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aceawd

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aceawd

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December 8th, 2021 14:00

Update T610 BIOS/Firmware

Hello,

I inherited a T610 from a junk pile and wanted to play around with it. There are 5 hard drives in it that have been set up in a RAID 5 configuration. I go to install Windows Server 2022 and it can't see the drives to install Windows on despite them being visible in the PERC 6/i raid controller.

So I go to see if there are any firmware updates. This is an 11G server, so connecting to downloads.dell.com in the lifecycle controller won't connect due to HTTP/HTTPS conflict.I downloaded DRM onto my other computer and add the repository for EOL servers based on the DRM User Guide: 

"Servers that have reached end of support life are not available in the latest catalogs. If you require updates for
such servers, create a repository by selecting the Base Catalog as Index catalog, and select Catalog Group as Update Catalog (GZ format) for Enterprise Servers and chose a December 2019 catalog or an older catalog"

However, the Dec 2019 package doesn't show up. In this thread Dell support said that it wasn't included in DRM anymore. I saw someone ask for it, but there was no response (https://www.dell.com/community/Dell-Repository-Manager/Dell-Repository-Manager-not-seeing-older-catalogs-for-G11/td-p/7795196).  I tried putting the T620 on a flash drive and the lifecycle controller can't seem to find the Catalog file made by DRM.

So how am I supposed to update the firmware/BIOS then?

  • DELL-Young E

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    Posted December 8th, 2021 20:00

    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.

    Social Media and Communities Professional

    Dell Technologies | Enterprise Support Services

    #IWork4Dell

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  • aceawd

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    Posted December 9th, 2021 06:00

    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.

  • Dell- Maria J

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    Posted December 9th, 2021 07:00

    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

  • aceawd

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    Posted December 9th, 2021 08:00

    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 seeDell EMC Repository Manager - Model not shown.png

    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?

  • DELL-Chris H

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    Posted December 9th, 2021 10:00

    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.

     

    DELL-Chris H

    Social Media and Communities Professional

    Dell Technologies | Enterprise Support Services

    #IWork4Dell

    Did I answer your query? Please click on ‘Mark as Accepted Answer’. ‘Thumbs up’ the posts you like!

  • aceawd

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    Posted December 9th, 2021 10:00

    Chris,

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

    instructions.png

    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?

  • Dell-DylanJ

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    Posted December 9th, 2021 11:00

    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.

  • aceawd

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    Posted December 9th, 2021 13:00

    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.

  • Dell-DylanJ

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    Posted December 10th, 2021 06:00

    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.

  • Dell-DylanJ

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    Posted December 10th, 2021 13:00

    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.