RouterBOOT always using backup booter

RouterOS General
1

I have a RB3011 device which was appeared to be stuck at “ether boot”.
It appeared that connecting a cable to the eth1 interface eventually caused it to boot anyway as this causes it to attempt bootp.
I took a serial cable and connected it, only to see that it keeps using the “RouterBOOT backup booter 3.27” and not the main booter.

What could be the cause for this?

  • There is no configuration that forces the backup booter
  • The reset button is not stuck.

I tried a couple of things, including upgrading the RouterOS software and RouterBoard firmware, to no avail.
I also used NetInstall to reinstall the RouterOS software but this did not help either.

This is what the complete reboot and bootup cycle looks like from the serial terminal:

Rebooting…
Stopping services…
Restarting system.


RouterBOOT backup booter 3.27

RouterBOARD 3011UiAS

CPU frequency: 1400 MHz
Memory size: 1024 MiB
NAND size: 128 MiB

Press any key within 2 seconds to enter setup
Please, check ethernet cable… <<< plugging in a cable on eth1 OR pressing enter causes bootup to continue.
trying bootp protocol… failed
kernel loading failed
..
trying bootp protocol… failed
kernel loading failed

loading kernel… OK
setting up elf image… OK
jumping to kernel code
Starting…
Starting services…
ikroTik 6.36 (stable)
MikroTik Login:

Thanks!

2

You have probably configured the bootloader (/system routerboard settings) to first boot from ethernet instead of nand.

Try changing the boot device. Run this from terminal:

/system routerboard settings set boot-device=nand-if-fail-then-ethernet
3

Thanks Cha0s for your reply.
But I already tried that. No luck.

These are the current settings:

[admin@MikroTik] > system routerboard settings print
baud-rate: 115200
boot-delay: 2s
enter-setup-on: any-key
boot-device: nand-if-fail-then-ethernet
cpu-frequency: 1400MHz
boot-protocol: bootp
enable-jumper-reset: yes
silent-boot: no
protected-routerboot: disabled