Updating ANCIENT Onboad Admin Firmware

[Jonathan Schroeber]

Ok guys, I've got a weird one here.  I just took over an old C7000 Chassis from another group at our company and I'm trying to get the thing up to date.  Logged in to the OA, and it only showed one in the chassis, so I updated it remotely with no issues (v2.21 to v3.31).

After heading to the physical location and looking at the hardware though, there was another OA in the chassis, just not fully plugged in.  So I went ahead and snapped it in, and it registers with v1.01 Firmware.  I see it properly, I'm just not able to manage it as I get the wonderful "version mismatch" error.

However, I'm not having any luck getting this firmware up-to-date on this device.  The "Sync Firmware" option isn't available to me, as the CLI reports that this option is only available to OAs running 2.10 and later.  Trying to update the firmware by loading a BIN file through the web page on the "new" OA just fails with an error that the BIN file can't be loaded.

I've tried removing both OAs and then only plugging in the old one, but I can never get the OA webpage to come up (I just get a generic "the page cannot be displayed" error).  Does firmware this old even have a webpage?  Or were you only able to manage through console or telent?

The old OA properly loads (at least, I assume it does), as the LCD Screen changes to reflect the old firmware, and the chassis behaves as expected, with fans not running at 100%.  I can telnet into the device, but I'm not sure what the password is to get in.  I need to do a password recovery, but I'm still trying to hunt down a console cable.  After that, I'll try a firmware update via the CLI.

Before I spend too much time on this, I'm wondering a few things:

1.  Does an OA firmware this old even have a webpage?  Or was management strictly done through the CLI back then?  Should I be concerned that one isn't coming up?

2.  If no webpage even comes up, do I probably have a Bad OA that just needs to be replaced?

3.  What about incremental steps to update firmware if I get it to take?  Looks like the oldest firmware I can get from HP's site at this point is 2.60, so will that big a jump cause problems?

I've never dealt with firmware this old, so I'm looking for anyone that has been doing this for a while.  Searches don't turn up much for stuff this old either.  Looks like most of us (me included) didn't get into the game until v2.0 firmware came out...

Any guidance out there would be greatly appreciated... Thanks.

[Jonathan Schroeber · Accepted solution]

Ok, quick update for those that have viewed the original post and may be interested...

I was able to recover the password with a Console Cable, and finally logged in to the CLI.  From there, I was able to successfully update the firmware to 2.60 using the following command:

update image http:\\<IP of Web Server>\hpoa260.bin

However, after updating the firmware, the device would constantly report a kernel panic and then reboot.  This was when it was the only OA in the system (and therefore active).  I couldn't ever get it to take a firmware update if the other OA running 3.31 was in the system.  I don't know if this is a side effect of jumping the firmware revisions so many levels in one go or what, but the device would not stay up.

So to try and alleviate that problem, I went ahead and unplugged the OA running 2.60 (so both were unplugged), plugged in the OA running 3.31 so it was active, and then plugged in the OA running 2.60 so it was secondary.

At this point, things seemed to be normal, and the OA running 2.60 appeared to be stable (it at least wasn't going in to kernel panic anymore).  At this point, I was able to try the "Synchronize Firmware" option from the Web GUI.  However, halfway through that process, the OA running 2.60 went into kernel panic again and rebooted.  That was not a good thing, as with half a firmware on the device, the device was toast.  At least HP was nice enough to have the system go into Firmware Recovery Mode if it can't boot...

So in the end, I went ahead and did a Flash Recovery with v3.31 and the thing now works like a champ.  In hingsight, it would have been easier to do that from the start... :-)

Oh well, hoepfully this post helps some other soul out there down the road.  If you're going to be jumping firmware like this, just connect with a console cable, boot the device and force the system into Flash Recovery Mode and load the firmware that way.  You'll save yourself a lot of time and pain...

A little note though for those that may try this.  You need a DHCP server and a TFTP Server to perform the flash recovery steps.  The site below has a program with both pieces integrated into a single package with nothing to actually install.  You run a setup executable which creates an INI file for you with the paramaters you specify, and then run the executable and you're good to go.  Very slick, very small, and works great.  Then you just have to plug into your OA with a crossover cable and life is good.

http://www.dhcpserver.de/dhcpsrv.htm

[MikeUK]

I find tftpd32 much easier, less config, just launch. Has syslog onboard too. http://tftpd32.jounin.net/