Recovery

If the community SONiC image in the system becomes corrupted, it may be necessary to perform recovery procedures to correct the image.

Reimaging from ONIE using a local Nokia community SONiC image

The user can recover a Nokia community SONiC device by reinstalling the Nokia community SONiC image from a local image through the Open Network Install Environment (ONIE). This method is typically used when it's not possible to boot the existing image or a factory reset is needed.

  • Ensure the RS-232 console is connected to the front port; the rate depends on the platform, for example, 9600 baud or 115200 baud.
  • Have the ability to power cycle the device.
  • Ensure the local image file is available, for example, in the directory /tmp/IMAGE_FILE.bin, on a USB drive or an SD card, or another method supported on your platform (for example, over the network).
  • If you are using a 7215 IXS device, have the bootloader (U-Boot) credentials available.

This procedure uses the bootloader (U-Boot) and ONIE installer. The boot-timing windows are short.

The examples in this task show reimaging of a 202411 software version.

  1. If you are using an ARM64 device, use the following steps to run the ONIE boot; otherwise, go to step 2.
    1. Power-cycle the device and hit CTRL-C within 5 seconds when the following prompt appears. 
      Autoboot in 5 seconds, to stop use 'CTRL-C'
    2. Enter the U-Boot password when prompted.
      The default U-Boot password is 'Sonic123'.
      Autoboot in 5 seconds, to stop use 'CTRL-C'
Enter passwd: Sonic123
      The system halts autoboot and displays the Nokia> prompt.
    3. At the Nokia> prompt, run the following command to boot ONIE. 
      Nokia> run onie_boot
      The system loads ONIE and displays the ONIE prompt. ONIE starts automatic discovery by default.
    4. Go to step 3.
  2. If you are using an x86 device, use the following steps to run ONIE boot.
    1. Display the GNU GRUB menu by pressing the up arrow key during power on.
    2. Select ONIE from the GNU GRUB menu as shown in the following figure.
    3. Go to step 3.
    Figure 1. GNU GRUB menu
    ONIE starts automatic discovery by default.
  3. Stop the ONIE automatic discovery before running a manual installation. 
    ONIE:/ # onie-stop
discover: installer mode detected.
Stopping: discover... done.
  4. Reinstall the image (from your local storage, a USB drive or SD card, or over your network), using the onie-nos-install command.
    Reinstall image from local disk
    ONIE:/ #
ONIE:/ # ls /tmp
sonic-marvell-prestera-arm64.bin
ONIE:/ #
ONIE:/ # onie-nos-install /tmp/sonic-marvell-prestera-arm64.bin
    The system installs the Nokia community SONiC image.
  5. When the reinstallation completes, use the show version command to verify the Nokia community SONiC software version and build details. 
    admin@router:~$ show version
 
SONiC Software Version: SONiC.HEAD.1086978-202411-ce988a8c
SONiC OS Version: 13
Distribution: Debian 13.1
Kernel: 6.12.41+deb13-sonic-arm64
Build commit: ce988a8c
Build date: Fri Nov  7 11:55:35 UTC 2025
Built by: gitlab-runner@sonic-armv16
 
Platform: arm64-nokia_ixs7215_52xb-r0
HwSKU: Nokia-7215-A1
ASIC: marvell
ASIC Count: 1
Serial Number: 124080XXXX
Model Number: 3HE18723AAXXXX
Hardware Revision: 0
    The output confirms that the expected Nokia community SONiC image is reinstalled and active.