info required on upgrading IOS 1

[paul3221]

Hi, I'm new to the forum. I'm currently working on my CCNA, and got a cheap 2507 from Ebay to mess around on. The problem is that many of the commands I'm supposed to know don't work, or are different on this router than in the book. I'm assuming that this is because of the older IOS (10.0), since the ones on the CCNA seem to be based on 12.x.
My question is, what IOS is best to put on a 2507? Can I just put on the highest one avaiable, or is there a limit to how high the 2500 series is capable of running? Secondly, the router has 4mb of RAM. Will I need to upgrade this to fit a newer IOS? The Images that I've got for 12.x seem to all be between 7 and 8 mb.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks in advance,
Paul

 

[computerhighguy]

i would see if the IP feature set is small enough to put on your router. I checked the requirements for 12.3 and you would need a minimum of 12 meg flash and 16 megs ram to run it.


It is what it is!!
__________________________________
A+, Net+, I-Net+, Certified Web Master, MCP, MCSA, MCSE, CCNA, CCDA, and few others (I got bored one day)

 

[paul3221]

THis is what it currently has on it:

Paul>sh flash

System flash directory:
File Length Name/status
1 3663208 igs-bpx-l.100-6
[3663272 bytes used, 531032 available, 4194304 total]
4096K bytes of processor board System flash (Read ONLY)

I can't get any of them directly from CISCO without an account, but I did manage to download a large collection of IOS files from another source. One of them is named:
igs-i-l.111-24.bin
would this be a version 11.1 IOS that would work on my router? the file size is 3,928,052. Again, any help is greatly appreciated... ;-)

Thanks in advance,
Paul

 

[tecnikall]

Hi Paul,

On routers you will find two types of memory (at least):
1 Flash Memory (where your main image is stored)
2 Main Memory (where the decompress image is running -- much as a pc-- plus the running configs, routing tables etc)

For this platform, the router runs the main image from flash. If you consider upgrading the IOS we will need to send the router into bootmode by changing the conf reg value to 0x2141 (this way you will ignore the startup config file as well) and reloading the box.

For studying CCNA you will need to run at least 12.0 image where most of the "newer" commands are introduced. If you copy and paste show ver in here I will be able to recommend you the latest image which will fit your existing Flash and RAM.

Good luck with your studies....

 

[tecnikall]

woops, didn't pay enough attantion it looks like you have 4 MB of Flash and 4 MB or RAM.... Just hold on, Cheers

 

[tecnikall]

Hi Paul,

The "latest" image you can use with your existing memory is:
igs-i-l.110-20.bin , if is there any chance to upgrade your flash from 4 MB to 8 MB you should be able to upgrade to c2500-i-l.120-8b.bin or similar.... Cheers

 

[paul3221]

Thanks for the assistance. That's exactly what I needed to know! Unfortunately, that brings up another question... ;-)
I can get 8mb flash on E-bay for $18, but according to the information listed here

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products...nance_guide_chapter09186a008014b478.html#1292

I cannot add an 8mb to my existing 4mb and make 12. It seems from the chart that both flash chips (if using 2) need to be the same size. Therefore, at some point, I'm going to have a blank 8mb chip, with no IOS in the router. How do I get the new IOS onto it with no commands available on the router??
Also, I can get 16mb regular (non-flash) memory for it for $10. Is this worth doing, or is 4 plenty, as the 2500's keep the IOS in flash? Again, any help is greatly appreciated...

Thanks,
Paul

 

[tecnikall]

Hi Paul,

It still can be done. If you get 1 simm of 8 MB just take out the existing 4 MB out ( the one which holds your main image). However, on the motherboard there is another memory chip which holds your bootimage...Once you do the memory upgrade the router will end up in rommon mode because we don't have a valid image on the new falsh. In rommon mode all we need is to change the configruation register value and boot the router in boot mode where we should be able to setup an ethernet interface to a local tfpt server and do a copy tftp flash porcedure to put an image in flash. Once done just change back the configuration register value to 0x2102 and reload....
In rommon mode use the following commands to send the router into bootmode:
romon1> o/r 0x2101
romon2> i <to reload>
On reload you should be in bootmode. If you can afford I would recommed you upgrade the main memory as well to 8MB and try to upload 12.0 or above.
Cheers and good luck, Dan

 

[paul3221]

Excellent. Thanks for all your great help. It's exactly what I needed.
BTW, I did order the 8, and 16mb chips. They should be here early next week...

