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Cisco 2900 Series flash erased

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My 2900 switch had its flash memory erased. Now when it boots, it says

“The system is unable to boot automatically. The BOOT environment variable needs to be set to a bootable image.”

Next it brings me to a switch: console with limited commands. How do I restore the image? I have the file on my tftp server but how do I connect?

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Reply To: Cisco 2900 Series flash erased

In reply to Cisco 2900 Series flash erased

I believe the instructions on this page will do the job for you:

http://www.ilkertemir.com/cisco-ttl/2004/1280.html

If not, Cisco has instructions for password recovery which includes connecting to the AP. It might be helpful as well:

http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/102/wlan/pwrec-2.html#connecting_ap

Reply To: Cisco 2900 Series flash erased

In reply to Cisco 2900 Series flash erased

First of all you need to get the ios image in .bin format on the PC connected to the switch by hyperterminal console.

At the switch: prompt make sure there is enough space in flash memory by doing dir flash:

then issue the following command to put the switch to listen for xmodem transfers:
copy xmodem: flash:flash_filename

now from the “transfer” dropdown menu on the hyperterminal, select “send file” and choose “xmodem” in the subsequent dialog box and browse for the flash_filename (the downloaded IOS bn file) and send.

The process takes a while but it works…

Good luck

100% Correct

In reply to Reply To: Cisco 2900 Series flash erased

Thanks, your post really helped me a lot.

100% Correct

In reply to Reply To: Cisco 2900 Series flash erased

Thanks, your post really helped me a lot.

Reply To: Cisco 2900 Series flash erased

In reply to Reply To: Cisco 2900 Series flash erased

I’ve had a similar problem with a 3548 switch. I was asked to load a newer image into it and it’s been a while since I’ve played around with one of these so I copied the original IOS, erased the flash, then copied the IOS back in using the xmodem method described here. It worked fine so I figured OK, I’ve had some practice, let’s go for the new image. I erased the flash again copied the new image in using xmodem as before and when tit finished and rebooted I got a “no bootable image found” or some such error. The flash is now mostly full and I can’t erase it again because I keep getting a “permission Denied” error. The xmodem copy of the old image tries to copy in after a while it quits saying “insufficient space”.
Can you PLEASE tell me how to get out of this mess? If I could only clear the flash, I could reload the old image and at least the thing would work again.
Thanks in advance!!

[Author]

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