IDRAC 7 Firmware Upgrade Problems

Question

Hi There, I have been experiencing problems with my PowerEdge T320 IDRAC Controller. It appears to be a known issue introduced with Firmware version 1.50.50, which is the one shipped with my machine. Basically the device reports that all the user sessions are in use. (RAC0218). I'm running Windows 2008 Server R2. To solve this problem I located the update version of the IDRAC firmware for my system. 1.57.57 Downloaded the windows EXE file and ran it. The release notes say a reboot is not required. At the end of the install I received a message in a dialog box. ' Device iDRAC7, Application: iDRAC7 Failed to access Virtual USB Device' Then the following message in the firmware upgrade installer informational window. 'This message can be safely ignored' with lots of stuff about R2 IPMI drivers. My problem is that the Dell OpenManage Server Administrator still reports the old firmware version number. I reset the iDRAC from the C: prompt using 'racadm racreset soft' which reported success. This didn't make any difference. I have cleared out my browsers cache as well. Any ideas how I can tell if my firmware has actually been upgraded?

David_Pollard · Accepted Answer

When I googled the error message my own post came up first on the list! So I thought I had better do an update. After finally getting around to trying to fix this problem (again) I opened a support case with DELL.

There is now another newer version if the iDRAC firmware. 1.66.65

I downloaded and installed that but it failed with the same error about "Failed to Access virtual USB device"

The nice Dell support guy reckoned it is due to an incompatible BIOS version. I currently have 2.0.22 and the latest version is 2.3.3. So I took his word for it.

I successfully installed the BIOS update which required a reboot. I then had another go at the iDRAC firmware update to 1.66.65 and this time it worked WHOO HOO!!

Now we wait and see if the actual problems connection problems are solved.

I'm feeling quietly confident.

Hope this helps someone else

David

DELL-Chris H · Answer

David_Pollard,

What was the version of the iDrac7 update did you run, try the Windows update package one below. I would also look at the version of OpenManage Server Administrator you are using. If it is out of date then you will want to start by removing OMSA completely and then use the link provided to reinstall. It will likely need to be rebooted after the install. The next to look at would be if the server is up to date on other updates, specifically the BIOS. If it is far back then the new update can cause issues without bringing the BIOS up as well.

The current versions and downloads are as follows.

BIOS - 2.2.3. - http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=V7P04&fileId=3376258357&osCode=WS8R2&productCode=poweredge-r620&languageCode=EN&categoryId=BI

Drac - 1.57.57 - http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=XH6FX&fileId=3386133412&osCode=WS8R2&productCode=poweredge-r620&languageCode=EN&categoryId=ES

LifeCycle Controller - 1.4.2 -

OMSA - 7.4.0.1. -

32bit -

64bit -

Let me know what you find.

nadogmoney · Answer

Try this: 1. power drain 2. install idrac7 1.57.57 via the DUP you tried before 3. update LC. If this fails, do a racreset, then try again. 4. update BIOS 5. reboot

David_Pollard · Answer

Hi Guys, Thanks for the replies. I'm not local to the machine so doing a power drain is a pain talking taking a production server off line and talking a non technical user through it. It is disappointing the IDRAC is a bit flaky. It is kind of the whole point of having it is you don't need to be there. I know a power drain solves the problem temporarily and IDRAC then runs successfully for Days, Weeks, even Months. I have had a Dell technician talk me through this in the past. I'll follow Chris' recommendations and update everything and let you know the outcome. Thanks David

David_Pollard · Answer

Hi There,

I'm finally getting back to this problem. Funny how you have to deal with the stuff that is on fire first and the stuff that is smouldering second :)

I went to download the updated OMSA (64bit) and the link above didn't work.

I went searching off on my own but didn't seem to find what I need. Lots of hists for VM ware but my OS is installed directly on the hardware. Any Ideas where I can find it.

If it is all to hard I'll just open a support case with Dell directly.

Thanks

David

ettorel · Answer

Hi David, to install the bios' updated it's necessary to execute it locally or is it possible also by RDP? do you have the links to download the correct version?

DELL-Chris H · Answer

.

David_Pollard · Answer

Hi Etrol,

I see now it appears you are trying to solve a problem on your own system.

I think there are two ways to update the bios. One is from boot media that you create from a download and the other is from an exe file you run while windows is running. (Assuming you are running windows)

I used the exe version. and Yes I could run it from an RDP session. Obviously this will require a reboot. Below is where I found my IDRAC update. I didn't save the link to the BIOS update.

However I'd connect to Dell's support site and use your service tag to locate the exact versions for your system.

If you don't know the service tag this command will list it remotely from a cmd prompt in a RDP session.

c:\ wmic bios get serialnumber

http://www.dell.com/support/home/au/en/aubsd1/Drivers/DriversDetails?driverId=3F4WV&fileId=3427343700&osCode=WS8R2&productCode=poweredge-t320&languageCode=EN&categoryId=ES

Hope this helps

David

David_Pollard · Answer

Hi Guys,

As my post above states I successfully applied the bios update and the iDrac update. As the problem I was seeing was a know issue in the iDrac version I was using and reported as being fixed in later versions I'm assuming now that my problem has been solved.

Yes I did apply these updates via an RDP connection.

The problem could take days or even weeks to occur. I just tested it now and it is still responding normally so it looks like it is fixed.

Thanks for your interest.

David

mrklaxon · Answer

Same issue here. FYI to anyone else - you can also upload the update file directly to the iDRAC in the Web UI rather than from the OS. No reboot needed unlike the BIOS update.

PowerEdge Hardware General

IDRAC 7 Firmware Upgrade Problems

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