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August 5th, 2025 14:04

Dell VRTX M520 Blade stuck on "iDRAC Booting" after failed firmware update

Hey everyone,

I’m currently dealing with a frustrating issue involving one of my Dell PowerEdge M520 blades in a Dell VRTX chassis. After attempting a firmware update on the blade which stuck for days, it no longer boots (I wanted to upgrade to 2.65.65). The LCD display on the VRTX permanently shows:

⚠️ Problem:

  • The blade in Slot 2 is stuck on "iDRAC Booting" and won’t proceed.

  • CMC detects that a blade is inserted, but shows no details (no iDRAC version, no hostname, etc.).

  • The power LED on the blade pulses green (standby).

  • No access to iDRAC Web UI, RACADM, BIOS, or Lifecycle Controller.

  • Other M520 blades with the same iDRAC version work fine in the same chassis.

✅ Things I’ve tried so far:

  • Power-cycled the blade and chassis multiple times.

  • Pulled the blade for a few minutes (cold reset), reinserted it → no change.

  • NVRAM reset via DIP switch → still stuck on "iDRAC Booting".

  • Tried issuing racadm racreset via CMC for the blade → fails, since iDRAC is unreachable.

  • Using the recovery method by placing firmimg.d7 (iDRAC 2.65) on a FAT32 vFlash card and inserting it into the blade

Any help or experiences would be greatly appreciated 🙏

Thanks in advance!

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4.7K Posts

August 5th, 2025 18:14

Hello,

 

You have done some thorough troubleshooting.

 

If the firmimg.d7 Recovery Fails and does not complete the recovery process:

  • Try a different vFlash card or SD card (some brands are not recognized)
  • Ensure the file is not renamed and is the only file on the card

 

Try a Different chassis slot if available.

 

Lastly you may try minimum to post configuration.

 

Minimum to post:

One CPU in CPU slot 1 > if it doesn't complete post try the second processor in CPU1

One Memory DIMM in slot A1 > if it doesn't complete post try a different DIMM in A1

No Mezzanine Cards

No HDD Backplane

No HDD's

 

 

If the blade still does not Post correctly:

  • The iDRAC may be critically corrupted, requiring motherboard replacement. There is a sticker on the mother board with a DP/N number. This is the part number for your motherboard.

 

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August 5th, 2025 18:36

Hey Charles!


Thank you for your answer. I just tested the minimal post configuration without no luck. Also I tried another slot in the chassis. The SD card is the original vFlash 8GB card from DELL. So this shouldn't be a problem.

That's pretty wild, that a simple IDRAC upgrade can break the whole motherboard at a minor upgrade...

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