BCM50 Multi-Image Hard Drive Oddities

[rrmass]

I have two BCM50's that were upgraded to R6 with hard drives that are starting to fail. They differ in the fact that one of them was upgraded from R2 to R6 and the other was upgraded from R3 to R6.

I also have a multi-image hard drive (clone image) that I have used a few times to make hard drives for various versions successfully.

My problem is with the R2 to R6 one. When I try to create a new R6 drive it does a hardware check and only allows the creation of a R1 or R2 drive. The R3 to R6 one will allow a successful creation of an R6 drive.

If I take the R6 drive that I created and put it in the R2 to R6 chassis it only cycles through the initial boot sequence and will not boot.

Is the only way I have to get this unit back to R6 by installing a R2 drive and upgrade it to R6 again?

 

[exsmogger]

It sounds that way. A R5 or R6 normally saves the license file on the main unit as well as the hard drive, which would contain the upgrade keycodes. I'd guess the one that only allows R1 or R2 was not properly upgraded to R3 and then to R6. It's a moot point since the BCM50 isn't playing nicely. You'll have to start it at R2 and go through the upgrade process to get it back to R6. Hopefully you have all of the old license files with the upgrade keycodes.

Brian Cox
Georgia Telephone

http://Georgia-Telephone.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/briancox1952

 

[Firebird Scrambler]

There were BIOS type changes on the BCM 50 range at around release 3.0. I've seen this problem before. I'd upgrade again from 2.0 to 6.0 and then run the 6.0 factory image so that any level 2 reset via SSH won't knock it back to 1.0 again.




Firebird Scrambler
Nortel Meridian 1 / Succession and BCM / Norstar Programmer in the UK
Advance knowledge on BCM support

http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidbromley

 

[rrmass]

These units installed by another company that will no longer support them.

I've made a copy of the original drive and I'm using it to see if I can make everything sane again. Normally I'd just do a level 2 reset and hope to have everything normal again but when I looked in the alarm logs there's a warning that the R6 factory update image was not installed when the other company did the upgrade which I gather means it will revert to R2. I guess I could install the factory update image and do a level 2 reset.

Anyways thanks for the info.

 

[exsmogger]

Yes, I forgot about that issue with a level reset on a unit that was upgraded from R2 to R6.

Brian Cox
Georgia Telephone

http://Georgia-Telephone.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/briancox1952

 

[Firebird Scrambler]

Yes, you must install the factory image at 6.0 and remember never to do a reset via the button at release 5.0 or 6.0 as you have to do it via the SSH shell.


Firebird Scrambler
Nortel Meridian 1 / Succession and BCM / Norstar Programmer in the UK
Advance knowledge on BCM support

http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidbromley

 

[exsmogger]

I'm wondering if the original hard drive will boot since you couldn't get an imaged R6 to work. If it does then loading the R6 factory image should fix the problem with a level reset.

Brian Cox
Georgia Telephone

http://Georgia-Telephone.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/briancox1952