Trouble Upgrading Dell iDrac on One Server
Asked by
TechieTom123
I'm having a hard time upgrading the iDrac on one of my Dell PowerEdge R730xd servers. All my other servers upgraded to version 2.70.70.70 without any issues. However, this one just won't cooperate. I started with version 2.40.40.40 and tried to upgrade incrementally to 2.70.70.70 and even to 2.41.40.40, but no luck. I did a factory reset on the iDrac in hopes of fixing any underlying issues, but it still won't upgrade. Someone mentioned the problem might be related to a certificate issue. I'm looking for some advice or solutions since all my servers are out of warranty, and contacting Dell could be really expensive.
Answers
Since it's a 13th Gen Dell server, you’re using iDRAC 8. Make sure you’re uploading the .EXE file that contains the firmware image. It may have a certificate that older iDRAC versions can’t read. You should extract the package to a temporary folder and upload the firmimg.d7 file instead, which should be around 107 MB in size.
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How are you performing the update? I usually extract the files from the update utility and upload them through the iDrac GUI. It’s worked for me every time.
PowerPro42: You can just upload the entire .exe file; no need to extract it first. The iDrac handles it automatically.
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Are you uploading the .exe directly to iDRAC’s web interface? What do the logs say when it fails? That could give us more insight into the error.
TechieTom123: I’ve attempted the upload on both the machine and through the interface. The error I’m getting is RED004, which is an unknown error.
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I had success by extracting the firmimg.d7 file from the .EXE and uploading that directly.
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As a former Dell employee who worked extensively with iDRACs, I recommend checking the LCC messages and clearing them out. Also, look at the job log to remove any old messages. It’s key to extract the .exe; it self-extracts and should give you a .d7 file to upload through the update tab instead of the .exe.
TechieTom123: Are you referring to the 2.70 update?
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TechieTom123: I tried the .bin file, but it didn’t recognize it. Any other suggestions?