iDrac bricked - Where to go?

Can you perform a complete power cycle of the server by removing the power cable and connecting back after few minutes and check whether there is any change in behavior

I've done this and no luck.

Hello,

I confirm, if the idrac doesn't boot at all, i think the only option is to replace motherboard sorry.

Marco

I've since replaced the motherboard and all is well.

I'm trying to make sense of the correct update procedure now that the system is working again.

My iDrac is v1.57. Can I use the bootable Dell ISO to update everything at once automatically?

There seems to be many different ways to update firmware, and no general consensus on the order in which to update everything. The last thing I want to do is brick another board. 

Can someone please clarify how to go about updating everything on this server correctly?

Hello,

Your current iDRAC version is too old and assuming the server BIOS is also outdated, it is necessary to update it and iDrac to their latest versions. But you should not choose to jump from very old versions to the most recent versions so that the motherboard does not have problems. So don't use bootable ISO. You can click on BIOS and iDRAC on this page and then select the previous versions in order to update.

https://dell.to/3jsL3pU

If the upload failed it's due to the iDRAC firmware - Please follow the below step if the iDRAC firmware to old.

1. Unzip the EXE file to a folder.

2. Inside the folder look for the payload folder.

3. Inside the payload folder there will be a ".d7" or ".d9" file.

4. Upload the file via iDRAC and complete the upgrade.

5. After complete upgrade Bios firmware.

Hope this helps!

There are a lot of versions from 1.57 to the current version of the iDrac firmware. Do I need to update incrementally through every single one of these until the most recent?

That seems incredibly time consuming and tedious.

I know this is a bit boring. Actually, you would have to do it in the suggested order. You can try not to do each one step by step, but at least you can try to update them by skipping two or three at a time. But remember that it is risky. I recommend not skipping more than three versions, especially for iDRAC and BIOS.

You need to alter the update between iDRAC and BIOS like iDRAC -> BIOS -> iDRAC -> BIOS. This way we can ensure both FW are on same level any point of time and ensure there is no much gap between iDRAC and BIOS version

First you can try ".exe" file if it does not work then you can go with ".d7" file. 

How to update firmware with the iDRAC7 or iDRAC8 web interface

https://dell.to/3vzhqYC;

Ok thanks.

I've downloaded this https://dl.dell.com/FOLDER02705808M/1/iDRAC7__1.66.65__A00.exe

Am I correct in thinking that I can simply login to the iDrac web interface, upload the firmimg.d7 file and then click install? That should all work as expected?

I appreciate the help.

Am.I able to update iDrac incrementally to the current version and then do all the BIOS updates, or should I do one iDrac update and then one BIOS update and repeat until both are at current versions?

Not sure I get it..

I run Proxmox on this server which is based on Debian. Not sure which file I need to be downloading for the BIOS update..

Thanks!

Last question hopefully. My Lifecycle controller version is currently at 1.4.0.108.

At what point do I need to update this and does the same process of updating incrementally apply?

From what I understand Lifecycle and iDrac updates were combined at some point and this is a little confusing..

Edit: Is this the correct BIOS filetype to download and then upload and install using iDrac?

https://dl.dell.com/FOLDER02804660M/1/T420-020402C.exe

You can use same method via iDRAC https://dell.to/3poPc1O

or you can use EFI file https://dell.to/3nm0GAm