SRX

Hi All,

I ran into a problem while trying to upgrade to junos-srxsme-12.1X46-D30.2-domestic.tgz.

After upgrading, when I performed the reboot; the firewall went into the u-boot and asked me to issue nand_format.

After formatting, it showed up as:

can't load '/kernel'
can't load '/kernel.old'
Press Enter to stop auto bootsequencing and to enter loader prompt.

I saw this problem reported earlier and tried a number of things:

1. I formatted a USB, copied the upgrade file onto it and tried to install from it but it didn't work.

Note: I formatted the USB from DOS prompt, though not as a bootable media. Just a plain format.

2. Somewhere I saw the following commands, just tried my luck:

=> setenv oct.net.init
=> saveenv
=> reset

Didn't work as well.

3. Tried to install with the install source file:/// command, didn't work as well.

4. Finally I tried another solution found somewhere

=> setenv boot.current alternate
=> boot

Now the reboot ends with a prompt like this:

Memory: 512MB
Un-Protected 1 sectors
writing to flash...
Protected 1 sectors
No bootable media found. Entering loader prompt.

Type '?' for a list of commands, 'help' for more detailed help.
loader>

Any suggestions would be helpful.

hello ,

I see that you have tried the possible proceedures , so now to recover the device , kindly do the snapshot method of taking the snapshot from one device and boot the non-working one from it .

So if you have any other device running upgraded or old version , please take the snapshot from that device and make this faulty device boot from it .

1) Connect USB to working device and run :

> request system snapshot media USB

2) once the snapshot is taken , conenct the USB to faulty device and reboot .

3) once it boots from the UBS copy the snapshot to faulty device :

> request system snapshot media internal

Then try to upgrade again

 Shyamraj,

Now try the install via the command;

If that does not work , you could try to reload the device from a usb after you take a snapshot from a working device onto a usb.

Another thing you could try is issuing a reload/boot from the loader prompt and see if the device comes up.

Hi Joses and ssn,

I tried to upgrade from TFTP and it worked fine (unexpectedly).

Here's the article I followed, for reference:

http://www.juniper.net/techpubs/software/junos-security/junos-security10.0/junos-security-admin-guide/sw-upgrade-tftpboot.html#loader-prompt

Thank you for the support !

Hello ,

Thanks for sharing . 

greetings,

recently i faced the same issue with the kernel. i tried to follow the procedure to restore the image by using USB. However, i realized that i had previously disabled the USB port by issuing the command "set chassis usb storage disable". So now i am stuck and cannot use my USB to proceed further.

Any idea please how can i activate the USB port through loader prompt or u-boot?

Thank you in advance.

Off of the top of my head, RMA might be your best bet if it is still covered. I suspect the FreeBSD pros might have more helpful info, but that's all I have. Bricked kernel and administratively down usb port... I wouldn't know where to begin.

I asked Copilot out of curiosity, and this is what it spit out. I cannot test to verify it will work as I do not have a device around under that circumstance.

If your Juniper EX switch is stuck at the loader prompt due to a dead kernel and the USB port was previously administratively disabled, you can still attempt to enable and use the USB port from the loader prompt (before the kernel loads), as long as the hardware itself is functional.

Here's how you can proceed:

1. Access the Loader Prompt
When the switch fails to load the kernel, it should drop you into the loader> prompt. If not, interrupt the boot process by pressing the space bar during startup.

2. Check for USB Devices
At the loader> prompt, run:

This will list all available devices. Look for entries like disk0, disk1, or disk1s1a that indicate USB storage devices.

3. Manually Set the Boot Device
If your USB device appears (e.g., disk1s1a), set it as the current device:

Then try to boot from it:

This should load the system from the USB if it contains a valid Junos installation image.

4. If USB Is Not Detected
If lsdev does not show any USB devices:

Try a different USB stick (preferably 4GB or 8GB, formatted with FAT32).
Ensure the USB image was created correctly using dd or a reliable image writer.
Reboot the switch and try again.

Good luck!