M3400-52G-PoE Stuck in U-Boot - ERROR: can't get kernel image!
Hi Everyone,
This is my first post to the Community.
I am posting this procedure for those poor souls out there, which like me have experienced this issue (there are several similar posting on this forum with no solution). It took me several valuable hours to get this.
This is the procedure to get your Netgear Managed Switch up and running to be able to do detailed diagnostics (in my case it turned out the flash partitions for the 2 image packages were toasted)
1. Download a Firmware Image file for the M3400 from the Netgear Support website
2. Extract the Firmware Image file from the downloaded Zip file to your PC/Laptop
3. Ensure you have a TFTP Server installed on your PC/Laptop
4. Connect to the M3400 via a Console cable
5. Power on the M3400
6. let all the Errors display and wait for the U-Boot "m4300r2>" prompt to appear
7. enter "printenv" and check that the following Environment variables have the following values :
- ipaddr=192.168.0.10
- serverip=192.168.0.100
8. if values don't match above, enter the following commands
- "setenv ipaddr 192.168.0.10"
- "setenv netmask 255.255.255.0"
- "setenv gatewayip 192.168.0.1"
- "setenv serverip 192.168.0.100"
9. Set your PC/Laptop Ethernet interface IP to 192.168.0.100
10. Connect PC/Laptop Ethernet interface to the OOB Ethernet port on the front of the M3400
11. Start your TFTP Server on your PC/Laptop and set the root directory to the location of the extracted Firmware Image file
12. Enter the command "run bootargs_set"
13. Enter the command "tftpboot 0x62000000 m4300v12.0.13.8.stk" [Note: I used ver 12.0.13.8, use whatever filename is in the Firmware package]
14. Wait for the Firmware to upload to the M3400
15. Do NOT disconnect the Ethernet connection
16. Enter the command "bootm 0x62000074#ranger2"
17. The M3400 will begin to load the Application file and error again -- don't panick
18. The M3400 will again automatically load the Firmware Image file from the TFTP Server
19. Then Finally, at last, the M3400 will boot to a fully operational condition
20. Optional: Enter the commands "#delete 1 image1" and/or "#delete 1 image2"
21. Optional: Enter the commands "copy tftp://192.168.0.100/m4300v12.0.13.8.stk image1" and/or
22. Optional: Enter the commands "boot system 1 image1" and/or "boot system 1 image2"
In my case the last 3 commands all failed as the Flash was obviously damaged 😞
PS: Why Netgear does not publish recovery instructions for the M3400 series is baffling to me, given there are many request on this forum and others requesting it . . . . anyway thought I would share . . . . hope it works out for you
Model: GSM4352PA|M4300-52G-PoE+ - 48x1G PoE+ Stackable Managed Switch with 2x10GBASE-T and 2xSFP+ (550W PSU)
