topic Re: BIOS upgrade? in Operating System - Linux

BIOS upgrade?

isecore — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 11:57:04 GMT

I'm the admin of a HP ProLiant DL360 G6 and we need to upgrade the BIOS to the latest version. This is in order to upgrade the processors from the 1.6 Ghz dual-core Xeon included to two quad-core 2.5 Ghz Xeon processors.

This requires a BIOS upgrade and this has to be done remotely by myself. The ONLY way that I've found on this (HP) website is a Windows-only way. This is the link to that piece of software: http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=15351&prodSeriesId=3884319&prodNameId=3884320&swEnvOID=4033&swLang=13&mode=2&taskId=135&swItem=MTX-8e1564595adc483283596842a9

This is completely absurd as we run Linux (Debian 5 aka Lenny) and need a supported Linux-way of doing it. Are HP serious? Do we have to bring the machine down, spend hours installing a useless operating system simply to be able to upgrade the BIOS?

Any input would be appreciated.

Re: BIOS upgrade?

Michal Kapalka (mikap) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 05:01:56 GMT

hi,

its supported if you download the file so on the Windows machine you can extract it with executtion or with 7-zip, you will get lot of method how to upgared it online or in offline mode.

use this file : "How to use.txt"

PS : i think the best method is to use ILO advanced pack futures to mount the iso.

mikap

Re: BIOS upgrade?

Matti_Kurkela — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 06:07:54 GMT

Yes, that's what you get if you specify Debian as your OS when searching for downloadables... but if you put in RHEL 4 instead, you get a Linux on-line BIOS upgrade:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=15351&prodSeriesId=3884319&swItem=MTX-fb24ca60365b407ea43c59be86&prodNameId=3884320&swEnvOID=2025&swLang=13&taskId=135&mode=4&idx=1

Try it at your own risk, but I'd guess if it gets to the point where it displays the current BIOS version, the version in the upgrade file, and asks "Do you want to update (Y/N)?", I would expect it to work.

MK

Re: BIOS upgrade?

isecore — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 20:47:03 GMT

Well, I downloaded the file you supplied for RHEL systems, and ran it. Got the following cheery message:

"Online ROM Flash Engine Version: Linux-3.8.0-0
Name: Server System Firmware Update
Software Version: Unknown
The software is not supported for installation on this system."

Kind of a dead end.

Re: BIOS upgrade?

Ivan Krastev — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 02:14:48 GMT

Try to upgrade it via ILO. Create a CD image containing BIOS tools and mount it via ILO.
See info for creating image here - http://www.linuxinsight.com/how-to-flash-motherboard-bios-from-linux-no-dos-windows-no-floppy-drive.html

regards,
ivan