Question : Problem: Upgrading the backplane bios

I purchased an older Dell Poweredge 6300 server and when I start it up it says to update the backplane bios. I believe I found the bios on the Dell website and tried putting it onto a floppy and restarting the box but it gives me the message "invalid system disk". I read somewhere else to 'boot to DOS' and then run it, but I have no clue how to do that. Can anyone please help?? I would like to upgrade it to Windows 2003 Server.

Answer : Problem: Upgrading the backplane bios

You can create a bootable floppy disk from Windows XP or Windows Server 2003. Insert a floppy into the floppy drive, then open My Computer and right-click on the floppy drive. Select Format. Select "Create an MS-DOS startup disk" and click Start. Once the format completes (it should take around 3 to 4 minutes), copy the firmware files to the floppy disk using Windows Explorer or extract the files to the floppy. Restart the computer with the floppy disk in the drive. You'll get an A:\> prompt. Type the name of the firmware update file and press Enter. Wait for the firmware update process to complete, then remove the floppy and reboot. Done!

Having said that, it's quite safe to ignore the firmware warning. The backplane BIOS was maintained in memory by a battery on the motherboard. If the backplane cables are disconnected then you'll see this message. It doesn't affect the functionality of the server in any way.