14G Intel PowerEdge: Coin-cell battery changes

For 14G PowerEdge servers with Intel processors, behaviors and logging associated with the coin-cell (also known as CMOS) battery are changing.

The changes below were introduced in iDRAC 7.00.00.173 and in BIOSes 2.22.1 (for 400-series servers and above) and 2.17.2 (for 100-300 series servers) in mid-August 2024.

What does the coin-cell battery do?

The coin-cell battery provides backup power for two system features when the main input power is removed:

1. Preserving the real-time clock (RTC)
2. Enabling the chassis intrusion feature that alerts when the system has been opened.

Cause:

The changes were introduced in iDRAC 7.00.00.173 and in Intel BIOSes 2.22.1 (for 400-series servers and above) and 2.17.2 (for 100-300 series servers) in mid-August 2024.

However, these two BIOS releases were demoted from the Dell support site in September due to an unrelated sighting. BIOSes 2.22.2 and 2.17.3 replaced them respectively on October 1.

Recommended Action:

Dell Technologies recommends all 14G customers update to iDRAC 7.00.00.173 or newer.

Customers with Intel-based products should also apply BIOSes 2.22.2 or newer (for 400-series and above servers) or 2.17.3 or above (for 100-300 series).