Catalyst 3500 question

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

Netwurk

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

tiersten

You're probably in ROMMON. Post a log.

JMB^3

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

tiersten

You're in ROMMON. It is the bootloader.

Run dir and set and post what it shows.

JMB^3

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

tiersten

Do "dir flash:"

You tried restarting it?

JMB^3

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

tiersten

"dir flash:" not "dir flash"

The : is important.

JMB^3

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

tiersten

Post a log of it booting.

JMB^3

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

Netwurk

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

kalebksp

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"

JMB^3

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

Netwurk

Very cool solution kaleb and much quicker than the method I suggested