So my problem was my own fault.

the driver packages I found wouldn't read unless I used the Lifecycle Controller to run my OS installation. When I booted into the Lifecycle Controller and tried to install the OS and mount the drivers that way, everything installed properly.

What I had been doing was booting directly to the USB stick for the OS installer and my hardware was just old enough that the drivers weren't automatically loading.

Thanks for the help.

Thought I'd reply here as well as creating a new post. Same issue on an R710 and when I plug in the service tag, none of the SSU or other drivers or downloads seem to be compatible. I either get an error that they're not valid Dell drivers or that they're not compatible with that machine. If you have documentation for the download links above, I can try that again. Was able to update BIOS but that's it, and still unable to install any version of Windows Server or desktop due to the partition error

BIOS 6.60
IDRAC 6 w firmware 1.80.17
Backplane firmware 1.07
UEFI 2.21 (I believe)

Thanks.

Hello ridella,

For installing OS I first recommend to confirm you are installing a validated OS for the R710

Your PowerEdge R710 supports these operating systems

https://dell.to/3LA5Whn

You can use the menu driven Dell Systems Build and Update Utility (SBUU) to create the virtual disk and install OS.

Dell Systems Build and Update Utility, v2.4. This is a bootable ISO.

https://dell.to/41HB2sP

Then in the OS you can use the DELL EMC Server Update Utility  (SUU) to update drivers and firmware.

https://dell.to/4481vl6

Mount the ISO in the OS and Double Click suulauncher.exe

Then finally you may need to check the support page to get the most recent driver and firmware. The SUU may not get them all the way to current versions.

R710 Drivers and firmware.

https://dell.to/3Lvffiw

Using Dell SBUU worked for me. Thank you so much.