PowerEdge R940 and PowerEdge R940-leveraged platforms with BIOS 2.1.x installed fail to boot

Summary: Dell PowerEdge R940 boot loader failure occurs with OS-specific errors. For specific information and next steps to resolve this issue, see this guide.

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Symptoms

When attempting to boot PowerEdge R940 and PowerEdge R940-leveraged systems with certain configurations and BIOS versions 2.1.6, 2.1.7, or 2.1.8 installed, a boot loader failure occurs with OS-specific errors.

  • For VMware ESXi installations, you may see either of the following similar errors dependent upon configuration:

Error Message in R940 configuration, "Modules relocation error:  Out of Resources.  Unrecoverable Error" is displayed:

Out of resources error message   

 

-or- 


Error Message in XC940 configuration, "Failed to resolve circular relocation" is displayed:
"Failed to resolve circular relocation error 

  • For Linux OS installations, the error message "Out of Memory. Aborted. Press any key to exit" is displayed:

Out of Memory error

Note: The content between "Aborted. Press any key to exit." and "System locked" may vary based on boot order configuration and are not important.
  • For Microsoft Windows OS installations, the error message "No physical memory is available at the location required for the Windows Boot Manager. The system can not continue.":

No physical memory error

Cause

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Resolution



Dell Engineering is aware of this issue, and it is resolved in BIOS 2.2.10 (or higher) that provides better handling of OS boot loader requirements in certain configurations.

To download your systems specific BIOS, go to the Drivers & Downloads site for BIOS update. Then apply the BIOS 2.2.10 (or higher) to resolve this issue.

 

Affected Products

Dell EMC XC Series XC940 Appliance, Dell EMC XC Core XC940 System, OEMR R940, PowerEdge R940
Article Properties
Article Number: 000135861
Article Type: Solution
Last Modified: 24 Jun 2025
Version:  5
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