Dell T7600 PERC H310 firmware update

Hi CharlesIsWorking,

Here's the firmware:

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/drivers/driversdetails?driverId=79H36

You'll be able to do it from within the OS if your OS is in the Supported Operating Systems list. If it's not, you'll probably have to do it via USB.

I'm not familiar with Crystal Disk but having a quick look, it wouldn't appear to support PERC Controllers. What OS do you have installed? It may be possible to install a version of OMSA (Open Manage Server Administrator) or LSI MegaRAID Storage Manager which would allow you to monitor the status of your HDDs.

Hi Alasdair!

I have Windows 10 Pro 64-bit installed. Thanks for that link, I will try that out!

I get a warning when running that firmware upgrade saying that I have Package Version: 20.12.1-002 and Installed Version: 20.12.2-001.

So it appears that I got a newer version than is shown on Dell's website? How is that possible? Is there a complete list of firmware version available for the PERC H310?

I tried the firmware at that link. It notified me that I had newer firmware than what that link had. It is version 20.12.1-002 and it says I have 20.12.2-001 installed. Is this correct?

Should I downgrade back to this version? Thanks for the insight. I appreciate it!

That's a bit odd. 20.12.1-002 is listed as the latest version compatible with the T7600 whilst 20.12.2-001 is listed as only being compatible with PowerEdge. As it seems to be working ok, it's probably just that the firmware you have was never validated with the T7600 so was never listed as being compatible.

I would probably just leave it as is unless there is a specific need for updating.

Thanks.

Ok, I can leave well enough alone I suppose. I just don't want to miss out on stability and performance updates. :)

I installed the OpenManage software and I can get to a local webpage, but it must come with a default username and password I am unaware of. I don't know how to access it, lol! Any clues on that? I am looking through the readme file, but I'm not finding anything yet.

There are newer versions of the firmware that will probably give you better performance but since they haven't been validated for the T7600 I can't really recommend any because there is always going to be a slight risk of an issue or conflict being caused.

For OMSA it should just be your domain/Windows login:

http://topics-cdn.dell.com/pdf/dell-openmanage-server-administrator-v83_users-guide6_en-us.pdf  (page 24)

(I'm not sure which version you've installed but most of the basic commands will be the same anyway)

Is there a way to fool the utility into letting me update with this firmware?

https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=R09PJ

That seems to be the latest version for the PERC H310.

Or, I have a second question: What about using the onboard controller instead of the PERC H310? Are the cables compatible?

It may be possible by extracting the files from the R09PJ version and also extracting the files from a Precision version and editing/swapping certain files over. I would not recommend even trying this as you might end up killing the PERC card.

The H310 is based on the LSI 2008 chipset so it might be possible to flash it with newer LSI firmware, again this isn't something I can recommend.

You could try, if available, adding the card to a Poweredge then updating it.

I wouldn't recommend using the on-board controller over the H310 either, it's slower, less reliable and presents a single point of failure - if you get a motherboard issue, you could lose your array and any data on it.

Is there a way to fool the utility into letting me update with this firmware?

https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=R09PJ

That seems to be the latest version for the PERC H310.