Equipment Support > Hardware By Brand > Cisco > [HELP] NO flash files

reply to TomS_

Re: [HELP] NO flash files

ROMMON is software stored in a ROM, just like the BIOS in a PC is software stored in a ROM (though most likely an EEPROM or similar as it can be updated these days.)

That software still has to be executed by something, it cant execute on its own. And yes, most likely held in a replaceable chip.

And the BIOS in a PC is still a boot loader of sorts (I think more correctly a bootstrap), only a very basic low level one. It (among other things like allowing you to edit various settings) finds the boot loader on the preferred boot device and loads it into RAM and tells the processor to start executing that code which locates the OS and starts loading it.

And re your previous edit, if the ROMMON chip is fried of course it wont boot. Just like a PC wont boot if the BIOS ROM is fried. If the processor cant execute the code contained within it, youre not going very far.