Googling around for a solution to this one and you'll find many. Over time these have changed based on the boot code and FTOS version so many will no longer work. We ran into this yesterday, and I came across this post that I remember using before to set a switch back to factory defaults. The initial steps 1 through 5 did not work for us, but we were able to get the switch defaulted by breaking out of the boot cycle when the image was loading. This is from the original post

6) Reload the chassis using “reload” command. Now while the box is reloading, break into the netbsd prompt using control C and execute the below list of commands to erase the file system sectors and then power cycling the unit: ====================================================================== Software Image[1] Image type : 2 Software Image[1] Header Size : 100 Software Image[1] Img Data Size : 3652352 Software Image[1] Img Orig Size : 3652352 Software Image[1] Family Code : cp Software Image[1] Img file Name : CPRPLP-RPM-AP-7.7.1.0.bin Software Image[1] Hdr Checksum : 0x4961346e Software Image[1] Data Checksum : 0x48c9f55c SOFTWARE IMAGE HEADER DATA : —————————- Software Image[2] Ma ^C (Press cntrl+C while the image is loading during the bootup process) 7.Copy and paste the below commands one by one at this prompt, ONE by ONE ! You should get a successfull respond from the system, after entering the correct command. If it goes to “>” Prompt, re-enter the command till it back to “#” sysctl_f10 -w ddb.command=”call flashStrataJ3CEraseSector(0x01a00000)” sysctl_f10 -w ddb.command=”call flashStrataJ3CEraseSector(0x01a40000)” sysctl_f10 -w ddb.command=”call flashStrataJ3CEraseSector(0x01a80000)” sysctl_f10 -w ddb.command=”call flashStrataJ3CEraseSector(0x01ac0000)” sysctl_f10 -w ddb.command=”call flashStrataJ3CEraseSector(0x01b00000)” sysctl_f10 -w ddb.command=”call flashStrataJ3CEraseSector(0x01b40000)” sysctl_f10 -w ddb.command=”call flashStrataJ3CEraseSector(0x01b80000)” sysctl_f10 -w ddb.command=”call flashStrataJ3CEraseSector(0x01bc0000)” sysctl_f10 -w ddb.command=”call flashStrataJ3CEraseSector(0x01c00000)” sysctl_f10 -w ddb.command=”call flashStrataJ3CEraseSector(0x01c40000)” sysctl_f10 -w ddb.command=”call flashStrataJ3CEraseSector(0x01c80000)” sysctl_f10 -w ddb.command=”call flashStrataJ3CEraseSector(0x01cc0000)” 8. Command to power cycle: ========================= sysctl_f10 -w ddb.command=”call ssCpldBoardReset” Now the prompt shoudl be : Force10>

I found that I could break out with ctrl+c and get to a # prompt. However, sysctl_f10 returned "command not found". Fortunately, we discovered that sysctl_f10 was replaced with sysctl. So the following steps worked for defaulting the switch to factory settings:

1) Connect to the console port.

2) Power cycle the switch.

3) Ctrl+C while the image is loading during the boot process. You should get a # prompt. If you get a => prompt you broke out too soon.

4) Use the following to overwrite the configuration:

sysctl -w ddb.command="call flashStrataJ3CEraseSector(0x01a00000)"

sysctl -w ddb.command="call flashStrataJ3CEraseSector(0x01a40000)"

sysctl -w ddb.command="call flashStrataJ3CEraseSector(0x01a80000)"

sysctl -w ddb.command="call flashStrataJ3CEraseSector(0x01ac0000)"

sysctl -w ddb.command="call flashStrataJ3CEraseSector(0x01b00000)"

sysctl -w ddb.command="call flashStrataJ3CEraseSector(0x01b40000)"

sysctl -w ddb.command="call flashStrataJ3CEraseSector(0x01b80000)"

sysctl -w ddb.command="call flashStrataJ3CEraseSector(0x01bc0000)"

sysctl -w ddb.command="call flashStrataJ3CEraseSector(0x01c00000)"

sysctl -w ddb.command="call flashStrataJ3CEraseSector(0x01c40000)"

sysctl -w ddb.command="call flashStrataJ3CEraseSector(0x01c80000)"

sysctl -w ddb.command="call flashStrataJ3CEraseSector(0x01cc0000)"

5) Use this command to restart the switch. sysctl -w ddb.command="call ssCpldBoardReset" On completion you should be at a defaulted switch with no console or enable passwords configured.