Poweredge R710 - won't power on with new CPU - why?

Question

Hello all! I have a Poweredge R710 which I'm trying to upgrade, I have two new CPU's 'intel xeon 5620 2.40 GHz - socket LGA 1366, 12MB L3 Cache, Max Mem 1066MHz'   When I put the two new CPU's in the system won't start at all, the fans begin to turn for a slit second and then stop, at the same time as this the drive lights flash and then stop, it cycles this process every 10 seconds or so. So I tried removing both CPU's and put the old one back in, worked fine, so I just put one of the new CPU's in the socket and won't start again, I've tried both new CPU's on their own and same issue. All the memory is removed from the system with just the old CPU and it starts fine again. So it's obviously the new CPU/CPU's and it can't be that I have two faulty new CPU's as I've tried them both on their own...I was gauranteed that these CPU's were compatable....any ideas?   Thanks. C

theflash1932 · Answer

You might try clearing the NVRAM using the jumpers on the motherboard.

DELL-Willy M · Answer

Adding to what theflash said:

If you don’t have the current BIOS installed, I would suggest putting the old CPU in to get the server responsive and flash the BIOS. You can do this a couple different ways. Here is a link for software options.

Also, you can go to the F10 boot options and choose the platform update utility and download all the possible updates for the server from our FTP site.

Let us know if you have any further questions.

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dbrine · Answer

Did you ever resolve this issue but with L5640s? I have the same issue. Gen 1 R710

dbrine · Answer

Solved through manual BIOS update. LCC reported no update available though...

squigley · Answer

Old BIOS was my issue too. L5620 wouldn't work. R710 was running 1.2.6. The LCC was broken, I had to repair that through the iDRAC web UI, then I could boot in, but the platform update was telling me there were no updates available.

I made a FreeDOS bootdisk image and copied the DOS BIOS update to 6.6.0 into it, and PXE booted it on the R710 after reinstalling one of the old CPUs. After flashing the L5620 works fine.

Dric90 · Answer

How simple was that to do? i have a R710 and 2 X5650's ready to replace 2 E5530's   What file did you get to update it, how do you PXE boot in freeDOS, sorry for all the questions bud.   Thank you

DELL-Shine K · Answer

Did you have a supported operating system on the server? If yes you can download Dell Update package from below link and updating from the operating system

https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=0f4yy&productcode=poweredge-r710

If you do not have a supported operating system you can update BIOS using bootable USB key using "R710-060600C.exe" image from above link

DELL-Shine K · Answer

Yes. You can try bootable USB with Rufus.

Dric90 · Answer

Hi Shine

At the moment i dont have an OS - i want VMWare ESXi on it but currently have incompatible cpu's so would be using a live OS on USB (freedos for example)

If i was to go with the bootable USB would i use rufus to create the bootable bios usb?

Kind Regards

Dan

Dric90 · Answer

Hi Shine I got it to update via Ubuntu with the .bin file for linux Thank you Hopefully i can upgrade CPU's and go from there  Kind Regards Dan

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