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NB: I've checked How to upgrade iDRAC firmware and BIOS of Dell PowerEdge R510? -- they are much further along in that they have LifeCycle controller working and just had an issue with the filetype.

I'm having a tough time trying to update BIOS firmware and other ancient drivers/software on my Dell PowerEdge R510. It seems like the most straightforward way to do it would be to use the LifeCycle controller, point it to ftp.dell.com and handle it from there. Problem is, I don't seem to have LCC installed (even though on SUU it says it is installed). When I boot into system services via F10, I am launched into UEFI Unified Server Configurator. In there, my only options are Home, OS Deployment, Hardware Diagnostics, USC settings (set ip address), and About. The OS deployment is the only options that says anything about Drivers, but when I try to load up from ftp.dell.com, I hit next, and it just refreshes back to the same page with no further progress. If I opt to save locally, I always get an error that USB is too small (even with empty 16GB drive).

Unified Server configurator doesn't have platform options or LifeCycle Controller

Failing at ftp.dell.com

So I downloaded and install Dell Repository Manager thinking I might be able to use that with SUU; but after installing, I don't have an option to add bundles/create repos for R510 (it jumps from R440 to R520). Even so, I tried adding my own BIOS exe bundles, and always get the error 0 of n DUP's installed). enter image description here The server is running esxi 5.1 (yes it's old, this is why I'm trying to update firmware so I can update OS). I also tried scp'ing the LifeCycle controller BIN to the host and running there, but was met with:

 /tmp # ./Lifecycle-Controller_Legacy_Application_0WFGM_LN_1.7.5.4_A00.BIN
Dell Update Package 14.11.201 (BLD_248)press RETURN)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dell, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Release Title:
Dell LifeCycle Controller v1.7.5, 1.7.5.4, A00

Release Date:
April 24, 2015

Default Log File Name:
0WFGMA00

Reboot Required:
No

Supported System(s):
Equallogic DX6012S
Equallogic DX6000
Equallogic DX6004S
Equallogic DX6000G
Equallogic FS7500
PowerVault DL2100
PowerVault NX3500
PowerVault DL2200
PowerVault NX300'less', press 'q' to continue DUP exec; lines 1-23/104 11%
PowerVault NX3100less', press 'q' to continue DUP exec; lines 2-24/104 11%
Collecting inventory.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
Inventory Failure: Unified Server Configurator Failure - Detach USC failure - Detaching a partition has failed

It also seems to say in various places that iDrac is running, but I can't access it from any web browser or shell. I ran nmap on the ip address and it never finds any services listening (this is the ip address set in BMIC).

Any ideas on what I might be doing wrong? Or is there an easier way to go about updating this firmware? Since it's running ESXI, can I just scp over BIN files and run those?

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    Hi, check your R510 download link (click support for your r510, and get the link from thre), and find a older SUU, thats how I did it on my older server. It would update everything inside the server at the same time
    – yagmoth555
    Aug 4, 2020 at 13:33
  • I tried this at one point. The issue I came across was that when I tried to create a bootable USB with rufus with the iso, it failed. Is there a trick to creating the bootable drive? btw: this is the one I'm trying: dell.com/support/home/en-us/drivers/… Thank you!
    – stormdrain
    Aug 4, 2020 at 15:10
  • Mount the .iso via the DRAC is the easiest's way than burning it, as it's really big
    – yagmoth555
    Aug 4, 2020 at 16:07
  • That's another issue; I can't seem to get iDRAC working either. The only option in boot for CTRL+E brings me to BMC config. I can set ip and stuff, but the ip doesn't respond to anything. In F2, there's no iDRAC setup either. Not sure why I'm having issues with this.
    – stormdrain
    Aug 4, 2020 at 16:36
  • Unless IDRAC is where you set the PXE settings; then I can get there, but there isn't anything in there about mounting iso's or anything, it just allows you to turn PXE on/off and set the front LCD among other things...
    – stormdrain
    Aug 11, 2020 at 18:10

1 Answer 1

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  1. Your 1st statement : iDrac & Web ui not working ? Please confirm whether you have DRAC Express or DRAC Enterprise. DRAC Ent. has dedicated ehterenet Which you need to either configure through DHCP and discover the IP details /Else for Express you dont have dedicated one so you need to fix this with one of the LAN port. Refer here DRAC Port
  2. Change it to Bios Mode , make the changes under USC setting from UEFI to BIOS mode. Alternatively you can do it by F11 , Reboot the server and wait for Legacy Boot.

Once it comes up, you can move to BIOS and change the boot sequence for booting it with the appropriate os Post to that for Firmware update you can pickup the file that works well with the Live CD.

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  • Thanks, I do not have the black ethernet port. I have the 2 built in, and another 2 iscsi(?) cards in 1 and 2 slots between the power jack and built-in ethernet ports. I have been booting in BIOS mode; when I boot UEFI, it only brings up the Universal Server Configurator, no lifecycle controller options anywhere.
    – stormdrain
    Aug 17, 2020 at 15:02
  • Well your SUU image is 3.0 which does not support 11th Gen LCC since it has limited memory it supports 13th gen and beyond you need to use the 2.2 SUU ISO from this path https dl.dell.com / FOLDER02725522M / 1 / SLI22_A00.iso
    – VIX
    Aug 18, 2020 at 16:53

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