Field Notice: FN - 64233 - Nexus 3000 Series Switches That Run Release 6.0.(2)U6(x) Fail to Upgrade to Release 7.0.(x) with MD5 Sum Mismatch Error - BIOS/Firmware Upgrade Recommended

Notice

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Revision History

Revision	Publish Date	Comments
1.0	19-Dec-16	Initial Release
10.0	11-Oct-17	Migration to new field notice system

Products Affected

Affected Product ID	Comments
N3K-C3048TP-1GE
N3K-C3172PQ-10GE
N3K-C3172TQ-10GT
N3K-C3132Q-40GX
N3K-C3064PQ-10GX

Defect Information

Defect ID	Headline
CSCvb64127	Nexus 3000 may fail to upgrade with 7.0(x) images with MD5Sum mismatch error

Problem Description

Nexus 3000 Series platforms that run Release 6.0(2)U6(x) show an MD5 mismatch when you upgrade to Release 7.0x or later (impacted software images are listed in the Background section). As a result, the switch will be in a boot loop.

Background

Some Nexus 3000 Series platforms listed in the Products Affected section that use 2G and 4G eUSB flash are greater than 48 sector/track disk geometry. The impacted images do not understand greater than 48 sector/disk geometry and thus an upgrade to any of these images throws an MD5 mismatch error.

 

Impacted Software Image List

- 7.0(3)I5(1)

- 7.0(3)I4(4)

- 7.0(3)I4(3)

- 7.0(3)I4(2)

- 7.0(3)I4(1)

- 7.0(3)I3(1)

- 7.0(3)I2(4)

- 7.0(3)I2(3)

- 7.0(3)I2(2e)

- 7.0(3)I2(2d)

- 7.0(3)I2(2c)

- 7.0(3)I2(2b)

- 7.0(3)I2(2a)

This issue will be fixed in Release 7.0(3)I2(5), 7.0(3)I4(5), 7.0(3)I5(2), and any 7.0(x) image released after December 2016.

 

Follow the standard upgrade/downgrade guideline for the new 7.0(x) release.

 

Problem Symptom

The error message that is displayed is:

 

Booting kickstart image: bootflash:/nxos.7.0.3.I2.4.bin

MD5Sum mismatch

graphics_set_kernel_params enter:

Workaround/Solution

Customers need to upgrade the BIOS before an upgrade to Release 7.0(x). See the How to Upgrade Software section for instructions.

How to Upgrade Software

BIOS images with fixes: nxos-n3kbios.bin

Note: All BIOS images are available for download in the system software standard download locations.

 

Upgrade Impacted Switches From Release 6.0(2)U6(x)

An intermediate upgrade of the BIOS is needed before an upgrade to the impacted releases listed in the Background section.

1. Copy the BIOS image nxos-n3kbios.bin to bootflash.

2. Enter the install all nxos bootflash:nxos-n3kbios.bin bios command. This command needs to be run from Release 6.0(2)U6 and later and it upgrades only the BIOS image. It does not reload the switch.

3. Once the BIOS has been upgraded, delete the BIOS image nxos-n3kbios.bin from bootflash and upgrade the switch to the previously listed impacted releases as per the normal procedure.

 

Recover Impacted Switches if an Upgrade was Already Attempted and the Switch is in the Loader Prompt

 

Recover the switch by downgrading to Release 6.0(2)U6(x) via booting images with TFTP from the loader prompt and then upgrade to Release 7.0.x:

1. Downgrade the switch to Release 6.0(2)U6(x) from the loader prompt with TFTP and recover the box.

Enter these commands from the loader prompt:

break into loader prompt by Ctrl-L if the switch is in boot cycle

loader>set ip ipaddress netmask

loader>set gw gateway_ipaddress

loader>boot tftp://tftp_server_ip/nxos.7.0.3.Ix.y.bin(boot 7.0.x release via tftp boot from loader)

N3K# write erase

N3K# write erase boot

N3K# copy 6.0.2.U6.x_running_config startup-config

N3K# install all kickstart bootflash:n3000-uk9-kickstart.6.0.2.U6.x.bin system bootflash:n3000-uk9.6.0.2.U6.x.bin no-save bios-force (downgrade to 6.0(2)U6(x))

 

2. Enter these commands in order to upgrade the switch from Release 6.0(2)U6(x) to Release 7.0.x:

Copy nxos-n3kbios.bin into the switch.

install all nxos nxos-n3kbios.bin bios

delete nxos-n3kbios.bin

install all nxos nxos.7.0.3.Ix.xx.bin ( upgrade to 7.0.3 based release of your choice)

How To Identify Affected Products

This section describes how to identify if your switches are impacted by this software issue.

ALL of these three conditions need to be met in order to experience the issue:

 

- The switch is a N3K-C3064PQ-10GX, N3K-C3132Q-40GX, N3K-C3172TQ-10GT, N3K-C3172PQ-10GE, or N3K-C3048TP-1GE.

- If the switches are on Release 6.0(2)U6(x) or earlier and up for an upgrade to Release 7.0(x).

- The switches have eUSB flash with greater than 48 sectors per track/disk geometry.

Enter this command in order to verify if the disk geometry is greater than 48:

N3K(config)# run bash fdisk -l /dev/sda | grep sectors

161 heads, 63 sectors/track, 1038 cylinders

For More Information

If you require further assistance, or if you have any further questions regarding this field notice, please contact the Cisco Systems Technical Assistance Center (TAC) by one of the following methods:

• Open a service request on Cisco.com
• By email
• By telephone

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