Hi, as you might be well aware, this is quite dated. What I could suggest is to go on the website here https://dell.to/3EQ2wks I hope this helps and have a good one.

Hi there,

So this link just takes me to the location to download the drivers and the issue I'm running into is that I don't know how to get them loaded onto the server.

Looking at the updates directly, I see the download type is "HTTP" which in theory would get around the HTTPS issue. Is there a way to put the URL you sent over into the Lifecycle manager so that it can pull the catalog file and/or install the updates directly through there? Rather than me having to put them on a USB stick.

Hello aceawd,

From my knowledge, you cannot  put the URL over into the Lifecycle manager and install updates. In this article you can find an instruction how to update PowerEdge servers 11G via Lifecycle Controller:

 https://dell.to/3pAcXCw

Thanks

Maria Januszka

#IWork4Dell

Dell | Social Outreach Services - Enterprise

I looked through the video you sent and it was helpful, thank you. However, I'm not sure how to actually get the files onto the USB in the right format so it is readable by the Lifecycle Controller. When I tried it before

When I'm in the DRM and adding a system, I don't see the T610 in there. My settings are:

• Base Catalog - Index catalog
• Catalog Group - Previous Enterprise Servers Catalog
• Catalog - January 2021 Update Catalog (GZ format) for Enterprise Servers 21.01.02 (earliest back I can go)

Attached is what I see

Can I choose another model or how do I get the T610 to show up?

Or, is there a way to manually download the update files and then add them into DRM so it can create either a bootable ISO on the USB stick or a format readable by the LIfecycle controller?

Aceawd,

The video you were going by is 10 years old and is no longer relevant, as the 11g and older servers have been permanently removed from the catalog as of 2018. The steps needed can be found here. 

Let us know how it goes.

Chris,

Thank you for the updated article. Going through the steps, I see the one highlighted in red below:

Just like in my message above, searching for my server (T610) returns no results.

I see that an option is "Export just the custom Catalog.xml file, which by default still points LC Update online to ftp.dell.com, making it unnecessary to download all applicable DUPs to a local site" which seems like the preferred option. In this case, is it critical to select my exact model of server if the LCC is accessing ftp.dell.com anyways?

If it's accessing the URL to download the updates, I'm understanding that I just need to upload the catalog file to the server. I would prefer to do that via USB drive if possible, any issue with that? I'm assuming that I would export the catalog from DRM to the USB drive, is that with the ISO method or what is preferred?

Hello,

I would expect this to be a driver issue. I don't know that Server 2022 is going to be an option for you. You might consider testing an older version of Windows or Linux, even if only for troubleshooting purposes. As to your question in regard to using a USB drive, I know that LCC support for a USB drive had a few limitations, so I'm not certain that would work. It may, but I'd have to look into it it and get back to you.

If the concern is mostly about being thorough, I'd be happy to look over a Tech Support Report for you and put together a collection of updates and links. I know that it may take some time to figure out how to use DRM, and for a single system, I'm not sure it's worth it. 

Circling back, that collection of links would allow you to download all the necessary update files to then rename something like fw1.exe, fw2.exe, etc, to just rename them. You could then use a FreeDOS USB to run the exe files. I think this may be the easiest path forward. If you're interested, I can elaborate further.

Hi dylan,

Please do elaborate. I'm looking for the easiest way and the only reason I ended up at DRM is it seemed to be the only way to do it. I'd be very interested to hear what you think the easiest way to do this is. I do have an Unraid server, so it could be an option to spin up a local FTP server in a VM. I've never done anything like this before, so happy to learn what you think is the best option. 

I originally wanted to put Proxmox on there, but it kept freezing right as I got to the "Launch Proxmox installer" screen. I figured some version of windows server would be interesting to play around with, so if it has to be an older one then so be it. 

My ultimate goal with this is just to be a sandbox that I can do whatever with. If that is run Server 20XX or put Proxmox on there, I don't have a set plan for it yet. I just wanted to make sure I had the latest drivers so I had the best chance of success for everything.

First thing we'd need to do is identify what firmware needs updating. Do you have iDRAC access? A lot of the firmware is visible there. if not, you can PM me the service tag and I can put together a list based on that.

Once those are all identified, you would want to go ahead and download them, then rename them all to some easily remembered name (like the fw1.exe example), and place them into a folder. Now, you'll need an environment to run the updates from. I would us the RUFUS USB tool to create a FreeDOS bootable USB. Once you have a FreeDOS USB, you would just copy the firmware files over to the USB and boot to it. You'll come to a DOS prompt and the you can execute fw1.exe, etc. 

It's been a long time since I've needed to do this, but I don't have any reason to believe it won't work.

Speaking to the piece on ProxMox, it's not an OS I've ever played around with and it isn't supported, but I'm fairly sure I've seen some users in the forum get it working on other 11G servers.

Updates:

BIOS 6.6: https://dell.to/3dCipzg

iDRAC 2.92: https://dell.to/3ynOKn2

Lifecycle Controller 1.7.5: https://dell.to/31QWi5i

OS Driver Pack: https://dell.to/3yexu3r (I dont know how worth while this one is, but I wanted to include it for completeness).

