Format IOS Image (Or recover Password) 1

[shorty545]

I have a Cisco 802 router that has is password protected at login. I have tried cisco recovery procedure for the password however I am not given exec priveleges when I do a break at the POST. I am only given user priveledges. when I try to change anything I get an error message "Access Denied"
Is there a way to format the IOS and start from scratch since I lost the password

 

[pmesjar]

Wow this is new for me - I haven't heard or seen that ROMMON can have privileges. Are you sure you get into right ROMMON? Everytime I was doing password recovery I ended up with prompt like:

>

or

rommon # >

and there was totally no control which user can access the ROMMON if he/she is able to press Break key within 60 seconds of router reload.

Peter Mesjar
CCNP, A+ certified
pmesjar@centrum.sk

"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.

 

[shorty545]

When I hit the break key during the reload, I am taken to a prompt of

boot>

yet when I try and change anything i receive an error of "access denied". It looks to me that since the user mode is password protected I can not recover anything.

Any suggestions.

Thanks,

Jeremy

 

[donjohnston]

Did you try entering "enable" at the boot> prompt?

-Don

 

[shorty545]

Yes, I have tried typing enable and it asks me for a password. I do not know this password. I have tried everything I can think of cisco, admin, administrator, password...etc.

~jeremy

 

[pmesjar]

I guess you need to pass this to Cisco guys...

Peter Mesjar
CCNP, A+ certified
pmesjar@centrum.sk

"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.

 

[shorty545]

Thanks, I have already passed this on to one of their techs. Just awaiting a response now.

 

[jamin123]

Change your config reg to 0x2102. It's boot to Ramoon because the config reg is set to ramoon.

 

[AnalogAnomaly]

I really do need to brush up on cisco. If I recall resetting a router to factory defaults (including pass) used the config register 0x2142. Though I seem to remember working with some older stuff that you needed to use 0x2102 with. Anyone here care to explain the reason for this?

TIA

 

[pmesjar]

0x2102 tells the router to look for boot command in NVRAM and - if not specified otherwise by boot command - load IOS from Flash

0x2142 tells the router to boot without loading startup config from NVRAM and load IOS from Flash


Peter Mesjar
CCNP, A+ certified
pmesjar@centrum.sk

"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.

 

[shorty545]

I've tried everything I can think of now, and no luck with booting into enable mode in ROMMON mode. Cisco says it must be a problem with hardware, however I find this hard to believe myself. Looks like it's getting scrapped and a new one will be purchased.

Thanks for the help.

~Jeremy

 

[pmesjar]

One more thing - is NVRAM replaceable in 800 series routers? Maybe you would be fine by just replacing the NVRAM with new one than buying the whole router.

Peter Mesjar
CCNP, A+ certified
pmesjar@centrum.sk

"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.

 

[shorty545]

Not that I can see. The only removeable part on the circuit board is the flash card. There is a slot for a memory card, but there is not one used.