I had a difficult time recently trying to update the BIOS on a new Dell R710 server. Dell's preferred method is booting to the built-in Dell Lifecycle Controller, giving it an IP address, and letting it automatically download updates from Dell's FTP site.  I was working at a client site where this method could not be made to work.  I'll spare you the painful details, but here are the steps to do the job quickly and painlessly by creating a bootable USB flash drive.  <!--more-->

This procedure requires a computer with Internet connectivity and a USB flash drive that you don't mind reformatting. The files are less than 5 MB so only a small USB flash drive is needed. This procedure has an advantage over other methods I've seen in that it does not require the use of any third-party tools - just files from Dell's web site.

&gt; Download the Dell 32-bit Diagnostics Utility from Dell’s web site:

     &gt; Navigate to the drivers and firmware page for your server model

     &gt; Expand the Diagnostics section of downloads

     &gt; Download the Dell Diagnostics Utility (32-bit Diagnostics)

&gt; Run the Dell Diagnostics utility you just downloaded and select the option to “Install to a USB flash drive”

     &gt; Point the tool to the USB flash drive and allow it to format the drive and copy files

&gt; Download the latest BIOS file for the server:

     &gt; Make certain to select the “non-packaged” version of the file (will be a .exe)

&gt; Copy the BIOS image to the USB drive, renaming it in 8.3 format, i.e. “BIOS.EXE”

&gt; Safely remove the USB flash drive from your computer

&gt; Boot the server to the USB flash drive you just created. If necessary, configure the server BIOS settings to boot from USB before the C: drive, or press F11 for the server boot option menu. USB boot is a subset of boot from C: drive

     &gt; The server should boot to the diagnostics utility.  Select option 4 to exit and drop to a DOS prompt

&gt; Change to C:

&gt; Run the BIOS update by typing in the name you selected when copying the file to USB (BIOS.EXE)

That's it!  Dell - if you're listening, please add these steps as an installation option in your online BIOS installation instructions.