PowerConnect 2816 - won't finish boot

Question

This switch came to me with the Managed LED always flashing and the switch non-functional. Connected a serial console and can see it get this far: ------ Performing the Power-On Self Test (POST) ------                                                      UART Channel Loopback Test........................PASS                                                      Testing the System SDRAM..........................PASS                                                      Boot1 Checksum Test...............................PASS                                                      Boot2 Checksum Test...............................PASS                                                      Flash Image Validation Test.......................PASS                                                      BOOT Software Version 1.0.0.12 Built  08-Feb-2009  17:19:21                                                            Board Type - PowerConnect 2816                                PowerConnect 2816 board based on FireFox 88E6218 ARM946E-S processor                                                                      64 MByte SDRAM. I-Cache 8 KB. D-Cache 8 KB. Cache Enabled.                                                           MAC Address   :  a4:ba:db:79:96:c0.                                   Autoboot in 2 seconds - press RETURN or Esc. to abort and enter prom.                                                                        Decompressing SW from image-1                              100%     OK  Running from RAM...                   Operational Mode old state managed; new state unmanaged                                                       Operational Mode - new mode is unmanaged                                        *********************************************************************                                                                     *** Running  SW  Ver. 1.0.0.44  Date  23-Feb-2012  Time  15:52:47 ***                                                                     *********************************************************************                                                                     HW version is 00.00.02                      Base Mac address is: a4:ba:db:79:96:c0                                      Dram size is  : 64M bytes                         Dram first block size is  : 46380K bytes                                        Dram first PTR is               Flash size is: 8M                 01-Jan-2000 00:00:03 %CDB-I-LOADCONFIG: Loading startup configuration.                                                                      Device configuration:                     Slot 1 - PowerConnect 2816                          ------------------------------------                                    -- Unit Standalone                --                                    ------------------------------------                                     Switch stops at this point with the Managed LED flashing constantly. No other LEDs light up which suggests the final (usual?) boot step where all the ports briefly flash never happens.As it hangs at this point and does not finish the bootstrap the switch is not functional (no ports usable, no Web GUI etc). From the serial console I was able to update to the latest 1.0.0.44 firmware but it will not accept the Boot image update (filename is powerconnect_28xx_boot-10013.rfb), attempting to download (via Xmodem) the updated boot image results in this error. Error it shows is: Error 1030000.Wrong image format. Writing aborted.;                                                   Please contact tech support.                             I've downloaded several different copies so I believe the image is intact. I managed to get into the Advanced Menu (Control-Shift-6 + password) and erase the flash memory and reload the 1.0.0.44 firmware (during this process the Managed LED was flashing Red which suggested a fresh install ) but after a reboot it still rejects the new boot image. I also deleted the 'config' flash image hoping that would 'reset' the switch but this had no effect either. I am hoping the updated Boot image will correct the boot problem outlined above, but perhaps that fault points to something more fatal? I can also get into the Marvell uBoot manufacturer environment but I have not found any usable documentation to do much from that level although I can switch in and out of that environment using the mfg_setflag 0 command. Any suggestions on what to try next would be welcome, thanks.

nigwil · Answer

Thanks Daniel for the suggestion. I should have mentioned in my original post that I tried using the Mode button with all combinations without success (or any change in the switch behavior).

My suspicion is that because the switch is not completing the initial bootstrap then it is not getting to the code that would normally check for the Mode button status and then enter the decision logic about changing modes etc.

The overall problem I believe is the inability to reset the switch flash memory to a known (initial) state so that the bootstrap can complete successfully. It appears I can clear the image area of the flash memory (since that did change the initial startup behavior - for example the red-LED state mentioned above) but that is not sufficient to get the device to bootstrap successfully.

Does Dell have anyway of contacting the developers of the switch software? (I am assuming it was outsourced?) - I expect the reset to factory setup is trivial but undocumented. Then the device could be setup from scratch and it would be fine.

thanks.

Ringsing · Answer

Hi Nigwil, I am having exactly the same problem with a number of PowerConnect 2816's. Have you ever found a solution to this problem ? Brgds Ringsing

nigwil · Answer

Hi Ringsing, so far we have not found a solution to this, I've seen a few references to the same problem though. Will reply here if I discover anything new. cheers, nigel.

Cazacu Bogdan · Answer

Hey man, I just bought this same type of switch today, and facing the same issue...have you managed to find a way?

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