the image.
Step 8 Enter the set BOOT command to designate the new image as the image that the access point uses when it reboots. The access point creates a directory for the image that has the same name as the image, and
you must include the directory in the command. Your entry might look like this example:
ap: set BOOT flash:/c350-k9w7-mx.122-13.JA1/c350-k9w7-mx.122-13.JA1
Step 9 Enter the set command to check your bootloader entries.
ap: set
BOOT=flash:/c350-k9w7-mx.122-13.JA1/c350-k9w7-mx.122-13.JA1
DEFAULT_ROUTER=192.168.133.1
IP_ADDR=192.168.133.160
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
Step 10 Enter the boot command to reboot the access point. When the access point reboots, it loads the new
image.
ap: boot
