IOS installation

My current file
LonMAP2950#dir
Directory of flash:/

2 -rwx 1674921 Apr 30 2001 16:09:51 c2950-c3h2s-mz.120-5.3.WC.1.bin
3 -rwx 269 Jan 01 1970 00:00:57 env_vars
4 drwx 10240 Apr 30 2001 16:09:52 html
166 -rwx 720 Mar 01 1993 00:24:25 vlan.dat
167 -rwx 1025 Mar 01 1993 00:08:05 config.text

7741440 bytes total (4777984 bytes free)

You don't use your switch as a tftp server. Download one of the freely available TFTP server programs and install it on your computer. (Do a Google search for Solar Winds TFTP Server, or TFTPD32, and there are others).

Once you have that installed on your computer, make sure the computer has a network connection to the switch in addition to the console cable connection. Your computer must have an ip address that is on the same subnet as your switch's ip address.

Next, create a new directory or pick an existing directory on your computer to be the tftp-root and then configure the TFTP server program to use that directory. Next copy your new IOS image file into that directory.

The first thing you want to do is copy your current IOS image to the TFTP server just in case the new one doesn't work and you need to reinstall your old IOS. To do that:
"copy flash tftp"
it will then prompt you for the ip address of the tftp server which will be the ip address of your computer that is running the tftp server program. It may prompt you for the name of your current image or may default to it automatically. You can determine the image name by running "show version" and look for the filename with a ".bin" extension.

Once you have a backup copy of your current image, it's time to load the new one. You do this with:
"copy tftp flash"
It may or may not prompt again for the tftp server ip. If it does, enter the same ip as you did before. It will prompt you for the image name you want to install. Enter the name of your new image file (c2950-i6k2l2q4-mz.121-22.EA13.bin). If there isn't enough flash memory to hold the new image and your old one, it tell you it needs to erase the current one before installing the new one (This is why we backed up your current one earlier). Tell it to proceed with the operation and if all goes well it will transfer the image to flash. Then to reboot with the new image type "reload" at the cli.

See this article for more info:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/sw/iosswrel/ps1828/prod_release_note09186a00800810f3.html

LonMAP2950#conf t
Enter configuration commands, one per line. End with CNTL/Z.
LonMAP2950(config)#boot system flash:c2950-i6k2l2q4-mz.121-22.EA13.bin
LonMAP2950(config)#boot system flash:c2950-i6k2l2q4-mz.121-22.EA13.bin
LonMAP2950(config)#wr
% Incomplete command.

LonMAP2950(config)#end
LonMAP2950#w
00:05:56: %SYS-5-CONFIG_I: Configured from console by consoler
Building configuration...
[OK]
LonMAP2950#wr
Building configuration...
[OK]
LonMAP2950#reload
Proceed with reload? [confirm]

00:06:24: %SYS-5-RELOAD: Reload requested

C2950 Boot Loader (CALHOUN-HBOOT-M) Version 12.0(5.3)WC(1), MAINTENANCE INTERIM
SOFTWARE
Compiled Mon 30-Apr-01 07:56 by devgoyal
WS-C2950-24 starting...
Base ethernet MAC Address: 00:08:21:9f:68:80
Xmodem file system is available.
Initializing Flash...
flashfs[0]: 164 files, 3 directories
flashfs[0]: 0 orphaned files, 0 orphaned directories
flashfs[0]: Total bytes: 7741440
flashfs[0]: Bytes used: 6685696
flashfs[0]: Bytes available: 1055744
flashfs[0]: flashfs fsck took 10 seconds.
...done initializing flash.
Boot Sector Filesystem (bs:) installed, fsid: 3
Parameter Block Filesystem (pb:) installed, fsid: 4
Loading "flash:c2950-i6k2l2q4-mz.121-22.EA13.bin"...flash:c2950-i6k2l2q4-mz.121-
22.EA13.bin: magic number mismatch: bad mzip file

Error loading "flash:c2950-i6k2l2q4-mz.121-22.EA13.bin"

Interrupt within 5 seconds to abort boot process.
Boot process failed...

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

switch:
switch:
************************************

I have lost all of the old seetings and can't run any commands.

here are some example.

switch: dir

List of filesystems currently registered:

flash[0]: (read-write)
xmodem[1]: (read-only)
null[2]: (read-write)
bs[3]: (read-only)

switch: conf t
Unknown cmd: conf
switch: sh run
Unknown cmd: sh
switch: copy tftp flash
tftp: permission denied
switch: copy flash tftp
flash: permission denied
switch:

I wrote the previous reply in a hurry and left out a step. To explain:
When your switch failed to boot the new image, it booted into ROMmon mode. Think of ROMmon like this - if you boot a computer and it can't locate a drive with a boot sector on it it will give you an error message saying so and then offer you the chance to go into BIOS setup by pressing a key (say for instance F1). If you press that key you can go into setup and reconfigure the BIOS to try to boot from different devices on the computer.

The code that tried to find a boot drive and rendered the error message and gave you the setup interface is contained in the BIOS. Configuring things in the BIOS of a computer involves using a different interface than configuring something from within the operating system once the computer has successfully booted.

ROMmon on a Cisco device is essentially the same thing and likewise ROMmon uses a different and very limited set of commands that are different than the commands you use once you have successfully booted an IOS image.

So when you were in ROMmon mode the correct command was "boot flash:c2950-c3h2s-mz.120-5.3.WC.1.bin". however, I should have told you that once it booted and you were running within the IOS you needed to run the commands "boot system flash:c2950-c3h2s-mz.120-5.3.WC.1.bin" and "wr mem" to make it survive a reboot.

Rather than me trying to explain it, read these 2 articles and then post back if you still have questions.

http://cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/switches/ps628/products_tech_note09186a0080169696.shtml

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/ios/12_2/configfun/configuration/guide/fcf009_ps1835_TSD_Products_Configuration_Guide_Chapter.html