1 Rookie

 • 

56 Posts

22

November 20th, 2025 01:20

Upgrade sequence PowerEdge servers

Hi Dell Community,

I would like to confirm if the following is the best and recommended sequence when upgrading firmware on PowerEdge servers (example: R740):

Based on my understanding, the safest upgrade order should be:

  1. iDRAC

  2. BIOS

  3. CPLD

  4. PERC RAID Controller

  5. Other components (NIC, Backplane, Drives, PSU, etc.)

My reasoning is that updating iDRAC first ensures stability and compatibility for the rest of the upgrades. BIOS should come before CPLD since the CPLD firmware depends on the latest BIOS initialization. RAID controller firmware is updated afterward to avoid compatibility issues with older BIOS or CPLD versions.

Does Dell recommend this sequence as well?
And is it normal that the CPLD upgrade causes the iDRAC to go offline temporarily?

Thanks in advance for your guidance.

Moderator

 • 

5.3K Posts

November 20th, 2025 06:02

Hello, 

Putting iDRAC first and foremost is what matters so you got that right. R740 means you are running iDRAC 9, so you do not need bridges for upgrade either.

 

For CPLD upgrade and restarts, the support page says "restart required"

R740/R740XD CPLD Version 1.1.4 | Driver Details | Dell Australia

No Events found!

Top