[c-nsp] Resetting (or not) a 6500/sup720 from the console/rommon

[Joe Maimon]

All,

Having a similar situation here. Hoping to get more feedback then Phil 
ever did.

Is there a way through console only to worm back into the SP/rommon/reset?

I can boot an old msfc image on the RP (hybrid mode with both SP and RP 
running IOS), but havent figured out anything further yet.

The questions comes down to whether remote console is sufficient or if 
remote power is also required.

Joe

Phil Mayers wrote:
> This morning we had a crash on a remote site router, a single-sup720
> 6504 running 12.2(33)SXI (I know, it needs upgrading).
>
> I got in over our out-of-band network and found the sup sitting at
> rommon, so typed reset, and it said:
>
> System Bootstrap, Version 12.2(17r)S4, RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc1)
> Technical Support: http://www.cisco.com/techsupport
> Copyright (c) 2005 by cisco Systems, Inc.
> Cat6k-Sup720/RP platform with 524288 Kbytes of main memory
>
> ...and then hung. I sent a break, typed reset, and it did it again...
> and again... and again...
>
> Normally I'd remote power-cycle it, but at this particular location we
> don't have an inline switch, so I eventually had to ask a colleague who
> was on-site to do it.
>
> Looking at the above, it seems like the sup was stuck with the RP in
> ownership of the console, and the SP somewhere (dead?). When I finally
> booted via a power-cycle I saw the familiar:
>
> System Bootstrap, Version 8.4(2) Release
> Copyright (c) 1994-2005 by cisco Systems, Inc.
> Cat6k-Sup720/SP processor with 524288 Kbytes of main memory
>
> ...and from there the SP booted, and then chain-loaded the RP and all
> was well.
>
> So - I conclude from this that you basically ALWAYS need remote power
> cycling equipment on a 6500/sup720, as the split RP/SP processor setup
> means you might get stuck and unable to boot.
>
> Is this the case? Is there a command I could have typed at RP rommon to
> make it cold-boot? The commands present seemed to be a sub-set of the
> normal rommon commands, and told me weird things like:
>
> rommon 3 > dir
>
> This operation is not permitted after send-break.
>
> ...and:
>
> rommon 5 > set
>
> Access of environmental variables not permitted.
> Please set confreg to 0 and reset if you want to make any changes.
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