Flash dead?

bmauro

Hey guys - I was trying to upgrade the IOS on my 2950, everything was going fine until I got:

flashfs[1]: writing to flash handle 0x80BEB4E0, device 0, offset 0x640000, lengh 0x208: Read Verify Failed
flashfs[1]: sector ptr: {0x2F, 0x0}
flashfs[1]: filesystem marked down. Use "fsck" to recover.
%Error writing flash:/c2950-i6k2l2q4-mz.121-22.EA8a.bin (I/O error)

Now when I try to do a show flash: I get:

HomeSwitch#show flash:

Directory of flash:/

%Error opening flash:/ (Invalid argument)

No space information available

I've never used the "fsck" command before - so I might be doing something wrong - but when I issue a:

HomeSwitch#fsck /test flash:
Fsck operation may take a while. Continue? [confirm]
%Error fscking flash:: (Device or resource busy)

I have a good feeling the flash is hosed - but I didn't know if there is anything else I can try.

PS. The old IOS was deleted to make room for the new one - which did not complete the tftp transfer

mikej412

You can also try to format the flash.

wildfire

Other thing to try is reboot the switch, hold in the mode switch then release until your in Rom help, then try a Flash_init and see if the flash initialises.

here you go

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

bmauro

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I have a quick question though - as of right now the switch is still running since I haven't turned it off yet, and I just want to make sure - if the either of your suggestions work - formatting the flash or re-initializing the flash - if there is not an IOS image on the flash what are the steps? I'm guessing ROMMON, but I'm not sure.

Secondly - if the flash is truly gone - then after I reboot the switch to try either method - I will have a dud of a switch till I replace the flash - correct?

Only reason I ask is that until Monday or later I will not have a replacement - and if I can just run off the code in memory till then - thats what I'll have to do.

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EDIT

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I just tried to format the flash since I figured that I can try to format without rebooting - but I got:

HomeSwitch#format flash:
Format operation may take a while. Continue? [confirm]
Format operation will destroy all data in "flash:". Continue? [confirm]
%Error formatting flash (Device or resource busy)

So unless anyone else has suggestions that leaves me with the flash re-initializing - but unfortunately I'll have to reboot to do that and that means I'll need to wait till at least Monday.

Thanks for the input so far guys.

bmauro

Also - I just want to make sure this isn't something that I did. I read on Cisco's site that flash IO error can be cause by loading the wrong type of IOS code.

I have a 24 port 2950SX, I checked the memory requirements and storage requirements, but I didn't think there was anything else to check.

I was trying to load c2950-i6k2l2q4-tar.121-22.EA8a.tar - which is 12.1(22)EA8a which included EI AND SI IOS CRYPTO AND WEB BASED DEVICE MANAGER (from their site)

It was a .tar file and I used the archive command - I highly doubt this had anything to do with it since the flash reported and error before the tar file even completed the transfer - but I just wanted to make sure since this is the first .tar unpackaging I've done on a 2950.