4 Posts
0
1158
September 10th, 2021 07:00
Dell T330 - BIOS Update Challenges
I obtained a Dell T330 recently that is running BIOS 1.0.2 (which I believe is the factory default, so clearly never updated). As a result, I'm encountering the well known issue, "Memory is detected, but is not configurable".
As I cannot get the machine to post, my thought was to update the BIOS through idrac. I was able to successfully update the idrac firmware to 2.43.43.43 without an issue.
I downloaded the oldest version of the BIOS available from DELL (BIOS_832M2_WN64_2.3.2_02.EXE) REF: https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/product-support/product/poweredge-t330/drivers
It uploads fine and I select "Install and Reboot", which as expected kicks it to the job queue.
The job queue, shows it downloading, then it reboots, and shows the following:
This is where I'm stuck, it never transitions out of "Scheduled". I've tried a warm boot, cold boot, graceful shutdown, nothing seems to help.
On the VGA display output (as I don't have idrac enterprise), it just shows the existing error for "Memory is detected, but is not configurable."
I've been at this on/off for two days, so any help is appreciated.
btsadmin66
4 Posts
1
September 20th, 2021 07:00
Confirmed. It was the wrong RAM. After switching to UDIMM it posts and I was able to update the firmware.
DELL-Shine K
6 Operator
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3K Posts
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September 10th, 2021 08:00
I believe BIOS update are not getting applied as it is stuck at error message. BIOS update will happen after that only.
Is the system start showing this error message after any changes on the server? Can you also connect one DIMM per CPU and see whether server able to boot and update the BIOS after that
btsadmin66
4 Posts
0
September 10th, 2021 13:00
That was what I thought as well. If it doesn’t POST I can’t update. But the dell documented fix is to update the BIOS so I was thinking maybe I was missing something.
It boots to the error. Just got the server and it has always done this.
It’s a single CPU installed and I already went down to a single DIMM.
DELL-Shine K
6 Operator
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3K Posts
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September 12th, 2021 04:00
Can you share the part number of memory module installed?
You can also clear the BIOS configuration using NVRAM_CLR jumper and check the behavior. Refer below link for details
https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/poweredge-t330/t330ompub/system-board-jumper-settings?guid=guid-9b60b483-8519-4501-aca1-140a03332e73&lang=en-us
You can find NVRAM-CLR jumper from below link
https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/poweredge-t330/t330ompub/system-board-jumpers-and-connectors?guid=guid-5fc9ebdb-dd05-4d26-8fb9-15f2e21f6b44&lang=en-us
btsadmin66
4 Posts
0
September 13th, 2021 04:00
Thank you for the continued support. I think you helped figure it out. Both DIMM's I was testing with were RDIMM's and this model only supports UDIMM. I ordered a UDIMM and will test when it arrives and post back.
Thanks again!