BIOs and System Services Errors - Questions from a Newbie

Question

I am attempting to update my BIOS on my PowerEdge R710.  I am a total newbie, so my questions are going to be extremely basic, please have patience.  I have done extensive research but am hitting a road block.  My current bios is 6.4.0, I need to upgrade to 6.6.0.  I found the Dell support page with the download.  https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=0f4yy&oscode=ws8r2&productcode=poweredge-r710 It gives me lots of options for files to download on the Dell support page.  Windows 32 and 64 bit EXEs Flash BIOs executable EXE .sign file .BIN file I know what exe files are, no clue what a .sign or .BIN file is, but I assume they don’t apply in my situation anyhow.  The instructions at the bottom of the Dell support download page (link above) says there should be a EFI file; lots of YouTube videos tell me to download the EFI file as well, but it’s nowhere to be found on the support page.  With no EFI file available, I skip that option and look for other options.  Another set of instructions says: 'You can also load this executable directly from BIOS Boot Manager without a UEFI shell bootable media.1. Copy the file to a USB device2. Plug in the USB device and press F11 during POST to enter BIOS Boot Manager3. Navigate to the System Utilities menu and select BIOS Update File Explorer' I did step 1 and step 2, no issues, but this is where I run into a problem.  When I select the 'System Services' option a reboot takes place and it enters into 'System Services'.  A Dell screen pops up and says 'Initializing UEFI, Please wait…' it then says 'Entering System Services…Starting Unified Server Configurator'.  I have attached a picture, this is the last image I see before it goes black.   A white loading bar slides across the screen from left to right.  Then the screen goes blank, no text, no images, just black.  My monitor is still working (it’s not a hardware or connection problem), there is just nothing being loaded on the screen. I hit every key on the keyboard and it does nothing.  I have let it sit in this state for 30 minutes and nothing ever loads or changes.  I need to restart to make the server do anything.  This is where I get stuck.  I have two different R710 units and they both do the exact same thing, I bought them from two different people, so it’s weird that I’m getting the same error for this process.  Is this normal?  Should I be able to get into system services somehow?  Do I need to install something first to make this option available? Any help is highly appreciated.

DELL-Shine K · Accepted Answer

what operating system you have on the server? If you have a supporting operating system you can update BIOS from operating system. For windows use "Windows 32 and 64 bit EXEs" and for Linux use ".BIN" file.

You can also try to update using DOS bootable USB key with image "R710-060600C.exe"

SecretaryNotSure · Answer

This worked, thank you very much Shine K.!

I’m running TrueNAS on the R710 which doesn’t give me the option to update the BIOs via the OS.

However, I was able to update the BIOs using the DOS bootable flash drive and using the “R710-060600C.exe” file like you suggested. For anyone wondering how to do this, use the RUFUS software, it works great. Here is an article that explains how to do it. https://www.howtogeek.com/136987/how-to-create-a-bootable-dos-usb-drive/. After you have created your DOS bootable flash drive and have loaded the .exe file onto it, you can press F11 to get into the boot manager on your server. Select the flash drive you have inserted as the boot device. It will give you a DOS prompt like this C:. Enter the name of the exe file, in this case it would be R710-060600C (you don’t need to include the .exe extension). I shorted the name of the file to R710 before loading it onto the flash drive so I wouldn’t have to type as much. It will take you through a number of questions, but it ultimately updates the BIOs for you using this method. Super fast, worked great, thank you again Shine K.!

With the BIOs problem solved, I’m wondering why my system is freezing up after I hit the F10 button upon bootup to enter the System Services? As noted in my original post above, after entering System Services, I see the “Entering System Services…Starting Unified Server Configurator” screen and then a minute later it goes black and nothing happens. Is this a known issue or something unique to my situation? Any additional help is very appreciated.

DELL-Shine K · Answer

Can you upload 'LifeCycle Controller Repair Package' form below link using iDRAC GUI and check the behavior https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/driversdetails?driverid=80xj1&oscode=ws8r2&productcode=poweredge-r710

SecretaryNotSure · Answer

I know this is going to expose how big of a rookie I am, but how do access the iDRAC GUI? I don't see any option while booting to enter this menu. I know I have an iDRAC 6 installed in my R710. I plugged an ethernet cord into the iDRAC and one into a NIC. I have a network connection, but I don't see where I have an option to enter the iDRAC GUI.

During bootup I get the following options:

F2 = System Setup

F10 = System Services

F11 = BIOS Boot Manager

F12 = PEX Boot

I also tried pressing Control-E which brought me to the iDRAC6 Configuration Utility, but I’m not sure what settings I need to configure to make this work to allow me to enter the iDRAC GUI. I apologize for the very basic questions, but this is all new to me. Thanks again for your help!

DELL-Shine K · Answer

You need to configure an IP address to iDRAC using Control-E iDRAC6 Configuration Utility. Once this is done you can access iDRAC remotely using a browser and https://  IP address>

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