System information

Troubleshooting Booting Problems

Book Title

3-46

Booting: Router Cannot Netboot from TFTP Server

Symptom: Router cannot boot from a TFTP server. The router tries to obtain its system image over

the network but fails.

The following output is an example of a failed netboot session:

Booting gs3-bfx..........[failed]

Table 3-13 outlines the problems that might cause this symptom and describes solutions to those

problems.

Note More speciﬁc symptoms related to TFTP servers and netbooting are described later in this

chapter.

Table 3-13 Booting: Router Cannot Netboot from TFTP Server

Missing boot system ﬂash

global conﬁguration command

Step 1 Use the show running-conﬁg privileged exec command to determine

whether the conﬁguration includes a boot system ﬂash global

conﬁguration command entry. Use the show startup-conﬁg privileged

exec command to determine whether the boot system ﬂash command is

included in the conﬁguration stored in NVRAM

Step 2 Check the order of the boot system commands. For the recommended

ordering, refer to the section “Fault-Tolerant Boot Strategies” earlier in

this chapter.

Step 3 Add the boot system ﬂash command or reorder the boot system

commands if necessary.

Step 4 Save the conﬁguration change to NVRAM using the copy running-conﬁg

startup-conﬁg privileged exec command. The required syntax is as

follows:

copy running-conﬁg {rcp | startup-conﬁg | tftp | ﬁle-id} (Cisco 7000,

Cisco 7200, and Cisco 7500 series only)

Syntax Description:

• rcp—Speciﬁes a copy operation to a network server using RCP.

• startup-conﬁg—Speciﬁes the conﬁguration used for initialization as

the destination of the copy operation. The Cisco 4500 series cannot use

this keyword.

• tftp—Speciﬁes a TFTP server as the destination of the copy operation.

• ﬁle-id—Speciﬁes a device:ﬁlename as the destination of the copy

operation. The device argument is optional; but when it is used, the

colon (:) is required.

Misconﬁgured conﬁguration

Use the show version exec command to check the conﬁguration register setting.

Make sure it is set to boot from Flash memory. Refer to your hardware installation

and maintenance publication for details regarding conﬁguration register settings.

1 TFTP = Trivial File Transfer Protocol

2 NVRAM = nonvolatile random-access memory

Possible Problem Solution