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.  Read more >>