 

[tecnikall]

Hi Paul,

This is good news, however just one more thing to keep in mind. You will not be able to upgrade to the very latest images as your RXBoot chip (your bootimage) may not handle the very latest ios-es... Cheers, Dan

 

[paul3221]

OK, so I got the memory, and installed it. Now when I try to copy to the flash mem, I get the following error:

Paul#copy tftp flash

System flash directory:
No files in System flash
[0 bytes used, 8388608 available, 8388608 total]
Address or name of remote host [192.169.2.10]? 192.168.2.10
Source file name? c2500-i-l.121-2.T.bin
Destination file name [default = source name]?
Accessing file 'c2500-i-l.121-2.T.bin' on 192.168.2.10...
Loading c2500-i-l.121-2.T.bin from 192.168.2.10 (via Ethernet0): !
Device needs erasure before copying new file
Erase flash device before writing? [confirm]
Copy 'c2500-i-l.121-2.T.bin' from TFTP server
as 'c2500-i-l.121-2.T.bin' into Flash WITH erase? [yes/no] y
Exception: Jump to zero at 0x5BA38 (PC)

System Bootstrap, Version 5.0(6), RELEASE SOFTWARE
Copyright (c) 1986-1994 by cisco Systems
2500 processor with 16384 Kbytes of main memory

ERR: Invalid chip id 0x80B5 (reversed = 0x1AD ) detected in System flash
Loading cisco2-2500 .

Shortly after that, It times out and reboots. Did I get a dud for memory, or is there something wrong with what I'm doing? I have tried it with a few different bins, and always get the same error.

Another odd thing, but I don't know if it's related. I replaced both chips (flash and RAM), but it still had all of my settings, and the IOS when it booted back up. It must have some permanent Flash built in??

Thanks in advance for any assistance...

 

[tecnikall]

Ok, here we go:
1. All your configuration is stored in NVRAM (non volatile RAM) which is stand alone chip on your router thus the configs being still on the router.
2. the promt shown "paul#" is this in bootmode? If so can you please paste in here the following:
show ver
show flash:

Funny you did mention replacing the flash and main memory and you still boot the router with the configs this implies that there is a valid image on flash already to be able to bring your configs up... Cheers

 

[paul3221]

The prompt paul# was there because I was in enable mode. Here are the things you were looking for:

Paul>sh flash

System flash directory:
No files in System flash
[0 bytes used, 8388608 available, 8388608 total]
8192K bytes of processor board System flash (Read/Write)

Paul>sh ver

IOS (tm) 3000 Bootstrap Software (IGS-RXBOOT), Version 10.0(6), RELEASE SOFTWARE
(fc1)
Copyright (c) 1986-1994 by cisco Systems, Inc.
Compiled Tue 25-Oct-94 19:03 by dougs

ROM: System Bootstrap, Version 5.0(6), RELEASE SOFTWARE

Paul uptime is 3 minutes
System restarted by power-on
Running default software

cisco 2500 (68030) processor (revision B) with 16380K/2048K bytes of memory.
Processor board serial number 01433849
X.25 software, Version 2.0, NET2, BFE and GOSIP compliant.
Bridging software.
Authorized for Enterprise software set. (0x0)
1 Ethernet/IEEE 802.3 interface.
16 Ethernet/IEEE 802.3 repeater ports.
2 Serial network interfaces.
32K bytes of non-volatile configuration memory.

8192K bytes of processor board System flash (Read/Write)
Configuration register is 0x2102

I really think there is something wrong with the memory chip I have though. I watched the console at bootup, and it gave the same error a couple times while it was booting up:


System Bootstrap, Version 5.0(6), RELEASE SOFTWARE
Copyright (c) 1986-1994 by cisco Systems
2500 processor with 16384 Kbytes of main memory

ERR: Invalid chip id 0x80B5 (reversed = 0x1AD ) detected in System flash
Loading cisco2-2500 ... [timed out]

File read failed -- Time out
System Bootstrap, Version 5.0(6), RELEASE SOFTWARE
Copyright (c) 1986-1994 by cisco Systems

there's more after that, including that error again, but it flies off the screen, and the formatting goes all funky once it's out the top of the hyperterminal screen. THanks again for any help...

Paul

 

[mainstreetexpress]

http://www.atm.tut.fi/list-archive/cisco-nsp/msg00934.html

 

[tecnikall]

Hi Paul,

You will need to cahnge the boot rom chip on the motherboard as well (Boot ROM) to support the type of flash memory you just got:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products...odule_installation_guide09186a00800eab17.html

Cheers.

 

[paul3221]

Again, thanks for the information. I ordered a new Boot ROM for it last night on E-Bay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=28033&item=5744480052&rd=1

Hopefully this will fix the problem, and I'll be on my way. In case anyone else runs into this problem, E-bay is the way to go. The first few places I looked were asking around $50 for it. I got it on E-bay for $7.00. New in Box, and shipped.

Paul