PowerEdge Hardware General

[tastyratz]

I have an r710 server that was originally resold by EMC as an avamar storage node but being re purposed to an esxi host.

I installed server 2012R2 directly on local disk and downloaded the system update utility iso. From there I was able to update Everything except the system bios. I was able to update the perc, the backplane, the drac, etc. When I attempt to flash the bios it instructs me to reboot and says "bios update attempt failed!"

The system has 1.1.4 bios currently. I tried going to the next step from there 1.2.6. I then tried 1.3.6, 6.3.0, & 6.4.0 direct from windows. I tried booting the System Build Utility from the drac and then switching to SUU iso. I tried dos bootable ISOs with all those bios versions. I wiped and reloaded the system with server 2008, and  I tried using the ufi utilities on startup. All result in the same error.

I am not quite sure how to proceed and I have been troubleshooting this for days. What am I missing?
Is there some sort of write protection jumper somewhere I am not aware of or something else?
I want to upgrade my e5504 cpu and don't have the microcode to support my replacement.
Does EMC require proprietary firmware? I saw no EMC branding other than a sticker on chassis.

[tastyratz]

of course right after posting this I semi found my solution.

It looks like Dell offers an "oem ready bios" for the r710 which flashes fine. I was able to flash 6.3.0 successfully - I was however unable to find 6.4.0??

Dell,

Is there a way to get 6.4.0 ported to oem ready bios if it does not already exist?

[DELL-Bo Pham]

Glad you figured out it was was an OEM bios. There is not a 6.4.0 for OEMR yet.

Here is a handy consolidated page with all the OEMR bios updates that you can periodically check. It also contains the other relevant updates for that system. For advanced users, I find this page much easier to navigate than the main support page.

(update: added missing link) http://downloads.dell.com/published/pages/oth-r710.html

[tastyratz]

Thanks Bo,

6.4.0 was released over a year ago now. Is there no plan to at this point port that to OEM?

if that is the case, is it possible to cross flash or force non OEM type bios onto OEM hardware?

[DELL-Bo Pham]

I don't have any info the the 6.4 OEMR at this time. We can try to request it through engineering, but I can't say on the turn around time on that. . Meanwhile, I would try to run the non-OEMR 6.4 version again now that you stepped up to the the 6.3 OEMR version.  Let me know if gives the same error, or allows to flash this time.

It is my understanding that you should be able to run either OEMR version, or non-OEMR versions. The hardware is the same. The OEMR bios only removes the Dell branding during.

Let us know how that goes. 

[tastyratz]

Hi Bo,

I actually did try flashing the non-OEMR 6.4 with no success already. I have no problem using the OEM firmware (I even prefer it for this install) but it just will not allow me. I am guessing there is some sort of host ID name check that is failing? Is there a way to flash with an override or similar type of command switch?

[DELL-Bo Pham · Accepted solution]

I believe i have what will work for you. Unfortunately the 6.4 OEMR will not be ready for sometime. I have put in the request already. For now though, if 6.4 is what you need, it will have to be the non-OEMR version.  Apply the package from the command prompt with the following switch: 

/forcetype 

You should be able to use that same switch in the future when pushing the OEMR version back on. 

[Dylank]

I believe i have what will work for you. Unfortunately the 6.4 OEMR will not be ready for sometime. I have put in the request already. For now though, if 6.4 is what you need, it will have to be the non-OEMR version.  Apply the package from the command prompt with the following switch: 

/forcetype 

You should be able to use that same switch in the future when pushing the OEMR version back on. 

Damn, you beat me to it.

[tastyratz]

I wanted to just circle back and say I was successful, thanks so much for your help. This resolved my question.

[c13urge]

How exactly did you do this? I am in the exact situation. I have the OEM 6.3.0 loaded and can't load the non OEM version of 6.4.0 on my R710.