Forefront IT Services Ltd

Step by step instructions on how to upgrade the firmware on a cisco catalyst switch. You'll need a console cable and a PC with an RS232 (9-pin) com port.  There are USB -> RS232 converters availbale as hardly any laptops have RS232 com ports anymore.

Step 1 Connect a PC with terminal-emulation software supporting the XMODEM protocol to the switch console port.

Step 2 Set the line speed on the emulation software to 9600 baud.

Step 3 Unplug the switch power cord.

Step 4 Press the Mode button, and at the same time, reconnect the power cord to the switch.

You can release the Mode button a second or two after the LED above port 1X turns off. Several lines of information about the software appear along with instructions:

The system has been interrupted prior to initializing the flash file system. The following
commands will initialize the flash file system, and finish loading the operating system
software#

flash_init
load_helper
boot

Step 5 Initialize the flash file system:

switch# flash_init

Step 6 If you had set the console port speed to anything other than 9600, it has been reset to that particular speed. Change the emulation software line speed to match that of the switch console port.

Step 7 Load any helper files:

switch# load_helper

Step 8 Start the file transfer by using the XMODEM protocol.

switch# copy xmodem: flash:image_filename.bin

Step 9 After the XMODEM request appears, use the appropriate command on the terminal-emulation software to start the transfer and to copy the software image into flash memory.