Catalyst 3500 question

JMB^3JMB^3 Member Posts: 8 ■□□□□□□□□□
in CCNA & CCENT
Hi my name is Joe and I am studying for my NA. A friend of mine gave me a 3500 and I was attempting some very low level stuff with it. Simple things like changing the banners, setting passwords etc.

I didn’t get very far. Using two separate computers one with Vista and Putty, one with XP and hyperterminal I couldn’t get any ware.

None of the commands that I knew would work. enable, sh ver, conf t, all of these were said to be unknown commands.

Please keep in mind that I am just starting on this little adventure and have no other IT background so I could be missing something very dumb.

Thanks in advance for the help

Joe
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Comments

  • NetwurkNetwurk Member Posts: 1,155 ■■■■■□□□□□
    After it's done booting up, what kind of prompt are you getting?

    The sh ver command should work at any access level, so I'm not sure why it won't work for you

    Can't remember what setup mode looks like on a 3500, although I might plug mine in and check it out if I get the chance

    I doubt that any 3500's use CatOS, so we can probably rule that out

    Need more info to help you
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  • tierstentiersten Member Posts: 4,505
    You're probably in ROMMON. Post a log.
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  • JMB^3JMB^3 Member Posts: 8 ■□□□□□□□□□
    We had the switch up and running not to long ago and I’m positive it’s running IOS, not sure what version. This is what I see when I start it and use the ? command, which is nothing like what I saw the last couple of times.

    I’m not sure if it’s relevant but I was curious when the first prompt was “witch:” and then went to “switch:” after hitting enter.

    As for posting a log I’m not really sure what log to post.


    witch:
    switch: ?
    ? -- Present list of available commands
    boot -- Load and boot an executable image
    cat -- Concatenate (type) file(s)
    copy -- Copy a file
    delete -- Delete file(s)
    dir -- List files in directories
    flash_init -- Initialize flash filesystem(s)
    format -- Format a filesystem
    fsck -- Check filesystem consistency
    help -- Present list of available commands
    load_helper -- Load and initialize a helper image
    memory -- Present memory heap utilization information
    mkdir -- Create dir(s)
    more -- Concatenate (display) file(s)
    rename -- Rename a file
    reset -- Reset the system
    rmdir -- Delete empty dir(s)
    set -- Set or display environment variables
    set_bs -- Set attributes on a boot sector filesystem
    set_param -- Set system parameters in flash
    sleep -- Sleep a specified number of seconds
    trap -- Cause a software breakpoint to occur
    -- MORE --
    type -- Concatenate (type) file(s)
    unset -- Unset one or more environment variables
    version -- Display boot loader version
    switch:





    Thanks again

    Joe
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  • tierstentiersten Member Posts: 4,505
    You're in ROMMON. It is the bootloader.

    Run dir and set and post what it shows.
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  • JMB^3JMB^3 Member Posts: 8 ■□□□□□□□□□
    tiersten wrote: »
    You're in ROMMON. It is the bootloader.

    Run dir and set and post what it shows.



    switch: dir

    List of filesystems currently registered:

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

    switch: set
    BOOT=flash:c3500xl-c3h2s-mz.120-5.WC16.bin
    BOOTHLPR=c3500XL-c3h2s-mz.120-5.WC3b.bin
    CONFIG_FILE=config.text
    MAC_ADDR=00:02:FD:95:8B:80
    MANUAL_BOOT=no
    MODEL_NUM=WS-C3548-XL-EN
    MODEL_REVISION_NUM=A0
    MOTHERBOARD_ASSEMBLY_NUM=73-3903-04
    MOTHERBOARD_REVISION_NUM=B0
    MOTHERBOARD_SERIAL_NUM=FAA04329K2N
    POWER_SUPPLY_PART_NUM=34-0971-01
    POWER_SUPPLY_SERIAL_NUM=PAC04300N73
    SYSTEM_SERIAL_NUM=FAA0433H07A
    switch:




    So what do you think?


    Thanks

    Joe
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  • tierstentiersten Member Posts: 4,505
    Do "dir flash:"

    You tried restarting it?
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  • JMB^3JMB^3 Member Posts: 8 ■□□□□□□□□□
    tiersten wrote: »
    Do "dir flash:"

    You tried restarting it?



    This what I got w/ the dir flash:


    witch:
    switch: dir flash
    unable to stat flash/: permission denied
    switch:



    Yes I tried restarting it several times with no change in the outcome.


    Thanks

    Joe

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  • tierstentiersten Member Posts: 4,505
    "dir flash:" not "dir flash"

    The : is important.
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  • JMB^3JMB^3 Member Posts: 8 ■□□□□□□□□□
    tiersten wrote: »
    "dir flash:" not "dir flash"

    The : is important.


    My bad, here it is the right way


    switch: dir flash:
    Directory of flash:/

    2 -rwx 1811507 <date> c3500xl-c3h2s-mz.120-5.WC16.bin
    3 -rwx 109 <date> info
    4 drwx 640 <date> html
    112 -rwx 25 <date> snmpengineid
    16 -rwx 676 <date> vlan.dat
    18 -rwx 395 <date> env_vars
    15 -rwx 109 <date> info.ver
    19 -rwx 2209 <date> config.text

    393216 bytes available (3219456 bytes used)
    switch:


    Thanks

    Joe
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  • tierstentiersten Member Posts: 4,505
    Post a log of it booting.
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  • JMB^3JMB^3 Member Posts: 8 ■□□□□□□□□□
    tiersten wrote: »
    Post a log of it booting.



    switch: boot
    Loading "c3500XL-c3h2s-mz.120-5.WC3b.bin"...c3500XL-c3h2s-mz.120-5.WC3b.bin: permission denied

    Error loading "c3500XL-c3h2s-mz.120-5.WC3b.bin"

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


    I don’t have any idea why permission would be denied.


    Thanks

    Joe
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  • NetwurkNetwurk Member Posts: 1,155 ■■■■■□□□□□
    Sounds like the IOS image might be corrupt

    Recovery From Corrupt or Missing Software Image on Cisco Catalyst 2900XL and 3500XL Series Switches - Ciscowiki

    This link tells you how to use xmodem to fix

    Hopefully you have a good copy of the IOS image to restore

    I've done this on a 2950, same basic concept with the older switches

    Takes a long time to recover, but it works
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  • kalebkspkalebksp Member Posts: 1,033 ■■■■■□□□□□
    It says permission denied because that file doesn't exist. It's trying to boot c3500XL-c3h2s-mz.120-5.WC3b.bin when it should be booting c3500xl-c3h2s-mz.120-5.WC16.bin.

    Try "unset BOOTHLPR"
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  • JMB^3JMB^3 Member Posts: 8 ■□□□□□□□□□
    kalebksp wrote: »
    It says permission denied because that file doesn't exist. It's trying to boot c3500XL-c3h2s-mz.120-5.WC3b.bin when it should be booting c3500xl-c3h2s-mz.120-5.WC16.bin.

    Try "unset BOOTHLPR"


    EXELLENT!!!!!!!!!

    That definitely got it. The switch is up and working fine.

    Thanks to everyone for the help.

    kalebksp if you ever in Cincinnati the beer is on me.


    Thanks again

    Joe
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  • NetwurkNetwurk Member Posts: 1,155 ■■■■■□□□□□
    Very cool solution kaleb and much quicker than the method I suggested

    :)
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