Eeek, I'm in need of some help

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pricklypunter

Well-Known Member
Nov 10, 2015
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Canada
OK, I have this lovely little Dell R210II pizza box server, which works great. That is until I decided one day to be a smart ass and update the firmware's and bios etc. I'm sure the bios on it when I got it was really early, something like 1.1.2 or something like that, but I wasn't really paying any attention at the time. This was quite some months ago and all was working fine after the updates were applied.

Fast forward to the present:

A friend needed an iDRAC6 in a hurry and being the kind soul I am, I gave him mine and got a replacement set.

So here's the problem, I now have a server that either boots after sitting with a blank screen for ages or just sits there with the fans screaming and nothing else happens. Having seen a communication failure message a few times, I discovered that when I pulled the iDRAC6 modules back out, all works as it should and the server boots fine. I'm now thinking that the bios/ lifecycle controller and BMC are updated beyond a version able to talk to the iDRAC6 Modules. I figure they must have an earlier firmware in them.

I have tried going back to an earlier bios, well the earliest one I could find, 1.3.1, but I'm still having zero luck. I confirmed that the mainboard is working properly by sticking another set of iDRAC6 modules in it that I had and all is well.

I think I can rule out a faulty module as well, because I have since tried another set of new modules and get the same result.

What I need is a way to get back to a level playing field so to speak and downgrade all firmware's back to something that can definitely talk to the iDRAC modules, then re-run an iDRAC update first before updating the rest.

Anyone able to help walk me through this, or have a magic trick or two to get round the issue? Even a link to a set of firmwares/ bios that play nice together?

I'm pretty much stuck now :>(