You'll want to double check he NIC firmware later, you can find that by model. I think there is an update for you, but I don't think that you are too far behind, if I recall correctly, but you'd want to make sure there aren't any specific requirements for the OS you end up using. Coming back from an issue like that can be difficult, so I wanted wo put out a word of caution.

The power supplies I would simply leave as is. I don't think it would be worth updating them at this point. I didn't identify an update for them, anyway.

This is the Rufus tool:

https://dell.to/3EMHl2O

You should be able to use it to create the FreeDOS bootable USB. Provided everything goes smoothly and you don't need to identify any workarounds, then you should just need to grab those files, rename them, download Rufus, get a USB, create the FreeDOS tool, move the updates, boot to FreeDOS, and finally run the .exe files.

Finally, I just wanted to reiterate that I haven't done this in quite some time, so I'm not certain that it still works. That having been said, I have no reason to believe that it won't. Also, just to clarify the expected outcome here - this is going to make sure that all your firmware is on the latest available versions for compatibility purposes. You may still have more work to do for specific OS needs though, and I'd run the NIC update from within the permanent OS.

Dylan,

Thank you so much for compiling this. I will list my steps here for reference as well. 

I downloaded the 3 links that you sent me. When clicking on the link for the OS Driver Pack, I got this message:

Refreshing the page, opening in a different browser, or incognito/private browsing did nothing. I emailed the link to a different computer and tried to access it, but that gave me the same message. I searched for the OS drivers and downloaded them from this link (shortened for clarity): shorturl.at/rstR4 

If the above OS drivers are not the right ones, please let me know. 

I also used RUFUS to mount the FreeDOS ISO onto a flash drive. I renamed the 4 update files fw1.exe, fw2, and so on. I created a folder on the USB drive called "updates" and moved them to that folder. I copied them with TeraCopy and verified that they moved successfully.

I will now boot into the FreeDOS USB key and attempt to run the .exe update files. Godspeed ladies and gentlemen.

Here are my steps

• Plugged in USB drive and started server
• Hit F11 to enter BIOS boot menu
• Selected USB drive
• received message "Could not find kernel image: /fdos/bin/chain.c32"
• Turned off server and downloaded the FD13-LegacyCD version of FreeDOS
• Rufus said the image is not bootable or not supported
• Tried FD13-LiteUSB version, Rufus mounted the image successfully
• USB now not mounting in Windows. Unplug/replug does nothing.
• Opened Disk management, drive shows no problem.
• Deleted volume and reformatted
• Downloaded FreeDOS FD13-FullUSB
• Also would not mount in file explorer
• formatted other partition for FAT32 and it showed up
• moved files over and put into server
• wanted me to install FreeDOS, which seemed like overkill
• shutdown and used RUFUS to create FreeDOS tool bootable
• mounted in file explorer so moved files over
• put into server, booted, navigated to directory
• typed in C:/Updates/fw1
• "this program cannot be run in DOS mode"
• shutdown, changed USB to original one with full version of freedos on there
• Installed full version of FreeDOS successfully, message came up that it moved the files to drive D as I'm assuming it has the USB stick as drive C.
• Rebooted, and tried to boot normally
• Server is trying to PXE boot and not finding anything
• checked system config boot order, and it states the PERC controller is drive C
• tell it to boot on drive C but select the USB drive
• boots into freeDOS
• See updates folder, so "cd updates"
• Type dir and it lists the FW1 and so on update executables.
• type fw1 and hit enter, get "this program cannot be run in DOS mode"

What's the next option? Or did I mess something up?

I checked the iDRAC settings and it shows an IP address of 192.168.2.100. I try to ping it and get these results:

Does this help at all?

Hi @aceawd,

It seems complex with the steps that you have gone through. 

Since you have DRM installed on your client system, why not download majority of the updates, then use DRM import those updates. From DRM, create a bootable SUU and update from it?

While on the subject that you're trying to install Windows and not able to detect the drive, that's because Windows installer does not contain the PERC6 driver. Also, T610 does not support Windows Server 2022. https://dell.to/3DOHzW6

Joey,

Please see previous messages & screenshots. DRM isn't showing the PowerEdge T610 as an option when looking for drivers, hence why Dylan sent over the specific drivers. Do you have a fix for this?

I figured that 2022 may not be supported, but wanted to make sure all of the existing drivers were updated regardless to take that component out of the equation. I also tried it with Proxmox, which froze immediately on the install screen. If I have to run 2012 that's fine, just wanted to run the latest version if possible. One option may be to install 2012 and then use the normal method for installing updates as I'm guessing that the .exe files can just run natively. Is this correct, or would I still have to use the LCC?

As a note, this whole time, I have had what I believe is the internal NIC connected (marked in red), and not the other ethernet port (marked in green) as I assumed it didn't matter. See attached picture for details.

Update: that was the issue. For future users following this: In order to access the iDRAC, the config ethernet port (highlighted in green above) needed to be connected to the network. 

I will now see if I can run the updates through iDRAC.