Factory Reset FGT Stops Loading

[Ellyas]

Greetings,

Hello team. I encounter a problem when I perform a factory reset on a FGT. After I had continue with "y", at the command line a bunch of things are loading and in progress.

However suddenly the loading/progress stops for a long time. Initially I thought it will continue, but it didn't. I tried to press "Enter" but nothing happens. I also tried to start a new console session but failed. Lastly I asked the standby site-engineer to power cycle the box (and his laptop as well), console login and it was successful.

After I had able to console again, the FGT is back to its factory default state and everything is okay.

My question/concern is:

1. What can be the probable cause that the box hanged or factory reset progress stops loading?

2. Would there be any firmware (or physical) problem if the box does not completely load the factory reset progress?

3. Is it advisable/hazardous to just power cycle the box if cases like this happened?

4. Would there by any other workaround besides just by power cycle the box?

I was lucky this time that by power cycle the box (and the engineer's laptop), console login was successful and the box is at its factory default state.

Appreciate your input and sharing on my inquiries.

Thanks & regards,

Ellyas.

[Ralph1973]

Hello Ellyas,

I don't know what device you are using, but I recommend to format the flash, to get rid of bad blocks in the filesystem if there are any.

During boot press d in the console and then press f to format the boot device.

Be aware that you have to load a new FortiOS image via tftp afterwards.

If the boot sequence 'hangs' then only thing you can do is power cycle the box.

Kind regards,

Ralph Willemsen

Arnhem, Netherlands

[vjoshi_FTNT]

Hello Ellyas,

It looks like a corrupted flash. As it is recommended already, formatting the flash and reloading the firmware via TFTP is recommended.

Coming to the bad block scan, the process defers from hardware to hardware.

There are detailed instructions mentioned in the KB articles. You can search for 'bad blocks' on www.kb.fortinet.com