There is a problem applying Dell BIOS updates to (at least) the PowerEdge SC440 and SC430 models:
# chmod u+x SC440-010500.BIN
# ./SC440-010500.BIN
Dell BIOS Update Installer 1.1
Copyright 2006 Dell Inc. All Rights Reserved.tail: cannot open `+78' for reading: No such file or directory
gzip: stdin: not in gzip format
This is due to two problems - one is some weird POSIX stuff I don't begin to understand, and the other is because the BIOS updater is 32-bit, and my SC440 is 64-bit native, and so needs some weird 32-bit library.
So, here is what you need to do, as well as the instructions on Dell's web site ('init 1' etc.).
- Download the 32-bit 'zlib' library and install it.
- Follow Dell's instructions regarding run level 1, chmod etc.
- When you get to the step of running the updater, run this command first:
export _POSIX2_VERSION=199209
- Continue as per Dell's instructions and watch the BIOS POST apply the update.
Why am I suddenly so keen on this ? Turns out there was an 'urgent' update late last year for the SC440, and the 'unoffical' Dell yum firmware repository doesn't carry it yet.
You can get all the really gory details and moaning at Dell's Linux support over on the Dell Linux-PowerEdge mailing list.
weird POSIX stuff I don't begin to understand
Turns out this is some sort of backwards compatability built into common GNU commands to cope with different ways of passing arguments to them: http://www.mcs.vuw.ac.nz/cgi-bin/info2www?(diff)Standards+conformance
Tom
Thank you!
Trying to resuscitate an SC440 here and I was totally stuck. Thank you so much!
Eric
Matt Domsch from Dell just replied to the thread linked above, saying that these BIOS updates are now in the yum repository and should apply from there fine.
His timing was only off by a few days, and it's good news going forward too, rar.
Tom