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3 Posts
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33987
March 20th, 2016 15:00
Poweredge 1950 Refuses to update BIOS
I'm having no luck updating the BIOS of a Dell Poweredge 1950. It currently has BIOS version 2.4.5 installed. I'm getting "BIOS Update Failed" on restart.
I tried installing 2.7.0 and then tried 2.6.1 when that didn't work. I also tried opening an elevated command prompt from windows server 2012 R2 and using the /force command when running the BIOS updates. That didn't work either.
Any help?
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tommo666
4 Apprentice
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1.2K Posts
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March 22nd, 2016 04:00
If the splash screen is customised then it's an oem board, try a file from here: www.dell.com/.../DriversDetails;fileId=2731115761&osCode=WW1&productCode=oth-1950&languageCode=en&categoryId=BI
Daniel My
12 Elder
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6.2K Posts
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March 20th, 2016 18:00
Hello
I would start by making sure you have a PE 1950. If you bought the system used then you may have purchased an OEM system. They do not run the same BIOS as a regular 1950.
If you are applying the correct BIOS update then I would try a different update method. The best method is the DOS installer. It is very simplistic and bypasses a lot of issues that may be caused when running an installed from the host OS.
If you encounter issues with updating hardware you should drain flea power, and when encountering issues with the system BIOS you can also clear the NVRAM via jumper.
Thanks
jlaroche
3 Posts
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March 20th, 2016 18:00
It is definitely a poweredge 1950. I got it free from work a few years back because it was broken. I got a new motherboard for it on ebay - making sure to match all part numbers. The BIOS splash screen is customized, but the revision number is most definitely 2.4.5 and entering the bios shows all expected information.
I also tried booting to dos with a usb flash drive I made dos bootable. I couldn't run the BIOS update because I got a "This is a Win32 application" error as the BIOS available on the Dell website for the PE1950 is only for windows.
Could you give more detail about draining the flea power? I'm not sure what you mean, though I follow you with clearing the NVRAM jumper. Although I'm weary of going this route.
jlaroche
3 Posts
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March 22nd, 2016 09:00
That did it!
IMPORTANT NOTE:
At first it didn't work - I downloaded the 1st file from the link and ran it on the PE1950 from a DOS environment booted from DOS bootable USB flash drive. I got a message essentially saying I couldn't flash the Bios of the system.
I had to run the file with the /forcetype command and that did the trick!
Thanks for the help.
OsSad
1 Message
0
May 1st, 2018 10:00
This solution was very helpful.
It solved the problem and I could update the BIOS.
Thanks for your help.