This post applies to the following models;
- Nortel Business Policy Switch 2000
- Nortel Ethernet Switch 300 Series
- Nortel Ethernet Switch 460
- Nortel Ethernet Switch 470
- Nortel Ethernet Switch 2500 Series
- Nortel Ethernet Switch 4500 Series
- Nortel Ethernet Route Switch 5500 Series
It is possible that the switch agent image, that is stored in NVRAM on the switch, can become corrupt for some reason or another. In this case the switch will not boot up properly and will require some special intervention.
Diagnostic Version X.X.X.X Press Control-C to Enter Diag Test ROM Config - PASSED Test FANs - PASSED Test Internal Loopback - PASSED Test ASIC1 Registers - PASSED Test ASIC2 Registers - PASSED Test PHY Registers - PASSED Test USB Registers - PASSED Agent code verification fails! >> Break Recognized - Wait... Press 'a' to run Agent code Press 'd' to download Agent code Press 'e' to display errors Press 'c' to clear log message Press 'i' to initialize config flash Press 'p' to run POST tests...
You can use the boot diagnostic code to download the agent code to the switch using the “d” option. While the switch is booting using “Ctrl-C” to break the boot sequence and select “d” from the menu.
WARNING: the TFTP server needs to be physically connected to the switch in question
Download Agent Code Enter Port Number [ ]: Enter Speed: 10, 100, 1000 [ ]: Enter Local IP Address [ 0.0.0.0 ]: 10.10.10.15 (IP given to Switch) Enter Server IP Address [ 0.0.0.0 ]: 10.10.10.1 (IP of local TFTP server) Enter Subnet Mask [ 255.255.255.0 ]: Enter Filename: boss_1234.img Wait.. TFTP: Sending Open: .aaaaa.a TFTP: Open ............................................................... ............................................................. Len= 0x20795E= 2128222. (@1200000) Agent Version= 5.0.0.0 ModelMask= 0x1C Program y/N [ N ]: y (Press y) Erasing - Wait 56 sec.. Programming - Wait 96 sec..
Once the download is complete you’ll need to run the agent code by selecting “a”
Starting Agent Code.. Decompressing the image ... Target Name: vxTarget User: target Attaching network interface idtip0... done. Attaching network interface lo0... done. Completing initialization...
At this point the switch should be booting up although it may take ~ 2 minutes for the switch to fully initialize the software and configuration.
Cheers!
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#1 by Gabe on January 18, 2008 - 12:01 pm
I used this procedure on a 470 that would not decompress an image. It worked great but I still needed to initialize the config/log flash (i) so it could boot and not hang after decompressing the image.
Somehow the image got corrupted when we had a generator test.
#2 by Syed Rashid on July 28, 2009 - 2:00 pm
I have had a same issue while upgrading image to the latest one, I had to roll back to image 4500_50100.img first and after decompressing it I upgrade it to 4500_501001s.img (SSH support). It would have been nice if Nortel can come up with the proper documentation which Secure image is compatible with their switches
Images that won’t work:
4500_5300089s.img
4500_522013s.img
#3 by Michael McNamara on July 30, 2009 - 8:56 pm
Hi Syed,
There are some requirements when skipping software releases. I’m assuming that you tried to upgrade the software and received an “Invalid Image/Agent” response from the switch. This is a different problem that the original post topic but in short you need to follow a specific upgrade path, you can’t just skip major releases such as 5.1. I’ve often received this response and the solution is not to downgrade to the regular software release but to upgrade to an interim release before upgrading to the final software release.
Feel free to post your problems on the forums.
Cheers!
#4 by Nicolas on November 18, 2009 - 7:57 am
Hello,
I have a similar issue with a stack of BPS2000:
After a power outage, the Base unit didn’t finish booting and looped on :
Target Name: vxTarget
User: target
Attaching network interface idtip0… done.
Attaching network interface lo0… done.
Completing initialization…
(the other units booted, but as single swithes)
we had to break the boot (Ctrl+C) and then “i” to initialize the flash and then “a”.. to boot the switch (unit 1 “base” )
and then tried to configure the stack again:
After troubleshooting, this happens only with a specific configuration file.
With another configuration file (another stack), the stack boots properly.
So it’s something wrong on the config file…
Do you know what can be the proble with the config ?
Thanks
#5 by Michael McNamara on November 18, 2009 - 8:28 pm
Hi Nicolas,
Simply put it sounds like the configuration file is corrupt. You’ll need to rebuild the configuration by factory resetting the switch and then configuring it per your requirements.
Good Luck!
#6 by nicolas on November 20, 2009 - 5:42 pm
Hi,
Thanks for your answer.
Yes, I have reseted the switch and rebuilded the configuration, and it works properly.
The strange thing is that we had the issue on 3 different Stacks at the same time (after a power outage)
and even after factory resetting the switch and reloding it with a backup configuration (of some months ago) , we have the same issue.
So we reconfigured the stack on command line, we have also the ascii configuration heureusement! (with happyness)
So yes, the config file seems to be corrupted, but is it possible that after upgrading the switch firmware, that the configuration file became not anymore valid with the new firmware ? (the switch has maybe never been rebooted since..)
I will do some tests afer my holidays.
Regards,
Nicolas.
#7 by Michael McNamara on November 21, 2009 - 10:17 am
Hi Nicolas,
What version of software are you running on the BPS 2000?
I believe the latest and greatest is something like 3.1.8. I’ve never tried to restore a binary configuration file that was built from a different version of software than the switch I was restoring to. I’m not sure if that’s what your saying happened. If so I would definitely advise that you create a new configuration immediately after you upgrade the switch software.
Unfortunately Nortel stopped maintaining the software for the BPS 2000 quite sometime ago and it’s likely that there are issues with the software as well.
Good Luck!