DELL T7810 CPU Upgrade

Question

Hi, first sorry for my english I am native german, hope you will understand me.

I have a DELL T7810 Workstation since 2017 with two E5-2643v4 and I am very satified, but it could have more CPU power after 8 Years.

Therefor I got two E5-2696v4 (22c/44T) and put them into the T7810. Anyhow it seems that the BIOS hs some problems with the CPUs.

After installing the CPUs I cleared the BIOS and I was able to set the BIOS parameters as I wished. Then reboot.

I got the following error messages: "Get FW Version Error" followed by "(A7) Me FW Downgrade - Request MeSpiLock Failed" followed by "Error sending End Of Post message to ME !".

Afterwards it is booting normally to Win11. But I can't access the BIOS once again without clearing it first. The PC will freeze after the DELL BIOS Logo with only a "_" at the top left of the screen. Update: it is not freezing, but it takes ~5min to get to the BIOS screen.

Additionally the boot process will take 5min because of the error messages.

In Windows everythis is fine. I have all 44 cores/88threads, the Benchmarks are as expected.

Is it possible that this processor is not supported by the T7810?

Because https://www.dell.com/community/en/conversations/precision-fixed-workstations/dell-t7810-w28-core-and-2x-e5-2680v4-128gb-memory-suggestions-on-processor-upgrades/647fa101f4ccf8a8de62a808 it is written that all E5-26xx should work.

Is there any way to get it tp work/boot faster? Because the CPU power is quite good, see conebench R24:

Thanks a lot!

Error Messages:

mazzinia_ · Answer

Hello,  try hard resetting the bios ( remove the cmos battery for some minutes / discharge the  psu by pressing the button for 30s without the cmos / power cable )

user_003c73 · Answer

Hi @mazzinia_

this I have done for the first power up. I have removed the CMOS battery and unplugged the power supply. Additionally I have short-circutted the two battery terminals (sometimes there is a cap parallel to the battery which can hold the Voltage for a few hours) and let the system without power and battery for ~30min. I had to re-enter the date and time, so the BIOS was fully resettet.

On the first starup it has done re power-cycle as usual when the battery was empty.

mazzinia_ · Answer

@user_003c73​ I see. Aside trying to do it again, the only idea i have is to update the bios ( if is not the last version ) to then update the ME firmware. But honestly I'm always a bit cautious at updating this kind of things in a system out of warranty

user_003c73 · Answer

So, I got a Solution, but I do not know why/how it worked. I fugured out that I have the FW A33, not A34, so not the newest one. I tried to upgrade the FW, but I got this message:

I deactivated the core insulation but it still didn't work. I read through the internet and found out that MS has blocked the DBUtil_2_3.Sys because of security issues somewhere in 2020.

So I removed the NVME (the Card with FAN) and insert a SATA SSD, resettet the BIOS once again by removing the battery, installed a old version of Win10 (2017 - I had a installation CD). At this point I noticed that the PC was booting withoout any warnings and "fast". I updated the BIOS to A34.

I thought maybe it has to do something with the PCIe lines to the NVME. So I removed both CPUs, cleaned them with alcohol, interchanged them and put everything back together.

I re-installed the NVME, resettet the BIOS once again and powered it on. Set the Date & Time and all the other things as usual and the PC booted up without any problems.

So I really do not know what caused the error messages and the 5min boot time. Was the BIOS corrupted? Was one of the CPUs PCIe lines bad/dirty/whatever?

Now everything is working as expected.

Thanks for your support!

mazzinia_ · Answer

@user_003c73​ well, happy that things are working as they should, now... it's the only thing that matters

user_003c73 · Answer

@user_a40df8​ thanks for your Answer, but as I wrote in the post December 11th, 2025 15:07, it works now without any issues. Most likely there was a contact problem to the PCIe lanes. But I did several things what solved the issue: - cleaned the CPU contacts with alcohol - interchanged the two CPUs - updated FW from A31 to A34 by installing an old version of W10 to SATA SSD - Resetted BIOS a couple of times Now the system is booting without any issues/warnings and as fast as before the upgrade. The two E5-2996v4 are fully working in Games, Benchmarks and Programms.

Precision Fixed Workstations

DELL T7810 CPU Upgrade

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