Cisco Catalyst 3550 Password Recovery

For those who have ever been lost trying to enter into 3550's rommon to recover a password, quit trying...lol, just follow Cisco's instructions here:
CATALYST 3550 PASSWORD RECOVERY...ALONG WITH SOME OTHERS

Here's a brief synopsis though (taken verbatim from Cisco's site...)


Follow the password recovery procedure below.

1. Attach a terminal or PC with terminal emulation (for example, Hyper Terminal) to the console port of the switch.
   Use the following terminal settings:
   
   • Bits per second (baud): 9600
     
   • Data bits: 8
     
   • Parity: None
     
   • Stop bits: 1
     
   • Flow Control: Xon/Xoff
     
   Note: For additional information on cabling and connecting a terminal to the console port, refer to Connecting a Terminal to the Console Port on Catalyst Switches.
   
2. Unplug the power cable.
   
3. Power the switch and bring it to the switch: prompt:
   For 2900XL, 3500XL, 2940, 2950, 2960, 2970, 3550, 3560, and 3750 series switches, do this:
   Hold down the mode button located on the left side of the front panel, while you reconnect the power cable to the switch.
   

   Catalyst Switch Series	LED Behavior and Mode Button Release Action
   2900XL, 3500XL, 3550	Release the Mode button when the LED above Port1x goes out.

Issue the flash_init command.

switch: flash_init
Initializing Flash...
flashfs[0]: 143 files, 4 directories
flashfs[0]: 0 orphaned files, 0 orphaned directories
flashfs[0]: Total bytes: 3612672
flashfs[0]: Bytes used: 2729472
flashfs[0]: Bytes available: 883200
flashfs[0]: flashfs fsck took 86 seconds
....done Initializing Flash.
Boot Sector Filesystem (bs:) installed, fsid: 3
Parameter Block Filesystem (pb:) installed, fsid: 4
switch:

!--- This output is from a 2900XL switch. Output from 
!--- other switches will vary slightly.

Issue the load_helper command.

switch: load_helper
switch:

Issue the dir flash: command.
Note: Make sure to type a colon ":" after the dir flash.
The switch file system is displayed:

switch: dir flash:
Directory of flash:/
2    -rwx  1803357                  c3500xl-c3h2s-mz.120-5.WC7.bin

!--- This is the current version of software.
4    -rwx  1131                     config.text

!--- This is the configuration file.
5    -rwx  109                      info
6    -rwx  389                      env_vars
7    drwx  640                      html
18   -rwx  109                      info.ver
403968 bytes available (3208704 bytes used)
switch:

!--- This output is from a 3500XL switch. Output from 
!--- other switches will vary slightly.

Type rename flash:config.text flash:config.old to rename the configuration file.

switch: rename flash:config.text flash:config.old
switch:

!--- The config.text file contains the password 
!--- definition.

Issue the boot command to boot the system.

switch: boot
Loading "flash:c3500xl-c3h2s-mz.120-5.WC7.bin"...###############################
################################################################################
######################################################################
File "flash:c3500xl-c3h2s-mz.120-5.WC7.bin" uncompressed and installed, entry po
int: 0x3000
executing...

!--- Output suppressed.
!--- This output is from a 3500XL switch. Output from other switches 
!--- will vary slightly.

Enter "n" at the prompt to abort the initial configuration dialog.

--- System Configuration Dialog ---
At any point you may enter a question mark '?' for help.
Use ctrl-c to abort configuration dialog at any prompt.
Default settings are in square brackets '[]'.
Continue with configuration dialog? [yes/no]: n 

!--- Type "n" for no.
Press RETURN to get started.

!--- Press Return or Enter.
Switch>

!--- The Switch> prompt is displayed.

Thats the jist of it though.  If you want to keep a fresh config just issue a wr, if you want to keep your current config and change the password just follow the rest of the steps in that doc!