Sentinel: What should I do if my Sentinel won't boot?

Owned by Alan Paton
Last updated: Mar 29, 2022 by Paul Hudson
2 min read

Occasionally Sentinel may get into a state that it sticks on the opening splash screen displaying the message Loading Operating System but fails to complete the boot process. If a power cycle does not fix this then the firmware needs reprogrammed.

The following steps detail how to reprogram the firmware from an external USB stick for Sentinels with a serial number greater than 300000.

  1. Create a folder called rrrecoverydir on a USB stick formatted to FAT32.

  2. Download the latest Sentinel firmware from https://calnexsol.flexnetoperations.com/flexnet/operationsportal/ and unpack the sentinel_fw_Rx.x.x.tar file. As an example the contents of the sentinel_fw_R15.0.0.tar file are shown.

  3. Unpack the sentinel_fw_v2.15.0.0.6698-20211208.tar archive

  4. Insert the USB stick into the Sentinel unit and power up. The firmware will be restored and the Sentinel should boot.
    NOTE: The process may prompt to update the firmware on the PTP cards.

  5. Remove the USB stick before re-boot to prevent the recovery process from starting over again. It is also advisable to delete the rrrecoverydir directory from the USB stick.