Question

Erase flash in Rommon mode

Asked by: nabeel92

Hi Everyone,

Have a router thats completely screwed. The only thing I can think of is rebooting in read only mode and wiping the flash as the whole thing hangs under normal bootup procedure.

Is it possible to do this? If so can someone please write out the command?

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2009-03-01 at 19:13:26ID24188919
Tags

rommon

,

cisco

,

flash

Topics

IP Tables/IP Chains

,

Networking Hardware

,

Network Routers

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
10

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. 3640 and rommon
    I have a 3640 with a corrupt flash i have xmodem a new ios over to the 3640 but when i reboot the router it comes up in rommon again am i missing something? this is what rommon says: System Bootstrap, Version 11.1(20)AA2, EARLY DEPLOYMENT RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc1) Copyright (c)...
  2. Cisco 831 problems booting Flash and rommon
    I am starting to learn Cisco and have a 831 Router with IOS version 12.3 which I think I have really screwed up. I updated the SDM web interface, which completed successfully and was working fine for a few days until today. Now I am unable to access anything on the router, e...
  3. abt 3640 router rommon
    i have a 3640 router i erase the flash and reloaded the router.the router now in the rommon> and i uploaded the ios using xmodem option .after that i rebooted the router and its again in the rommon mode .then i given the command rommon>dir flash: but its not showing t...
  4. rommon cisco 2811
    Below is an output fromthe cisco router that i am using in a lab. It is stuck on the rommon> screen and i am not able to reset it to load from 0x2102. >>>>>>>>>> System Bootstrap, Version 12.4(1r) [hqluong 1r], RELEASE ...
  5. Cisco Router USB Ports and ROMMON Upgrade
    Just curious if anyone can explain the functionality of the USB ports on the Cisco routers? I've looked for documentation and can't see much. Will any USB stick work? Is there a procedure to make the usb stick work? Or is it a ciso propriatary usb port? The reason I ask ...

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: Sniper98GPosted on 2009-03-01 at 19:55:55ID: 23771364

You can erase the whole flash from rammon. However this means that you would need to load a new operating system from rammon as well. Depending on the router you may need to do this using an xmodem transfer that could take several hours. Also be sure you have a good IOS image to load to it if you erase the flash and don't have one then you just made a brick.

The command should be "delete flash:filename"

If you need to find the filename you can use "dir"

If you need to xmodem the image this is a link:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/routers/ps259/products_tech_note09186a008015bfac.shtml

 

by: Sniper98GPosted on 2009-03-01 at 19:58:50ID: 23771371

One more thing; depending on your router model the name for the flash could change. If you are unsure what your flash is called in rommon just post your model name and we can probably help you out.

 

by: nabeel92Posted on 2009-03-01 at 20:19:40ID: 23771438

Hey Sniper, the delete command only works when in the global config mode, i cant get there. I can only get into the rommon mode.

 

by: Sniper98GPosted on 2009-03-01 at 20:43:03ID: 23771545

What router/IOS version are you running?

 

by: Sniper98GPosted on 2009-03-01 at 20:43:27ID: 23771546

Make that rommon version.

 

by: nabeel92Posted on 2009-03-01 at 20:58:06ID: 23771611

Its a cisco 1841 with current IOS c1841-advipservicesk9-mz.124-15.T1

 

by: Sniper98GPosted on 2009-03-01 at 21:14:03ID: 23771661

I just confirmed "delete" to be a valid command in a 800 series router running 12.4(15)T1 (12.3 rommon). I have been using it since I can remember to erase configs when redeploying routers and switches to different locations on the network.

What does it tell you when you try to input "delete flash:config.text" under rommon?

Also please remember rommon is a harsh mistress. Using the tab key question mark or even backspace is likely to make your command fail. Commands must generally be typed exactly correct start to finish and complete with no abbreviations for them to take.

 

by: memo_tntPosted on 2009-03-02 at 00:48:36ID: 23772464

you cn easly do this by doing the following Rommon setting.


IP_ADDRESS=10.0.101.200
IP_SUBNET_MASK=255.0.0.0
DEFAULT_GATEWAY=10.0.0.1
TFTP_SERVER=10.101.0.123
TFTP_FILE=c2800nm-entbase-mz.123-8.T11.bin
set
boot

You can check that everything is set up correctly by entering set on its own.

Once you are happy then enter tftpdnld at the ROMMON prompt and your IOS image will be installed from your TFTP server.

N.B. This will erase the flash so any other files stored there will be lost. If you want to boot from the image on the TFTP server without writing it to flash then use the command tftpdnld -r. This will load the IOS on the TFTP server into router memory and boot the router from it but the flash will remain unchanged.

 

try and reply

 

by: nabeel92Posted on 2009-03-02 at 14:41:34ID: 23779237

1. I've tried using tftpd from the rommon mode (returns illegal mac address error infront of tftp file when i tried that ...
2. Used the xmodem to transfer the image to the flash ...

IOS decompression phase is not a problem and router boots fine only with ip base IOS which is 11 MB in size ... however, if i try to put it in an ios thats say 23 mb in size or 32 mb (like teh advance ip services) it hangs at the line "if you require further assistance please contact us by sending email to expot@cisco.com" and that's it .... nothing comes after that .... If however, I use the 11 Mb IOS it works just fine ....

 

by: Sniper98GPosted on 2009-03-02 at 15:16:42ID: 23779546

Once you have a good IOS on the device transfer the new IOS to it using TFTP from the command line. The command to do this is "copy tftp: flash: You will need to have your new image in the root of your tftp server. If you do not have a TFTP server you can get a good one for free at http://www.solarwinds.net

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...