can't update the bios on this PE1750, same after reboot.

[Martin Hamant]

Le Mon, 7 May 2007 17:02:07 -0500
Michael E Brown <Michael_E_Brown at dell.com> écrivait:

> On Mon, May 07, 2007 at 10:39:51AM +0200, Martin Hamant wrote:
> > Hi !
> > 
> > I get this message (after a fresh reboot):
> > 
> > # update_firmware --yes
> > 
> > Searching storage directory for available BIOS updates...
> > 
> > Checking system_bios(ven_0x1028_dev_0x014a) - a10
> >         Found Update: system_bios(ven_0x1028_dev_0x014a) - a12
> > Checking
> > pci_firmware(ven_0x1028_dev_0x000f_subven_0x1028_subdev_0x014a) -
> > 412w Found Update:
> > pci_firmware(ven_0x1028_dev_0x000f_subven_0x1028_subdev_0x014a) -
> > 422a
> > 
> > Found out of date packages.
> > 
> > Running updates...
> > Installing system_bios(ven_0x1028_dev_0x014a) - a12
> > Installation failed for package: system_bios(ven_0x1028_dev_0x014a)
> > - a12 aborting update...
> > 
> > The error message from the low-level command was:
> > 
> > Could not update the system BIOS.
> > 
> > Many times, this is due to memory constraints. The BIOS update can
> > require from 1 to 4 megabytes of physically contiguous free RAM in
> > order to do the update. Because memory can become fragmented, this
> > is not always available. To correct this, try rebooting and running
> > the update immediately after reboot.
> > 
> > The output from the low-level bios update command was:
> > 
> > Supported RBU type for this system: (MONOLITHIC)
> > Using RBU v1 method: MONOLITHIC
> > Prep driver for data load.
> > writing (0) to file: /sys/firmware/rbu/packetdatasize
> > writing (524380) to file: /sys/firmware/rbu/rbudatasize
> > 
> > An Error occurred. The Error message is: 
> >     Cannot allocate memory
> > 
> > Problem updating BIOS. Common problems are:
> > 
> >     -- Insufficient permissions to perform operation.
> >        Try running as a more privileged account.
> >           Linux  : run as 'root' user
> >           Windows: run as 'administrator' user
> > 
> >     -- dell_rbu device driver not loaded.
> >        Try loading the dell_rbu driver
> >           Linux  : insmod dell_rbu
> >           Windows: dell_rbu driver not yet available.
> > 
> > Writing RBU data (4096bytes/dot): 
> > 
> > 
> > PS: I can still do tests for maybe 30min, after this I have to put
> > the server back in production ^^
> 
> Hmmm. The only thing I can recommend is to try rebooting and trying it
> again. This memory problem is a real pain in the butt, but there isnt
> much I can do about it. You can also try disabling some services and
> boot into runlevel 1 or 2 to try to resolve it. It may take a boot or
> three before the update works. For some reason I dont know, some
> systems have physical memory fragmentation issues that there is no
> way to resolve without rebooting.


Thank you Michael,

Probably runlevel 2 if I want to get an SSH port opened and issue
#update_firmware --yes :D

sshd            0:off   1:off   2:on    3:on    4:on    5:on    6:off

Q: why do this process needs absolutely contiguous memory ? Where is
the limitation exactly ? Because on this server, we have 2Gbytes of
memory, and after a fresh start i'm pretty sure that there is 1-4 Mbytes
of contiguous memory :/ (depends what we call "free", ok ^^)

-- 
Martin