This post is more than 5 years old
2 Posts
0
32098
March 15th, 2016 06:00
Failing to boot after BIOS update on T110ii
I have just updated my BIOS on my T110ii (from 1.1.1 to 2.8.0) (because I've been getting some crashes which should be fixed by some intel microcode updates).
However, after the update it fails to boot and is displaying the "3" diagnostic light with no output on vga or ipmi.
Sequence is:
* 3 diagnostic light comes on
* For a short time 1 and 4 come on as well, and fan goes to max rpm
* Then just 3 remains on and the system health indicator flashes amber.
The documentation suggests this is CPU failure, but this seems very unlikely since it was fine before the BIOS update.
I've tried clearing the NVRAM and disconnecting everything I can from the motherboard, but that doesn't help.
Is there anything else I can try?
Are there any known issues with updating from 1.1.1 to 2.8.0 ? (I couldn't see any in the documentation).
I did find a few other threads where people have had systems which no longer boot after a bios update, so I wonder if there is some underlying issue.
DELL-Chris H
7 Practitioner
•
9.7K Posts
•
48K Points
0
March 15th, 2016 10:00
JimmyHo.
The issue wasn't simply from updating the BIOS, it is from skipping a large number of updates. Commonly the people you see reporting the issues from updating were due to jumping a large amount of updates, specifically the updates listed as Urgent. As each of the BIOS updates builds off the last, so skipping you can lose essential parts of the BIOS updates. With going from 1.1.1 to 2.8.0 you jumped 11 or 12 updates, so unfortunately it sounds like the BIOS is now corrupted, which would require replacing the motherboard.
Let me know if this helps, despite not being what you were wanting to hear.
jimmyho
2 Posts
0
March 15th, 2016 10:00
Chris,
Thanks for the response. I guess it is a painful lesson I needed to learn...
Perhaps there should be some sort of a warning with the BIOS releases to reduce the risk of others falling into this problem.
James.
Polychrest
1 Message
0
April 20th, 2018 19:00
I have just run into exactly the same issue, the only difference is I was updating to 2.9.0.
I find this situation surreal. I've updated more firmware than I care to remember, many on multimillion systems with elaborate steps. I have never run into one where it wasn't documented that you couldn't jump releases. I guess I also learned my lesson with Dell.
Chris Hawk, can you get the upgrade document updated?
akschu
3 Posts
1
May 3rd, 2018 08:00
Same thing for me. Updated to latest release, no warning, nothing, just crash and bricked server.
m-tel
1 Message
0
December 25th, 2018 11:00
I just ran into the same situation. I bought a used T110 ii to use as an LDAP server. not much power needed for that. As it comes with a OEM license of Windows Server, i thought it would be perfect for what i intended to do. but unfortunately, i got the very bad idea to update the bios along with other firmwares (raid,...) and you can imagine the result. Now I am stuck with a bricked server.
I saw that someone else had the same problem and got to replace the bios chip (not the whole motherboard) but I couldn't understand how did he reprogram it. So maybe someone here can help me with a hit were to start digging ?
A first check of the motherboard revealed a EEPROM, next to the battery, which looks much like a BIOS chip, but I don't know where to find the firmware to install
Jss Tools
3 Posts
0
November 27th, 2019 14:00