Comware

I received the afore mentioned switch with 5.20-r1211 installed.  That boots fine.

I tried to upgrade to 5.20-r1810p13 and I get the output below.  At the "invalid version" the switch reboots.  I had to do a CTRL-B in order to boot to the backup version to get back up and running.

The switch is H3C branded (S5820X-28S) but has an HP sticker on the bottom with the JC102A HP part number on it.  I assume that getting the 1810p13 firmware off the HP site is appropriate in this situation.  The h3c site would not let me download the firmware from there.

Any thoughts on what I'm doing wrong?  I read through the release notes and didn't see anything about pre-requisites that I needed to install first. 

Thanks for any and all assistance.

Press Ctrl-B to enter Extended Boot menu...0
Starting to get the main application file--flash:/5820x-cmw520-r1810p13.bin!....
................................................................................
................................................................................
................................................................................
..
The main application file is self-decompressing.................................
................................................................................
................................................................................
................................................................................
Done!
The application file is self-decompressing......................................
................................................................................
................................................................................
................................................................................
...................................................Done!
System is starting...
Invalid version
Starting......

@BoomSchtick

You're facing this issue because of the brand possibly being H3C. Follow the instructions listed below:

• Verify using "display brand" command. If it says the current brand is "H3C" you need to change it to "HP" as follows:

<HP5820>brand hp

• Do a "Save force"
• Verify "displat brand" and it should look like below:

<HP>dis brand
Current BRANDs:
Slot 1: H3C.
New BRANDs:
Slot 1: HP.

• Now reboot the switch.
• You may now upgrade the code to any of the newer versions you wish.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the input Brian.

Sadly neither 'display brand' nor 'brand' are valid commands

<H3C>b?
backup
boot-loader
bootrom

<H3C>display b?
bfd
bgp
boot-loader
bootp

I'm thinking that I need to get to a newer firmware that allows me to do as you've mentioned.

@BoomSchtick Please try "oem" instead of "brand" and let me know. Try substituting "oem" for "brand"

I was able to get this to work with smaller version jumps.

First I went to  A5800_5820X-CMW520-R1211P09.bin (the last 12xx release), then A5800_5820X-CMW520-R1807P02-US.bin (the first 18xx release) and finally to 5820X-CMW520-R1810P13.bin.  

The 'brand' command showed up in the 18xx series firmware, but it didn't seem to be required.

Thanks for your help.

There is a similar switch and I also encountered this problem; the field of contacting H3S support service gave me access to the firmware download.
I can give a link to the firmware