My Cat 3850 Can't Boot

[Qin HonFei]

My cat 3850 can enter rommon, but can't boot normally. It displays:

Kernel Address : 0x6044e044
Kernel Size : 0x402ecf/4206287
Initramfs Address : 0x60850f14
Initramfs Size : 0xdb8d7e/14388606
Compression Format: .mzip

Bootable image at @ ram:0x6044e044
Bootable image segment 0 address range [0x81100000, 0x82110000] is in range [0x80180000, 0x90000000].
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
File "usbflash0:cat3k_caa-universalk9.SPA.03.03.00.SE.150-1.EZ.bin" uncompressed and installed, entry point: 0x81653a10
Loading Linux kernel with entry point 0x81653a10 ...
Bootloader: Done loading app on core_mask: 0xf

### Launching Linux Kernel (flags = 0x5)

ata1.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x6 frozen
ata1.00: failed command: WRITE DMA
ata1.00: cmd ca/00:01:31:a5:07/00:00:00:00:00/e0 tag 0 dma 512 out
res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
ata1.00: status: { DRDY }

ata1.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x6 frozen
ata1.00: failed command: WRITE DMA
ata1.00: cmd ca/00:01:31:a5:07/00:00:00:00:00/e0 tag 0 dma 512 out
res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
ata1.00: status: { DRDY }

I want to copy a new IOS from other 3850, who can tell me detail steps or give me any solution for my problem? Thanks.

[Mark Malone]

Hi
put a usb in the working 3850 and copy image off it from flash to the usb
copy flash:........ usb0:
Then put it in effected switch and from rommom
boot usb0::........

[Mark Malone]

http://blog.unolution.com/networking/how-to-recover-a-cisco-switch-3560x-3750x-from-boot-loader/

Method 2: Transferring IOS image using USB Flash drive.

Before creating this post I didn’t know the Boot Loader (Rommon) mode supports USB flash drive, until a gentle man (Leo) on Cisco forum share this little secret that’s not mention in Cisco docs. The steps as as below. (Thanks to Leo L. & Muhammad Y. for these instructions on Cisco Forum: Source, I haven’t tested this method yet so I am not 100% if this works.)

Step 1: Take a USB of any size, format it using FAT16.

Step 2: Copy a valid IOS to the USB drive.

Step 3: Insert USB to your Router/Switch.

Step 4: Reset you Router/Switch.

Step 5: Enter following comman
switch: dir usbflash0:

Step 6: Once you verify that it has detected the flash you can boot router/Switch using the following command
switch: boot usbflash0:IOS_name.bin

[Qin HonFei]

Hi Mark,

The below are files in the flash of cat 3850:

dir flash:
Directory of flash:/

7746 -rw- 2097152 Oct 16 2017 15:29:42 +08:00 nvram_config
7747 -rw- 79118924 Apr 15 2014 23:29:28 +08:00 cat3k_caa-base.SPA.03.03.02SE.pkg
7748 -rw- 6474428 Apr 15 2014 23:29:29 +08:00 cat3k_caa-drivers.SPA.03.03.02SE.pkg
7749 -rw- 34518000 Apr 15 2014 23:29:28 +08:00 cat3k_caa-infra.SPA.03.03.02SE.pkg
7750 -rw- 34798924 Apr 15 2014 23:29:29 +08:00 cat3k_caa-iosd-universalk9.SPA.150-1.EZ2.pkg
7751 -rw- 25027472 Apr 15 2014 23:29:28 +08:00 cat3k_caa-platform.SPA.03.03.02SE.pkg
7752 -rw- 77300544 Apr 15 2014 23:29:29 +08:00 cat3k_caa-wcm.SPA.10.1.121.0.pkg
7753 -rw- 1248 Apr 15 2014 23:29:40 +08:00 packages.conf
7754 -rw- 1396 Apr 11 2017 16:28:03 +08:00 vlan.dat
7755 -rw- 57 Apr 6 2015 09:53:25 +08:00 express_setup.debug

It looks like that the IOS of cat 3850 isn't a '*.bin' file.

[Leo Laohoo]

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@Qin HonFei wrote:

It looks like that the IOS of cat 3850 isn't a '*.bin' file.

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You attempted to boot the IOS from a USB thumb drive and the output of the "dir flash:" is from the flash directory.  They are two different storage location.

[Leo Laohoo]

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@Qin HonFei wrote:

 ### Launching Linux Kernel (flags = 0x5)

ata1.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x6 frozen
ata1.00: failed command: WRITE DMA
ata1.00: cmd ca/00:01:31:a5:07/00:00:00:00:00/e0 tag 0 dma 512 out
res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
ata1.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x6 frozen
ata1.00: failed command: WRITE DMA
ata1.00: cmd ca/00:01:31:a5:07/00:00:00:00:00/e0 tag 0 dma 512 out
res 40/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/00 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
ata1.00: status: { DRDY } 

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What is the EXACT model of this switch.  I've got a strange feeling this model is not meant to support 3.3.0SE.